IAMD Battle Command System in new test

The US Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) has provided the command and control (C2) for a Patriot Advanced Capability Three (PAC-3) interceptor to destroy a cruise missile target using tracking data from Sentinel and Patriot radars.

The test, carried out by the US Army with Northrop Grumman, validated the ability to identify, track, engage and defeat targets using sensors and an interceptor from different air defence systems operating on the integrated fire control network and under the control of the IBCS.

The test used an MQM-107 drone target as a cruise missile surrogate. The target flew a low altitude trajectory against an asset defended by an army IAMD task force. 

The defence consisted of battery and battalion IBCS engagement operations centres, a Patriot radar and two Sentinel radars, and two PAC-3 launchers connected at the component level to the IBCS integrated fire control network. 

The low altitude trajectory of the target obscured it from the Patriot radar's field of view. The IBCS correctly used the Sentinel composite tracking data to calculate and present the necessary engagement solution. The engagement operations centre operator then commanded, via the IBCS mission control software, the launch of a single PAC-3 interceptor missile to destroy the target.

Dan Verwiel, vice president and general manager, integrated air and missile defense division, Northrop Grumman Information Systems, said: ‘The technical challenge of integrating sensors and shooters that were never designed to work together – breaking them from existing systems into components for networking – is tremendous. With the successful intercept, the army and Northrop Grumman team continues to show how IBCS is a paradigm-shifting system of systems for air and missile defence.’

IBCS replaces seven legacy C2 systems to deliver a single integrated air picture and offer the flexibility for deployment of smaller force packages. By networking sensors and interceptors – as opposed to simply linking them – IBCS is designed to provide wider area surveillance and broader protection areas.