It was all part of the Army’s XVIII Airborne Corp artificial intelligence-enabled live-fire target identification exercise on Thursday that used nearly 20 platforms and units from each of the other branches.

The event was the fourth of its kind for the Scarlet Dragon program, which began in 2020.

The Corps, assisted by elements of the Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, worked with various platforms in all domains. But a key ingredient was the National Geospatial-Intelligence Center, which provided satellite imagery for software to sift through and find targets.

Due to safety concerns with weather conditions, no steel struck any targets, but Col. Melissa Solsbury, chief data officer for the Corps, told Army Times that the event “achieved machine to machine learning at scale.”

“Since our first event we have been able to reduce the speed of moving data from sensor to shooter by nearly 50 percent,” she said.

Officials did not disclose the time necessary to move data from sensor to shooter.

And maritime assets in the exercise were used for intelligence, allowing leaders to test maritime asset integration with AI algorithms on synthetic aperture radar systems, she said.

Which, essentially, gave them a chance to test out aspects of their system in inclement weather, Solsbury said.

Had steel hit target, two GBU-32 bombs would have hit on a 10-digit grid after having scanned across a plethora of potential targets along the mid-Atlantic seaboard.

The first test-fire in December 2020 proved AI-enabled fires set up. The second, in March, worked Multi-Domain Operations tasks. While the third, in June, doubled the number of units and platforms being used and tested the Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control interoperability.

This most recent event worked through Joint All-Domain Operations with the addition of deep troves of an intelligence agency’s data.

Scarlet Dragon is using existing platforms and networks to harness that imagery so that leaders can use it to identify certain targets in a vast array of options. The software for the project comes out of the Pentagon’s Project Maven, an algorithm-based tool used to quickly process drone video for target ID and selection which started in 2017.

Thursday’s iteration worked through all steps to drop two GBU-32 bonds on range targets after scanning possible targets in a 7,200 square kilometer area stretching from Virginia to Georgia, officials said.

“The Scarlet Dragon series is designed to increase our joint warfighting capability and how AI-augmented decision making significantly increases the scale, speed and accuracy of our targeting process,” Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla, XVIII Airborne Corps commander told Army Times.

The Corps is using today’s technology to increase that capability with other services, Kurilla said.

Some of that tech included fires support elements from II Marine Expeditionary Force, F-35s from 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, A-10s out of 75th Fighter Squadron, F-15s with the Air Force’s 4th Fighter Wing, an E-2 C/D Hawkeye and F-18 from the Navy’s Carrier Air Wing Three, Army 18th Field Artillery Brigade with High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, rotary wing aircraft, command and control and other assets.

“It’s about seeking ways to achieve decision advantage in large-scale combat operations,” he said. “It’s about learning, as an organization, how to employ data as a strategic asset in the joint fight.”

What AI can do is “accelerate the targeting space,” said Col. Joe O’Callaghan, the XVIII Airborne Corps Fire Support Officer.

Which means helping soldiers make better decisions faster.

“We fully understand that in any future conflict it’s going to be the best shooter for the target or the least worst-case shooter,” O’Callaghan said. “AI is allowing us to rapidly understand an environment and take advantage of it.”

The work being done by Scarlet Dragon is expected to feed into the larger Project Convergence effort by the Army, tying together all of these joint systems, shooters and sensors for a unified battlefield management system.

Undergirding much of the work are efforts that may go unseen during an event such as a large-scale live fire.

That’s creating data-literate soldiers who know not only how to run the machinery and execute code, but to understand the importance of data and how it shapes the fight.

Solsbury told Army Times that effort is Project Ridgeway and it is how the Corps is tackling that concern.

Ridgeway is targeting staff officers and NCOs to upgrade their data skills, in part through a six-week program with Joint Special Operations Command, she said.

The main “data gatekeepers” in the formation are the brigade staff officers, she said.

“By that, I mean that they horde data and do not understand where and how to ensure their data contributes to a body (an aggregate) or insight,” she said. “Our staff officers do not appreciate the power in aggregating, consolidating, and harnessing data—they don’t value or view data as a strategic asset.”

Ridgeway is how officials hope to solve that problem.

Another part of Ridgeway is to help the XVIII Airborne Corps find practical ways to apply emerging technology as they figure out how best to put AI into the fight, she said.

