PATRIOT Missile Defense WMI C2

The PATRIOT WMI redesign modernized the war machine interface command-and-control system for Raytheon RTX — used by surface-to-air missile operators defending against aerial threats. Legacy software constrained operators’ access to significant hardware capability; with airspace growing more contested, decision speed and accuracy directly affect lives. As Lead Product Designer on a 4-designer team at Visual Logic over ~3 years, I led UX across the full stack from IA through design system delivery. The redesigned system achieved a SUS of 80 and SEQ of 6.6, reduced operator training from months to weeks, and has been fielded for over a year with sustained positive feedback.

This was a ~3-year engagement for Raytheon RTX, sourced through Visual Logic, where I served as Lead Product Designer on a team of 4 designers, 1 PO, and 3 SMEs. The platform was embedded software running on dedicated WMI hardware. Deliverables included UI designs, a complete design system, illustrations, icons, infographics, and sales materials.

Warfighters need to make high-stakes decisions quickly and accurately. With noisier skies, this is more important than ever.

The hardware is capable, but the legacy software handicapped operators. Data volume is large and growing each year — kinematic data and otherwise.

The challenge: empower SAM operators to make high-stakes decisions swiftly, accurately, and confidently.

PATRIOT operators have a stressful job. The redesign aimed to make it easier — if nothing else, to improve their ability to perform better and faster.

• Help users make decisions with more accuracy, more quickly, with more confidence
• Reduce cognitive load — ease the mental strain so operators can operate at a high level longer
• Reduce training time — training will always exist, but shorten the time to proficiency
• Unlock the hardware’s capability — the legacy UI made functionality hard to access due to poor UX
• Redesign for the next generation, which is steeped in gaming

The top three challenges: vernacular, decrypting legacy solutions, understanding the SAM ecosystem.

My attitude toward the engineers of the legacy software flipped 180° throughout this project. Initially repulsed by the legacy UI, I became very impressed after learning of their constraints and hardware requirements.

• Steep learning curve with an extensive company and industry vernacular
• Enormous data volume with significant visual noise
• Minimal SME interaction opportunities available
• Achieving high usability despite legacy hardware restrictions
• Bureaucratic culture — hard to cross silos and find information needed to move forward
• Small design team for a large task
• Collaborating with highly technical stakeholders

We modernized the powerful War Machine Interface (WMI) command-and-control (C2) for next-generation warfighters.

This was a significant effort demonstrating expertise in defense design by improving situational awareness (SA) for C2 surface-to-air missile (SAM) operators. The redesign moved the needle in these measurable ways:

• Reduced cognitive load by prioritizing and grouping data
• Reduced fatigue by discovering, distilling, and visualizing what was most important
• Increased speed of comprehension with extensive data visualizations
• Decreased neck strain by organizing the design framework based on operator ergonomics
• Reduced eye fatigue with a dark-theme UI
• Reduced visual noise with an exception-based status color philosophy
• Increased speed of manual data input
• Decreased training time with consistent conventions, patterns, and styles

The process was traditional UX with a military focus. Tool and collaboration limits existed for reasons outside our control.

Early phases involved mostly visual design. Later, integrated throughout: finding pains, needs, and requirements — then designing solutions, collaborating with SMEs, and iterating.

UX Activities:

• SME conversations (derived goals, mental model, priorities)
• Stakeholder conversations (derived timeframe, goals, priorities)
• Technical conversations (derived tech limitations)
• Technical document reading and deciphering
• Information architecture diagrams
• Wireframes with contextual solutions, questions, assumptions, and context scenarios
• High-fidelity design with states of visualizations and special components
• Continuous back-and-forth with SMEs and tech team
• Design and interaction framework definition and iteration
• Design system definition and iteration including design principles and technical definition
• Icon and illustration asset design and production
• Critique of developed solution

Usability Metrics

Responses from SMEs, POs, and operators were positive. Operators reported the redesign reduced training significantly — one WMI operator speculated it reduced training time by ~90%.

“With this new system, I know exactly what’s going on. You’ve drastically increased our situational awareness.” — Soldier during validation

“You’ve reduced our training from several months to several weeks.” — Soldier, Fort Bliss missile test

“The Patriot display has been fielded for over a year now and we have received positive feedback and praises on its ease of use and intuitiveness, even from the toughest and most knowledgeable user groups.” — PO

“During the tests, we were thrilled to see operators navigate the new WMI with little-to-no advanced training. The WMI displays complex information in an easy-to-understand way, helping Patriot operators make faster, better decisions that ultimately save lives.” — Tom Laliberty, VP of Land Warfare & Air Defense, Raytheon Missiles & Defense

“This design unlocks the capabilities of the hardware.” — Soldier

“This is hard, and you guys nailed it.” — PO

“The work we did together was the best work I’ve ever been a part of.” — PO of 30+ years

Peripheral PATRIOT Projects

Beyond the core WMI redesign, additional work included:

• Cyber Security — network monitoring tool analyzing anomalous activity
• Dynamic Dashboards — proposed range of dashboards and widgets for faster, more accurate track classification
• Trust — researched and proposed a solution to build consistent system trust, addressing slower decision times caused by operator skepticism