2022: Recapping our first full year in defense

The Nexus Newsletter 

Welcome back to The Nexus Newsletter. 

2022 was a big year for Applied’s government team: We secured major contract wins, hosted the premier autonomy and national security conference, held high-level engagements with senior officials across government and the Department of Defense (DOD), added ten new people to our team, and much more. 

Read this week’s newsletter for a wrap-up of our work last year.

Nexus 22

In May, we held our first-annual autonomy and national security-focused conference, Nexus 22, in collaboration with the Atlantic Council. We were honored to provide a venue for noteworthy conversations with a range of distinguished guests, including Michèle Flournoy, Marc Andreessen, H. R. McMaster, Michael Horowitz, Mike Brown, Margarita Konaev, and others from government, academia, and industry. 

Rewatch panels, fireside chats, and spotlights from the Nexus 22 event at the links below, and keep an eye out for an announcement about Nexus 23 in the coming weeks.

• A national security imperative | LTG (Ret.) H. R. McMaster
• The threat perspective | Josh Rogin, August Cole, Margarita Konaev, Liza Tobin, and Gregory C. Allen
• Defense policy keynote | Dr. Michael Horowitz and Sunmin Kim
• Investment landscape for defense autonomy | Stephen Rodriguez, Katherine Boyle, Bilal Zuberi, Nick Sinai, and Peter R. Dixon
• Congressional spotlight | Rep. Michael Waltz
• Defense autonomy & trust | Capt. Michael D. Brasseur, Dr. Jane Pinelis, Dr. Jeff Schneider, Mustafa Suleyman CBE, and The Honorable Joe Kernan
• Breaking the defense barrier for commercial autonomy | Nand Mulchandani, Mike Brown, Chris Brose, Devaki Raj, and Dr. Angel Smith
• Defense keynote | Michèle Flournoy
• The state of defense & commercial autonomy | Colin Carroll, Ryan Tseng, Chris Lynch, Apeksha Kumavat, and Dr. Regan Campbell
• Venture capital keynote | Marc Andreessen
• Congressional Chairman’s keynote | Rep. James R. Langevin and Nicholas Kazvini-Gore

$49M contract: Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle 

In November, we announced that Applied was selected by the Army and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to deliver an end-to-end autonomy software development and test platform for the Army’s Robotic Combat Vehicle (RCV) program. 

“Our modeling and simulation development environment will enable continuous improvement of autonomy software across the program’s lifecycle and will ultimately enhance the Army’s broader approach to autonomy stack development,” said Qasar Younis, Co-Founder and CEO of Applied. 

The RCV program will benefit from Applied’s leadership in delivering autonomy development and test platforms to commercial customers since the company’s inception. In an interview for Breaking Defense, David Michelson, Project Manager at DIU, agreed: “Commercial industry has a leg up on this, because they’ve invested a tremendous amount into these efforts. The industry also understands how to deploy this stuff and how to get these systems and software actually out in the real world.”

To-date, acquisitions offices haven’t devoted much thought to software development pipelines or processes to update and refine algorithms. That all changes with RCV, which Michelson describes as “the pathfinder for the Department.”

Government engagements

We had the honor of hosting several high-profile delegations at our Mountain View, California HQ in 2022. 

Rep. Rob Wittman (VA-01), the Ranking Member on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, visited us in August to learn about commercial and defense autonomy, and how start-up and non-traditional technology companies are driving defense innovation. 

“Applied Intuition and Kodiak have a wealth of expertise about the nexus of defense and commercial technologies, demonstrated by their remarkable work on autonomous systems. It was a privilege to meet with their teams and I look forward to our continued work on spurring modernization and innovation within the Department of Defense.” - Rep. Rob Wittman (VA-01)

In November, a delegation from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD (R&E)) visited Applied to learn about commercial best practices for autonomy development and how those best practices could be applied to a range of autonomy programs within the Department of Defense (DOD).

“Building warfighter trust in autonomous systems is a key priority for OUSD (R&E). Ongoing collaboration between the DOD and innovative commercial companies will prove essential to building trust and promoting principles of responsible AI. As the number of defense autonomy programs expands, the DOD must continue to harness commercial best practices for autonomy development and program design to ensure mission success.” - Maynard Holliday, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Critical Technologies

From our blog: Resources and company news

2022 was a busy year for Applied’s government team. Read a selection of our blog posts below, including a recent post explaining how autonomous systems are uniquely positioned to solve complex logistical problems that will constrain operations in the Indo-Pacific region.

• Data and Logistics: The Lifeblood of Tomorrow’s Joint Operations: Without logistics, even the most brilliant plans aren’t worth the paper upon which they are written. Autonomy-enabled logistics can open up many opportunities for commanders operating in unstable environments that challenge long-held assumptions.
• Expanding Applied’s National Security & Defense Advisory Board: Applied Intuition announces three new additions to the National Security and Defense Advisory Board, including prominent leaders from the U.S. Department of Defense and national security ecosystem.
• Enterprise Data Management for Defense Autonomy Programs: Learn why autonomy programs under development by the Department of Defense (DOD) and its international partners must prioritize enterprise data management tools to accelerate program timelines and deliver effective autonomous systems.
• Test & Evaluation for Autonomous Military Vehicles: Challenges (Part 1): Evaluating the performance of commercial autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicle systems is a difficult task. Test and evaluation (T&E) of the safety and performance of autonomous military vehicles brings additional challenges, requiring more than just real-world testing.
• Test & Evaluation for Autonomous Military Vehicles: How Virtual T&E Tools Enable Comprehensive Evaluations (Part 2): The Department of Defense’s approach to military vehicle T&E, additional considerations for autonomous military vehicles, and how virtual modeling and simulation tools can more effectively prove out the performance of autonomy stacks for defense applications.
• Applied Intuition Awarded Position on Department of Defense $249M BPA for AI and Autonomy Test & Evaluation: Applied Intuition is proud to announce that it was selected to participate in a multi-award, $249M ceiling Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) from the Department of Defense.

Events, reports, and media

Applied’s government team hit the ground running, sharing our deep autonomy and national security expertise through appearances, sponsorships, and contributions to a range of events, podcasts, and reports:

• Atlantic Council Commission on Defense Innovation Adoption
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hearing: AI’s Role in Modernizing Intellectual Property and Bolstering National Security
• Op-Ed: Can Automation Offset the Military’s Recruitment Problems?
• SCSP Report: Mid-Decade Challenges to National Competitiveness
• PAVEcast: How to Test, Verify, and Validate AV Technology with Applied Intuition
• PAVE Virtual Panel: “The Road to AVs: Testing and Simulation”
• Acquisition Talk Podcast: In the fight – Scaling AI/ML in defense with Colin Carroll

Thank you for reading The Nexus Newsletter. Stay tuned for more announcements from Applied Intuition, upcoming events, and other important news from the nexus of national security and autonomy.