Key Takeaways:

  • Military intelligence involves the production of information by the armed services that identifies and helps mitigate threats to the nation.
  • The mission needs of the military intelligence community include analyst training, safeguarding sensitive information, and accelerating solutions development.
  • Collaboration and customer-centric efforts are important to develop solutions and capabilities that lead to better mission outcomes for military intelligence analysts.
 

CUAS: Why an enterprise approach takes on this emerging need the best

Without question, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), or drones in non-industry language, have become one of the most pressing and complex threats facing militaries and law enforcement agencies around the globe. For the past 15 months, we have watched Ukrainian and Russian forces attempt to leverage UAS and counter UAS, or CUAS, to gain an advantage on the battlefield. This back and forth has wrought lessons on both sides, and Western nations are taking copious notes. Unmanned systems are deployed in the thousands per month on both sides with increasing scale almost weekly.

Stateside, the increase in commercial and recreational use of UAS has enabled a proliferation of highly capable drones occupying U.S. airspace, creating a new potential threat to U.S. Federal, State, and Local authorities and private organizations like sports franchises and concert venues. The temporary halting of a recent NFL game due to UAS over the playing field, disruption in air traffic at Washington D.C. Reagan National Airport, and numerous instances of trespassing and smuggling operations using UAS are examples of various challenges.

 

The technology-agnostic, systems-integration approach

Multiple dissimilar environments and continuously evolving threats demand unique solutions. Utilizing a system of systems (SoS) approach that accounts for operators' skill sets and allows maximum mission effectiveness against multiple threats is optimal. Fielding a best-of-breed SoS CUAS solution remains a complex integration challenge that mates individual systems developed by many manufacturers.

In our construct, the SoS is tailorable to the mission and environment, scalable to the nature of the threat, configured for the user, and technology agnostic to enable rapid and affordable upgrades that keep pace with evolving threats. SAIC continues to rapidly answer the call to deliver capability that tackles complex threats yet is simple.

To tackle various threats in different environments, it is important to have unique solutions. The system of systems (SoS) approach is preferred as it allows maximum mission effectiveness against multiple threats and considers the operator's skill set. However, integrating individual systems from different manufacturers to field the best SoS CUAS solution remains a complex challenge. Our SoS is customizable to the mission and environment, scalable to the nature of the threat, configured for the user, and technology agnostic. This enables rapid and affordable upgrades to keep up with evolving threats. At SAIC, we strive to deliver capability that effectively tackles complex threats while remaining simple.