Space Industry and Business News  
MISSILE DEFENSE
Advanced Air and Missile Defense, in the hands of soldiers
by Staff Writers
Falls Church VA (SPX) May 28, 2020

An interceptor missile is launched by U.S. Army soldiers at White Sands Missile Range during Flight Test 5 (FT-5), the most sophisticated and difficult development test yet for the Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS), developed by Northrop Grumman. IBCS was used to continuously track two incoming surrogate cruise missile threats and launch two interceptor missiles to successfully destroy them.

It's a cold December morning at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and two surrogate cruise missile targets have just been launched, one after the other. They are flying separate courses among the jagged San Andres and Sacramento mountains toward soldiers in a U.S. Army Air and Missile Defense unit at a test site called TAC-2 - Tactical Command Post 2.

These sophisticated targets precisely mimic real cruise missile threats and can take advantage of this terrain to hide from the radars and sensors commanders have positioned in the area. This can create gaps in tracking that make the job of interceptor missiles or other defensive weapons more difficult - you can't hit what you can't see.

Today, though, their maneuvers won't enable them to evade detection. This is Flight Test 5 (FT-5), the most sophisticated and difficult development test yet for the Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS), developed by Northrop Grumman.

High above the range, sensors aboard U.S. Air Force F-35 fighter aircraft see and acquire the two surrogate missiles. IBCS integrates the aircraft sensor data with that of available ground sensors, including Sentinel, Patriot weapon system and U.S. Marine Corps TPS-59 radars. All share information via the IBCS Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN). As one sensor loses sight of the threats - and each will at some point - the targets are acquired by other sensors on the IFCN, enabling IBCS to create a precise, uninterrupted composite track of each missile's movements.

With data from every sensor, IBCS produces a single integrated air picture on the screens of the air defense soldiers at TAC-2. They see every change in altitude and direction as the two surrogate missiles paint tracks across their screens. Because IBCS enables joint weapons as well as joint sensors, the defenders at the controls can select the best effector to use against these targets. Today, the soldiers are about to launch two Patriot Advanced Capability 2 (PAC-2) interceptor missiles.

"Without IBCS, all those different sensors operate independently, creating opportunities for threats to avoid detection as they fly to a target," explained Northrop Grumman IBCS Program Director Mark Rist. "Without being integrated onto a network, these sensors produce a more ambiguous, less-clear air picture, making engagements of threat systems more challenging."

He is monitoring FT-5 from miles away, in the test's mission control room. The soldiers at TAC-2 can be heard on the radio, calm but urgent voices reporting "target acquired" by airborne sensor, and talking of the "IP" or intercept point, and "kill box." It's only been moments since the threats were launched, but now comes "Free to engage ... Missile away ... Missile away ..."

One, then another PAC-2 interceptor missile is launched by the soldiers. IBCS is not only able to launch the missiles, but also plays a critical role in the engagement by actively closing the fire control loop and providing in-flight updates as the PAC-2s converge on their targets. The surrogate cruise missile targets are closing in and can now be seen on video in the control room - and then suddenly they can't: One, then the other disappears in a ball of fire as the PAC-2s destroy them.

Cheers erupted in the control room, and those of Rist and his team may have been loudest among the many generals, colonels and visiting officials that day at White Sands. After years of effort, working closely and constantly with soldiers, FT-5 fully demonstrated IBCS's unprecedented capability to integrate sensors and effectors to detect, track and simultaneously engage multiple targets in flight.

"Information is ammunition, and IBCS is providing soldiers with more," Rist said. "We brought a lot of things together in this development test. It was the first including joint operations with the Air Force F-35 and Marine Corps radar systems, the first with Air Defense Artillery soldiers at the controls, and the first involving software developed using our Agile methodology."

FT-5 was the latest in a series of test successes, and further evidence of the program's maturity as soldiers train on IBCS equipment in preparation for an important Limited User Test (LUT) this spring.

"I'm very proud of these soldiers and of the system's performance," said Colonel Phil Rottenborn, Army IAMD project manager. "This was the first time soldiers conducted a live engagement using IBCS in a developmental test, and they showed we are ready to go into the operational test phase."

"Success!" said Col. Tony Behrens, Army Capability Manager for the Air and Missile Defense (AMD) Command, and a nearly 26-year career Air Defense Artillery (ADA) officer. "It showed me that an Army operator - not an engineer or software developer - can sit at that console and do his or her job. I am very comfortable and confident about the path we're on."

