autonomous systems

Austal USA, Mobile, Alabama, is awarded a $44,000,000 fixed-price incentive firm-target, undefinitized contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-2227 for the detail design, procurement, production implementation, and demonstration of autonomous capability in Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) 13. Work will be performed in Mobile, Alabama (60%); Reston, Virginia (35%); and Fairfax, Virginia (5%), and is expected to complete by July 2022. Fiscal 2021 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) cost-to-complete funding in the amount of $22,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Mile Two LLC, Dayton, Ohio, has been awarded a $14,788,874 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for support to the Air Force Research Laboratory Autonomy Capabilities Team Three mission through the development of production level software systems and rapid prototyping of new operational concepts that leverage best practices for application development operations by expanding, extending, or enhancing work performed under the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research Phase II, Air Force Topic 183-005, FA8751-19-C-A048, entitled “TechSuite: TechScout and Project Tracking Prototype Applications.”  Work will be performed in Dayton, Ohio, and is expected to be completed January 15, 2026.

Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, Mississippi, was awarded an $11,131,723 modification (P00030) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0095 for simulation-based reliability and safety virtual prototyping of autonomy-enabled ground systems. Work will be performed in Mississippi State, Mississippi, with an estimated completion date of October 22, 2022. Fiscal year 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Army) funds in the amount of $11,131,723 were obligated at the time of the award. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity.

The current development of particular robots for NASA represents a methodical shift in how some Lunar or Martian vehicles are designed and how the related components or systems are included to support vehicle operation. Carnegie Mellon University and Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic are working on a lunar robot for NASA’s Lunar Surface and Instrumentation and Technology Payload program, or LSITP, that is small, fast, solar-powered and will not be teleoperated nor radiation-hardened, which is quite a change from more risk-adverse prior methods.

Penn State University Applied Research Lab, University Park, Pennsylvania, is awarded an $8,404,271 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Advanced Broadband Navigation Sonar System Future Naval Capabilities Program. This contract provides for the development and demonstration of technologies associated with continuous subsea autonomous navigation by developing and demonstrating improvements to navigational sonar systems. Improved estimation of positon and velocity afforded by advanced sonar processing will provide naval platforms with increased navigational performance for undersea platforms. Work will be performed in University Park, Pennsylvania, and is expected to be complete by March 2023.

BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP, York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $249,152,760 modification (P00042) to contract W56HZV-17-C-0001 for the Self-Propelled Howitzer and carrier, ammunition, tracked vehicles and their associated support under the production contract to build and deliver M109A7s and M992A3s. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of January 31, 2023. Fiscal year 2018 and 2019 other procurement, Army funds in the amount of $249,152,760 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. 

Georgia Tech Applied Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded a $9,775,501 cost-plus fixed-fee contract for Low Cost UAS Swarm Technology Distributed Autonomy prototyping, analysis, and support. The contract contains options, which if exercised, will bring the total cumulative value of the contract to $17,441,037. Work will be performed in Atlanta, Georgia, and work is expected to be completed January 31, 2020. If options are exercised, work will continue through January 31, 2022. Fiscal year 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,061,486 are obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under N00014-18-S-

The cyber realm has redefined the meaning of warfare itself. Conflict in cyberspace is constant, low-cost and uninhibited by traditional definitions of territory and country. Now, governments, militaries and private research groups from America to South Korea are taking cyber capabilities one step further, using developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning to create autonomous weapons that will soon be deployed into battle.

Machine learning already has been used in both cyber and kinetic weapons, from autonomously firing gun turrets to human-superior social engineering attacks. While these advances are noteworthy, these machines are neither entirely intelligent nor autonomous.

While stopping weapons of mass destruction and cyber attacks are high security priorities, the kinetic effects from cyber forces are a looming threat today. Malevolent uses for artificial intelligence combined with autonomous systems provide frightening new levels of capabilities to potential adversaries, and the U.S. Defense Department and the intelligence community are being called upon to address them with extraordinary vigor.

Lockheed Martin Corporation, Grand Prairie, Texas, has been awarded a $12,933,908 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the Squad X Experimentation program to design, develop and validate system prototypes for a combined-arms squad. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas; Rome, New York; Menlo Park, California; Woburn, Massachusetts; Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Cherry Hill, New Jersey, with an estimated completion date of August 14, 2019. Fiscal 2016 and 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,506,796 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S.

Direct feedback and technical evaluations from warfighters and senior leadership participating in an amphibious, autonomous warfare exercise could affect the way the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps look at prototyping and rapidly acquiring technology. By pairing sailors and Marines with scientists and technologists, the Ship-to-Shore Maneuver Exploration and Experimentation Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (S2ME2 ANTX) will help increase the pace of innovation, says Dr. David E. Walker, director of technology, Office of Naval Research (ONR).

Over the next decade—if not sooner—the U.S. Defense Department wants more of its military systems to operate autonomously, capable of independently determining the right course of action no matter the situation. The Defense Science Board predicts the department will get there. 

Autonomous systems address several problem areas, and reasons to pursue the technology are numerous, according to a technical panel presenting this week at the MILCOM 2016 conference in Baltimore.

PreTalen Limited, Columbus Grove, Ohio, has been awarded a $15 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, small-business innovation research phase III contract for position navigation and time autonomous negotiator applying cognitive effects-based analysis. The contractor will provide the extension of the suite of custom software and hardware designed to simultaneously and autonomously test available Global Navigation Satellite System receivers across the threat spectrum. Work will be performed in Columbus Grove, Ohio, and at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be completed by August 9, 2020. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition.

It's nice when Fido obeys commands, but isn't it even better when he instinctively anticipates those directives? Apply this concept to unmanned systems-robotics to be exact-and the warfighter has a more foolproof companion by his side on the battlefield. That's the idea driving the U.S. Army Research Laboratory's Robotics Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA) to advance the state of the art in unmanned technologies and move them more quickly into theater. Robots will eschew remote-control guidance, relying on programming that gives them autonomy via artificial intelligence.