Upgraded Software for Better Air and Missile Defense

By CIOReview | Thursday, March 27, 2014
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WASHINGTON: The various sophisticated sensors are being put to waste if information from them is not shared with the soldiers who are about to fire a weapon. The current U.S. Army architecture lacks the provision to share valuable information about enemy targets from sensors and weapons to have better integrated coverage. But, the Army is currently working with the industry on alleviating this issue by replacing the legacy systems with state of the art, user-friendly software referred to as the ‘common warfighter machine interface to the integrated air and missile defense battle command system’, reports David Vergun of Army News Service.

Col. Rob Rasch Jr., Project Manager, Integrated Air and Missile Defense Project Office, was specifically referring to situational awareness for those operating the Patriot surface-to-air missile and other such missile defense systems. Rasch believes the key to delivering the right kind of software lies in making it user-friendly and intuitive, while providing a common interface for users. This will eliminate the need for soldiers to be trained on multiple software systems depending on the missile system or radar they are operating.

The new technology is being user tested, and in some cases user designed. “It has the look and feel of a video game,” says Rasch. The new hardware and software is also expected to bring savings to the Army, as almost 400 items of outdated hardware can now be removed from their inventory.

The software is currently in its development stage and will begin its limited user testing in early 2016, with first units getting equipped by 2017. The initial operating capability is expected to be achieved by 2018.