HUNTSVILLE, Ala., the USA (BulgarianMilitary.com), 21 August 2018, Editor: Galina Zdravkova, Photo credit: Northrop Grumman

On 15th August 2018 Northrop Grumman announced that its IAMD (Integrated Air and Missile Defence) Battle Command System (IBCS) has been recently tested by the US Army. The system successfully showed its ability to scale up and network across long distances, learned BulgarianMilitary.com

The test and evaluation was carried out by US Army soldiers within a period of five weeks with air and missile defence assets, situated at sites in Alabama, New Mexico, and Texas.

The vice president and general manager, missile defence and protective systems at Northrop Grumman Dan Verwiel commented, “The ability of IBCS to integrate sensors and shooters over a vast area and grow the single integrated air picture offers huge advantages to air defenders and the joint forces. This was demonstrated using an operationally realistic equipment laydown across several states and showed how IBCS is truly a force multiplier,” and added, “This Soldier Checkout Event (SCOE) demonstrated the ability of IBCS to scale broadly. It further demonstrated IBCS’ robust network management technologies to efficiently and effectively maintain voice, data and video connectivity for the warfighter’s increasingly complex and challenging environment.”

IBCS is the most important component of the US Army’s future IAMD construct. The program is controlled by the Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

As part of SCOE 4.0, the multi-node distributed test tried out the IBCS’ scalability, resilience and performance in tense situations. The open-architecture IBCS networked more than 20 nodes across Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; and Fort Bliss, Texas. In that connection, it shall be mentioned that the test also involved dynamic adding and removing of nodes so that the IBCS’ ability to self-configure as a mobile ad hoc network to be verified.

Integrated to work as a single system, the test included nine IBCS engagement operations centres and 12 IBCS integrated fire control network relays, along with Sentinel short range air defence radars and Patriot radars, Patriot Advance Capability Two (PAC-2), PAC-3 and PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors.

Thanks to the IBCS, air and missile defence commanders can control forces over large distances by using the available means of communications, no matter what they are. Presently, the capabilities of commanders are restricted by the proprietary and limited networks tied to the individual closed systems.

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