In all countries, but particularly the larger ones the importance of the military is a key player in the civilian economy. As soon as the boundaries of a country are established, a military is needed to protect those boundaries. As the country grows and its companies established global reaches, so does its military, because the interests of the companies becomes the interests of the country. In the US ever since WW II, due to the destruction of Europe and Asia, the US took the leadership role in the protecting the world from the enemy and protecting American business around the world. In the US, although many of the military companies are in the western part of the country, the links to the military through the Ivy League educational institutions such as MIT and Harvard go back a long way. In the west, the latest tool to improve the world is artificial intelligence or AI.

In an article by Tara Copp of the Associated Press, while most people think of AI it is from American business perspective, the reality is the same need to use big data and generative AI is found in military applications. In the article, 2 Air Force fighter jets recently squared off in a dogfight in California. One was flown by a pilot, the other was not.

The second aircraft was piloted by AI. (you have heard about self driving cars – this is the next thing self driving jets in warfare).

Admiral Christopher Grady, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, noted both China and the US are working on using AI in a future battefield.

In the early 60’s and 70’s, the Navy was using Aegis missile defence system. The system was designed to be faster than humans can respond, but it was human programmed on the bases of if/then rule. That is not machine learning according to Air Force Lt-Colonel Christopher Berardi, who is to MIT to assist with the Air Force’s AI development.

AI needs big data and advanced computing power and this has been around since 2012.

The Pentagon has hundreds of continuing AI projects across its services.

In your cellphone is information based on GPS which means there is computer software embedded in using the GPS. If the satellites in space were destroyed what is plan B? The military is working with magnetometers and has tested the system with C-17 and the base of operations is MIT.

Vista, the AI controlled F-16 has considerable safety rails as the Air Force trains it. The algorithm cannot learn during a flight. When a flight is over, the data is transferred to a simulator where it is fed new data gathered in-flight to learn from, create new rule sets and improve its performance.

In the near future. the Air Force hopes to have over 1,000 unmanned warplanes under the development of General Atomics and Anduril Industries.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the lessons learned by the military are eventually commercialized by private industry to become consumer products to the world’s consumers. The issue with the military is the nature of the organization being a top-down organization, the information will eventually come to light, but it takes time. In the private sector world, the idea is to see the information soon and begin the process to figure how to use the information to have better products. Learn from the military’s process is a very good thing to do but making a profit is the reason for business.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.

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