In March 2024, AUKUS experts successfully deployed autonomous and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled sensing systems during the Resilient and Autonomous Artificial Intelligence Technology (RAAIT) trials as part of the AUKUS advanced capabilities line of effort, known as Pillar II.
The trials took place at multinational Project Convergence exercises hosted by the U.S. Army. Military personnel from the three AUKUS nations tested cutting-edge autonomous and AI-enabled sensing capabilities in a multi-domain battlespace—land, maritime, air, and cyber—that minimize the time between sensing enemy targets, deciding how to respond, and responding to the threat. These trials demonstrated significant progress since the first AUKUS RAAIT trials in the UK in April 2023 and show tangible results of the AUKUS Pillar II commitment to enhancing battlefield lethality.
Once matured and integrated into national platforms, these new sensing systems will yield more reliable data that commanders can use to make optimal decisions quickly against kinetic threats while enabling seamless joint and combined military operations involving multiple services and nations.
One such system deployed at RAAIT is a plug-in for the Tactical Assault Kit (TAK)—a map-based software application—that helped a UK RedKite Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) detect opposing force locations using on-the-fly adjustments based on collected data. Another UAV provided detailed imagery as confirmation. The information was passed to the Tactical Operations Center (TOC), where a uniformed "AI officer" provided human oversight before triggering an Australian XT-8 UAV to perform a simulated strike. The TAK is already being put to good use, with plans for wider dissemination by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
"It used to be that each nation used its own datasets to develop separate models and deploy those models on their own platforms. Under RAAIT, we’ve matured the AI pipeline, focusing on interchangeability and interoperability, which allows for any combinations of datasets, models, algorithms and platforms to be used across all three nations," said Dr. Kimberly Sablon, Principal Director of Trusted Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
Lessons learned at the RAAIT trials will be applied in future training events where the AUKUS Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy (AIA) Working Group hopes to leverage findings to develop an AIA ecosystem that will enable partner nations to share data for operational success in contested environments.
"Our goal is to get to the point where we have a pipeline that is interchangeable and interoperable but robust," Sablon said. "Being able to collect data, train our AI systems, conduct testing and evaluation and even adapt to unanticipated threats in less than 10 hours at the edge is a huge milestone for our partnership."
A video highlighting this effort is available online.
U.S. participation in RAAIT trials at Project Convergence was led by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). OUSD(R&E) champions research, science, technology, engineering, and innovation to maintain U.S. military technological superiority.
