Peraton: Delivering the Future of Unmanned Systems

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1 he future of military missions of our vast experience in the mission will in many ways be defined by space,” Huhman said. “Understanding Tunmanned systems. Peraton where you’re going is one of the hard- is paving the way as a leader in all est parts of any mission set. Our knowl- facets of managing and supporting edge in that space is second to none. unmanned systems, working on those We know exactly what to look for, what capabilities that will transform opera- boxes to check, to make sure that once tions well into the future. the systems are deployed, they can be successfully employed.” From remote-controlled capabilities to fully autonomous platforms, Peraton Peraton’s expertise covers the entire aims to be the U.S. government’s pre- unmanned system lifecycle, from initial mier partner for pre-mission planning, systems integration leadership and data analysis, operational support and capability engineering and develop- sustainment in the unmanned systems ment through embedded fleet support space. Working with the Navy specif- and sustainment. ically, Peraton is positioned to be the service’s top integrator, tester, evalua- “With our background, both in tor, maintainer and sustainer of critical Unmanned Underwater (UUV) unmanned systems. and Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV), we’ve learned everything from how to With the company set to open a new run these missions and operations, research facility in 2021 dedicated to how to conduct mission planning and testing advanced technologies and imagery analysis and what it takes to emerging systems, while preparing maintain all these systems,” Huhman to compete for substantial roles on said. “We’ve since taken that back- major Navy programs such as payload delivery systems for the Mine Counter- measures Unmanned Surface (MCM USV), the opportunities to push the potential of unmanned systems forward are boundless.

Joe Huhman, director of Peraton’s unmanned systems program manage- ment office, points to the company’s 25 years of experience in integration lead- ership, fleet support, capability engi- neering, and software and hardware engineering as offering an unmatched, holistic view of what it takes to suc- ceed in the unmanned systems world. Peraton is advancing the unmanned battlespace, solving problems for systems like the Mk 18 Mod 2 unmanned “We know exactly what we have to do underwater vehicle and improving capability and capacity. to accomplish the mission because Photo source: U.S. Navy

2 ground and started applying it to all different portions of the fleet’s expec- tations for unmanned systems. And we’ve started to push out to all the mil- itary branches and see what we can do to support them in this space.”

As a prime contractor in all six func- tional areas of the Navy’s USV Family of Systems IDIQ Multiple Award Con- tract, Peraton is serving a crucial role in the development process from inven- tion to implementation. The company’s work covers testing and evaluating critical technologies to enable USV Peraton technicians assigned to Commander Fifth platform success, while also working to Fleet’s mine warfare task force pilot a prototype Mine shape the best techniques, tactics, and Countermeasures out of RFA procedures (TTP) for operational use. Mounts Bay’s well deck during a US-UK bilateral exercise. Photo source: U.S. Navy Kevin Hagan, Peraton’s unmanned systems account executive, notes the standards and working with the ser- 25 years of experience with the Navy vice’s Rapid Autonomy Integration also includes a decades-long partner- Lab. ship supporting the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific in San Diego, “We’re looking at every and, more recently, participation in to help the Navy identify and close the Unmanned Maritime Autonomous capabilities gaps where autonomy is Architecture effort to establish industry concerned,” Hagan said.

For UUVs, Peraton is a critical Navy partner, having won a contract for Mk18 Mods 1 and 2 systems mainte- nance and sustain- ment. The system Peraton supports is now deployed to Bahrain where it performs import- ant mine counter- measures mis- Peraton technicians assigned to Naval Information Warfare sions. Center–Pacific conduct testing of Mk 18 Mod 2 unmanned underwater vehicle. Photo source: U.S. Navy “That was a fairly 3 large effort. It was everything from training operators and putting the systems into the fleet and sustaining them,” Huhman said.

Peraton is now turning its attention to the Navy’s MCM USV payload delivery system programs, a prime opportunity to bring the company’s unmatched unmanned systems expertise to bear on critical minesweeping, minehunting and mine neutralization missions. Pera- ton plans to leverage Peraton Remotec, a global leader in designing and building Peraton technicians assigned to Naval Information Warfare mobile systems, to perform fabri- Center–Pacific conduct post-mission analysis of a Mk 18 Mod cation work if selected for the contract. 2 unmanned underwater vehicle. Photo source: U.S. Navy Peraton Remotec is a new subsidiary recently acquired from Northrop Grum- man. mous surface vessel that tows a sensor “We want to set ourselves up as the sin- payload--with our new subsidiary gle point of contact for the government Peraton Remotec.” for making the different pieces of a very complex unmanned system of systems Mark Kersh, Peraton’s vice president, work together seamlessly,” Hagan said. C5ISR, sees MCM USV payload delivery “Peraton is excited to pair our real-world systems as the perfect opportunity to experience working with this precise pair Peraton Remotec’s extensive expe- type of system--an unmanned, autono- rience producing unmanned platforms and fabricating hardware with Per- aton’s command of integrating and testing the payloads required to enable autono- mous capabilities.

