Raytheon Technologies (RTX) business Collins Aerospace has demonstrated advanced artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled communications systems to rapidly distribute data to coalition partners, Raytheon announced on 1 August 2023.
The demonstration took place at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, during the second round of the US Indo-Pacific Command’s ‘Northern Edge 2023’ exercise series, took place across various locations in the Pacific between 2-21 July 2023.
Leveraging the company’s cross-domain solution, advanced AI-enabled communications, and intelligent gateway technology, Collins connected partners from The Five Eyes alliance and others to the data network, expanding joint force capabilities during the demonstration.
In doing so Collins Aerospace expanded upon the airborne, platform-agnostic data hotspot that the company debuted during this year’s first iteration of ‘Northern Edge’, which took place in Alaska from 4-19 May.
“This was a critical demonstration to prove our solutions can facilitate and enable connectivity for a large and growing joint force network,” Elaine Bitonti, Collins Aerospace’s vice president for Connected Battlespace & Emerging Capabilities, was quoted as saying in an RTX press release. “It’s important to understand that the joint fires data our systems processed and distributed came from a large network of platforms that weren’t originally designed to connect and share data like this. Not only did our gateway and cross-domain solution connect those platforms, they also automated the distribution of that data to the right partner at the right security level.”
RTX’s Raytheon business unit contributed to accelerating decision-making timelines, with an integrated team demonstrating how AI-enabled machine-to-machine communications rapidly delivered threat awareness data from the US Space Force’s Unified Data Library to multiple aircraft, demonstrating how they can be used as connectivity nodes on the battlefield.
“Our automated communications powered by AI securely provided mission data to a number of platforms, including C-17s, C-130s and the KC-135 in a realistic combat scenario,” Conn Doherty, vice president of Battle Management Command & Control & Autonomy Solutions at Collins Aerospace, was quoted as saying. “’Northern Edge’ TAC-2 has been a vital proving ground to demonstrate how enabling JADC2 [joint all-domain command and control] technologies can strengthen the Joint Force and its allies and partners’ readiness to fight and win.”
Expanded connectivity to US Air Force Mobility Command assets was facilitated through an ongoing co-operative research and development agreement between Collins Aerospace and the Utah Air National Guard’s 151st Air Refueling Wing (151 ARW). The agreement is focused on extending the utility and survivability of the KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft by expanding the role the KC-135 can play on the battlefield as a connectivity node as well as operating as a tanker.
Peter Felstead
