Top USSOCOM technological priorities include biotech, AI, precision strike, official says
NewsMay 08, 2023
SOF WEEK 2023 - TAMPA, Fla. Biotech, artificial intelligence, next-generation precision strike, and better mobility are some of the top technical challenges U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) wants industry to help with, a top USSOCOM acquisition official said during his address at the 2023 SOF Week conference here on Monday.
USSOCOM is relying on industry to help them solve some of these challenges in the years ahead, said Bill Innes, deputy director of acquisition for USSOCOM. Innes is the principal advisor to the Special Operations Acquisition Executive and conducts oversight and policy for special operations forces acquisition, technology, and logistics (AT&L).
Specifically, those technological challenges include: biotechnologies and human interface; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and tactically relevant situational awareness; network and data management; next-generation effects and precision strike; and next-generation mobility.
Artificial intelligence will play a big part in network and data management in the future, including advanced machine learning and supporting tactical edge computing, Innes said.
Commercial sector advancements have been significant, Innes said, particularly when it comes to some of what he described the “leading edge” challenges for USSOCOM.
“Most of them are being driven by the commercial sector,” he said. “That's really where a lot of the advancements are taking place: Communications, contest and congested comms, special reconnaissance, sensors, space, and cyber, and the backbone of it all, the data and the software and the network.”
Innes said he hoped to provide a starting point for industry partners to consider how they can contribute to USSOCOM's mission, especially in the realm of collaborative autonomy.
For more SOF Week 2023 coverage, visit www.militaryembedded.com/sofweek.
