Culture remains one of the biggest hurdles to successful implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies at the Defense Department, according to DOD leaders at multiple events this week. Some DOD officials believe people are becoming more comfortable using the term AI, but when it comes to understanding what AI really is, and the practical applications of it, not so much. According to Col. Mike Teter, Chief Data Officer and Deputy Director of Digital Superiority and J6 C4/Cyber Directorate at U.S. Space Command, building cultural trust really comes through educating and training, but it also changes the paradigm and timelines associated with traditional reporting up the chain. When you have the ability to have everyone in the chain from the lowest unit all the way to the president can see the same thing at the same time at scale, then it's really a cultural shift on both sides, Teter said during ATARC's ATARC's Ethical Uses of AI with the Federal Government event. "You're not going to have all the answers right away when you see something in the data," he said.

A specialist cyber force of several hundred British hackers has been in the works for nearly three years, although its creation has been partly held back by turf wars between the spy agency GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence, to which the unit is expected to jointly report. The idea behind the new unit is to bring greater visibility and coherence to offensive cyber, a capability that the UK claims to have had for a decade but until recently has rarely acknowledged or discussed. Earlier in the autumn, Gen Patrick Sanders, the head of the UK's strategic command, said the military already had the capacity to "degrade, disrupt and destroy" enemies. Past operations include hacking into Islamic State systems in 2017 to understand how the terror group was operating a low-tech drone capability out of Mosul, which the military claims allowed it to understand how the drones were bought and how operators were trained. Creating a "Space Command" is a promise that was made in the Conservative election manifesto, and comes at a time when major military powers are rapidly showing an interest in space, largely because of the need to ensure the safety and security of satellites on which critical communications and location systems depend. The UK's new Space Operations Centre, based at the RAF headquarters in High Wycombe, comes less than a year after Donald Trump announced the creation of a new space force, arguing that "space is the world's new war-fighting domain," and that maintaining American superiority over Russia and China was "absolutely vital".

If a Russian or Chinese Anti-Satellite (ASAT) weapon streamed into space and exploded U.S. military satellites, friendly forces would instantly become very vulnerable to significant and extremely destructive enemy attacks - space-based infrared missile detection could be destroyed, GPS communications could be knocked out, guided weapons could jam and derail before hitting their targets and war-critical command and control could simply be "taken out." Any, all or part of this could happen in as little as 10 to 15 minutes once a satellite attacking missile is launched from the ground. Lives will hang in the balance as alerts are sent through U.S. command and control and decision-makers scramble to determine the best countermeasure with which to protect its space assets. Space war is no longer a distant prospect to envision years down the road --- it is here. Recognizing the seriousness of this vulnerability, the Pentagon, U.S. Space Command, Missile Defense Agency and industry are moving quickly to integrate Machine Learning and AI into space-based systems and technology.

Defense Specialist Allison Barrie takes a closer look at some of the most exciting advances in defense tech to keep a close eye on in 2019. These advances break down into 5 key battle spaces: sea, air, land, space and cyber. From F-35B fighter jets to the future of the U.S. Space Force, Fox Firepower covers them all. The U.S. military has been modernizing the armed forces in preparation for a potentially new era of warfare around the corner. So as we kick off this new year, which defense stories should Americans be keeping an eye on?