Consilium Technology to develop AI Capability for Lockheed Martin in AIR6500 Ph.1

Adelaide-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) company Consilium Technology is designing and testing a range of cutting-edge technologies that can be integrated into Lockheed Martin Australia’s future Joint Air Battle Management solution for the Royal Australian Air Force’s AIR6500 Phase 1 Project. Defence down-selected Lockheed Martin Australia and Northrop Grumman Australia to participate in the Competitive Evaluation Process Stage 2 (CEPS2) as potential prime contractors for this $2.3 billion project; a decision is expected in 2023.

AIR6500 Ph.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.

In 2019, Consilium Technology started a proof-of-concept integration of DST Group’s 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.  

“Proudly, our investments and partnerships with Lockheed Martin Australia on AIR6500 Ph.1 has meant our company has grown in size and capability,” said Consilium Technology’s Chief Information Officer, Nick Cooper. “The collaboration also provides Consilium Technology with greater access to global markets to drive export opportunities.”

In 2021, the Consilium Technology team has 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 AIR6500 Ph.1.

As part of the risk reduction strategy for AIR6500 Ph.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.