Northrop Grumman’s IBCS achieves IoC

Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) has achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) with the U.S. Army and is now ready to be fielded by U.S. Army units to further support the development of the system’s capabilities.

IBCS is the cornerstone of the Army’s air and missile defense modernization strategy, replacing the multiple current air and missile defense command and control systems with a single system. It is also the core of Northrop Grumman Australia’s bid to become prime contractor on Project AIR6500, the ADF’s Joint Air Battle Management System (JABMS).

The system has completed a demanding Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) program as well as successful development band operational flight test. During these assessments, IBCS demonstrated its ability to deliver decision-quality fire control data across joint networks, increasing situational awareness and time for decision making.

“IBCS has the leading role in the Army’s air and missile defense modernization strategy because its ability to integrate multi-domain sensors to create fire quality fused data enables the warfighter to quickly decide on the best shooter to defend against incoming threats,” said Rebecca Torzone, vice president and general manager, combat systems and mission readiness, Northrop Grumman. “With its mature, proven and ready capabilities, IBCS transforms and extends the battlespace for the U.S. and its allies.”

This groundbreaking step toward putting multi-domain capabilities in the hands of the warfighter comes on the heels of the program’s recent approval for Full Rate Production (FRP). To date, IBCS has integrated, or demonstrated integration on numerous sensors and shooters from all U.S. service branches and allies, says Northrop Grumman. IBCS can quickly integrate additional systems given its open architecture – enabling users to achieve high levels of multi-domain integration.

The IBCS architecture enables the efficient and affordable integration of current and future systems and extends the battlespace by disaggregating sensors and effectors. By enabling this high level of network integration, says the company, the warfighter is given unprecedented time to make accurate decisions. Through numerous successful developments, operational tests and demonstrations, IBCS has proven its capability to connect and fuse multi-service sensor data to multi-service weapons, demonstrating the Army’s contribution to Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capabilities.