By Kris Osborn, President, Warrior
(Washington DC) As the Pentagon continues to expand its presence in the Pacific with new basing arrangements with the Philippines, Japan and Australia, many senior weapons developers are emphasizing the need to better protect ground based platforms.
This includes the exploration of reinforced hardened structures and hangars in which to house high value items such as fighter jets and the additional integration of advanced missile defense systems in sensitive areas such as Guam.
The US is now in the process of adding several new bases to the Philippines, and alongside the tactical advantages associated with this in the realm of greater proximity and access to high threat areas, the presence of forward-positioned assets can also increase vulnerability.
Most publicly available wargames begin with the premise that any attack upon Taiwan, the Philippines or Japan would likely begin with an incoming salvo of ballistic missiles aimed at destroying air defenses and weapons. One wargame done in recent months by Rand found that ground-based 5th-generation aircraft would be at great risk of being destroyed from the air in any opening attack from China.
IBCS to Guam
Given this threat scenario, it is not at all surprising that the US is greatly reinforcing missile defense at critical locations throughout the Pacific with increased missile defense systems.
For example, the US and Northrop Grumman are bringing the fast-emerging and well-known Integrated Battle Command System to Guam
Advanced Patriot missile radar has shown it can destroy two high-speed maneuvering cruise missiles simultaneously, F-35s have shown they can operate as an “aerial” tier sensor node able to “detect” incoming enemy missiles, and Lower Tier Air and Missile Defenses Sensor Ghost-Eye radar has demonstrated its ability to track threats and support the land-launch of SM-6 interceptor missiles.
These capabilities are merely a few of the critical elements of an integrated air and missile defense network known as Integrated Battle Command System (ICBS). The IBCS system, built by Northrop Grumman, is not only being upgraded with a new generation of AI-enabled software, but also heading to Guam to help protect US and allied interests in the Pacific theater. With this in mind, Northrop Grumman has received several DoD contracts to both integrate new AI-enabled software, bring the system to Guam and also support the operation of a cutting edge IBCS system in Poland.
The deals with Northrop include “$347.6 million dedicated to Poland’s defense initiatives and $133.7 million for the U.S. military and the Guam Defense System. Under this award, Northrop Grumman will lead collaborative efforts with specialists in artificial intelligence (AI) and model-based systems engineering to boost the software development capacity of IBCS,” a Northrop essay stated.
Multi-Domain Defense
The concept of operation has been quite clear for many years, yet technological advances have enabled the system to expand greatly into a multi-theater, multi-domain missile defense protective envelope adding sea, air and space regions to its protective envelope. The system consists of a collection of networked “nodes” in position to identify targets and transmit time sensitive threat details across otherwise disaggregated sensor fields.
The amount of nodes, and the domains in which they operate, continues to rapidly expand, yet thus far some of the elements include Patriot missile batteries, Sentinel radar, F-35, Common Anti-Air Modular Missile, Giraffe, Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS), a ground base-protection system called Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 (IFPC Inc 2) and a software defined Active Electronically Scanned Array radar called AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR.
For instance, a Sentinel radar positioned in one location can pick up an incoming missile threat, establish a track loop on its trajectory and speed, and send the information to a Patriot missile battery or F-35 in position to relay the information or “destroy” the inbound threat.
In development for many years, IBCS relies upon advanced software and technical interfaces engineered to enable a smooth exchange of information between otherwise incompatible transport layer technologies. Perhaps a Patriot radar identifies the RF signal of a threat and transmits target details to a ground based command and control center in position to receive GPS signals from satellites. Key, time-sensitive information can be exchanged to optimize missile defenses across vast distances throughout a theater of operations.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University
