Northrop Grumman and the US Army have successfully completed the critical design review (CDR) of the integrated air and missile defense (IAMD) battle command system (IBCS), aimed at providing enhanced support for troops on the battlefield.
According to the company, the CDR was conducted by a government team of experts and managers and confirmed that the IBCS design was ‘programmatically and technically realistic and attainable’.
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The review also established that the IBCS detailed design satisfies cost, schedule and performance requirements, as well as demonstrating the maturity for moving ahead with full-scale fabrication, assembly, integration and test processes.
Northrop Grumman Information Systems air and missile defence systems vice president Kelley Zelickson said that a substantial progress had been achieved by the army and Northrop on the programme, which intends to bring innovative, affordable and life-saving capabilities to the soldier.
"With this significant milestone achieved, we look forward to an early demonstration of IBCS combat capability during the IAMD exercise planned for 2013," Zelickson added.
The IBCS will set up an open systems, network-centric system-of-systems solution for installation of sensors, weapons, and battle management command, control, communications and intelligence systems.
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By GlobalDataUsing a plug-and-fight approach, the system enables efficient integration of existing and future systems, helping soldiers to take advantage of integrated army and joint sensors and weapons to optimise time-critical engagements.
The programme stems from an analysis of results obtained from operations in Iraq by US Army officials, emphasising improvements in mission command to help reduce fratricide incidents and also implementing an enterprise approach to command and control systems.
Northrop’s IBCS industry partners include Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Harris, Schafer, nLogic, Numerica, Colsa, EpiQ, Space and Mission Defense Technologies, CohesionForce, Millennium Engineering and Integration Company, RhinoCorps and Tobyhanna Army Depot.
