The first-of-its-kind collaboration between U.S. Space Systems Command, or SSC, and U.K. Space Command will broaden a burgeoning space domain alliance between the two nations by enabling professionals to learn new skills, according to a joint release.

“Our civilian and military Guardians and Airmen deserve our investment in their careers,” said Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, SSC commander. “By offering opportunities to strengthen and grow our workforce through programs such as APEP, we get after exactly that objective. In order to develop a world-class workforce, we must continue to partner to win.”

U.S. Space Systems Command, operating under a $15.6 billion DOD budget, is the field command for the U.S. Space Force. U.K. Space Command performs a similar function for the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.

The civilian exchange program agreement — using the already established Administrative and Professional Exchange Program as its foundation — falls under the U.S. Defense Personnel Exchange Program, an initiative allowing individuals to “exchange positions with their counterparts in another organization,” even across different countries, to gain a new understanding of the field.

The first U.S. civilian to participate in the program, Tara Browne, Space Systems Command/International Affairs deputy division chief for strategy and plans, arrived in the U.K. earlier this month.

The program was signed into effect on Nov. 18, 2024, by U.S. Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs Kelli Seybolt, following sign-off by U.K Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton.

“I know first-hand the value of our exchange programs,” said Ma. Gen. Paul Tedman, U.K. Space Command commander. “They allow us to build trust, learn from each other, and enhance cooperation. Our people, on both sides of the Atlantic, remain our greatest asset, and this new civilian exchange program will ensure alignment of U.S. and U.K. space architectural design.”

The partnership between the ally nations has gained steam in the last year, including the 2024 appointment of Air Marshal Paul Godfrey from the U.K.’s Royal Air Force to the U.S. Space Force’s assistant chief of space operations for future concepts and partnerships.

Godfrey previously served as the first commander of the U.K. Space Command.

President Biden issued a first-of-its kind memorandum Thursday meant to provide guidance for national security and intelligence agencies on how to effectively and responsibly use AI to further American interests.

“If the United States Government does not act with responsible speed and in partnership with industry, civil society, and academia to make use of AI capabilities in service of the national security mission — and to ensure the safety, security, and trustworthiness of American AI innovation writ large — it risks losing ground to strategic competitors,” the document states.

Alex Miller, chief technology officer for the Army’s chief of staff, said he appreciates the White House’s leadership on the issue, but he’s concerned a lack of access to and funding for core, enabling technologies like cloud storage and computing power is slowing down the Defense Department’s integration of AI tools.

“We haven’t done all the infrastructure work to set up the core technologies to do AI at scale,” Miller said at the Military Reporters and Editors conference. “If we’re really serious about it, there is a lot more investment we should be making at a national level.”

Matt Steckman, chief revenue officer at Anduril, advocated for a more robust national push to make sure the U.S. leads competitors like China on AI adoption.

“We need a national-level response,” said Steckman, who spoke on a panel with Miller. “I’m hoping this memo is the start of it, but I would go way, way further in order to get ahead of everybody else as fast as we probably can.”

In a briefing Thursday, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan acknowledged “critical gaps” in AI research and development funding. He said the Biden administration will work closely with Congress to increase funding for innovation along with the other requirements in the memo.

“We’ve received strong bipartisan signals of support for this from the Hill,” he said. “It’s time for us to collectively roll up our sleeves on a bicameral, bipartisan basis and get this done.”

Building trust

Throughout the document, the White House stresses the importance of building a level of trust in artificial intelligence and calls on national security agencies to implement guardrails to ensure it upholds laws regarding civil rights, human rights, privacy, and safety.

Organizations that leverage AI must use it in a way that aligns with “democratic values,” the document states.

That means designating trusted sources that government agencies can rely on for AI-related inquiries, investing in workforce training, creating standards for evaluating the safety of AI tools and ensuring systems adhere to federal laws around equity, civil rights and consumer protection.

“Artificial intelligence holds extraordinary potential for both promise and peril,” the memo states. “Responsible AI use has the potential to help solve urgent challenges while making our world more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure. At the same time, irresponsible use could exacerbate societal harms such as fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation.”

The document calls for extensive analysis related to fostering a robust AI talent pool, assessing the competitiveness of private sector AI firms in the U.S. and understanding existing barriers to establishing key AI infrastructure.

It directs the Director of National Intelligence to work with DOD and other federal agencies to identify “critical nodes” in the AI supply chain and craft a regularly updated plan for mitigating risk to those areas.

