L3Harris Technologies has been selected by the U.S. Air Force to develop core elements of a secure digital infrastructure intended to underpin its command and control network, the company stated.
The work centres on the Air Force’s Advanced Battle Management System, known as ABMS, with L3Harris tasked with strengthening its data integration and networking capabilities.
ABMS sits at the heart of the Department of Defense’s Combined Joint All-Domain Command and Control strategy, commonly referred to as CJADC2, which aims to unify and integrate military operations across all services and domains. The concept has been a long-standing priority for the U.S. military as it seeks to address the challenge of connecting disparate sensors, platforms, and decision-makers across land, sea, air, space, and cyber environments in contested conditions. L3Harris will apply modern data processing and networking technologies to develop the infrastructure that supports that vision.
Kathy Crandall, President of Mission Networks within L3Harris’ Space & Mission Systems division, framed the award in terms of both operational need and institutional experience. “This new digital infrastructure will provide the warfighter with more secure, timely and usable information, allowing them to connect sensors and shooters across domains — in complex operational environments,” she said, as quoted in the press release. “We will build off L3Harris’ rich legacy of developing and operating large-scale communications networks to meet the demands of modern military operations.”
ABMS itself has had a complex development history. Originally conceived as a direct replacement for the E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System, it evolved into a broader network-of-networks architecture designed to enable faster, more integrated decision-making across the joint force. L3Harris will apply what it describes as modern data processing and networking technologies to the infrastructure development work, with the stated aim of delivering a system that is both secure and resilient across complex operational environments.
