In a major development in the defense industry, L3Harris on Monday introduced a new software platform called Amorphous. The platform is designed to coordinate and manage unmanned systems, offering seamless integration across platforms from aircraft to ships. L3Harris envisions the software being able to manage thousands of platforms in the future, making it a significant contributor to the U.S. Department of Defense’s efforts to integrate unmanned systems.
Key Features of Amorphous
Amorphous is designed with an open architecture and is a scalable platform. This design provides the ability to operate independently of different platforms. L3Harris states that this software has already demonstrated the ability to connect multiple systems, but will also provide the necessary infrastructure for larger-scale operations in the future. This feature is especially important for the US Department of Defense to achieve its goal of integrating unmanned systems more efficiently.
Human and Autonomous Systems Working Together
“Amorphous will serve as a conductor, helping operators command and control autonomous systems,” says Jon Rambeau, president of Integrated Mission Systems at L3Harris. “This software will function without human intervention to provide simultaneous control of thousands of different unmanned systems,” Rambeau says. “This represents a different approach than traditional command and control systems. Managing multiple unmanned systems simultaneously will enable the broader use of autonomous systems.”
The “Leaderless Herd” Model
Another important feature of Amorphous is that it is not based on the traditional “mother ship” model. Traditional autonomous systems receive commands and are managed by a main platform. However, Amorphous changes this process. In this model, which is based on a “leaderless swarm” approach, each platform shares commands on its own and prevents conflicts on how to perform the task. L3Harris states that this approach can increase the security of the system by ensuring that tasks are completed in the event of a communication interruption between platforms.
The Pentagon's Replicator Project and Amorphous' Role
Amorphous also plays a key role in L3Harris’ Replicator project, a collaboration with the Pentagon that aims to field thousands of unmanned systems by 2024. L3Harris is working with Anduril Industries and Swarm Aero on this project to test the ability to coordinate hundreds or even thousands of platforms.
Open Architecture and Integration Capability
L3Harris emphasizes that Amorphous has an open architecture, which enables it to integrate with different platforms. The company’s executives say they are collaborating with smaller companies to support user interfaces and autonomy algorithms. Such open interfaces are critical to ensuring that disparate systems work together. “A truly open architecture will be a critical element of success,” Magsig says.
Future Expectations and Implications
L3Harris envisions Amorphous not only facilitating the integration of unmanned systems, but also enabling them to operate more efficiently and safely. As the Replicator project and the Pentagon’s interest in autonomous systems grow, Amorphous’ importance will only grow. This software has the potential to be used not only in defense but also in civilian areas. Future developments of Amorphous could shape advances in defense technologies and could be a major step forward for the future of autonomous systems.
L3Harris seems to have realized the importance and future potential of this software and will consolidate its leadership in this field. This may go down in history as a step that could shape the future of the defense industry.
