Candidate For Army Contract

Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] unveiled a battle command system that features linking air and missile defense (AMD) systems into one seamless architecture, according to the company.

Northrop touted the system before an audience at the Army Space and Missile Defense Symposium in El Paso, Texas.

According to the company, the new system will give battle commanders the ability to command an integrated force on future battlefields.

The roll-out was in support of the Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) program competition, which Northrop Grumman is bidding on as the prime contractor.

The procurement will be managed by the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Program Office, which is part of the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space located in Huntsville, Ala.

A request for proposals is expected in January-March.

The demonstration was staged in a mock tactical operations center located on the symposium’s exhibit room floor, where the company guided participants through a simulated battle management planning and execution exercise projected for the year 2011.

Existing assets were used and tied together in an open architecture to help participants understand and visualize the advantages of an integrated approach to AMD command and control.

“The hands-on, realistic nature of the demonstration showed participating warfighters just how powerful their current systems can be if they are linked into a larger net-centric network,” said Rob Jassey, director of Integrated Air and Missile Defense Systems for Northrop Grumman. “The Northrop Grumman system is modular, scalable, and adaptable to any mission to enhance the system’s flexibility and maximize its usefulness to the warfighter.”

The IBCS is an Army transformational program that will establish a network-centric system-of-systems solution for integrating sensors, shooters, and battle management command, control, communications and intelligence systems for Army air and missile defense.

This should allow any sensor and any shooter to be plugged into the integrated fire control network. That will allow the Army to take a best-of-breed approach to providing capabilities to the warfighter. IBCS is the first step toward a joint integrated air and missile defense capability.