The battle laboratories of the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on a joint experiment on a DARPA program designed to enable airspace operations and deconfliction in highly congested combat environments.
The Air Space Total Awareness for Rapid Tactical Execution program seeks to automate the capability to provide a common operational image of airspace in real time to speed up the execution of joint fires, the Air Force said Thursday.
Raytheon, now RTX, developed the artificial intelligence-enabled ASTARTE software using a modular approach to facilitate its integration with the command and control systems of the Army and the Air Force.
Air Force and Army personnel assessed the ASTARTE software in an air-ground conflict by simulating a division-level Joint Air Ground Integration Center. They evaluated ASTARTE and its ability to process multiple data streams to provide a unified operational picture and offer recommendations for improving joint fires through JAGIC battle drills.
“In comparison to previous test events, we observed significantly reduced reliance on legacy C2 systems while using the ASTARTE software, and the role players reported a greater understanding of how the ASTARTE system executes tasks,” said Mary Schurgot, ASTARTE program manager at DARPA’s strategic technology office.
The Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System Battle Lab, also known as the 805th Combat Training Squadron’s Shadow Operations Center-Nellis, hosted the joint ASTARTE experiment in collaboration with DARPA and the Army’s Mission Command Battle Lab.
