Artificial Intelligence company Consilium Technology is currently designing and testing a range of technologies that can be integrated into Lockheed Martin Australia’s future Joint Air Battle Management solution for the Royal Australian Air Force’s Air 6500 Phase 1 project (Air 6500-1).
In 2019, Consilium Technology embarked on its Air 6500 journey with Lockheed Martin Australia. The first endeavour involved developing a proof-of-concept integration of Defence Science Technology Group’s (DSTG) SMARTNet (Semantically Managed Autonomous and Resilient Tactical Networking) system into Lockheed Martin Australia’s advanced C2 surveillance demonstrator technology. Following initial testing, the two teams then successfully demonstrated joint all domain air battle management networking capabilities to the RAAF.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for Consilium Technology to contribute to a major defence program together with industry partners and the Royal Australian Air Force to shape Australia’s future Joint Air Battle Management capabilities,” Consilium Technology’s Chief Information Officer, Nick Cooper said.
“Proudly, our investments and partnerships with Lockheed Martin Australia on Air 6500-1 has meant our company has grown in size and capability. The collaboration also provides Consilium Technology with greater access to global markets to drive export opportunities.”
In 2021, the Consilium Technology team of engineers focused on examining modelling, simulation and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies that can be rapidly combined into an open architecture framework to support next generation concepts and application development for Air 6500-1.
As part of the risk reduction strategy for Air 6500-1, Consilium Technology have explored the use of machine learning through investigating reinforced learning approaches to support the RAAF’s future all-domain data transfer capabilities during contested warfighting environments.
Consilium Technology’s AI capabilities are being integrated into the Lockheed Martin Australia Air 6500-1 solution, powered by sovereign open architecture and a tactical cloud, to meet emerging and future operational needs of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
“Air 6500-1 has been a great program to partner on with Lockheed Martin Australia. We have welcomed the chance to grow as a company, explore world leading technologies that will safeguard Australia for decades to come as well as interact with other high-tech small to medium enterprises.”
Air 6500-1 will provide the ADF with a Joint Air Battle Management System that will form the architecture at the core of the ADF’s future Integrated Air and Missile Defence capability. This will provide greater situational awareness and defence against increasingly advanced air and missile threats, as well as give the ADF increased levels of interoperability with coalition partners.
Lockheed Martin Australia is one of the two primes down selected to participate in the Royal Australian Air Force’s Air 6500 Phase 1 Project (AIR6500-1): Competitive Evaluation Process Stage 2 (CEPS2).