Raytheon Unveils Control System for Airborne Targeting Operations

Raytheon has introduced a situational awareness control system that connects overhead aircraft and ground-based platforms to coordinate target identification and attack execution activities. It used DevOps and Agile procedures to develop the Persistent Close Air Support network which enables Joint Terminal Attack Controllers to connect with pilots to commence operations such as multiple-target attacks, friendly-force identification and target correlation, Raytheon said Wednesday.

“Because we employ test-driven development and various forms of automated testing on every feature, bugs and other costly rework are minimal,” said Ryan McLean, Raytheon’s PCAS program manager.

The system also enables pilots to call for support to handle manned and unmanned targets within six minutes. As part of its DevOps implementation, Raytheon deployed cloud-based technologies and leveraged “pair programming,” a technique in which two programmers perform tasks under one workstation.