AI turns battlefield data swamp into invaluable decision support
50,000 photos of a motorway. 8,000 planes in international airspace – unmanageable data pool or valuable ally? That all depends on how the information is processed. Switzerland has become the first country to put AI-powered solution SitaWare Insight into operation, and other countries are keen to follow in their data-driven footsteps.
Knowledge is a cornerstone for any armed forces, as it provides the basis for making optimum decisions in critical situations. However, data points are of no value in themselves, and for national armed forces the constant flow of information from all devices, domains and allies can be vast and extensive to collect and deal with. This is a task that artificial intelligence (AI) is uniquely equipped to tackle.
As a result, artificial intelligence is currently a hot topic of conversation in defence circles. In light of this, Systematic has taken action and developed SitaWare Insight – a new, intelligent extension to the suite of defence software known as SitaWare. The SitaWare suite is used by around 50 countries worldwide, including most major NATO countries.
Turbocharged intelligence
Artificial intelligence offers a wealth of possibilities. For example, an officer can use AI to generate a summary of a 1000-page report focusing on the specific topics that are relevant to her. Instead of an operator having to review countless hours of surveillance footage and photos manually, AI can be trained by means of image recognition to identify various military objects such as vehicles and equipment. Integration with other types of software gives the soldier a rapid and accurate overview of the position and properties of the vehicle in question, e.g. armor and range of weapons systems.
These are just a couple of examples of how Systematic has integrated AI into its software to handle unwieldy tasks for the military. This reduces human errors owing to fatigue associated with such vast data sets and frees up time, so military personnel can focus on using the data instead of processing it.
“On a modern battlefield, time is a huge factor. Time and data. But data is only valuable if it can be systematised. Certain AI technologies can even be trained to recognise patterns of behaviour for specific types, e.g. ships. If a fishing boat or frigate starts behaving differently than you would expect, military command centres are immediately notified.
“In other words: artificial intelligence gives soldiers the best basis to act swiftly and in an informed manner. But there is always a human in there, evaluating the AI input and making the actual decisions,” explains former Brigadier General Henrik Sommer, who now directs Systematic’s development of military systems for decision support.
First mover Switzerland watched with keen interest by neighbours
Even though the SitaWare suite is solid core digital inventory for national armed forces worldwide, SitaWare Insight is still new to the family. Switzerland is the first to adopt this new AI tool, and they look forward to a smart system, in which information can be shared seamlessly across the board – from combat soldier to general. A number of other countries are keenly following developments in Switzerland, and several have already begun testing SitaWare Insight themselves. When talking to the defence industry, Henrik Sommer is in no doubt at all:
“It is still relatively new terrain, but everyone wants AI on their team. In a firefight, it’s no good coming in second, and artificial intelligence may well make that crucial difference. We see huge potential here, as SitaWare Insight can accelerate armed forces’ AI aspirations,” he says.
New times for the defence sector
Even though SitaWare Insight is ready for use, development does not stop here. Right now, Systematic’s Insight team are working on building a platform to allow customers to define and train their own AI models.
“Even though we enjoy a high level of trust from our defence customers, certain information should only be shared on an absolute need-to-know basis. Giving them the tools to also train some AI models themselves gives our customers a greater degree of sovereignty and scope to leverage classified data that not even a trusted Systematic consultant is allowed access to,” says Robert Krogshave, who manages technical development of SitaWare Insight.
The prospect of better exploiting the potential of AI is seen as hugely exciting by Systematic’s defence customers. However, it also comes with challenges: since the technology is so new in military circles, putting it into operation is a huge task. He points out:
“Digitalisation in the military has happened really fast, and it is a substantial turnaround in how things work. Consequently, we need to also be good at advising countries on procedures and conduct in a digital world – it is our duty to help them stay sharp, safe and secure when working with AI and data in the future.”