The next live fire is scheduled for early 2022 and will focus on data-centric warfare, using all joing partners in all domains and achieving information advantage over adversaries, officials said.

The leader of the directorate handles cyber policy for the Army’s G-3/5/7 office at the Pentagon.

Buckner is deputy commander of Joint Task Force-ARES, which engages in the cyber fight against ISIS, at U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade, Maryland.

She was named to her current role last June, after serving as deputy commander of operations for the Cyber National Mission Force at U.S. Cyber Command. In 2014, she was named commandant for the newly formed Army Cyber School and tasked with growing the school and developing cyber training.

Buckner is a career intelligence officer whose training includes electronic warfare and signals intelligence courses, airborne and jumpmaster schools, Joint and Combined Warfighting School and Harvard’s Executive Education Program in cybersecurity. She is a 1990 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

The Army has not announced when she will transition into her new role. An Army spokeswoman told Army Times that no additional information is available yet.

The current director of Army cyber is Maj. Gen. Patricia Frost, who has led the directorate since it opened in summer 2016.

The directorate has focused on integrating the Army’s cyber, information and electronic warfare operations as the Army builds its cyber organizations and career field.

The Army has made a “very significant” investment in cyber as it rapidly formed Army Cyber Command and built its cyber mission force, Frost told Army Times in October.

“I feel very strongly that the Army is truly leading the way in this space,” Frost said in the interview. “I think we’re really seeing that come together now in how we’re equipping the cyber mission force, the operational capabilities we’re putting in our support to our geographic combatant commands we’re aligned to.”

Meanwhile, the Army has wasted up to $40 billion by some estimates, McCain said, on programs like the $2.2 billion Crusader howitzer, $5.9 billion on the armed reconnaissance helicopter, and the joint tactical radio system.

“Every one of those that I mentioned never became reality,” he said. “Never.”

Army leaders have testified on Capitol Hill multiple times this year that the service needs more funding to meet its current operational requirements and increase end strength for the future.

But McCain has rejected the idea of increasing funding until the procurement process shows improvement.

“I’m embarrassed to go in front of my constituents saying, ‘We need more money,’ when we just blew $7.5 billion for a thing called Warfighter Information Network-Tactical — or WIN-T — which the Army still is trying to hang on to,” he said.

The issues are larger than a few mistakes, added Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

“Number one, it seems to me the fact that the Army has had this series of failures without too many successes over the past 10 — or actually, almost 20 — years, says that there’s something systemic in their procurement system that needs to be thought about,” he said.

McCarthy pointed to shifting requirements during acquisition as a major reason so many programs drag on for years and go so far over budget.

“I saw it firsthand with the Future Combat Systems in 2009, that changing midstream from light and fast to a heavier concept, that confusion in fluctuation confuses what you want to achieve with the system,” he said.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, chimed in, indignant that the Army just last year awarded the contract for its new pistol, replacing a handgun it had been using since 1982.

“Russia continues to upgrade its service rifle and we continue to carry the M4 and the M16s,” she said. “The Army just figured out how to procure new pistols. How simple. I can’t believe how long it took to procure a new handgun.”

McCarthy suggested looking at off-the-shelf rifles that could be modified to fit the Army’s needs. For instance, he said, the successful mine-resistant, ambush protected vehicle used by both the Army and Marine Corps was inspired by a similar vehicle used by South African forces.

Despite the hammering, McCain agreed that readiness — Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley’s top priority — could not continue to slip.

“Mr. McCarthy, the U.S. Army is facing a crisis,” he said. “With current operational demands, we can no longer accept that only about one third of the Army’s [brigade combat teams] are ready for deployment.”

McCarthy agreed.

“Six years ago, when I left the Department of Defense, the world was a complex and dangerous place. The Army had over 178,000 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq,” he said. “Today the danger and complexity in the world has only increased, while the size of the total Army has decreased.”

The Army reversed its end strength drawdown this year and leaders have said they would like to see the number of soldiers spread throughout the active and reserve components continue to climb.

Despite his tough questioning, McCain said he would like to move the nomination along as quickly as possible, and promised a fight on the Senate floor if his Democratic colleagues continue to hold up Trump nominations.

The Army’s Rapid Equipping Force bought 50 of the devices this month, and they should be delivered in the coming weeks, according to Clay Wild, vice president of marketing for Radio Hill Technologies, a Portland, Oregon-based technology startup.

