While the use of aerial drones and other unmanned military systems have been highly successful in Defense operations, the technology isn’t being used to its full potential due to various obstacles in the Defense Department, a new report by the Defense Science Board (DSB) claims.
The Role of Autonomy in DoD Systems report says the primary obstacles are poor design, lack of effective coordination of R&D efforts and operational challenges created by the urgent deployment of unmanned systems without adequate resources and training. Plus, the complexity of software used to operate unmanned systems has befuddled commanders, operators and developers.
The DSB take force outlined a series of recommendations on how the DoD can increase the use of autonomy in DoD systems:
First, the DoD should embrace a three-facet autonomous systems framework (cognitive echelon, mission timelines, human-machine system trade spaces). The automonomous system should include:
- Focuses design decisions on the explicit allocation of cognitive functions and responsibilities between the human and computer to achieve specific capabilities.
- Recognizes that these allocations may vary by mission phase as well as echelon.
- Makes the high-level system trades inherent in the design of autonomous capabilities visible.
Next, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering should work with the Military Services to establish a coordinated science and technology program guided by feedback from operational experience and evolving mission requirements.
“DoD needs new technology to assist the test community with certifying systems at the end of development,” the report stated, which hasn’t happened due to the rushed nature of implementing these new technologies.
The Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics should create developmental and operational test and evaluation techniques that focus on the unique challenges of autonomy.
Finally, the DoD should use lessons from using autonomous systems in the recent conflicts for military education, war games, exercises and operational training. Also, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Intelligence community should track adversarial capabilities with autonomous systems and use these in training.
