The Defense Department has begun to incorporate artificial intelligence software into unmanned aerial systems designed to fly alongside manned aircraft to detect hostile targets, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

Matthew Rosenberg and John Markoff write the drone is part of DoD’s efforts to advance the development of autonomous and semiautonomous weapon systems in order to help the U.S. maintain its military advantage over Russia, China and other potential adversaries.

“China and Russia are developing battle networks that are as good as our own,” said Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work.

“They can see as far as ours can see; they can throw guided munitions as far as we can,” Work added.

The Pentagon has allocated $18 billion in funds to technology development efforts, including $3 billion in funds to support the creation of “human-machine combat teaming” platforms in the next five years, Rosenberg and Markoff report.

DoD has also introduced the “centaur warfighting” strategy that seeks to advance the use of autonomous weapons and human control to support the problem-solving skills of uniformed personnel, according to the publication.

David Hardy, associate deputy undersecretary for space at the U.S. Air Force, has described why Defense Department is not yet willing to send small satellites into operational roles at the annual Hosted Payload and Smallsat Summit, Space News reported Tuesday.

Phillip Swarts writes Hardy noted factors that affect the DoD decision include the lack of self-defense capacities such as electronic countermeasures and robust propulsion systems as well as demands placed by military operations on space capacities including weather communications, navigation, positioning and surveillance.

“We need to make sure that we’re building an overall DoD and military architecture that is both mission capable and resilient,” said Hardy.

Smallsat advocates said that the deployment of constellations of redundant small satellites, with a capacity to continue operations even with the destruction of one or two units, can help address DoD concerns on resiliency.

Al Tadros, chair of the Air Force’s Hosted Payload Alliance special contracting authority, added the contracting authority has not been fully utilized in terms of access to the commercial space industry.

Military agencies have not yet used the Hosted Payload Alliance established to help agencies pay satellite operators that will host military payloads aboard commercial satellites and only NASA has used that contract authority to design accommodations for an atmospheric sensor.

Carla Provost, deputy assistant commissioner of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) since September 2015, has been appointed to the role of deputy chief at the agency.

Provost will serve as the Border Patrol’s deputy chief and have responsibility over the agency’s daily operations, planning and nationwide enforcement initiatives, the Customs and Border Protection agency said Wednesday.

“Carla Provost is a proven leader who has demonstrated the courage to take on tough assignments, find solutions to the greatest challenges and direct federal law enforcement organizations toward mission success,” Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan said.

Provost joined the Border Patrol in January 1995 and took her first assignment as a Border Patrol agent to the Douglas Station in the Tucson, Ariz. sector.

She was promoted to supervisory Border Patrol agent in 1997 and later to field operations supervisor in 2001 and other higher level roles until January 2013, when she became chief patrol agent of the El Centro Sector.

Provost stood up CBP’s Use of Force Center of Excellence, now known as the Law Enforcement Safety and Compliance Directorate, to develop CBP’s use of force policy and establish operational Use of Force programs.

She was a police officer with the Riley County Police Department in Manhattan, Kansas prior to CBP.

Douglas Loverro, deputy assistant secretary for space policy at the Defense Department, has said he believes commercial space platforms should be integrated into the overall technology architecture for warfighters, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Terri Moon Cronk writes Loverro made the remarks during a panel discussion hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies about the U.S. military’s use of commercial space resources and policy measures to support the commercial space industry.

“Over 80 percent of satellite communications that we use in combat today are commercial satellite communications but that’s not being used, but that’s not being viewed from a resilience standpoint or a surety standpoint,” Loverro said.

He added the military should integrate commercial services into “true war planning” to achieve operational resilience, the report stated.

Loverro noted the commercial industry’s space situational awareness adds to the government’s capacity and that the government should help evolve commercial space technology, Moon Cronk wrote.