The Army’s Project Convergence tested space communications for the TITAN targeting system

WASHINGTON – The Army used a recently completed Project Convergence 2022 demonstration campaign to eliminate kinks in the future TITAN the ability of a public domain ground station to transmit satellite images quickly and reliably to commanders and weapons systems, according to service officials.

The “pre-prototype” TITAN (from Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node), created by Northrop Grumman specifically for testing space communications, was used “to provide guaranteed access to space intelligence to receive, process, analyze and share collected data. to enable targeting processing for joint and combined long-range precision fires,” a Breaking Defense Army spokesman said in an email today.

“It used available military and commercial satellites and delivered targeting messages to various command programs/weapons systems,” the spokesman added. Commercial satellites intercepted included Maxar Technologies’ World View 1 and 2 electro-optical remote sensing birds and the 14-satellite BlackSky constellation.

Project Convergence is the Army’s attempt to demonstrate the capabilities that the Department of Defense can afford Joint Domain-wide Command and Control (JADC2) the concept of fighting complex battles against the same type of opponent on continents, on land, at sea, in the air, in space and in the cyber sphere. This involves using machine-to-machine communications to transmit data directly from sensors to shooters. This year’s iteration ran from September to early November and was based on two scenarios: one in the Indo-Pacific region and the other in the European theater.

Northrop Grumman’s preliminary prototype, delivered to the Army’s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force this summer, was tested in both scenarios, an Army official said.

In 2020, the company was awarded a contract with other OTAs to build two preliminary prototypes for Army Tactical Use of National Capabilities (TENCAP) office and the Pentagon Defense Innovation Unit, This was reported in an e-mail by a representative of Northrop Grumman.

The Army expects to receive delivery of the second preliminary prototype in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023, an Army spokesman said.

TENCAP is an initiative from 1973 that is designed to use space systems for combat purposes and rapidly integrate the intelligence obtained from them into the Army’s tactical decision-making process. DIU’s mission is to identify advanced commercial technologies and find ways to quickly deploy them to warfighters.

The goal of the pre-prototype project is to enable the Army’s TITAN recording program, which aims to develop a ground station that can receive sensor data from platforms operating in all domains, not only from space, explained the press secretary of the army. Lessons learned from Northrop Grumman’s previous prototype in the PC22 will be transferred to a program of record led by the Army’s Intelligence, Electronic Warfare, and Sensors Program Executive Office (PEO IEWS) and Product Manager Intelligence Systems and Analytics (PM IS&A) office.

In addition, the Northrop Grumman contract provides for the supply of Space Ground component kits for integration with ground stations developed as part of the recording program.

“The TITAN program of record will deliver a next-generation expeditionary, scalable and maneuverable echelon platform designed to enhance deep sensing, tactical control and targeting,” said an Army spokesman. “By accessing sensor data from multiple sensors simultaneously in space, at high altitude, in the air and on the ground, TITAN will provide situational awareness and situational awareness across all operations.”

PEO IEWS in June awarded competing OTA Competitive Prototype Phase 2 contracts worth $36 million each to Raytheon and Palantir to develop a multi-role version of the TITAN. The winner, to be selected in the fourth quarter of FY23, will deliver all TITAN prototypes and variants, add new technologies and prepare TITAN’s transition to production and, ultimately, entry into service.

The winning prototypes “will be delivered to the field for operational use and user feedback, and to support development test (DT) and operational evaluation (OA) prior to production in FY26,” an Army spokesman said.

The Raytheon and Palantir prototypes under development did not participate in PC22, the spokesman added.