Caitlin Curtis is the Director of Strategic Accounts at Instrumental. Before joining our team, she was a Structures and Manufacturing Engineer for several organizations in Aerospace and Defense, including SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
Manufacturing in Aerospace and Defense (A&D) means needing to work comfortably on both sides of a technological chasm. On one hand, designing Martian spaceships. And, on the other, updating critical software on jets via [floppy disk.]
It’s an industry that is simultaneously groundbreaking and legacy. As an industry regulated by compliance protocols such as International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), it’s cautious about adopting new technologies that don’t have an established history of compliance. But, ultimately, the adoption of AI into A&D is inevitable. The sooner that happens, the sooner the industry as a whole can be transformed for the better.
Aerospace and Defense Digitization
Aerospace companies have been early adopters of digital transformation efforts, which enable seamless integration between the interdependent systems and processes needed to create cutting-edge aircraft, satellites, and their critical components. These efforts create a digital thready, or “digital twins” of every facet of the system - initiated on the design side of mechanical, electrical, and software systems and then expanded to encompass all manufacturing, operational, testing, and quality activities. Prioritization of these digitization efforts has led to an incredible amount of data to support these complex projects.
For all the benefits that accompany this swell in data generation, there is a downfall: it needs to be stored somewhere. This usually takes the form of on-premises data centers packed with legacy ITAR compliant storage (or literal filing cabinets). Compliant, yes, but also expensive, and prone to all the downsides that come with on-site computing (like maintenance costs, cybersecurity risks, and even physical vulnerability to natural disasters).
Digitization efforts have delivered much of what was promised: communication is easier between teams, designs are traceable down to the component level, and troubleshooting is far easier. Engineers have leveraged this data to drive advances in digital automation, with the average employee automating 20 percent of previously manual tasks in the past two years. This trajectory will continue to benefit companies that are looking to innovate on data and computationally intensive tasks.
However, until the industry is willing to adopt new tools designed to sift through all this data (whose computing requirements will exceed the power of the hardware systems storing it all), future progress will be slowed significantly, if not brought to a standstill. If we are going to reach new frontiers, the next steps involve adopting new tools.
Aerospace and Defense Teams can Build on Their Use of AI
Many A&D organizations are hesitant to leverage AI, to migrate from their secure hardware to cloud computing, and to adopt technology they didn’t develop themselves. But as a proof of concept to the feasibility of AI, these organizations need look no further than NASA. Teams there are already leveraging AI at their initial digitization steps to drive value and push generative design to design prototypes.
Utilizing AI provides opportunities to achieve gains where they matter most: optimizing the performance of systems, enabling teams to work on critical issues, and most importantly automating work. Within aerospace, it’s estimated that 40% of the workday can be automated with AI - enabling specialized employees to put this data to work and get their jobs done. Defense electronics manufacturers need the best tools to accomplish their ambitious missions, so having strong tools to process data is essential.
Move Fast and Break...Nothing
AI solutions can supercharge efficiency, design, operations, traceability, and quality assurance. Compliant and secure cloud computing solutions exist – providing the raw computing power with none of the physical limitations of on-premises computing.
For an industry on the cusp of taking humanity to the stars, the advantage AI provides will put its early adopters light-years ahead of the competition (sorry, I couldn’t resist). The only thing you really have to lose is the advantage - which could end up being everything.