A new system dubbed as the Internet of Things for the US Air Force was recently tested. The Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) was tested for the first time by the US Air Force. The system is a key technology the service is banking on to connect the information collected by various platforms into a complete picture of the battlespace.

According to an Air Force news release, the technology under development in the ABMS program will give platforms the ability to simultaneously receive, fuse and act upon a massive collection of data from all domains instantaneously.

The ABMS was defined as the “connective tissue” that links platforms to each other and to shooters. It will also help build the first versions of what will become Multi-Domain Operations.

During the three-day field test, Air Force, Navy and Army platforms worked together to rapidly share data about a simulated, potential cruise missile attack on the United States.

The cruise missile — simulated using by QF-16s — was detected by an undisclosed weapon system and relayed to Air Force F-22s, Air Force and Navy F-35s, the Navy destroyer Thomas Hudner, an Army unit equipped with the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, as well as special operators.

That information, as well as other data from platforms participating in the exercise, was then pushed to a control room where leaders could watch updates in real-time.

The service stated ABMS will require “software and algorithms so that artificial intelligence and machine learning can compute and connect vast amounts of data from sensors and other sources at a speed and accuracy far beyond what is currently attainable” as well as hardware updates that include “radios, antenna, and more robust networks.”

The Air Force plans to hold similar demonstrations every four months in order to push forward the ABMS concept.

The Air Force expects to spend $185 million in fiscal 2020 for ABMS, the service said in its release, according to c4isrnet.com.