Boeing plans to demonstrate sensor fusion technology that could improve the military’s situational awareness by combining data from airborne and spaceborne sensors, a senior executive said. That fusion of sensor data could be transmitted to operators on the ground or in the cockpit, said Kay Sears, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space, Intelligence and Weapons Systems.

The plan is to use data from Boeing’s E-7 command-and-control aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and missile-tracking satellites that Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space is developing for the U.S. Space Force. The aviation merger aims to solve a long-standing problem facing the military: providing timely and relevant data to operational units, Sears said at the Air Space & Cyber ​​conference on Sept. 16.

“We have to make sure these lightning strikes actually exist,” Sears said, using a slideshow of a military briefing as a metaphor for the urgency of delivering real-time data to warfighters.

Satellites in LEO, MEO

Boeing’s sensor fusion efforts include two satellite programs provided by Millennium Space. One of these programs is the Foo Fighter network, a $414 million Low Earth Orbit (LEO) missile tracking satellite constellation being developed for the U.S. Space Agency. These satellites are equipped with electro-optical and infrared sensors to detect and track advanced missile threats, including hypersonic missiles.

The company also plans to integrate the medium Earth orbit (MEO) missile warning satellites that Millennium is building under a $500 million contract with the U.S. Space Force. Sears said these will provide a multi-domain operational picture when combined with the E-7 Wedgetail electronically scanned array radar.

“We’re going to connect the E-7 to the Foo Fighter network and the MEO missile warning and tracking layer,” he said. “We want to show how we can get an operational picture by combining all of these sensors.”

The E-7 Wedgetail, used by many militaries, tracks moving air and sea targets simultaneously. Integration of space data could significantly expand its capabilities and enable real-time tracking of missile threats at long ranges.

This type of sensor fusion is consistent with a broader Department of Defense initiative to integrate closed technologies, but Sears noted that the organizational structure of the Department of Defense makes such integration difficult.