Artificial intelligence has increasingly become a must-have ingredient for businesses nationwide. The move to AI is even more critical for America’s military and defense industries, which are racing to keep up with global strategic competitors.

Now Raytheon, a division of Arlington, Virginia-based RTX (NYSE: RTX), is taking on two new “mentorship” efforts to help advance operational AI. Raytheon has been awarded two strategic Mentor-Protégé Agreement initiatives from the U.S. Navy’s Office of Small Business Programs. The initiatives will support the development of operational AI for Department of Defense platforms and programs, the company said.

Raytheon has facilities in Dallas, Richardson, and McKinney, which is home to a Raytheon Intelligence & Space advanced integration manufacturing center.

DFW-based Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon, called the Mentor-Protégé program “an essential element of our overall supplier diversity small business strategy.”

“Through this partnership, we’ll leverage commercial innovations that can make meaningful contributions to our defense capabilities and ultimately, the success of our servicemen and women,” Whelan added in a statement.

The two companies Raytheon is mentoring 

Raytheon said that via joint sponsorship from NAVAIR and the Office of Naval Research, it will be mentoring Oxnard, California-based Anacapa Micro Products and Boston-based Nara Logics.

Two individual three-year contracts call for Raytheon to provide mentorship for operational AI on system design, software architecture, systems integration, IT security constraints, and authority-to-operate requirements in a collaborative environment.

The mentorship collaboration is part of the Defense Department’s Mentor-Protégé Program, which was established in 1990 and is the oldest continuously operating federal mentor-protégé program in existence. Raytheon noted that it has been an “active participant” in the program since 1991.

Accelerating ‘next-gen autonomous capabilities’

Together, teams at Raytheon, Anacapa, and Nara Logics will be working to accelerate the development of “next-generation autonomous capabilities” to enhance the decision-making effectiveness of America’s servicemen and women, Raytheon said.

“We’re privileged to participate in this Mentor Protégé relationship that will enhance our joint technical abilities to deliver critical mission support functionality on emerging defense and intelligence platforms,” Jana Eggers, CEO of Nara Logics, said in a statement.

CEO Ken Marks of Anacapa Micro Products said his company is “looking forward to supporting the development, production and testing of next-generation AI to better serve the warfighter.”

Once the three-year contracts are completed, Raytheon says it “will possess an extremely robust technology roadmap aligned with emerging commercial technologies of industry leading small business capabilities.”

Get on the list.
Dallas Innovates, every day.

Sign up to keep your eye on what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth, every day.