US Air Force awards RTX $39 million for air defense command and control prototype

The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon, an RTX business, $39 million to develop and integrate the service's Battle Management Command and Control software into a prototype for air base air defense.

Raytheon will develop the command-and-control foundation to counter airborne threats and defend U.S. air bases around the world.

"Under this contract, Raytheon will develop a prototype that is ready to meet current threats and has the ability to easily integrate with the best sensors, effectors and algorithms as technology advances," says Paul Ferraro, president of Air Power at Raytheon. "We'll bring our unique decision aids along with many partner components to allow for increased efficiency and effectiveness in a complex attack, while decreasing the manpower burden to operate the system."

In 2022, Raytheon first showcased an Air Base Air Defense solution in Andoya, Norway, in partnership with the Air Force Research Lab. This prototype will build on the lessons learned from that experiment.