Pentagon Builds “Breakthrough” Cyber Security for Armed Combat Vehicles

Video Above: The Center for Military Modernization sits down for an exclusive interview at the Pentagon with Hon. Gabe Camarillo, Under Secretary of the US Army

By Kris Osborn President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington D.C.) Military vehicles, aircraft and ships in combat often have seconds, or even less, to identify and destroy an emerging enemy target, a technical ability now more possible due to the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled computing and multi-domain targeting systems. However, this paradigm-changing advantage can be complicated or offset by new risks, as extended multi-domain networks need to be hardened against cyber threats across unprecedented distances and technical formats.

Instant, unanticipated cyberattacks can increasingly cripple military operations in a matter of seconds by jamming networks, intercepting and corrupting time-critical warfare data, intruding into and denying cyber network operations, derailing targeting sensors and weapons guidance systems, or simply disabling vital, interconnected operational networks.

This well-known scenario is a key reason why the Pentagon has in recent years massively revved up its cybersecurity emphasis through applying new technologies, seeking to “bake in” cyber resilience earlier in a system’s development and prototyping process, and integrate a new generation of network protections and security protocols.

Several Pentagon and industry data-hardening or “information assurance” innovations were put to the test in October in the Army’s Project Convergence “campaign of learning” in the desert at the U.S. Army Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. Multiple air, ground, manned and unmanned nodes, sensors and weapons were integrated with cutting-edge, AI-enabled systems to instantly process data and “pair” sensors to shooters. This process, which has become quite successful since the Project Convergence effort began in 2020, has massively expedited the decision-cycle necessary to find and destroy a critical target faster than an enemy can operate. This breakthrough networking technology, which has reduced the targeting process from 20-mins to 20-secs and introduced a new generation of multi-domain attack and high-speed Combined Arms Maneuver, is essential to high-speed warfare at what Pentagon leaders call “the speed of relevance.”