The U.S. Army is getting closer to a working Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) command and control system for multiple-domain (land, sea, air) integration of armed forces. Northrop Grumman Corp. recently delivered the first production IBCS Engagement Operations Center (EOC) and Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN) relay to the U.S. Army.
This new IBCS equipment is designed to work with the earlier Integrated Collaborative Environment (ICE) gear supplied according to a low-rate-initial-production (LRIP) award. Training on the IBCS can begin once the Army has a full working system.
The IBCS and its EOC (see image above) host the battle management software, communications systems, and computing power required to orchestrate a battle. The IFCN relay is the heart of the IBCS communications network and is an interface for the many sensors and weapons integrated into the IBCS.
The Army awarded Northrop Grumman a full-rate-production (FRP) contract for IBCS in mid-May 2023 and the fiscal year (FY) 2024 FRP award of $145 million will support production and deployment of the IBCS for the Army.
According to Rebecca Torzone, vice president and general manager for Northrop Grumman’s combat systems and mission readiness group, “IBCS is ready now to provide our warfighters more decision time in the battlespace and to outpace tomorrow’s threats. Northrop Grumman is committed to putting IBCS in the hands of our warfighters at an accelerated delivery rate so they can lead the way to modernized air and missile defense.”
The IBCS is designed to provide warfighters with a single, unified view of the battlespace by fusing sensor data from multiple sources.