Autonomous tech can help keep US homeland safe, NORAD’s VanHerck says
Autonomous and uncrewed technologies will aid the U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Command’s efforts to transform threat-detection and monitoring. The leaders of both defense organizations conveyed this message to the United States Congress.
Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck noted that he believes ‘the future of homeland defense is vastly different than what we see today.’ He envisions a future replete with ‘autonomous platforms, airborne, maritime platforms, unmanned platforms with domain awareness sensors, and effectors that are kinetic and non-kinetic.’ The use of artificial intelligence and uncrewed systems, and a broader shift towards autonomy, has taken on a new urgency among the organizations since detecting a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon over the United States in February 2023.