MONTH XX, 2021
McLean, VA – Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: Booz Allen) announced today that it has an ongoing effort under an existing competitively awarded contract to build the Arcane Fire platform, developing machine learning operations (MLOps) pipelines to accelerate the operational use of machine learning (ML) on the battlefield. Arcane Fire, a program conceived at the direction of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, will provide the U.S. Army and joint force with the ability to accelerate training, acquisition, and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) models while reducing technical complexity, integration risk, and cost. This platform will pave the way for the next generation of cross-service command and control (C2) solutions, namely Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2).
“We’re honored to bring Booz Allen’s unique ML and AI experience and expertise to this work,” said Jon Maddux, a Booz Allen vice president and leader of the firm’s Army C4 and Intel Ops portfolio. “The Army’s Tactical Data Fabric is built from an AI-enabled software architecture designed to accelerate the delivery of critical mission data and smart analytics to the warfighter. Our team delivers first and third-party ML model training and acquisition pathways to protect intellectual property and increase industry engagement.”
Arcane Fire will provide the ML infrastructure needed to unlock the full potential of AI on the battlefield, enabling advanced pattern recognition to increase warfighter situational awareness and lethality in real time. This MLOps platform will allow the U.S. Army to overcome the most common challenges associated with operationalizing ML for soldiers on the battlefield. Specifically, Arcane Fire provides the following operational benefits:
- Increased ML model deployment frequency
- Improved ML model deployment in challenged environments
- System-level ML test & evaluation
- Lifecycle ML model management
Many organizations face the challenge of implementing AI/ML solutions that can deliver the same impact on mission as seen in laboratory or pilot program settings. Operationalizing the solutions to bring models to the battlefield requires dedicated system engineering capabilities. Army ML engineers must currently dedicate a significant amount of time and resources to training their models to combat this common challenge. Booz Allen will support the Information Warfare Directorate (I2WD) by bringing its system engineering expertise to ensure that the models being trained are successfully integrated and operationalized to support the Army’s C2 missions.
“With multi-domain programs like JADC2 being implemented by the Department of Defense (DoD) to fuse data from sensors, operators, unmanned aircraft systems, ground systems, and satellites across all the services, Arcane Fire will be essential in building the foundation to disseminate the right information to the right end user,” said Eric Syphard, a Booz Allen director and leader of the firm’s support for the Army Intelligence Digital Transformation Engineering Services (AIDTES) Government-Sponsored Research and Development Task Force. “Booz Allen is at the forefront of pairing technical machine learning and artificial intelligence expertise with mission understanding to help our clients achieve overmatch.”
Read more about Booz Allen’s expertise in artificial intelligence, and the role it will play in the battlespace of the future.
