Defense contractor L3Harris Technologies plans to utilize artificial intelligence partnerships to bolster the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense program. This ambitious initiative, born from a Trump administration executive order, aims to create a comprehensive defense against various missile threats, including ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles.

L3Harris, holding over $2 billion in missile-tracking satellite contracts from the Space Force’s Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency, will integrate AI and machine learning (ML) technologies. These technologies are developed through collaborations with Palantir Technologies and Shield AI.

“We have done very well with sensors,” Ed Zoiss, president of space and airborne systems at L3Harris, told SpaceNews.  “The next area for us to partner is AI and ML,” he added. “That’s the next place we’re going.”

Zoiss highlighted that Golden Dome’s success hinges on more than just deploying sensors and interceptors. It requires a “collaborative autonomous network” capable of processing data from numerous sensors and accurately sharing that information with interceptor weapons. “I think that’s the next place where innovation will need to occur,” Zoiss explained. “We’re not just tracking one threat. There could be dozens or hundreds of threats.”

He stressed the necessity of an “AI layer on top of it to be able to coordinate shooters, interceptors and sensors.” Preliminary work on AI and autonomous networks is underway, stemming from a project initiated by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) in November. This project focuses on prototyping a command-and-control system capable of managing hundreds or thousands of autonomous assets. L3Harris’s role involves providing the user interface, developing collaborative autonomy capabilities, and acting as the system integrator for the autonomy architecture.

For this and other projects, L3Harris partners with Palantir Technologies, leveraging their AI platform. Shield AI, having recently secured $240 million in funding, with significant investments from L3Harris and Hanwha Asset Management, will be a key partner in developing AI innovations for defense. Collaboration plans include a demonstration showcasing AI-enabled unmanned systems in electronic warfare operations using Shield AI’s “Hivemind” autonomy software.