DOD and the intelligence community should also establish a working group with a wide range of responsibilities — from establishing metrics for assessing AI safety and effectiveness to accelerating AI acquisition efforts to ensuring the U.S. has a competitive AI industrial base.

Developed by Eprius, the long-pulse, high-power microwave technology known as Leonidas Expeditionary can drop swarms of drones with massive and pointed walls of electromagnetic energy.

Epirus has already delivered high-powered microwave systems to the Army as part of a $66 million contract last year.

It developed its latest Leonidas capability in partnership with the Office of Naval Research, Joint Counter-Small UAS Office, the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office (JCO).

The company unveiled the system on Sept. 23 and is expected to deliver the completed system to the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab by the end of this year.

So far there are four iterations of the Leonidas system including the newest, which is formally known as the Expeditionary Directed Energy Counter-Swarm, or ExDECS.

Earlier Leonidas offerings have included systems that can be attached to vehicles or air drones.

Leonidas ExDECS is another systems entry on the smaller side, capable of “swarm defeat,” with a transportable profile that’s highly mobile and provides a low physical signature, according to Andrew Wargofchik, a spokesperson for Epirus.

The crown jewel of the Epirus system, aside from its microwave system, is a technology called Line Replaceable Amplifier Module, or LRAM. It’s an architecture that allows the company to scale systems up or down.

“We like to think of them as sort of very scalable Lego blocks,” Wargofchik said.

The announcement of the Leonidas Expeditionary comes on the heels of the Air & Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference, where AI’s role in the defense industry was the talk of the town.

But as the future of warfare arrives, Wargofchik said Epirus doesn’t buy into the concept that killer robots are on the horizon.

He noted projects like the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft, or unmanned fighter jets, as a better embodiment of what lies ahead.

Half-man, half-AI is the defense landscape the company envisioned – manned systems existing harmoniously alongside unmanned ones.

“Our CEO, Andy Lowery, likes to call it centaur warfare,” Wargofchik said.

While some in the industry criticize the Defense Department for not adopting existing and emerging AI and machine learning technologies quickly enough, Epirus is more optimistic.

One of the main challenges involves bridging the gap between research and development to mass production, Wargofchik said.

Though the company began with the explicit goal of providing high-powered microwave systems for counter-drone missions, it’s expanding the development of the same systems as a counter for any-and-all electronics.

In April, Epirus demonstrated its capability to effectively take out certain vessel motors at sea during a Navy event.

“We’re kind of arriving at the shores of a whole new beach of maritime applications,” Wargofchik said.

Speaking Tuesday at an Axios event in National Harbor, Maryland, on AI’s emerging defense capabilities, Sean Moriarty, CEO of artificial intelligence and data analysis firm PrimerAI, urged the Defense Department to accelerate its efforts to adapt to the rapidly changing threat landscape by taking advantage of existing technology.

The commercial world is far ahead of the government in the world of artificial intelligence, Moriarty said at the event, which was just a short walk away from the Air and Space Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference.

“The gap is enormous,” he said.

The significant divide is between what’s available and what’s being used, he explained.

PrimerAI creates AI products that help users, including the U.S. government and commercial companies, parse through and analyze information.

Notably, the company’s technology proved adept at identifying misleading or false information that spread rapidly online in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

The events of Oct. 7 underscored the complexity and dangers of the world, Moriarty said at Tuesday’s event. While the world has always been perilous, he argued, challenges were compounded by the nonstop flow of information, misinformation and disinformation.

AI was a useful tool in helping the US government mitigate this constant stream, Moriarty said, with the ability to uncover the truth and then use it to drive action.

He expressed hope AI could help the Defense Department prevent the spread of distorted facts, but acknowledged that, if prevention isn’t possible, containing misinformation and disinformation was a viable outcome.

If there’s hesitation about relying on technology to make important decisions, Moriarty argued, people should consider the trust they’ve already placed in machines such as calculators, autopilot systems and software.

Regardless, Moriarity noted adopting AI technology will require a collective Defense Department approach — a challenging task to implement. He wondered what could realistically bring about the change he believes the department urgently needs.

“If you look at the nation’s finest hours, it’s typically been on the receiving end of some profoundly negative externality which gave us no choice but to respond to the threat,” Moriarty said. “I think the big challenge upon us now is we recognize the world is increasingly dangerous. Can we actually get ahead, or is the necessary forcing function a terrible event which allows us to just rip out these barriers to innovation and response?”

The right conversations are happening, according to Moriarty, but the country needs to move faster.

“People are singing from the same song sheet and it is the right song,” he said.