Collins Aerospace demonstrates multi-domain battlespace connectivity for Utah Air National Guard.

Collins Aerospace successfully demonstrated advanced communication, mission computing and sensor technologies to support CJADC2 (Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control) and ABMS (Advanced Battle Management) initiatives for the Utah Air National Guard at the Roland R. Wright Air National Guard Base.  At Salt Lake City, Utah Air National Guard's primary mission is providing in-flight refueling to all US armed forces and allied nations' aircraft, extending their flying range with the capability of transporting cargo, personel and medevac operations. Additional missions include Intelligence, Command and Control, Engineering and Installation and Explosive Ordnance Disposal.

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Collins’ networking capabilities increase situational awareness for the warfighter and allow access to actionable data in real time (Picture source: Collins Aerospace)

In collaboration with 151st Air Refueling Wing, the demonstration showed how integrated technologies and joint connectivity can provide warfighters with the actionable data and increased situational awareness they need to make informed, split-second decisions in evolving threat conditions against cyber-sophisticated adversaries.

The demonstration took place on a Block 45 retrofitted KC-135 featuring Collins’ real-time information in the cockpit (RTIC) system and included live-fly elements that simulated a forward deployed element as the primary information gathering source and an airborne relay element. Once the forward deployed element identified and processed key target information, it transmitted collected data over the Collins Tactical Targeting Networking Technology (TTNT) mesh network directly to the flight deck.

Collins’ Rosetta message processing software and Multiple Level Security (MLS) system captured this data and encrypted the incoming messages to ensure they retained their respective security levels. Then the software seamlessly sent the messages to those leading and/or executing the mission in the moment.

The ability to distribute secure data to those in different security areas is a key differentiator of the Collins MLS system and solves a major challenge in maintaining secure dataflow communication across the congested battlespace.

Collins also adapted a MOSA (Modular Open Systems Architecture) approach with its mission processor to showcase a dramatic improvement in situational awareness with their next generation of cockpit integration, edge computing, and containerization. The entire demonstration built upon the foundational capabilities of the RTIC program-of-record to provide increased joint connectivity and improved situation awareness technology for aircrews at the tactical edge.

The battlespace is changing every day, as digital enablement makes a siloed approach to combat – traditional air-to-air, ground-to-ground or air-to-ground strategies – challenging. Today’s solutions must be more comprehensive, connected, and impenetrable than before, and that requires communication across multiple domains.

“We’ve got the technology infrastructure to provide both Command and Control elements and those executing the mission from the cockpit with the actionable intelligence that’s so critical to the success of CJADC2 and ABMS,” said Elaine Bitonti, vice president, CJADC2 Demonstration and Experimentation for Collins Aerospace. “And we can do it securely, at multiple data throughput levels, and instantly – or at what our military partners call ‘the speed of relevance.’”