“Peraton acquired Peraton Remotec with the goal of leveraging their expert staff and Peraton Remotec systems such as the Andros™ FX Unmanned 72,000-square Ground Vehicle allow remote users to find, identify and remove foot facility in Ten- explosive devices while operating in environments that require nessee to provide high levels of robotic mobility and dexterity. the production Photo source: Peraton Remotec 4 and fabrication required to support the U.S. Navy’s requirements for MCM USV payload delivery systems. It is a perfect partnership of production with expert mission knowledge to provide the best solution for the Navy,” said Kersh.

Peraton’s future endeavors in advanc- ing autonomy capabilities, including work for MCM USV, will be enabled by the company’s new Florida facility, located right around the corner from the Naval Surface Warfare Center - Panama City Division. Peraton’s Remote Control Vehicle Retrofit System is a univer- sal solution that U.S. military customers can install on any type With 8,000 square feet of warehousing of vehicle to control it from up to 20 miles away with either and a 30-foot ceiling, the 12,000-square a joystick or preloaded GPS trails, turning any vehicle that a foot building includes massive testing human can operate into an unmanned vehicle. and lab spaces dedicated to exploring Photo Source: Peraton the latest advances in sensor technolo- gy. The facility will also house an indoor flight space for small UAS, a test pool to evaluate Remotely Operated Vehicles systems. This work includes a part- and UUVS, and a cloud computing sta- nership with Amazon Web Services to tion to run new software tools. develop new algorithms for enhanced sensor integration techniques that will “One of the areas the facility is going to help the warfighter better manage the give us a wide area to attack is the sen- battlespace. sor integration and sensor technology that is advancing every day. We can “Like anything else if you don’t maintain pull in these different systems and inte- it you can’t sustain it. Taking care of grate them in our own lab and our own your systems, trying out technology environment and apply them using the and taking out obsolescence while machine knowledge that we have from always improving your mission is really our extensive operational history with the critical aspect of these operations,” these systems,” Huhman said. “Driving Huhman said. toward sensor integration and advanc- ing autonomy is going to be one of our Peraton’s work extends beyond the main focuses with the facility.” Navy, with decades of experience pro- viding a universal set of components The new facility will further Peraton’s to the Army that allows the service investments in breakthroughs with AI to convert any type of vehicle into a and machine learning, agile software remote-controlled platform. With the development and cyber security to bol- Army’s Yuma Proving Ground as its ster the capability of future unmanned prime customer, Peraton’s universal,

5 adaptable Remote Control Vehicle many small businesses working in Retrofit System has turned everything areas such as target recognition and from Humvees and commercial trucks mission mapping technologies. Once to repurposed Russian tanks into the new facility is up and running, Pera- unmanned ground vehicles that can be ton will focus on bringing in innovative used as targets. companies to experiment and test new concepts that could lead to major The current technology, which can be breakthroughs in the autonomous sys- accepted and integrated on any vehi- tems market. cle in a matter of weeks (and in some cases a few days), allows users to “Now we can partner with even more control vehicles from a control station small businesses and innovative part- on the other side of a test range and ners to advance their technologies as enables Leader-Follow capabilities to well. We think of ourselves as system have multiple vehicles drive together. agnostic: no matter who makes the equipment, we’ll learn it inside and out Mark Farwell, who runs Peraton’s and get the best performance for our program, customers,” Huhman said. says the retrofit system’s software holds potential for future use on array The Pentagon is setting forth on an of Army unmanned and robotic plat- ambitious agenda over the next sev- forms, “anything you can think of where eral decades to be the world leader the customer wants to have universal- in unmanned systems, with plans to ity of install on a platform that does invest billions to ensure the department not have the drive-by-wire capabilities has unmatched capability and tech- integrated into the manufacturing of nological prowess. Peraton is in prime the vehicle.” position to help enable this success, bringing unmatched expertise in auton- “The system’s intensely parameter- omous capabilities for the systems of ized software is the key to expanding the future. what we could do in the future,” Far- well said. “We could be integrated with More specifically, the Navy knows it the final layer of navigation and con- has a partner in Peraton that will pro- trol universally to any vehicle that it’s vide thorough testing, comprehensive installed in.” mission planning and succinct pay- load integration to have any required The next generation of unmanned sys- unmanned system ready to go at a tems will also be defined by Peraton’s moment’s notice. extensive work with partners, including

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