Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, director of the Department of Defense’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and a 2019 Wash100 Award winner, said he believes 2020 will be a “breakout year” for DoD when it comes to deploying AI-based capabilities, C4ISRNET reported Saturday. JAIC is advancing several mission programs including predictive maintenance for the H-60 helicopter, intelligent business automation and cyber sense-making. 

In addition to such programs, Shanahan said “AI for maneuver and fires” would be the center’s biggest priority in the coming fiscal year and he expects to see developments in the effort within six months from October. The initiative will include autonomous and swarming systems, joint all-domain command and control, target development and operations intelligence fusion.

He said at a media briefing Friday that JAIC is also pursuing the Joint Common Foundation, a platform designed to provide access to data, libraries, tools and environments to help AI and software engineers accelerate the development, testing and deployment of AI platforms to soldiers.

Rep. John Katko, R-N.Y., has presented a bill to support the protection of state and local governments against cyber threats amid the increase of ransomware cases, The Hill reported Friday. The legislation, named the State and Local Government Cybersecurity Improvement Act, would task the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to develop a cyber resource guide.

The guide would work to help state and local officials address cyber attacks and recover from potential damages. Officials would also receive cybersecurity support funds under the legislation. Katko is a member of the cybersecurity group within the House Homeland Security Committee.

Brig. Gen. Patrick Cobb, special assistant to the chief of the National Guard Bureau for space, said the Department of Defense will form the Space National Guard if Congress decides to establish the Space Force through its defense policy measure for fiscal year 2020, Federal News Network reported Monday. 

“In the second year of existence we will start bringing National Guard units over to the Space National Guard,” Cobb told the publication in an interview. “We will bring the Air National Guard units over first and then a year after that the Army National Guard unit that we have here in Colorado. The Air Force Reserve would do the same thing and Army Reserve.”

Cobb said they plan to set up the new Space National Guard without adding cost to the defense budget and cited the need to establish the organization in tandem with the new service branch.

“If there is a software upgrade, but Space Force owns that software upgrade, and we are still sitting in the Air National Guard will we get that upgrade?” he said. There’s a lot of those unknowns out there if we aren’t concurrently transferred over with our active duty counterparts.”

The U.S. and Poland have agreed to impose stricter regulations on 5G network infrastructure projects amid the Trump administration’s concerns over the use of Huawei products, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. 

Polish President Andrzej Duda and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence signed the joint agreement during the latter’s visit to Poland for a ceremony marking the end of World War II. The agreement, which didn’t mention the Chinese telecommunications firm, would mandate stringent reviews of any company seeking to build 5G infrastructure.

Interested parties would undergo assessments to ensure that they are not subject to the control of a foreign government.

Pence noted in a press conference that the agreement would “ensure the security of our digital infrastructure.” He also announced that locations for joint military bases in Poland have been finalized and that the country is “nearing eligibility” for a program that provides visa-free benefits for visitors to the U.S.

NASA has tested the visualization system of an aircraft designed to demonstrate supersonic flight for commercial aviation, Techcrunch reported Thursday. The X-59 plane’s eXternal Visibility System or XVS underwent tests with a Beechcraft King Air test aircraft to demonstrate detection functions.

XVS features a camera-display system that uses augmented reality to provide pilots with situational awareness. Test pilots said the X-59 aircraft’s design would allow for continued operations even if XVS stops functioning. Lockheed Martin is working to produce X-59 for NASA and have the supersonic aircraft ready for flight by 2021.

Air Force Research Laboratory has created a wax-like product designed to prevent water from blocking an aircraft’s canopy. The HydroSkip product would stop rain from pooling over an F-16 aircraft’s canopy during cases of bad weather, the U.S. Air Force said Thursday.

Heavy rain may restrict a pilot’s visibility needed for safe navigation, and HydroSkip aims to address this issue. Donald Willmoth, a mechanical engineer with the F-16 System Program Office, said the product turns white and wipes clean 10 minutes after application. Maintainers would apply the product to aircraft on a monthly basis.

The F-16 SPO expanded HydroSkip’s testing across all F-16 users across the Air Force due to demand. Three Air Force Bases have also agreed to test HydroSkip to address pooling issues that occur in Europe and the far east.

 “The plan is to fly 50 flight hours on one squadron and 60 days on the other with periodic testing to (verify) material durability,” Willmoth said.