Raytheon ,
El Segundo CA: Raytheon has developed virtual-battlefield software — building on imagery supplied by sensors and algorithms — that automatically recognizes and tracks targets for a variety of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems operated by military and government customers.
The company can simulate a war game battle plan, complete with imagery of hostile convoys in motion, persistent surveillance of them from air and space, and a successful missile attack, on the screen of a laptop computer for maximum portability. The simulation, which portrays ways for allied forces to detect hostile activity deep within the borders of potential adversaries, is based on the Silent Hammer naval exercise recently conducted off the coast of Southern California.
Characterized as a “virtual crystal ball” by Dr. Ken Moore, director of advanced concepts and architectures at Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS), the technology integrates the highest-fidelity simulations in industry and government of current and likely future products, systems and concepts of operations.
“Raytheon is the premier electronics company for the Department of Defense,” Moore said. “We needed a way to show our customers how we use the highest-fidelity weapons and C3 (command, control, communications) ISR simulations in industry to help them solve their most difficult problems. We can do this because we build the systems and know more about them and their capabilities than anyone.”
The team's objective was to display the power, agility and speed of Raytheon solutions enabled by Moore's Enterprise Modeling and Simulation team. Among other things, modeling and simulation allows a manufacturer to test its products and systems and evaluate alternatives through realistic and animated electronic imagery played on computer screens to create, perhaps, the consummate “what-if” possibility.
Drawing upon the Silent Hammer exercise, a scenario imagines that “Red Country,” Southern California, is preparing an amphibious assault.
The Raytheon simulation displays persistent surveillance measures employed by coalition forces to monitor Red activities at four inland military bases hidden by mountain ranges or distance from the sensors of manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft. Convoys are observed by airborne and space-based sensors en route to a railhead where missile launchers are spotted awaiting transport to the coast by train.
The simulation then enlists the Navy's next-generation destroyer, DD(X), on which Raytheon is the lead systems integrator. The ship launches a loitering Raytheon Tomahawk missile. Its initial mission is to fly over convoys and train to gather more information about the cargoes.
Eventually, the train is determined to be the target of highest value. To avoid having to hit a moving objective, the missile is directed to strike the tracks ahead of the engine, stopping it and preventing the missile launchers from reaching the coast.
