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The prime has partnered with an Australian firm to enhance battlespace command and control capability.
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Raytheon Australia has revealed it has successfully integrated technology developed by Melbourne-based AI company Agent Oriented Software (AOS).
Raytheon has leveraged AOS’ newly developed product, Intelligent Battlespace Advisor (IBA), with its Solipsys subsidiary's in-service Battlespace Command and Control Centre (BC3) as part of the Raytheon Missiles & Defense command and control portfolio.
IBA is expected to provide Air Battle Managers with time-critical information about unusual airspace activity to better inform decision making.
The Australian-built system is designed to enable users to monitor all tracks in the Asia-Pacific airspace, classifying them as ‘routine’ or flagging them for further investigation.
This is expected to bolster the capabilities of BC3, which has been in service with the US Air Force since 2008, supporting airspace management by leveraging track fusion engine, multi-source correlator and tactical visualisation frameworks.
“Raytheon Australia has worked with AOS over the last year to successfully integrate IBA into Raytheon Missiles & Defense’s Solipsys BC3,” Raytheon Australia managing director Michael Ward said.
“Not only have we achieved this integration with BC3 for the first time outside the United States, but we have achieved it using Australian technology and Australian engineers.
“This collaboration with AOS has allowed the integration and development of a new and never seen before capability for Air Battle Managers.”
AOS managing director Dr Andrew Lucas noted the capability benefits of the IBA platform.
“IBA allocates an intelligent software agent to each track to ‘reason’ with the available data. If this track is of concern, the IBA agent alerts the Air Battle Manager and provides timely advice on why it is of concern,” Dr Lucas said.
“As an example, if an aircraft identifying as a civilian flight is well ahead of schedule, then the IBA agent assigned to that track tries to determine why.
“If the agent determines a potential threat, the Air Battle Manager is alerted.”
He added: “This is critical information to have at hand because identifying and clarifying unusual activity quickly allows Air Battle Managers to focus on tracks that may pose a real threat.”
The integration is now expected to be tested in the field, with potential export opportunities also touted.
Raytheon’s partnership with AOS comes just months after the company identified 10 Australian businesses to take part in their industry program Capability Plus.
The program aims to assist small and medium-sized Australian businesses win defence contracts within Australia and globally.
It is hoped that the program will allow these companies to develop their offerings across management, engineering, cyber security and ISO as well as providing them with access to Raytheon’s supply chain
[Related: Raytheon Australia reveals ten Australian SMEs to take part in Capability Plus program]
Charbel Kadib
News Editor – Defence and Security, Momentum Media
Prior to joining the defence and aerospace team in 2020, Charbel was news editor of The Adviser and Mortgage Business, where he covered developments in the banking and financial services sector for three years. Charbel has a keen interest in geopolitics and international relations, graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in politics and journalism. Charbel has also completed internships with The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts and public relations agency Fifty Acres.
