Angeline Leishman
The U.S. Army has employed the Northrop Grumman-developed Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System to neutralize a surrogate missile threat in a contested electronic attack environment during a developmental flight test in New Mexico.
Soldiers used IBCS with other military service radars to identify and track the cruise missile amid aerial and ground-based jamming attacks before launching a Patriot Advanced Capability Three interceptor, Northrop said Thursday.
The test featured the Northrop system’s capability to incorporate missile tracing data from other services, including onboard radars on two U.S. Air Force F-35 fighter jets and the Marine Corps’ AN/TPS-80 Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar system, through the Integrated Fire Control Network.
“By enabling joint operation and utilizing multiple sensors operating in various bands, IBCS was able to operate through the electronic attack environment so soldiers can identify, track and ultimately intercept the threat,” said Christine Harbison, vice president and general manager for combat systems and mission readiness at Northrop.
The flight test, the eighth with the IBCS program, paves the way for the initial operational test and evaluation phase of the system under realistic operational conditions in the upcoming fall.
