Northrop Grumman boosts C-UAS capability with open architecture AI system

Northrop Grumman Corporation has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature to help address the growing complexity of aerial threats. The Forward Area Air Defense (FAAD) Advanced Battle Manager (ABM) system is designed to “streamline decision-making for optimal defeat of UAS swarms with a single button click on a mobile tablet”. 

The company says the system was successfully tested earlier this year at the Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona, where it demonstrated real-time weapon-target pairings across disparate kinetic and non-kinetic weapons.

The FAAD command and control software integrates short-range air defence, counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar and C-UAS missions. The ABM is designed to address complex aerial swarm scenarios with numerous weapons against varying threats. It supports real-time data processing, generating engagement plans in under a quarter of a second.

The system continuously monitors the battlespace and re-plans engagements as necessary and currently supports multiple weapon types. Its open architecture design enables new weapons to be added in the future.