The alliance will help the military and intelligence community make sense of their vast amounts of data.

Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a unit of  Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX), will collaborate with C3.ai, a provider of enterprise AI software, to develop AI solutions for aerospace and defense missions by the US Air Force and intelligence agencies. (BusinessWire)

The two companies have strengths in their respective areas of aerospace and defense and artificial intelligence.

Raytheon Intelligence and Space has 35,700 employees globally and reported $14 billion in revenues in 2019.

C3.ai offers a proprietary, model-driven AI architecture that enhances data science and application development for its customers. The company is on the threshold of an IPO that could value it over $3 billion and raise $527 million.

The alliance will help the U.S. military in its mission to adopt the rapidly developing new artificial intelligence technology. AI is transforming the nature of warfare.

Transforming the military into a digital organization

“Raytheon and C3.ai represent key partners for the U.S. Air Force, and specifically the Rapid Sustainment Office, in realizing the vision of harnessing AI to transform the military into a digital organization,” said Nathan Parker, deputy program executive officer for the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office.

“Fulfilling this vision of broad implementation requires identifying applicable use cases for AI across the Air Force, rapidly piloting solutions, and scaling successes across our enterprise to accelerate the transformation.”

Making sense of big data

“The military and intelligence community have access to more data now than any time in history, but it’s more than they’re able to make quick use of,” said David Appel, vice president of Defense & Civil Solutions at Space & C2 Systems for Raytheon Intelligence & Space. “Artificial intelligence can be used to help them make sense of that data. It will allow them to make smarter decisions faster on the battlefield. And that’s just one of the benefits.”

“Once in a generation technology” could change the balance of power

In September, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper was speaking at the virtual Joint Artificial Intelligence Center symposium.

He described AI as a technology that was in a “league of its own.”

He said it could transform nearly every aspect of the battlefield.

“History informs us that those who are first to harness once-in-a-generation technologies often have a decisive advantage on the battlefield for years to come,” the Secretary said. “I experienced this firsthand during Operation Desert Storm, when the United States’ military’s smart bombs, stealth aircraft, and satellite-enabled GPS helped decimate Iraqi forces and their Soviet equipment.”

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Image Credit: Raytheon Intelligence & Space