… adopt data-centricity, and get us to artificial intelligence, machine learning and [figuring] out where the right applications of that are so …

Air, land, and sea-launch-able, the fully autonomous, AI-controlled missile known as the Ice Breaker has finally been revealed. A fifth-generation, self-guided missile designed to attack at long distances and travel extremely close to the ground while resisting electronic jamming and other countermeasures, the stealthy Ice Breaker is set for a field demonstration at the Farnborough International Airshow, July 18-22. In science fiction, high-tech missiles can hug the earth's surface, avoid natural obstacles and enemy ordinance alike, survive electronic jamming efforts, and then use complex machine learning to locate, attack, and destroy their intended target with robotic efficiency. In the real world, and even as hypersonic weapons are beginning to enter the modern theater of war, such theoretical, ultra-smart missiles have yet to come to fruition. More recently, rumors of an air-launched, long-range, self-guided and AI-controlled missile surfaced when Israeli manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems premiered the Ice Breaker's predecessor naval weapon, the Sea Breaker sea-launched missile in 2021.

In the Arizona desert, a pair of robots methodically trundles back-and-forth across the craggy earth. Bulky, angular and slow, they're not terribly impressive to watch. But U.S. Army leaders see these robots as a vision of the future: part of a new pipeline to put better, more reliable technology into the hands of soldiers faster than ever before. A year earlier, at the first-ever Project Convergence, held in 2020 at Yuma Proving Ground, users had to tell the robot to go from point A to point B to point C to conduct a reconnaissance mission. For the 2021 event, users simply gave the robots a designated area for the same task, and the system turned to artificial intelligence to determine the best path. The robots demonstrated how they could keep soldiers out of harm's way, allow for sensors in new positions that were previously impractical and present new data to commanders.

NATO has officially kicked off two new efforts meant to help the alliance invest in critical next-generation technologies and avoid capability gaps between its member nations. For months, officials have set the ground stage to launch a new Defense Innovator Accelerator -- nicknamed DIANA -- and establish an innovation fund to support private companies developing dual-use technologies. Both of those measures were formally agreed upon during NATO's meeting of defense ministers last month in Brussels, said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. Allies signed the agreement to establish the NATO Innovation Fund and launch DIANA on Oct. 22, the final day of the two-day conference, Stoltenberg said in a media briefing that day. He expects the fund to invest €1 billion (U.S. $1.16 billion) into companies and academic partners working on emerging and disruptive technologies.

The United Arab Emirates and the U.K. recently signed a memorandum of understanding on artificial intelligence that would see the transfer of related knowledge, investment and standards. And the next day saw the UAE's Tawazun Economic Council sign a memo with the U.K. Ministry of Defence to strengthen cooperation in defense-related research and development. On Sept. 16, Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi and deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, met British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the U.K., when the two parties launched a "Partnership for the Future" between the two nations, which involved the AI effort. "The UK looks forward to further collaboration with the UAE Presidential Guard; between our two air forces through UK participation in the Advanced Tactical Leadership Course, with UK jets from the Carrier Strike Group, and increased land exercises in the UAE," read a joint communique released after the meeting. "Both countries have developed stronger industrial ties through collaboration in defence and security. This includes blossoming relationships, including Tawazun Economic Council and EDGE Group. The Leaders agreed on working together to support these emerging and future partnerships in order to promote prosperity whilst strengthening business opportunities for both."

The U.S. Air Force is finally pushing into the world of robot combat drones, vowing to fly the first of its "Skyborg" drones by 2023. The service envisions Skyborg as a merging of artificial intelligence with jet-powered drones. The result will be drones capable of flying alongside fighter jets, carrying out dangerous missions. Skyborg drones will be much cheaper than piloted aircraft, allowing the Air Force to grow its fleet at a lower cost. The Air Force, according to Defense News, will award a total of $400 million to one or more companies to develop different types of Skyborg drones.

Google will not seek another contract for Project Maven, a controversial military program that uses artificial intelligence to improve drone targeting. A decorated Marine Corps infantry officer is pleading with Google to not turn its back on the Department of Defense months after the tech giant decided to end its involvement in Project Maven, a U.S. military artificial intelligence program. In an op-ed for Defense News, First Lt. Walker D. Mills writes that he attended a symposium on innovation sponsored by the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory last summer, but was disappointed that a representative from Google did not attend the event, which did feature leaders from Amazon and IBM. Mills also calls out Google's proposal for a censored Chinese search engine, code-named Dragonfly: "The company that Americans and people all over the world associate with innovation and information technology had spurned the U.S. military, yet continues to work with one of our chief competitors." FACEBOOK SLAMS REPORT FROM ZUCKERBERG'S OLD HARVARD CLASSMATE CLAIMING HALF ITS USERS ARE FAKE Although Google said Project Dragonfly has been "effectively ended," the company is still being slammed by human rights groups and critics for considering a censored Chinese search engine.