IBCS enables soldiers to be even more effective by integrating all the systems' data and providing a common command-and-control (C2). Soldiers will only need to learn to use the IBCS C2, instead of spending time becoming specialists on only one or two of a dozen different sensor and weapon systems.

That enhances IBCS's already impressive battlefield survivability, because soldiers will be capable of using any of the available sensors with any available weapon systems at any command post connected to the self-connecting, self-healing IFCN.

Also, less time will be spent in recurrent training, making more time available for teaching operators defense strategy and how to fight. The IBCS "every sensor; best effector" concept gives commanders greater flexibility in defense design, allowing them to position resources for greatest coverage in far less time essentially helping to change the way soldiers see and fight air battle.

Northrop Grumman's open-architecture system-of-systems approach to IBCS eases the integration of any new or legacy sensor and effector systems, which is important for U.S. joint operations and to foreign governments. Poland has an agreement with the U.S. Army to purchase IBCS for modernization of the nation's WISLA medium-range air defense system, and other countries have expressed interest as well.

With the success of FT-5, Northrop Grumman will now focus on the Army's Limited User Test planned for later this year, followed by the low-rate initial production and full-rate production phases of the system, to field IBCS to Army air defenders in fiscal year 2021.

Behrens said the Army must have the IBCS capabilities to be effective and successful in future combat operations. "To me, it's beyond critical," he said.

"We're not just giving soldiers a new piece of equipment, a new piece of gear. We're going to give them an entirely new way of operating on the battlefield that is so much more efficient. But it has to start with the system that enables you to do that."

IBCS may also be the Army's first big step toward multi-domain convergence - the next level above integration.

"Enabling multi-domain - or more accurately, all-domain - operations is vital to ensuring battlefield advantage and superiority," said Brig. Gen. Brian Gibson, director of the Army's AMD Cross-Functional Team, at an Association of the U.S. Army event in early March. "When successfully fielded, IBCS will be one of the Army's pathfinder capabilities into what is becoming a top priority for our military leaders: joint, all-domain command and control."


Related Links
Northrop Grumman
Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


MISSILE DEFENSE
Boeing awarded $128.5M modification to GMD missile upgrade contract
Washington DC (UPI) May 08, 2020
Boeing was awarded a $128.5 million modification to its Ground-based Midcourse Defense development and sustainment contract Thursday, according to the Pentagon. The deal modifies a contract awarded in 2018 for upgrades to the GMD, which is the United States' ballistic missile defense system. The modification increases the total value of the contract from $11.2 billion to $11.3 billion and covers work performed through September 2022. The contract was last modified in December. The GMD ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

MISSILE DEFENSE
Solving the space junk problem

New Army 3-D printing study shows promise for predictive maintenance

UK commits new funding to combat space debris

Designing a flexible material to protect buildings, military personnel

MISSILE DEFENSE
Roccor creates Helical L-Band Antenna for first-ever space demonstration of Link 16 Networks

NIST researchers boost microwave signal stability a hundredfold

IBCS Goes Agile

Northrop Grumman to rapidly develop net-centric gateway

MISSILE DEFENSE
MISSILE DEFENSE
Out-of-the-box spoofing mitigation with Galileo's OS-NMA service

Harnessing space to save lives at sea

Galileo in high latitudes and harsh environments

New BeiDou satellite starts operation in network

MISSILE DEFENSE
Russia begins building first stealth bomber

Senators call for investigation of KC-46 problems

Boeing receives $27.7 million for Poseidon upgrades

Hong Kong airport to resume limited transit services

MISSILE DEFENSE
Xilinx 'lifts off' with launch of industry's first 20nm space-grade FPGA for space applications

'One-way' electronic devices enter the mainstream

Huawei says 'survival' at stake after US chip restrictions

Scientists break the link between a quantum material's spin and orbital states

MISSILE DEFENSE
Common CFC replacements break down into persistent pollutants

Tiny NASA satellite captures first image of clouds and aerosols

New, rapid mechanism for atmospheric particle formation

Space video streaming company Sen awards Momentus orbital deployment contract

MISSILE DEFENSE
Up to 90 percent fewer condensation trails due to reduced air traffic over Europe

Research aircraft investigate reduced concentrations of pollutants in the air

In China, quarantine improves air and prevents thousands of premature deaths

Gloves and masks litter Middle East amid virus panic









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.