The device starts at $30,000, depending on accessories, uses five custom antennae and a “technique generator” that uses less than 10 percent of the battery power to create the jamming signal. The power-saving method allows for a smaller device than some competitors, Wild said.

The “Dronebuster” is one of several tools the Army is using to counter unmanned aerial systems. This latest tool weighs just 5 pounds and is designed for soldiers at remote locations or on dismounted patrols.

Photo Credit: Courtesy photo via Radio Hill Technologies, Inc.

Col. Lanier Ward, director of the Rapid Equipping Force, wouldn’t discuss specifics of the equipment but said the “Dronebuster” is one of many pieces of gear used in the counter-unmanned aircraft systems fight.

Ward said that three main capabilities where the counter-UAS mission is being developed include dismounted, stationary — such as at a permanent base — and vehicle.

The colonel, who has been head of the Rapid Equipping Force for the past year, said the unit aims to get off-the-shelf items into the hands of troops as quickly as possible. Their mission targets less than 180 days from requirement to delivery and averages 140 days. 

The process doesn’t replace traditional procurement methods, which have more requirements and more often develop gear for uses that fit the Army’s long-term doctrine and sustainment goals.

“We can buy the Army time,” Ward said.

Ward said the Rapid Equipping Force views equipment in a zero- to two-year window. Once an item has been around for that long, they look at whether that capability gap still exists. 

Some items can be a one-time purchase; others might exist for a short period before being replaced; while still others could become upgraded gear that is used for long-term missions. 

As the Rapid Equipping Force purchased the “Dronebusters,” multiple Army entities converged on Fort Sill, Oklahoma, earlier this month for the annual Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment, which, among other things, looked at the use of high energy lasers to disable or destroy drones, drone use for a “common air picture” to the platoon and company level, and using drones to deliver troop supplies, according to the Army News Service.

That event showcased a Stryker with a mounted laser dropping a drone out of the sky and demonstration drones carrying items such as a first aid kit to a designated site.

This is the third version of the “Dronebuster,” Wild said. The first generations were sold to Air Force security forces, and more recent versions are now being sold to NATO clients. He did not specify which country.

Today, if a unit’s mission changes, there are just a few options to receive a particular weapon system, extra equipment or supplies. A convoy can be sent out to deliver the suppliles, troops can walk back to get what they need, or they can submit a request to the supporting aviation unit for an air drop.

An unmanned aerial technology — such as a hoverbike — will provide supplies faster and more safely, officials said.

“Maneuver units are seeing things like quad copters and Amazon delivering via drones, and they say, ‘Hey, what about me? I want that on my battlefield,'” said Robert Forrester, technical manager for the joint tactical aerial resupply vehicle program, or JTARV, at Army Research, Development and Engineering Command.

The JTARV program is a joint effort with many of the Army’s labs, including the Army Research Laboratory and Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center, and the Marine Corps.

Forrester said he works with industry partners and vendors to provide prototypes for evaluation by the user community.

The hoverbike has rotors that spin within circular metal rims, pushing air downward and allowing the vehicle to rise up.

The hoverbike, however, is just one option the team is researching.

“They’re all going to be vertical takeoff and landing-type systems,” with a capacity of roughly 200 to 800 pounds, Forrester said.

The Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence and the Marine Corps are working to find the sweet spot between payload and capacity.

“If you have to haul this vehicle on a truck to deploy it, you may not want to have a 1,000-pound vehicle that you have to lug around,” Forrester said.

Maj. Jeremy Gottshall, a requirements developer with Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Combined Arms Support Command, is reaching out to the force to gauge their interest in something like the JTARV. 

A major concern has been troops being bogged down with heavier equipment, Gottshall said, and the JTARV can help lighten the load.

“If we have this within their unit, they will be less likely to go out of the gate overloaded,” he said. “They’ll have the confidence that if their mission changes, they can reach back immediately in their unit to fly what they need out to them in a timely manner.”

Army researchers are working on an unmanned aerial alternative to resupplying troops on the battlefield.

Photo Credit: Army

Forrester said the JTARV program could change the paradigm of who controls something like this.

“Traditionally, it’s aviation units doing aviation missions, but for this whole concept to work, what they’re looking to do is rely on technology and automation,” he said.

