In the face of ever-evolving threats to both national and global security, as well as the continuous shift to the skies as the primary battleground, Intuitive Research and Technology Company (INTUITIVE®), has committed its resources to help meet the constantly changing demands of air, space, and missile defense by investing in the tools, technology, and talent needed to meet the future head on.
Since its founding, INTUITIVE has transformed itself from a traditional paper-and-pencil engineering company to a high-tech aerospace defense contractor. This commitment means INTUITIVE is constantly striving not only to innovate and leverage the latest technologies, but also to integrate information, streamline communications, and maximize the impact of defense systems for military personnel. Through collaboration with industry partners, they deliver the most advanced and effective solutions, combining in-house expertise with the best ideas and technologies available.
This Is Not Your Father’s Air and Missile Defense System
Air and missile defense systems have been a part of Huntsville’s collaboration with the Department of Defense going back to the Patriot missiles of the 1980s. As the continuum of strategic defense has evolved in the intervening decades, today’s systems are less focused on one-to-one defense. “Defending against threat missiles traditionally requires a larger quantity of defensive interceptors, and that isn’t always practical,” said Daron Drown, Division Manager at INTUITIVE. “The resources required to expend multiple interceptors for a single threat missile force us to consider more efficient options.”
“Any shooter, any sensor” – or conversely, “any sensor, any shooter” – is a phrase used to refer to the full integration of sensors and effectors. In the past, we would depend on a single soldier with a single weapon, making a single isolated decision on a battlefield. Today, it’s much more complex—more networked. As integration is maturing to a high degree, data-sharing enables complete battlespace visibility and rapid, optimized response.
Drown says the ideal approach is to defeat the missile prior to launch, or “left of launch.” This approach shifts the focus to things other than missiles themselves, such as the computer systems that are launching attacks. “In that scenario, we aren’t matching quantity with quantity or size with size. If we can take down a computer system that’s about to launch 20 missiles, we’ve just neutralized 20 missiles with one missile.”
But defeat left of launch isn’t always an option, and INTUITIVE is working with industry and government partners to combine sensors and effectors into networks of integrated, layered, and resource-efficient defenses. Drown explains that “maximum global sensing, near real-time data sharing, and optimum effector selection require large, connected, and secure networks for effective command and control.” The integrated systems and integrated operations require advanced tools and methods.
Artificial Intelligence and the Human Factor
“The challenge of having access to so much information is sharing that data with an operator in a way that’s actionable,” says Drown. “As humans, we’re simply not able to sort, filter, and prioritize all of the information available to us on the battlefield today.”
To address this issue, INTUITIVE has invested time and resources to leverage the use of AI in this process and deliver actionable information in real time. “We’ve focused on the hard science of the AI engine, the code, and the math that helps to make the decisions, as well as developing better ways to present complex information to the human operator so that they can absorb and comprehend it very quickly,” says Drown.
Drown also adds that INTUITIVE systems keep humans in the decision-making loop. “Computers can recommend decisions to a human, based on the data they have, but we ultimately want to have an operator either in the loop or at least on the loop to approve or veto a computer recommendation or decision,” says Drown. “We want the computer to help the human orient or understand the context of the information, and make time-critical decisions, while freeing the human operator’s time for legal, ethical, morally complex decisions.”
Modeling and Systems Engineering Let Us See the Future
With the exponential growth in complexity required by integrated systems of systems, INTUITIVE makes use of modeling and simulation to develop new air, space, and missile defense products and optimize older products as well.
“Modeling allows the team to answer, ‘what ifs,’ make trade-off decisions early in the process, and find potential problems before prototyping begins,” says Drown. “For example, if we need to test a system in a complex environment, we may not be able to achieve the required threat density and threat diversity on an open-air test range. Instead, we’ll build and test one model at a time, then integrate those models to test increasingly complex combinations of blue and red systems for an overall result.”
Warlock, a new and novel tool from INTUITIVE, uses artificial intelligence to quickly and automatically tune radar models. “Historically, humans tune or optimize radar models by iteratively changing many parameters until the model performs like the real radar,” says Drown. “But with AI we can automate the preliminary knob-turning via pattern recognition, then add humans as a top layer to make further adjustments.”
Drown says INTUITIVE is working with the federal government now to be able to test Warlock’s approach with real world data in a classified environment. He adds that this approach is several orders of magnitude cheaper and faster than developing models with current methods.
The Intersection of Technical Excellence, Mission Focus, and Collaboration
At the heart of INTUITIVE’s work with the Department of Defense and other defense contractors is its ability to pull together teams of engineers from many disciplines who work together to connect program elements through digital channels. Those connections reside in INTUITIVE’s own internal systems, in the information they share with collaborators and clients, and in the systems deployed in support of defense efforts by the Department of Defense.
Casey Cooper, Senior Technical Advisor at INTUITIVE, says the company’s focus on digital engineering is always in service to efficiency, effectiveness, time savings and budget sensitivity for our clients. “Digital engineering at INTUITIVE is composed of more than 50 individuals representing almost every engineering discipline,” says Cooper. “They each bring their own perspective to the table, along with their own questions and a unique understanding of their own discipline.” The depth and breadth of knowledge these engineers share all contribute to the way work is done at INTUITIVE, as well as the way weapons systems operate in the field.
The Future Is Human
While technology continues to advance, its ultimate purpose is in the service of humans. INTUITIVE solves hard problems by hiring the right people with the right experience, who bring critical thinking and unique capabilities to each project.
“We depend on our human talent to bring the right mindset on how to tailor the necessary technological rigor,” Cooper says. “Having teams of people with diverse experience, people who have augmented their academic knowledge with real world practical experience, lets us view every challenge from multiple perspectives, anticipate and prepare for possible issues, and collaborate to ultimately work faster and more efficiently.”
Cooper emphasizes the value of diverse perspectives across INTUITIVE’s multidisciplinary teams. “Whether someone is just beginning their career or brings decades of experience, we find that fresh ideas can emerge from any corner of the organization. Our team members often introduce novel approaches to evolving technologies—like artificial intelligence and prompt engineering—while also learning from one another how to apply these tools with rigor and insight.”
She adds, “What’s special about our culture is how quickly people see the impact they can have. Many of our team members, regardless of when they joined or what background they bring, find themselves engaged in projects from early concept through rapid prototyping and delivery in just a few years. That kind of full-cycle involvement is part of what makes INTUITIVE so dynamic.”
Cooper adds that team members who join fresh out of college often bring a new approach or a different perspective on technology such as artificial intelligence and prompt engineering. “They’re able to show us new ways to incorporate tools that augment and expedite our work, and at the same time, learn the application of critical thinking skills from our more experienced teammates.”
“Our new hires typically become recruiters for us, too,” says Cooper. “They quickly realize they can be part of a project from rapid prototype systems to fielding, in some cases from concept to hand-over in a matter of years for delivery. This is the kind of go-fast work we love doing.”
When INTUITIVE finds engineers who share that desire to go fast and hard, have that hunger and drive, and the humility to learn, Cooper says, that’s who they are looking to hire.
About Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation:
INTUITIVE® is an aerospace engineering and analysis firm headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama that provides production support, software and systems engineering, programmatic support, product development, rapid prototyping, and technology management to the Department of Defense, other State and Federal Government agencies, and commercial companies. Our approach couples the latest technology with engineering expertise, analytical proficiency, and keen managerial oversight. From design through production to sustainment, we proudly provide management and technical solutions throughout all phases of the system’s life cycle.