In the News - Washington Exec: Leveraging AI, Data to Accelerate Defense Capabilities

Washington Exec; October 6, 2024

FTI's Jose Hidalgo on Leveraging AI, Data to Accelerate Defense Capabilities

by Adam Stone

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As president of Frontier Technology Inc., Jose Hidalgo has helped the company tighten its focus over the past couple of years, aiming to accelerate U.S. military readiness.

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In the face of global instability, the Defense Department and the intelligence community “need to be able to identify threats quickly and make decisions based on those threats with both speed and confidence,” he said. Equally important, he added, is the need to collaborate and coordinate across services.

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All of this elevates the need for data superiority, Hidalgo said, and that’s where FTI is focused.

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The company has a 35-year track record providing DOD with data-centric solutions, and over the past four years “we’ve focused more tightly on accelerating DOD readiness through the development and refinement of agile, AI/ML-driven technology and services,” he said.

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That includes advances in high-speed data integration, sophisticated and predictive analytics, data modeling and wargaming, model-based systems engineering, rapid software development, cyber and more.

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“These solutions leverage a portfolio of technologies developed with more than $200 million in government and FTI investment, and they can be implemented in weeks versus months or years, at a fraction of the cost of traditional enterprise software implementations,” he said. “Because they’re agile, they are also flexible and can be quickly and economically adapted to meet new and emerging requirements.”

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FTI has been building on its strengths to deliver on these capabilities.

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“We’re blessed with a great workforce of highly committed professionals with deep mission understanding and strong technical skills,” Hidalgo said. “In recent years, we’ve brought in additional domain experts in AI, ML, and predictive analytics, and we’ve reorganized our teams to get even closer to our customers, foster greater collaboration, and accelerate development of new solutions designed for today’s rapidly evolving environment.”

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With an eye on modern military readiness, Hidalgo highlighted key areas of interest, all of which require advanced data solutions. Advanced analytics, cybersecurity, collaboration, elite talent and speed and agility come together to deliver “data superiority — the ability to leverage data better than our adversaries for mission success,” he said.

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In support of data superiority, FTI has invested heavily in artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics, all of which help “to add immediate value to a range of missions that support and accelerate readiness,” he said.

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Take asset maintenance, for example. FTI’s Asset Maintenance and Risk Analytics solution “provides powerful AI/ML-driven data analysis, key insights and predictive analytics to help manage critical combat asset readiness challenges,” he said.

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“AMARA can predict system and equipment failures and other events before they occur and shorten the problem identification to resolution window in enterprise settings like Air Force sustainment centers, Navy shipyards, Army general maintenance facilities and logistics readiness centers, and among their supply chain and logistics partners,” he said.

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Another example: FTI added AI to its wargaming solution. It’s leveraging decades of historical data for planning and executing next-generation, multidomain wargaming, “exploring limitless potential scenarios and pressure-testing wargaming strategies,” he said.

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To help bring new solutions like these to the table, FTI developed what Hidalgo calls an “advanced digital environment.”

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FTI’s technology vision “is centered around a digital environment that will maximize the value we deliver to our customers. This environment will ensure that as we deliver more capabilities and integrate more of our products, the value created will be more than just additive – it will be multiplied,” he said.

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With an analytic framework at the core of the portfolio, FTI can take singular investments and spread them throughout multiple solutions, which Hidalgo said is a win for the military, as it can potentially make new capabilities available across multiple branches — faster and at lower cost.

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With standards-based technologies, FTI allows customers “to leverage their past investments and utilize our capabilities in complementary and augmenting ways,” he said.

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Looking at the cybersecurity challenge, “we consolidated our cyber offering early this year with the creation of the FTI Information Advantage Group,” Hidalgo said. It offers “a portfolio of advanced capabilities and technologies that help DoD customers gain assured self-awareness for maintaining and optimizing their cyber defenses.”

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All of this seems to be paying off, as FTI has won several significant contracts from various DOD branches. It recently secured spots on several multiple-award defense contracts, with a total maximum value for all awardees of over $2 billion.

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“We’re pursuing several more competitive opportunities right now and are engaged in other late-stage conversations that are nearing decisions,” Hidalgo said.

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Looking ahead, the U.S. military faces “a great number of evolving and escalating risks,” he said. In this environment, “FTI’s priority is to continue to innovate and arm our warfighters with the data-focused solutions they need to succeed in their missions, stay ahead of our adversaries and remain 110% ready to defend our country at all times.”

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Read the full profile here on WashingtonExec.