The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is building a new artificial intelligence-based technology that would give military aircraft the capability to enhance flight safety, performance and reduce onboard crew members, FCW reported Wednesday.

The Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System is a customizable, drop-in and removable AI kit that allows operators to integrate advanced automation to existing aircraft.  DARPA already completed initial tests of the effectiveness of ALIAS’ sense and avoid capabilities in 2016 aboard a Cessna 172G aircraft. The agency aims to conduct the first fly-by-wire experiment with the tool in May or June with Sikorsky.Â

“We need the fly-by-wire to add a computer in the middle that helps and augments a human,” Lt. Colonel Philip Root, acting deputy director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, told FCW. “Once we prove that works, now we can begin adding the autonomy flight controls, operating in the background.”

The agency plans to conduct the first zero-pilot test with ALIAS in early 2020 with a Black Hawk helicopter. Sikorsky received a $35.7 million contract from DARPA in 2016 to lead the demonstration. Root said that amid the tests DARPA is also working on building trust with service members to use the autonomous technology in the future.Â

“Trust is two parts: You have to believe the system can actually deliver and you have to see it deliver routinely. Those two things are separate,” he said. “We can provide ability to trust a machine if we develop it from the ground up to foster that trust.”

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Steven Walker, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, told C4ISRNET in an interview published Wednesday about DARPA’s use of other transaction authorities in its artificial intelligence program. Walker, a 2019 Wash100 winner, said DARPA plans to continue using OTAs in other technology initiatives to speed up the acquisition process.

“One thing we’ve done recently with our AI initiative is we’ve decided that we would use OTAs to put million-dollar contracts on for 18 months to look at a whole range of AI and how it could be applied in different fields. But we want to do that quickly, so from announcement of a topic to awarding a contract is 90 days or less,” he said.

He cited the agency’s collaboration with the commercial sector and military branches on tech development efforts and the rapid technological changes in the field of biotechnology. Walker added that DARPA aims to develop a vaccine within 60 days using gene-editing techniques through its P3 program.

Air Force Secretary and 2019 Wash100 Award winner Heather Wilson announced a new strategy for the service to identify, build and deploy technology platforms for the next 10 years and beyond as well as expand its tech superiority amid peer-to-peer threats, the Air Force reported Wednesday. 

“The Science and Technology Strategy isn’t just a list of technologies. Our approach will be to predict where adversaries cannot easily go and make sure the Air Force gets there first,” said Wilson. The 32-page strategy has three objectives: develop and deliver transformational capabilities, reform the way science and technology is managed and expand scientific and technical enterprise.

To bring transformational and operational capabilities, Wilson said the service will focus on five strategic capabilities and keep the ability to dominate space, complexity and time across all operating domains. Those capabilities are global persistent awareness, resilient information sharing, unpredictability and mass, effective decision-making and reach of disruption and lethality. 

The Air Force will name a chief technology officer to guide technical and scientific decisions as part of its goal to change the way it oversees science and technology initiatives. The service will also leverage partnerships and advance workforce development and talent recruitment efforts to deepen the scientific and technical enterprise as part of the strategy.

The Veterans Health Administration, an agency within the Department of Veterans Affairs, is implementing the use of 3D printing in medical activities, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

Doctors at Puget Sound Medical Center leverage additive manufacturing to simulate surgeries. Meanwhile, doctors from other hospitals use the technology to produce customized braces. VHA began exploring 3D printing applications three years ago, with the goal to use the technology for veteran treatment. 

Beth Ripley, who leads VHA’s 3D printing advisory committee, said the agency is progressing to explore future applications of the technology. VHA seeks to 3D print prosthetics and artificial organs in the future, the report noted.