Bots & Bullets

By 2025, cyber attackers will have weaponised operational technology (OT) environments to successfully harm or kill humans, according to Gartner.  Attacks on OT – hardware and software that monitors or controls equipment, assets and processes – have become more common. They have also evolved from immediate process disruption such as shutting down a plant, to compromising the integrity of industrial environments with intent to create physical harm. Other recent events like the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack have highlighted the need to have properly segmented networks for IT and OT.

The British Army has used Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the first time during Exercise Spring Storm, as part of Operation Cabrit in Estonia. Soldiers from the 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade used an AI engine which provides information on the surrounding environment and terrain.

In recent tests at Eglin Air Force Base, DARPA’s Mobile Force Protection (MFP) program demonstrated a Counter-Unmanned Air System (C-UAS) multilayer defense architecture to defeat unauthorized drone intrusions over military installations or operations.

US Air Force announced it conducted a 2 hour and 10 minute flight test of the Skyborg autonomy core system, or ACS, aboard a Kratos UTAP-22 tactical unmanned vehicle at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. Follow-on events will demonstrate direct manned and unmanned teaming between aircraft and multiple ACS-controlled unmanned aircraft.

FLIR Systems has received more than $70 million in new orders for its ground robots from the U.S. Armed Services. The U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps placed orders for nearly 600 FLIR Centaur robots, including additional spares, antennas, and payload mounting kits. As a result, the U.S. Army awarded FLIR a $31.6 million contract increase for its Man Transportable Robot System Increment II (MTRS Inc. II) program. The new award raises the ceiling value of the original MTRS Inc. II contract from roughly $158 million to $190 million.

AeroVironment, provider of intelligent, multi-domain robotic systems, today announced it was granted clearance from the German government and completed the acquisition of Telerob Gesellschaft für Fernhantierungstechnik mbH (Telerob), in a $45.4 million (€37.5 million) cash transaction and the pay-off of approximately $9.4 million (€7.8 million) in Telerob’s debt at closing. Telerob now operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AeroVironment.

Army and Arizona State University researchers identified a set of approaches to help scientists assess how well autonomous systems and humans communicate.

Sarcos Robotics, developer of robots that augment humans to enhance productivity and safety, announced that it will become publicly listed through a merger transaction with Rotor Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company.

Stratom, developer of autonomous ground vehicles and robotic systems for logistics and operational applications, has been awarded a contract with the U.S. Army’s DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) to develop an autonomous ground vehicle refueling (AGVR) prototype system to integrate onto a Palletized Load System (PLS) flat rack for autonomous convoy operations.

Robotic Assistance Devices will integrate EAGL Gunshot Detection Technology into all its security devices. A Gunshot Detection System is defined as a system that can recognize as well as identify the location of gunfire or other weapon fire. This detection can be done using an array of acoustic sensors.