How the Air Force’s “Golden Horde” Helps Bombs Defeat GPS Jamming

The Air Force is taking new steps to rapidly move promising new network weapon technology on a flight to war. This system is described as computer-activated autonomous, collaborative work data sharing ability between weapons along the route to aim.

The service Golden Horde technologyas it is called, engineers are looking for high-tech weapons such as small-diameter bombs to allow them to thwart enemy attempts to block GPS targeting and share flight trajectory and combat space data between weapons on the way to the target. An BBC essay describes the technology as “a software-defined radio for communication between weapons and a processor preloaded with common algorithms.”

In flight, “joint targeting” allows a weapon to use its advanced search engine to identify an enemy silencer and transmit that tactical detail to another weapon, allowing it to adjust course as needed. A recent test of the Golden Horde with the help of cooperation Small diameter bombs in-flight data exchange has shown great promise, as have areas for improvement. The Air Force tested the ability of airborne bombs capable of sharing target-sensitive data in flight to correct the specifics of the attack, to find GPS silencers and optimizing the speed and precision with which attacking operations can be performed.

Now, Air Force Research Laboratory coordinate its development efforts with the service acquisition company to build on its progress in developing the innovations needed to bring the weapon into service.

“As we move forward with our acquisition partner, who is a PEO of weapons, they know how to better structure the future acquisition of these weapons. We are in partnership with the acquisition. This is certainly an effort for S&T (science and technology), but the partnership with PEO Weapons will improve the subsequent acquisition initiatives it promotes, ”Air Force Brig said. General Heather Pringle, commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), told a group of reporters.

Pringle’s discussion of the AFRL S&T Air Force Acquisition Alliance is aligned with current efforts to better integrate successful S&T innovations with accelerated acquisition initiatives aimed at rapid tracking promising new technologies of war. The concept, as set out in a recently published AFRL strategy paper, is described by Pringle as an effort by the Air Force to closely align its research and laboratory community with rapid acquisition experts to take advantage of the short-term promise of new technical breakthroughs.

“This is a natural evolution of the progress that the Golden Horde has made so far. Of course, you are familiar with the flights of small-diameter bombs that took place in February, and they were able to look at a number of SBDs and get them closer to a specific target in time and on target. So, it’s just a natural progression, but it’s also a step in the right direction, because it just brings us closer to this digital environment. “- said Pringle.

SBD’s technical and tactical concepts during flight cooperation with weapons, the BBC estimates, are designed to allow sensors integrated into the weapons themselves to recognize new information, evaluate it in relation to specific mission tasks and perform analyzes. , make course adjustments if necessary. Although the full realization of this may require even more advanced autonomy with activated AI, it represents the pinnacle of very significant breakthrough technology.

Chris Osborne is the defense editor of National Interest. Osborne previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army – Acquisition, Logistics and Technology. Osborne has also worked as a leading and terrestrial military specialist on national television networks. He is a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel and The History Channel. He also holds a master’s degree in comparative literature from Columbia University.

Image: Reuters.