Ireland Degges
C3 AI has won a contract from the U.S. Air Force to supply mission-critical artificial intelligence applications to its Crowd-Sourced Flight Data Program.
Under the award, the company will work alongside fellow contractor Intelligent Waves to support the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron in its efforts to rapidly deliver software-defined warfighter capabilities, C3 AI announced from Redwood City, California on Thursday.
“The traditional test paradigm for advanced weapons systems, such as the F-35, takes too long to keep pace with emerging threats. Enabling programs like the Crowd-Sourced Flight Data Program to operate at the needed scale and velocity is how the United States can maintain a position of power on all battlefields,” commented Thomas Siebel, CEO of C3 AI.
The 59TES squadron manages the F-35, F-22, F-15, F-16 and A-10 weapon system testing, which includes tactics, software development and assessments, and oversees the Operational Test and Evaluation of weapons and support systems to enhance Air Force combat capabilities.
Initially, the Crowd-Sourced Flight Data Program will prioritize the F-35A, a fifth-generation fighter aircraft with upgraded sensor and data fusion capabilities that enable it to operate in complex threat environments.
In developing the F-35A aircraft, C3 AI will work to accelerate and scale the Crowd-Sourced Flight Data technology used with combat F-35A aircraft by creating and implementing a plan for mission-critical AI applications.
These applications are intended to function concurrently with existing data capture and compute investments to harness the terabytes of high-fidelity data that has been recorded on both test and operational aircraft.
Resulting from previous investments in data collection, compute and networking, the initiative has already demonstrated the ability to reduce risk to operational forces by identifying and resolving anomalies in fielded weapon systems before their use in combat.
The Crowd-Sourced Flight Data Program is funded by multiple stakeholders, such as the Test Resource Management Center, and is expected to advance the adoption of the application to other weapons systems, including the F-22 and the F-15E, among others.
