How to Gain Insights with Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence

Advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence in modern defense systems are transforming how military forces strategize and fight. These emerging capabilities turn information gathered by sensors and sensor-enabled kill webs into actionable intelligence that improves the effectiveness, lethality, and survivability of deployed forces in various environments.

Data and AI offer “immense potential benefits, including improved efficiency, accuracy, and strategic advantage in defense applications,” said Charles J. Cohen, chief technology officer at Cybernet Systems Corp.

Yet, individual soldiers have a natural limit to how much information they can process and act on. Data overload, siloed systems, and evolving threats make the challenge of applying analytics and AI especially acute.

The way forward is to focus on three priorities: setting clear objectives, ensuring data quality, and fostering collaboration. Focusing on these can help this technology have the biggest impact.

Here are strategies that the DoD and its partners can adopt to use data analytics and AI to improve decision-making and operational outcomes.

Setting Clear Objectives for Data Analytics and AI Initiatives

Mission planning in the military depends almost entirely on setting the clearest possible objectives. Deployed personnel have so much to consider during a mission, and they must understand what they are doing and why, with measurable goals.

In the area of data analytics and AI, the DoD relies on the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) to provide its unifying vision. According to the Pentagon, the goal of JADC2 is to “sense, make sense, and act at all levels and phases of war, across all domains, and with partners, to deliver information advantage at the speed of relevance.”

The imperative for data analytics and artificial intelligence is to follow a straightforward process toward a determined end. First, identify the problem, consider what success looks like, and align with joint force priorities. Once validated, leaders must then resist scope creep and maintain focus throughout.

JADC2 positions data as a strategic asset, similar to how commanders might view various weapons systems or special operations units. The ultimate goal of AI and data projects is “to help accelerate the commander’s decision cycle,” with the intention of improving knowledge of the operational environment and predicting adversarial movement.

That idea points to ways to set overall objectives, but the process also needs to take into account the nature of the whole system deployed on the battlefield, evaluating the different types of sensors, the data those sensors collect, and the IT needed to fuse and analyze it. The goal throughout implementation is to emphasize continuous improvement. The DOD also stated that AI will require the Joint Force to "adapt and modernize existing tactical, operational, and strategic C2 processes and capabilities.”

Ensuring Data Quality for Reliable Insights

If data is to be a strategic asset, commanders and their personnel must focus on making it of the highest possible quality. Data is everything across all elements of AI, but it’s imperative on the battlefield, where lives are at stake. Without attention to data quality, AI systems can produce unreliable or incomplete insights, putting missions at risk.

Since the DoD strategy calls for the deployment of extensive sensor networks, ensuring quality data is essential, given the large quantity of information that these networks generate. JADC2 strongly indicates that for AI to succeed in a military context, it must be fed validated data. The Pentagon states that using data for effective sense-making “requires the ability to fuse, analyze, and render validated data and information from all domains and the electromagnetic spectrum.”

According to the JACD2 strategy, ensuring data quality involves establishing minimum metadata-tagging criteria, adopting and using standard data interfaces, and incorporating best practices in data security. In addition, the DoD more broadly made data quality a pillar in its 2023 AI Hierarchy of Needs document. The hierarchy of needs suggests that for reliable and quality data insights, DoD personnel should:

• Establish a strong data governance framework. This ensures that data remains accurate, consistent, and accessible over time. Governance should include clear ownership, standardized policies, and processes for regular auditing.
• Address common data quality issues to address incomplete, inconsistent, or outdated data collected from multiple sources. These lead to gaps in situational awareness and delayed decision-making.
• Adopt a structured approach to improving data quality based on standardized data collection and other issues.

At the top of the hierarchy is the application of ethical principles to what the DoD describes as “responsible” AI.

Fostering Collaboration Across Stakeholders

Producing insights using data analytics and AI is just the first step. Maximizing their value in defense systems depends on using the insights to facilitate collaboration across the joint force and with external partners.

For example, in June 2024, the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office agreed to collaborate with the Defense Innovation Unit on a range of next-generation digital projects, including scaling AI use across the military. Their agreement specifically mentions initiatives designed to support the JADC2.

Partnerships are crucial for encouraging and facilitating successful collaborative models, such as joint projects with tech companies or interagency data-sharing agreements that improve data integration and decision-making.

Furthermore, at the end of 2024, Anduril Industries and Open AI, the maker of ChatGPT, announced a partnership aimed at developing and deploying advanced AI tools in the context of national security missions. These types of ventures help build cross-functional teams that bring together data scientists, engineers, military strategists, and policymakers to align technical expertise with operational needs. It also helps break down DoD silos by encouraging open sharing of information and communication across teams.

Harness Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence with Sumaria Systems

With the growing use of sensors and sensor-enabled kill webs, data analytics and AI can shape battlefield strategy and tactics. DoD partners like Sumaria can help the enterprise unlock the technology’s full potential on the battlefield.

Sumaria Systems is a reliable and trusted industry partner offering AI services that include advisory, assistance, and advanced analytics. With over forty years of experience, Sumaria has steadily improved its analytic capabilities with AI through research and development. DOD leaders can make rapid, well-informed decisions and gain a competitive edge by expertly leveraging high-quality data, advanced analytics, and AI.