Anduril's 'Lattice' Will Change How Wars Are Fought In Future, And World's Most Advanced Air Force Is Sold On The Idea

America's new-age defence technology company 'Anduril Industries' has developed a new software-based product that will change how militaries will fight future wars.

Unlike major defence contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon of the USA, BAE Systems of the UK, Dassault of France, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) of India, which focus mainly on high-tech, complex, and costly hardware like fighter jets, and missiles, Anduril has developed an adaptable, scalable software that uses artificial intelligence (AI) for automation.

The seven-year-old company, established in 2017 and valued at more than $8.4 billion, claims that this software — Lattice AI — will give a definitive edge to its operators.

Lattice collects data in real-time from various sensors like radars and cameras. It then uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms to interpret this data. The software presents a clear, real-time picture to the operator and suggests potential actions to take to neutralise the threat.

It essentially serves as a networked battle management system, but what makes Lattice revolutionary is its ability to integrate data from any type of sensor, whether it's a radar, thermal or optical camera, or an electronic warfare (EW) sensor.

Imagine a situation where Lattice detects a missile launch using data from various sensors, classifies the threat level, and suggests potential options to address the threat to the operator. Once given the orders, it executes them, nullifying the threat. That would reduce the response time and make the job easier for militaries.

Lattice is system agnostic, meaning it can be integrated with other third party products.

For example, it can be integrated with loitering munitions, loyal wingman drones, counter-drone systems, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), and electronic warfare systems.

Anduril acquired Area-I and integrated Lattice into Area-I’s Altius-600 and 700 loitering munitions. Similarly, it acquired Dive Technologies and Blue Force Technologies, and integrated Lattice into both the Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and the Fury loyal wingman drone, respectively.

This shows that Anduril’s software is highly adaptable.

The main philosophy behind Anduril’s approach is to shift from the earlier model of un-networked, costly, limited-in-number, and difficult-to-replace systems (like destroyers, aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and tanks) to new systems that are networked, cheap, easy to mass-manufacture, and AI-controlled (like swarm drones, autonomous underwater vehicles, and loyal wingman drones).

The survivability of the US Navy’s aircraft carriers, its F-35 and F-18 fighter jet fleet, and destroyers against the Chinese DF-21D anti-aircraft-carrier missile and China's anti-access area-denial (A2AD) systems is highly suspect.

If any of this equipment is hit or damaged in a hypothetical Chinese invasion of Taiwan, it will take months, if not years, to replace. Not to mention the fact that only a limited number of these would be available during a war.

In such a case, networked, low-cost drones and AUVs running Anduril’s Lattice AI will be a game changer. Without putting any costly manned platform at risk, these low-cost drones and AUVs can provide an asymmetric advantage to the US Navy and Taiwan against China’s invading amphibious fleet.

Ukraine’s destruction of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet using Magura V5 AUVs is a case in point. Swarm attacks from Magura AUVs have damaged and destroyed several Russian Navy ships, frustrating it to the extent that it was forced to shift operations from Crimean peninsula to Novorossiysk in Russia.

The US Air Force is already sold on this idea.

According to reports, Anduril is very close to securing a contract to develop a Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) — a loyal wingman drone — for the US Air Force.

Using networked systems also gives an information advantage to the operator, consequently shortening the observe-orient-decide-act (OODA) loop.

The OODA loop is simply the time taken between observing the target, classifying whether it is lethal or not, deciding whether to shoot it down or not, and finally taking action.

As Anduril Industries pioneers defence technology with Lattice AI and networked systems, its innovations promise to transform modern warfare. However, how effective these solutions will be when put in the field remains to be seen.