A New Era in Air and Missile Defense: The Dawn of Integrated Fires

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A New Era in Air and Missile Defense: IBCS and the Dawn of Integrated Fires and Effects

By Christopher L. Spillman Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Ret.) ,Northrop Grumman–Northrop Essay HERE

(Northrop Grumman) — The threat environment is evolving and advancing at an unprecedented rate. Today’s air and missile defense operators and leaders are required to make rapid engagement decisions in a highly complex and congested airspace that includes enemy aircraft, cruise and ballistic missiles, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs), coalition forces and civilian assets. The U.S. Army, in partnership with Northrop Grumman, is at the forefront of a paradigm shift in all-domain, joint, Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) operations: the IAMD Battle Command System, or IBCS, centerpiece of the Army’s modernization strategy for Air and Missile Defense (AMD) to address the changing battlefield. The revolutionary IBCS brings with it a new era in AMD, new capabilities to the warfighter and an unmatched, decisive advantage to our nation in the evolving battlefield. IBCS: Getting to Today The journey to deliver to the Army a capability that integrates air defense radars, launchers and interceptors has been a long and difficult one. (Northrop Essay HERE)

The concept of Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense, or AIAMD, was developed nearly 20 years ago as familiar air threats – jet fighters, bombers and attack helicopters – gave way to new and rapidly-evolving threats, from maneuverable ballistic and cruise missiles to small, difficult-to-detect unmanned aircraft and, recently, hypersonic threats. To take on these new threats, the Army had to find a better way to get the most out of both its legacy and, importantly, its future air defense capabilities. The solution: open-architecture integration of Army and sister-service sensors, launchers and interceptors into a single, joint command and control (C2) system. The idea was to have the capability to connect both existing and new air defense systems into a single integrated network – an Integrated Fire Control Network – that passes sensor data to a common warfighter-machine interface. There, tactical decisions are made, optimal launchers and interceptors selected, and air defense engagements are prosecuted, defeating threats and defending warfighters and critical assets. Thus, the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS, was born.

It hasn’t been an easy process. Put very simply, developing large, complex systems that deliver a revolutionary capability is hard work. The program has had its share of issues and challenges, but IBCS today is firmly on its feet and, what’s more, is maturing at a rapid pace. What was once just AIAMD PowerPoint charts, with lightning bolts representing data links from a variety of land and air sensors and shooters connected to the Integrated Fire Control Network, now is coming to life as hardware in the hands of soldiers. A string of highly-successful developmental flight tests has demonstrated that, but the journey continues as declaration of IBCS initial operating capability is a little more than two short years away. An Inflection Point for AMD and Joint Operations As the steady success of the IBCS program development phase continues and we get closer to production and deployment, we are facing a true inflection point in two key areas: First, we are entering a new era in air and missile defense; second, a new dawn is breaking in fires and effects integration as the joint force marches toward multi-domain operations. First, let us look at the new era in air and missile defense.

There is recognition that, as today’s Patriot battalion transitions to become tomorrow’s IBCS-equipped battalion, there will be a fundamental change in the way the Army employs air defense forces and conducts operations. Dynamic Defense Design: With IBCS, not only will the long-standing problem of today’s stove-piped, inflexible air defense command and control systems be eliminated, but – for the first time – commanders will be able to tailor how they deploy forces. What does that actually mean? Commanders will be able to organize, design and employ their air defense forces in a manner that maximizes every existing sensor and shooter capability in their inventory.

At last, commanders will be able to integrate Patriot and Sentinel Radars into a fire control network and optimally position these assets and launchers to achieve maximum mission effectiveness. In fact, the IBCS planning module enables leadership to quickly evaluate courses of action with respect to changing battle conditions and plan flexible defense designs With IBCS, not only will the long-standing problem of today’s stove-piped, inflexible air defense command and control systems be eliminated, but – for the first time – commanders will be able to tailor how they deploy forces. based on commander priorities and rules of engagement. What used to take weeks, even months, will soon take mere hours. Every-Sensor, Best-Effector Operations: And, more capability is on the horizon. Northrop Grumman has invested to integrate its AN/TPS-80 G/ATOR radar with IBCS and recent flight testing shows the Army will be able to tie in other service sensors, such the Marine Corps AN/TPS-59 radars and sensors aboard Air Force F-35 aircraft, and connect them with Patriot launchers.