The US Army's modernisation priorities will fuel a massive expansion in the data generated by soldiers, units and military platforms. It has become clear that artificial Intelligence (AI) will play a key role in processing this data – and exploiting the opportunities it provides. The army has identified six broad areas of focus for its future development: long-range precision fires; next-generation combat vehicles (NGCV); future vertical lift; army network; air and missile defence; and soldier lethality. As technology evolves across these priorities, there will be a significant increase in the amount of data available to individuals, units, and beyond, said Aneesh Kothari, Vice President for Marketing at Systel, Inc. Kothari pointed to NGCV, which spans several manned and unmanned vehicle platforms. As such vehicles are upgraded, they are increasingly outfitted with full HD, high-resolution sensor suites and cameras, such as EO/IR systems, generating full motion video (FMV) data.

This video and article is brought to you by L3Harris. What benefit does machine learning give us in the battlespace? How can we use it ethically to make the right decisions? Is the human in the loop or on the loop? In forthcoming conflicts, it may not be possible to rely on well-defined chains-of-command.

This video is brought to you in partnership with Raytheon. Beth Maundrill, Deputy Editor, Shephard Media, speaks to Evan Hunt, business development director for high energy lasers and C-UAS at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, about the latest in Raytheon's layered approach to C-UAS. Studio is covering all the news and developments from Raytheon's Pavilion and Chalet at Paris Air Show 2019 (PAS 2019). Visit our dedicated microsite to stay up to date with all the video content through the week.

On 1 March Roboteam announced the launch of its Artificial Intelligence Control Unit (AI-CU) software to provide autonomous and artificial intelligence capabilities to the warfighters. The AI-CU software will provide intuitive control and operation of unmanned systems and payloads according to the company. This will include unique features such as autonomous navigation, facial recognition and other artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities for operators of unmanned systems. The AI-CU allows operators to control numerous platforms and payloads simultaneously, based on multi-robot operator control unit (MOCU) compliant, open source software. Roboteam said that with the use of AI, an operator can control semi-autonomous platforms with voice commands while receiving real-time facial recognition data in the field.

A new report from the Washington-based Center for a New American Security raised the alert level of the US defence community over China's rise as an artificial intelligence (AI) superpower, one that could effectively destroy the American military by 2030. The meticulous report no doubt will send a chill through the halls of the Pentagon. Kania, as co-founder of the China Cyber and Intelligence Studies Institute, is well suited to write the investigative report using available Chinese-language open-source materials that reveal China's military thinking and progress on AI. Kania reported that China's military is pursuing advances in'impact and disruptive military applications of AI' and given it'high-level priority within China's national agenda for military-civil fusion'. The goal is to become the world's'premier innovation centre' in AI by 2030.

Germany reportedly intends to acquire the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton high-altitude surveillance drone, according to a story in Sueddeutsche Zeitung. In 2013, Germany cancelled a similar program to acquire Northrop Grumman's RQ-4 Global Hawk, a surveillance drone on which the newer Triton is based, due to cost overruns. The Triton is a large, long-endurance system that was originally developed for maritime surveillance by the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Army released a report outlining its strategy for obtaining and using unmanned ground vehicles. The Robotics and Autonomous Systems strategy outlines short, medium, and long-term goals for the service's ground robot programs.

Dronescapes is a collection of vibrant, mystical paintings of drones by Australian artist Kathryn Brimblecombe-Fox. In a conversation with the Center for the Study of the Drone, the artist shares the meaning of her work, explains her use of traditional Australian motifs, and shares her views on the rise of autonomous technology. The Federal Aviation Administration released a new set of reports of airspace incidents involving drones, including close encounters with manned aircraft and drone use over airports. The dataset includes 1,274 reported incidents that occurred between February and September 2016, around 400 more than occurred during the same period in 2015. At the National Interest, Elsa Kania argues that China could soon overtake the U.S. in the development of autonomous drones.

This is a tiny robot tank with lasers for killing mosquitoes. Flyswatters are a primitive tool from a more primitive age. Anyone wanting to go to war against mosquitoes in the 21st century needs lasers. Spotted by Shephard Media's Max Rotor, the "the Laser Movable Mosquito Killer Robot" is amazing and ridiculous. Rotor wrote up the Laser Movable Mosquito Killer Robot for Quill or Capture, a blog covering odds-and-ends that fall on the periphery of Shephard Media's usual defense coverage. This bug-killing robot is made by LeiShen, a Chinese company that makes laser navigation tools for home robots.