Bryan Tisinger & Stephen Lloyd, AV
Our team spent some valuable time at TWIX 2026, an event that brought together the U.S. Air Force, MITRE, DHS, the National Guard, and industry partners to solve real tactical problems in an operationally realistic environment at the Poinsett Electronic Combat Range, a 12,500-acre military training facility located in Wedgefield, South Carolina, near Shaw Air Force Base.
AV’s role was to demonstrate our tile-based layered defense product known as Halo_Shield™ as well as our AI-powered software tool AV_Halo™. The assignment was to show how those tools could integrate with Air Force, Department of Homeland Security and National Guard systems but also enhance capabilities across Air Traffic Control (ATC), Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS), and counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) missions.
For AV, the event was deliberately structured as an interoperability trial. We pre‑deployed Halo_Shield in parallel with a next‑generation ground radar, with clear objectives:
- Define deployment requirements for future Halo_Shield sites, including GrandSky in North Dakota
- Collect real-world data from all sensors and actors to inform future development
- Demonstrate a layered, multi‑sensor/multi‑effector defense against realistic UAS threats
- Validate interoperability over the Air Force’s Unified Data Library (UDL) data framework
- Showcase integrated ATC, BVLOS, and C‑UAS operations with AV and USAF systems
- Distribute multi‑sensor data through emerging, government-led data sharing prototypes
In practical terms, this meant deploying and operating sensors, effectors, communications, power systems, and AV_Halo™ COMMAND in field conditions while integrating them into a UDL-centric ecosystem of government and industry systems.
HALO_SHIELD DEPLOYED AND FIGHTING
The TWIX setup was not a benchtop experiment. It was a mobile, live, multi‑sensor architecture operating under range constraints, weather, and real flight activity. On the ground, the AV team deployed a full command-and-control suite, a mix of passive detection and defeat systems, acoustic panels, cameras, and supporting communications and power.
AV’s Puma™ LE UAS served as our “blue” aircraft and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform, while an advanced ground radar provided additional sensing. More importantly, these systems demonstrated how a layered, integrated architecture, like Halo_Shield, can deliver greater capability than any single component alone.
This is what Halo_Shield achieved at TWIX:
- Layered Defense: Used overlapping sensors to detect, track and classify threats while identifying the most efficient defeat option.
- Central Control: Combined all offensive and defensive tools, with clear views of options, system status, and threats.
- Resilient, Robust Communications: Brought offensive and defensive systems into a single operating picture with clear visibility into threats, available responses, and system status.
- Integrated Sensors: Fused systems with built‑in health checks, so operators know what is online and can trust the operational picture.
- Interoperability: Implemented secure, standards-aligned sharing for UDL and partner specifications, so tracks, alerts, and system status were easily exchanged.
In short, Halo_Shield didn’t just “see” the airspace. It sensed, decided, acted, and shared, behaving as a warfighting defensive architecture regardless of hardware or software of origin.
WHAT WE LEARNED: INTEROPERABILITY, AGILITY and RESILIENCE
Our TWIX After Action Review highlighted three big wins that validate the Halo_Shield model.
- Interoperability by Design
Halo_Shield demonstrated that it could publish and consume data using common, government‑backed standards. Tracks and detections flowed between AV systems, Air Force tools, and MITRE prototypes. Simulated and live air tracks appeared where they needed to, in air traffic views, counter‑UAS views, and integrated mission displays. The key impact: Halo_Shield did not operate in isolation. It contributed meaningfully to the broader command‑and‑control picture, showing that Halo_Shield can be dropped into complex environments and still “speak the same language” as other systems.
- Rapid Deployment and Field Operations
Pre-integration work ensured that, by the first day of range operations, the full system was deployed, networked, configured, and operational. Throughout the exercise, remote sensor nodes were repositioned and reconfigured with minimal downtime, demonstrating the system’s flexibility in dynamic environments. For operators focused on Agile Combat Employment (ACE) or rapid base defense, that agility is critical. Our work at TWIX demonstrated that Halo_Shield™ can be deployed quickly, adapted in the field, and restored to full operational capability with minimal maintenance, precisely the responsiveness required for modern airspace defense.
- Human and System Resilience
TWIX was not a perfectly controlled environment. There were range outages, weather shifts, and evolving coordination demands. The team adapted, but more importantly so did Halo_Shield.
One memorable moment came when the team was asked, with roughly 15 minutes’ notice, to conduct a live AV_Halo COMMAND demonstration. Despite the compressed timeline, the system successfully showcased distributed sensing and generated meaningful discussions with stakeholders. As flight paths and ingest settings changed throughout the event, the team quickly retuned acoustic coverage and sensor configurations to deliver a clearer, more compelling operational picture. That ability to rebalance sensors, displays, and data flows in real time is exactly what operators need in the field.
No serious field event is complete without lessons learned. TWIX surfaced several areas where we are now sharpening the Halo_Shield offering. We are strengthening our tools, processes and infrastructure from practical experience. We gathered input to make Halo_Shield more plug‑and‑play and reduce setup variability, with better tuning, better sensor fusion, and more relevant performance data. We continue to refine displays and user flows so that operators can understand the picture and act quickly under pressure, even when they are new to the system. These are not theoretical improvements. They are directly traceable to TWIX, and they are now informing how we design, deploy, and operate Halo_Shield.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Next Integrated Installation at Grand Forks, ND
The next major milestone is our integrated installation at Grand Forks, North Dakota. There, Halo_Shield will be tested in an even more demanding, operationally aligned setting. Lessons from TWIX are already being folded into the architecture, deployment plan, and operational concepts for Grand Forks, from network design and data flows to user experience and training.
TWIX showed what Halo_Shield can deliver when it is deployed, networked, and integrated into a live command‑and‑control fabric. The forthcoming integrated install at Grand Forks will show the next step: a more refined, resilient, and operationally aligned Halo_Shield, built on hard‑earned lessons from the range.
We invite you to come to Grand Forks. See the sensors and effectors in place. Sit in front of the live displays as detections stream in, tracks are fused, and decisions are accelerated. Experience firsthand how Halo_Shield operates as a repeatable building block for modern airspace defense and help shape what comes next.
About the Authors
Bryan Tisinger is a Program Director at AV, where he leads advanced airspace management and autonomous aviation initiatives supporting defense and commercial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations. An aerospace engineer with more than 16 years of experience spanning NASA, the Department of Defense, and the aerospace industry, he specializes in integrating scalable command-and-control technologies that enable safe, secure, and adaptable unmanned aircraft operations. Tisinger is a recognized leader in advancing next-generation airspace management and accelerating the deployment of autonomous aviation capabilities.
Stephen Lloyd is a Senior Director, C2 & Tracking Systems at AeroVironment, where he leads development of AV_Halo for air traffic control, BVLOS drone operations and counter-UAS applications. He retired from the Federal Aviation Administration after a 40-year career, having held senior roles in air traffic operations, safety management systems and the National Airspace System. A former chair of the FAA ATO Safety Committee, he collaborated closely with the National Transportation Safety Board and later joined the Air Force Research Laboratory SkyVision GBDAA team. His contributions have been recognized with awards including the 2019 ATCA Civilian Team Award and the 2020 AUVSI Excellence Award in Technology & Innovation.
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