The Navy used Anduril’s Lattice software to command and control teams of unmanned vehicles during the Navy’s recent Integrated Battle Problem 24.1 exercise.
The company on Monday said it served as the prime technology provider for the U.S. Pacific Fleet to integrate more than a dozen Anduril and partner platforms and data sources into Lattice. Lattice then served as the “primary mission management platform for the exercise,” the company said.
Anduril said this work is the primary solution to integrate, network, and command and control teams of various unmanned and autonomous vehicles in the air, on the sea, and under the sea surface and create a common operating picture.
Over 100 operators used Lattice in various locations to conduct command and control and use as a common operating picture for the exercise.
The company also said its work at IBP 24.1 “ was made possible through contracts with the Defense Innovation Unit.”
IBP 24.1 was the fourth iteration in a series of tests by Pacific Fleet using unmanned systems. This time it took place over the first half of March off the coast of Southern California (Defense Daily, March 25).
Last year, Anduril introduced an evolved version of the Lattice software platform, labeled Lattice for Mission Autonomy, that enables large-scale integration and use of autonomous systems under human supervision throughout the entire mission cycle. At the time company officials did not disclose particular government customers or milestones (Defense Daily, May 3, 2023).
Anduril argued Lattice’s open APIs and software development kit allowed it to quickly integrate seven Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) variants, three Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) variants, one autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and several commercial data feeds into Lattice.
The company also deployed Lattice on partner platforms that served as more nodes “to further bolster Lattice’s secure data mesh network and ensure resilient communications beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) during the exercise.”
Anduril said operators used Lattice for both the common operational picture element and also to construct and execute coordinated mission plans. This meant using the software to automate machine tasking of the unmanned vehicles as well as adjust their positions, speeds and sensor coverage in real-time based on battlefield observations, “demonstrating the operational utility of Lattice’s low-latency data mesh,” the company said.
Separately, Anduril said during IBP 24.1 it successfully demonstrated the capabilities of its Altius family of loitering munition systems.
This included using partner USVs to conduct BLOS launches of Altius to extend its range via “highly-mobile, unmanned launch points in the maritime domain.”
The company said Lattice operators verified the pre-launch conditions for Altius through full motion video sensor data from partner USVs, initiated the launch and validated post-launch conditions.
Once launched, Altius conducted simultaneous, coordinated ISR missions on moving targets via autonomy and in-flight command and control Lattice tasking.
It underscored all Altius systems used in the test were recovered for reuse.
The company also demonstrated its three-ton Dive-LD AUV had navigated hundreds of nautical miles during a 120-hour mission, relying on onboard vehicle commute and planning software for navigation. The AUV was also tasked and controlled via Lattice.