China and Russia are advancing delivery systems designed to exploit vulnerabilities in America’s existing missile defense system (MDS), and North Korea can launch ballistic missiles with enough range to target all parts of the U.S. homeland. Meanwhile, Iran’s launch vehicles will be able to propel Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) by 2035.  Any of these systems can be modified to carry nuclear warheads, making the threat even more serious.

To defend the U.S. homeland, our nation must rapidly develop, deploy, and expand our multilayered missile defense system to track and neutralize evolving missile threats. Brilliant Swarms™, a Booz Allen solution, can fill this gap and help keep America safe. 

Current Gaps in America’s Missile Defense System

The U.S. designed our current missile defense system to defeat rogue and inadvertent launches from North Korea and Iran, but today China and Russia pose the most significant threat. Both nations possess advanced ballistic missiles with sophisticated countermeasures, decoys, and re-entry vehicles. America’s MDS was not designed to address these near-peer threats.

Today’s threats require a 21st century solution. Brilliant Swarms™, a Booz Allen solution, is a space-based interceptor (SBI) capability that fills a critical gap in the current MDS architecture. It responds to missiles quickly after launch—and before countermeasures, decoys, and warheads deploy—significantly increasing the probability of neutralizing ballistic missiles launched singularly or in raids by China, Russia, North Korea, or Iran and serves as a deterrent for our adversaries.

Booz Allen’s Space-Based Interceptor Solution—Brilliant Swarms™

With decades of missile defense experience, in-house research and development, proven AI solutions, and deep expertise bringing together the right partners and technologies, Booz Allen is prepared to meet this moment. 

The Brilliant Swarms™ solution is a constellation of small satellites that autonomously tracks, targets, and intercepts ballistic missiles in their boost, ascent, and mid-course phases of flight. On-board, AI-enhanced battle management and command and control provides “human-on-the-loop” capabilities, enables quick constellation reconfiguration, aids in target identification, optimizes shot selection, and supports battle damage assessments.

Our solution is scalable, tailorable, and affordable. It is significantly less expensive than previous SBI concepts because of new technologies that have reduced manufacturing and launch costs. Our digital design approach enables rapid prototyping and initial testing within the first years of the program, reducing development time and costs. The constellation is sizable based on affordability, defeat capacity, and resiliency requirements. It can be tailored by altering its orbital characteristics and orientation to provide greater intercept coverage for prioritized threats or adversaries. Our digital design approach and digital twin capability enables rapid design trades, prototyping, and initial fielding within the first few years of the program, and reduces development time and costs. We are moving with speed and agility by leveraging relationships with traditional and non-traditional industry teammates who possess proven, cost-effective, high technology readiness level solutions, driving down risk and accelerating deployment.

Today and tomorrow’s global missile threats are rapidly evolving. The Brilliant Swarms™ solution fills a critical gap in the current MDS architecture by providing a new outermost layer of defense that augments the existing system by significantly increasing the probability of intercepting ballistic missiles in their boost, ascent, and mid-course phases. Our modular open systems approach (MOSA)-based digital design, internal research and development, and world-class industry team provide our nation with the fastest, lowest-risk, and highest probability of success for an enduring, resilient, and lethal Golden Dome capability. 

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