Raytheon vice president for surveillance and targeting systems Torrey Cady opened a briefing held before the Paris Airshow with a summation of the environment in which today’s warfighters find themselves. “The threat drives capability requirements, and we need new solutions to support multi-domain operations,” he declared.
Cady was speaking about the company’s launch of Raiven, described by the defense conglomerate as a revolutionary electro-optical intelligent-sensing capability that gives pilots faster and more precise threat identification. Designed to identify objects in real-time, Raiven combines both optical and spectral data with artificial intelligence (AI), a new capability for these types of systems.
Raytheon coined the name for the system, as one of the designers said, as a play on words. “We wanted the system to have a name of something that is normally airborne, but we also wanted to use the initials ‘AI’ to symbolize how the data is processed,” he noted.
Explaining the design drivers, Cady pointed out that conflicts have shifted from low intensity to the current day. “That tells us the ‘who’ we might have to fight,” he said. “The capabilities they might have and what we will require changes the ‘how.’ In the next fight, we expect the air domain to be highly contested with multiple effectors and platforms. We will be dealing with hundreds of threats at once and will need to ID those threats faster than our adversaries.”
Raiven’s “intelligent-sensing” capability uses a synthesis of artificial intelligence, hyperspectral imaging, and light detection and ranging, or lidar, which enables operators to see up to five times farther and clearer than traditional EO packages, according to the system’s design team. The capability enhances platform survivability and gives warfighters a time-to-decision advantage over peer threats.
One member of the design team also explained the battlefield multiplier effect inherent in the Raiven design. Integrated processing technology combines multiple streams of data in a manner previous-generation sensors couldn’t.
Integrating advanced imaging of a special chemical signature or the material makeup of an object is a key feature. Raiven then analyses the object in pixel form and at stand-off range provides an identification and resolution in seconds rather than minutes.
“Traditional EO systems would not see behind foliage,” he explained. “But what if an armored vehicle is hiding behind foliage, but a small corner of the vehicle is protruding out from behind this cover? The Raiven can detect that single spectral piece of metal and ID the target from extrapolating off that small visible edge of the vehicle.”
“The future battlespace will consist of a myriad of threats evolving at an unprecedented pace,” added Cady. “Raiven keeps the warfighter safe by providing accurate, persistent target observation coupled with accelerated information sharing. This enables a decision-making process that simultaneously reduces pilot workload while accelerating engagement decisions to prosecute targets much faster than adversaries.”
Using AI, Raiven synthesizes reams of data into a detailed battlespace picture. The technology automatically detects and identifies threats, providing a level of automation for the operator to choose what decisions he or she needs to make, which offers a critical tactical advantage and dramatically reduces operator workload.
The Raiven design is a modular, open-architecture system and is a new-generation evolution of RTX’s previous design and combat-proven multi-spectral targeting system product line. But engineers accomplished it all without an increase in dimensions, weight, or power requirements.
The first major product line from the Raiven project, RT-1000, supports a broad spectrum of missions that includes the U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift modernization program. Plans call for the first flight in support of that effort to occur in 2024.
Jake Ullrich, RTX director and chief engineer of surveillance and targeting systems, called Raiven’s design a “truly next-generation” architecture. “In designing the system we started with the customer’s mission in mind, but with the overriding concept this would be more than just a single system,” he explained. “In developing the concept for Raiven our goals were a system architecture that we could use on any platform. It was not intended to be just a single subsystem—not just one piece of kit, but the intention was for the Raiven to be platform agnostic, scalable, and adaptable to multiple mission applications.”
The Raiven team members have several near-term “targets” in mind, such as the Army’s Future Vertical Lift mission. The technology is a “perfect fit, as it is replacing federated systems into an integrated package, and we were able to package optics that have a 40 percent greater resolution in the same-sized space of previous systems,” said Ullrich.