Mosaic Warfare, DARPA graphic

Each of the blue hexagons represents a “tile” in DARPA’s “Mosaic Warfare” concept, DARPA graphic

WASHINGTON: DARPA’s planned AI tool to help de-conflict joint fires in All Domain Operations will undergo live testing in the first half of 2024, says program manager Paul Zablocky.

DoD’s future-tech agency recently awarded two contracts for Phase 1 of the Air Space Total Awareness for Rapid Tactical Execution (ASTARTE) project: one last week to Raytheon for $7.6 million; another to Systems and Technology Research (STR) on Dec. 29 for $8.3 million.

“The program kicked off in January 2021,” Zablocky said in an email today. “There are 3 phases to the program. Phase 1 is component technology development. It is 14 months in duration. Phase 2 is virtual experimentation. It is also 14 months. Phase 3 is live experimentation. It is 18 months. Phases run sequentially.”

ASTARTE is part of DARPA’s Mosaic Warfare program to create next-generation systems to support and expand Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2).

The Mosaic Warfare concept envisions the individual capabilities needed to fight an all-domain battle — sensors, shooters, command and control networks, etc. — as mix and match “tiles” that can be used to build a “mosaic” battle plan, according to DARPA’s website. Think “kill webs,” not kill chains. Instead of exquisite platforms like the B-2 bomber, think exquisite functional technology nodes (such as an advanced infrared sensor) configured on the fly using AI tools. Think building a LEGO spaceship not from a kit with a blueprint, but free-form from a drawer of jumbled pieces.

Grayson said that Mosaic Warfare can be thought of as “Wave 2 of JADC2;” or vice versa, JADC2 can be thought of as Wave 1 of Mosaic Warfare.

“JADC2 and Mosaic are essentially the same thing at the conceptual level,” he said. “They are both about being able to deliver war-winning effects by enabling the warfighter to use the best capabilities for the mission, regardless of what Service or domain they come from. This leads to a system-of-systems (SoS), kill chain-centric view of warfighting.”

One of the messy potential inter-service conflicts JADC2 will need to navigate is how to ensure that Air Force and Army weapon systems developed for long-range, precision fires are not redundant and/or incompatible — and that the use of those weapons in high-speed battles is coordinated to ensure against gaps in targeting, or worse, fratricide. Tensions between the two services already have led to public sparring, and support by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown for DoD and Congress to consider a roles and missions review.

“The goal of the ASTARTE Program is to provide real-time, low-risk de-confliction between airspace users and joint fires to enable support to tactical units and build a resilient air picture under an Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) bubble while conducting JADC2 operations,” according to DARPA’s original special notice to industry published last April. The Army and Air Force both are supporting the effort, according to DARPA documentation.

ASTARTE’s larger aim is to help warfighters rapidly sort through the deluge of data they will need to run operations linking all sensors and shooters across the air, land, sea, space and cyberspace domains, Tim Grayson, head of DARPA’s Strategic Technologies Office (STO), explained in an email today.

“We have a portfolio of programs that are the toolkit to help the warfighter build the mosaic,” he said. “We have those supporting mosaic technologies divided into three functional areas: The first set of programs is to Plan the mosaic. The second set, which includes all the comms and networking technology, allows the tiles to Interoperate. ASTARTE is in the third functional area, how does the operator Execute using the mosaic without being overwhelmed by its complexity.”

In other words, the “tiles” in the battle “mosaic” to be managed by ASTARTE’s AI algorithms are things that will fly through the air, including air- and land-launched long-range strike weapons, and their support systems.

“ASTARTE helps solve the problem how to decide where physically to move the air tiles to conduct operations … even when it is an incredibly complex battlespace, and the person or organization tasking the air asset doesn’t ‘own’ it organically nor know that much about it,” Grayson said. “The tiles themselves are all the more traditional systems that actually do a warfighting functions, the weapons, sensors, and platforms.”

“ASTARTE will support JADC2 operations,” said Raytheon Technologies spokesperson Kevin Donovan in an email. “The program develops a dynamic airspace management capability to coordinate airspace users and joint fires. It does this by combining an Artificial Intelligence Engine with a Layered Sensor Network combining traditional and non-traditional sensors. The system is to be developed and tested using a Virtual Lab Testbed that virtualizes Legacy C2 Systems and interfaces.”

DARPA’s special notice elaborates: “”ASTARTE will develop a virtual and live testbed for airspace management systems, a series of algorithms for airspace planning and operations, and a sensor network for delivering real-time spatial and temporal tracking of airborne platforms.”