This spring Northrop Grumman will begin flight tests on its new integrated air and missile defense battle command system (IBCS), an enterprise-focused platform designed to coordinate U.S. air missile defenses around the world.
"One of the ideas behind IBCS was to create a single, integrated air picture so you can see all of the forces in the air, quickly identify any threats, see what it is, then hit the right effect or shooter to take that out," said Daniel Verwiel, vice president and general manager for Northrop Grumman Corporation Information Systems' integrated air and missile defense division. "It's a single command and control environment to do battle the way we were always meant to fight."
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The system has been more than a half-decade in the making. It's built on a modular, open-systems architecture, allowing soldiers to take any asset — whether a sensor, a shooter or a tool like Blue Force Tracking —— and connect, Verwiel said.
"This allows us to take legacy assets out in the field and use them in a common network and paint one common picture that can be shared across the world in battle," he said.
Flight tests to demonstrate IBCS are scheduled to begin in May at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, with four total over the course of the next 12 months. Verwiel said he expects the program to reach a Milestone C decision in summer 2016.
Northrop leaders say the system, which is a top priority for the Army's air and missile defense community, provides the service with an enterprise-wide, network-centric ability to cover and defend more ground.
"I can increase the ground I'm protecting and then tailor my systems to do different missions. I can defend against more threats across a larger area with a higher level of a reliability," said Jimmy Jenkins, Northrop Grumman air and missile defense executive. "This replaces seven air defense command and control platforms and systems in the U.S. Army."