The plan is to have an autonomous vehicle, which means there won’t be “a soldier with a joystick” controlling it, Gottshall said. It will ideally be easy enough to maintain and operate without a licensed pilot.

The JTARV program wouldn’t replace manned resupply missions, but it would help augment current practices, officials said.

The Marine Corps is also working with the Army on demos and feedback.

Tom Heffern, with Marine Corps Combat Development Command, said Marines with Combat Logistics Regiment 25 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, have gotten demonstrations of a smaller version of the hoverbike.

“It doesn’t necessarily take an aviator to operate these things,” Heffern said. “It’s done by Marines in the field with limited training.”

More demonstrations and testing are planned for the summer, but Heffern said Marines are looking forward to the possibility of an option like this.

“Everybody on the logistics side has been really excited so far about the abilities [something like] this will bring,” he said. “They feel empowered.”

Charlsy Panzino covers the Guard and Reserve, training, technology, operations and features for Army Times and Air Force Times. Email her at cpanzino@militarytimes.com.  

Nakasone said he is “pleased to return to a command where leadership has been and always will be our top priority.”

“We are at the forefront of one of the most transformative times in our Army’s history, operating in a dynamic and challenging domain that is revolutionizing the way our Army fights and wins,” Nakasone said. “Our focus will be on defending our networks, data and weapons systems, delivering effects against our adversaries in and through cyberspace, and designing, building, deploying and integrating capabilities for the future fight, spanning cyberspace, electronic warfare and information operations.”

To the audience, he said, “Welcome to the place where ones and zeroes never sleep.”

Milley emphasized the growing importance of the Army’s cyber efforts in a multi-domain force.

Army Cyber Command is “literally on the front lines of freedom, on the wall 24/7,” Milley said.  “Your guard can never be lowered. Your success or failure as a command will mean the difference to the United States between victory or defeat in war.”

The danger is real, he said.

“Very serious cyber capability right now is being developed and deployed by major nation states, some of them not our friends,” Milley said. “It is entirely possible to inflict widespread damage on a country’s economy and military” through cyber attacks.

Army Cyber is an “incredible command” that is “rapidly increasing in size and scope, and in importance to the nation and the Army in defense of our liberties,” he said.

The six-year-old command is now an “established and critical asset in the inventory of our defense,” Milley said.  “It will continue to be built while engaged in close combat, virtual combat to be sure, the combat of the Internet, the combat of cyber, but combat nonetheless, with the adversaries of our country.”

Cardon created a “preeminent world-class cyber force, never mind that he had no budget, never mind that he had no guidance …  that operational forces either didn’t exist or were already in contact with the enemy,” Milley said.

“Ed [Cardon] was absolutely the right choice to lead ArCyber,” Milley said. “He has always been a change agent …  one of the few engineers who commanded a ground maneuver brigade.”

Under Cardon’s leadership as the command’s second commander, the organization rapidly built the cyber force up to 41 active mission support teams and established a new cyber career branch that takes its place alongside infantry and armor.

Cyber elements were integrated into overseas combat missions and alongside maneuver units at Army Combat Training Centers. Next month, ground will be broken for the new Army Cyber Command

headquarters at Fort Gordon, Georgia

.

“Ed’s work at training centers is proliferating throughout all of our Army’s formations,” Milley said, adding that Cardon fostered private sector engagements to ensure the Army remains on the cutting edge of cyberspace operations.

Cardon directed most of his farewell remarks to thanking those he works with, and those who work for him.

“I consider myself truly blessed to have had the opportunity to lead this remarkable command at this critical point in its history,” said Cardon.

The command has grown “exponentially, in manning, training, equipping, resourcing,” Cardon said.

The pace of change in this domain will continue to demand orders of magnitude of efforts to improve, adapt and innovate in capabilities and readiness, he said.

Cardon’s next position will be director of the Army’s Office of Business Transformation.

In addition to serving at Army Cyber Command, Nakasone has had Army assignments in the United States, the Republic of Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has commanded at company, battalion and brigade levels, and served as the senior intelligence officer at the battalion, division and corps levels. He has also twice served as a staff officer on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Nakasone is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College, the Command and General Staff College, and Defense Intelligence College. He has graduate degrees from the U.S. Army War College, the National Defense Intelligence College and the University of Southern California.

He’s also part of “Team Nakasone” – with his wife, Susan, and their four children.