The US military is relying on big data company Palantir to advance automated target acquisition using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to enable long-range precision shooting. The Army has awarded it a $178.4 million contract to develop a mobile ground station called the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (Titan), the Denver-based company said this week. With the system, the US Army aims to take its ability to assess and control the battlefield to the next level through the coordinated collection of data. This “deep sensing” involves machine support for target selection, situation assessment and decision-making.
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According to initial sketches, Titan is a large truck that, according to Palantir, “has access to space, altitude, air and terrestrial sensors to provide actionable targeting information for improved mission control and precision fires” over long distances. The solution is designed to incorporate “concrete feedback and insights from Soldier touchpoints at every step of the development and configuration process.” Building on previous work to provide AI capabilities for combat aircraft, they are building “the Army’s first AI-powered vehicle.”
According to its own statements, Palantir wants to use the technology to shorten “the time between sensor and shooter (S2S) by naming targets” and create a uniform situation picture. To do this, systems, technologies and software from partners from the defense and IT industry such as Northrop Grumman, Anduril Industries, L3Harris Technologies, Pacific Defense, SNC, Strategic Technology Consulting and World Wide Technology will be integrated.
Killer Robots: From Maven to Titan as the Next Step
Titan is the logical extension of Maven, Palantir boss Alex Karp told the financial service Bloomberg. This is a project that has been hotly debated for years and involves the use of machine learning and AI systems to distinguish between people and objects in drone footage. Maven is considered an important part of the United States' “kill cloud.” Google withdrew from the US initiative in 2018 following employee protests during the debate over “killer robots” due to ethical concerns. Palantir is still involved.
Despite much criticism, the Pentagon is currently working hard to upgrade battlefield centers with AI. Despite numerous open questions, military experts assume that algorithms will increasingly make decisions about life and death in war. In this country, the police in Bavaria and Hesse work with systems that are based on the Palantir analysis software Gotham. There are massive constitutional concerns about this, even from interior ministers in other federal states.
(bme)