Electronic warfare, jam-proof alternatives, and drone swarms top the United States Army's latest priority track research list.

The Army's Rapid Capabilities Office, tasked with getting urgently needed technologies to the troops, has just released a list of ten priority research areas. The Broad Agency Announcement, posted on the FedBizOpps site, offers brief descriptions of the focus areas:

Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT)

Fearing GPS can be jammed or spoofed, the Army wants non-GPS alternatives "that are resilient to jamming and capable of supporting multiple length missions and multiple scale users," and "that are functional above ground, below ground, and in urban environments." Significantly, the Army says it willing to look at technology at any level, from early concepts to finished products, indicating the seriousness of the anti-GPS threat.

Artificial Intelligence

The Army is asking for Artificial Intelligence and other software that can analyze vast amounts of data in real time.

Electronic Warfare

The Army is looking to the commercial sector for data analytics and machine learning that can be applied to electronic warfare. "One application of interest is using machine learning techniques on monitoring and assessing threat RF [radio frequency] emissions, to establish normal and abnormal patterns of life, to characterize emitter types and signal structures, to assess utility of electronic attack systems, or for other tactical uses."

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Using Optics to Detect Hostiles

Instead of hostile fire detection systems that only spot the enemy after the enemy opens fire, the Army seeks optical systems that can identify hostiles before they shoot. For instance, DARPA is working on a system that can identify hostile intent even before there is hostile action.

Survivability

The Army is looking for more survivable vehicles and other ways to improve force protection.

Drone and Anti-drone Swarms

It's no secret that the Army is aggressively developing small drones that swarm an enemy. But the Army also needs anti-swarm technology. "The emerging technologies should offer advances in the ability to predict the effect of a given set of rules, and automatically derive individual rules to accomplish a desired team result. The defeat mechanisms can be either kinetic or non-kinetic, swarm or non-swarm, and offer a cost-effective solution compared to existing Army offensive and defensive systems."

Communications

The Army is interested in alternatives to radio communications. As an example, the Rapid Capabilities Office cites "free space optical communications, sound-wave and any other non-RF communication types that can be conducted through various mediums (e.g., air, water, solids)."

Long-range Fires

The Rapid Capabilities Office wants long-range fires—"that can be outside the traditional means"—that are more lethal and effective than current weapons.

Air and Missile Defense

As with long-range fires, the Army says it is willing to embrace novel solutions as long as they are superior to current systems.

Disruptive Technology

Not surprisingly for a military research organization, the Rapid Capabilities Office says it love to see breakthroughs or novel solutions. "These can qualify as 'high risk/high reward' and change currently accepted approaches or capabilities," the Army notes.

Michael Peck is a contributing writer for the National Interest . He can be found on Twitter and Facebook.

Image: Reuters