Page 160 - Australian Defence Magazine September 2018

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Like an XBOSS
XBOSS will fuse all universal sensors into the Rockwell Collins Coalescence product, to synchronise and coordinate joint fires and effects through mixed reality.
It’s anticipated that while technology will allow a high degree of automation or Artificial Intelligence in this process, immu- table decisions remain, which still require a “person in the loop” to make key decisions.
The FO and JTAC avatars will remotely operate a more responsive joint fires sys- tem that will be dependent upon a digi- tally networked XBOSS to link together all sensors and shooters across all compo- nents via a centralized control authority to provide terminal effects.
Mixed reality of XBOSS enables the remote operators to geospatially under- stand the battlespace in a similar way as if they were physically located at a geo-specific location in the field.
The essential benefits of being removed from the physical battlespace afford both the FO and JTAC to be robust and resil- ient while coordinating both lethal and non-lethal effects.
DAVID JOHNSON | ROCKWELL COLLINS
THE role of supporting forces in contact and generating sufficient joint fires and ef- fects to allow the commander to shape the battle will endure well into the future.
A difference in the future may be that the Forward Observer (FO) and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) will no longer be on the physical battlefield, but integrated into a geospatial synthetic environment as an avatar conducting digital joint fires. Rockwell Collins will be the first to make the shift to using certified simulation as an operational capability. By using RealFires simulator embedded into the Coalescence mixed reality system, Rockwell Collins will establish the Avatar Effect within the Extreme Battlespace Offensive Support
which will change how joint fires will be conducted in the future. The FO and JTAC are the single most important force ele- ments on the battlefield who employ reach back to lethal attack resources through tactical data links and internet protocols.
This methodology of digital joint fires will continue to evolve; offensive support will use digitised command and control, communications, software, and informa- tion systems to find and strike an adversary.
This future force evolution of joint fires will be a major driver of ongoing research and development by Rockwell Collins over the foreseeable future. The XBOSS is symbiotic to both the joint fires applications and simulation, and demon- strates an unprecedented paradigm shift for the evolution of joint fires produced by Rockwell Collins.
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154 | September 2018 | www.australiandefence.com.au