Collins AI communication systems connect partners in military exercise

Advanced AI-powered communications network systems developed by Collins Aerospace successfully connected a number of platforms during military exercises in Japan.

It was the second round of this year’s U.S.-Indo-Pacific Command’s Northern Edge exercises. The July exercise was at Kadean Air Base in Okinawa. The first round was in Alaska earlier this year.

Collins, an RTX business, expanded “the airborne, platform-agnostic data hotspot that the company debuted during the Alaska exercise,” RTX said in a news release.

“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.”

“This was a critical demonstration to prove our solutions can facilitate and enable connectivity for a large and growing joint force network,” said Elaine Bitonti, vice president of connected battlespace and emerging capabilities for Collins Aerospace.

The information processed, she said, 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."

That communication network accelerates decision-making and showed how “AI-enabled machine-to-machine communications rapidly delivered threat awareness data from the U.S. Space Force's Unified Data Library to multiple aircraft, demonstrating how they can be used as connectivity nodes on the battlefield,” the company stated.

The systems provided “mission data to a number of platforms, including C17s, C-130s and the KC-135 in a realistic combat scenario," said Conn Doherty, vice president of battle management command and control and autonomy solutions at Collins Aerospace.

“Northern Edge TAC-2 has been a vital proving ground to demonstrate how enabling JADC2 technologies can strengthen the Joint Force and its allies and partners' readiness to fight and win.“

The expanded connectivity was facilitated through an ongoing research and development agreement between Collins Aerospace and the Utah Air National Guard. The agreement is focused on extending the utility and survivability of the KC-135 by expanding the role the plane can play on the battlefield as an airborne refueling and connectivity node.

Collins Aerospace is the largest employer in Cedar Rapids.