US software trialled to ‘deconflict’ the modern battlefield

Joint-capabilities

27 February 2023

Photo Caption: ASTARTE is enabling safe, simultaneous operation of manned and unmanned aircraft, missiles, and artillery fire in the contested airspace above an Army division.

US software aimed at making the battlefield a safer place from friendly fire has been demonstrated at the US Army’s Mission Command Battle Lab.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Air Space Total Awareness for Rapid Tactical Execution (ASTARTE) program was able to use flight path planning in a simulated contested airspace battle to avoid friendly missiles, artillery fire, manned and unmanned aircraft while also dodging enemy fire.

You’re out of free articles for this month

Username or Email

Password Forgot password?

Keep me signed in on this device.

First Name

Last Name

Mobile

Organisation Type

By becoming a member, I agree to receive information and promotional messages from Defence Connect. I can opt out of these communications at any time. For more information, please visit our Privacy Statement.

Need help signing up? Visit the Help Centre.

The ASTARTE Program was originally developed in 2021 between DARPA, the Army, and the US Air Force before being integrated with the US Army’s Integrated Mission Planning and Airspace Control Tools (IMPACT) software suite in 2022.

DARPA Strategic Technology Office ASTARTE program manager Paul Zablocky said the program’s goal is to provide an accurate, real-time common operational picture of the airspace over an Army division, enabling long-range fire missions, as well as manned and unmanned aircraft operations, to occur safely in the same airspace.

“The demonstration showed that complex route alternatives could be created in seconds, leveraging available permissive airspace to avoid airspace where conflicts would potentially occur,” he said.

“There are many reasons this integration helps the warfighter. Coordinating and consolidating services at the user level greatly reduces procedural burden, which speeds the enterprise. ASTARTE also increases accuracy by automating tasks and reducing inherent human error.

“Most importantly, the ASTARTE and IMPACT integration forms a foundation of artificial intelligence-enabled services that will interact with other service component AI tools such as the Air Force’s Kessel Run All Domain Operations Suite (KRADOS) for planning and the All Domain Common Platform (ADCP) for operations.”

The program is finishing phase two integration efforts and is scheduled to begin phase three live testing this summer.

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or via LinkedIn.

Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Defence Connect a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Defence Connect as a preferred news source.

Tags: