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US Army, Northrop Grumman prepare IBCS

for developmental test phase
Date Posted: 12-Nov-2013
Author: Geoff Fein, Washington, DC
Publication: International Defence Review
Key Points

US Army looking at speeding up FMS for IBCS

USAF exploring potential to integrate 3-D Expeditionary Long-Range Radar into IBCS
The US Army and Northrop Grumman have completed a risk reduction demonstration of the
Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) and are moving the capability
into a developmental test phase set to begin in 2014.
Northrop Grumman additionally delivered the latest version of IBCS software at the end of the
demonstration, which ran from late October to the week of 4 November, Mike Achord, deputy
project manager, US Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense project office, said on 8 November.
"We are in the walk up to developmental test right now. That is the next major event with the
programme," he said.
The upcoming test phase will offer soldiers another opportunity to operate IBCS, Achord added.
The risk reduction demonstration was significant for the programme in providing the army and
Northrop Grumman with a snapshot of where they stood with the developmental capability to date,
he said.
During the risk reduction demonstration the army had a Sentinel radar live on the network as well
as an IBCS enabled Air Defense and Airspace Maintenance shelter that was integrated into the
architecture.
"On the live phase we actually had targets in the air passing the measurement data across the
network [that was] spread out over the arsenal," Achord said. "After the live phase we went into a
simulation phase and brought in a Patriot simulation facility."
The next phase of testing will take place at McGregor Range Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands
Missile Range, New Mexico.
The goal of IBCS is to seamlessly integrate not only army networks but those used by the US Air
Force (USAF), US Marine Corps, and US Navy in order to create a joint integrated air and missile
defence architecture in the theatre of operations, said Rob Jassey, deputy programme director of
IBCS for Northrop Grumman.
Besides the ability to connect US military networks, Northrop Grumman and the army are building
a system that will have to be deployed around the world, Jassey added. "There are a lot of
government processes and things that will have to be satisfied as we go forward."

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The exportability of IBCS is one of the things the US Army has been looking at since starting the
programme, Achord added. "In order to be exportable, any critical technologies that we do have,
have to be protected."
The army is looking at the particular level of protection that would be needed for IBCS to be
considered for Foreign Military Sales (FMS), he said.
"We are looking at seeing how we can do an incremental capability to get to FMS earlier than
would be normal with a full-blown system, which would have to wait until it has gone through
operational test," Achord said.
IBCS has been part of the US Department of Defense's Defense Exportability Features (DEF) pilot
programme. In its first year of DEF, the IBCS team looked at whether systems would have to be
removed and replaced or whether or not there would be a need for an additional level of protection
to make IBCS exportable, Achord said.
"In the second year [we are] diving down deeper into those particular avenues to hopefully secure
Fiscal Year 2014 [FY14] funding as well. That is where we will start looking at it as country specific
as to exportability," he said.
IBCS can network sensors from another country, provided they have a 'plug-and-fight' kit, Achord
added.
"We have a government controlled Interface Control Document [ICD] they could build to, therefore
that sensor would be capable of being put on the existing IFCN [Integrated Fire Control Network].
We are still looking at that, but the plan is to make this system exportable," he said.
What the [army] is trying to achieve with IBCS is a standards-based, open and non-proprietary
capability, Jassey added.
"Because the government owns the interfaces for IBCS it opens the door to easily adapt many
other sensors and weapons and that includes coalition partners," he said.
"The other point we made is the importance we are putting in ensuring we can continue to provide
C2 [command and control] for those systems that have not been adapted to the environment.
[That] is also very attractive to coalition operations. We will be able to still integrate with systems
that may have not been upgraded," Jassey added.
As far as speeding up the exportability of IBCS, Achord said the army is looking at what the policy
and procedural challenges might be. One idea could be to take pieces of the system and see
whether or not those would provide capabilities that another country might want. Pursuing a
traditional FMS approach would result in IBCS not being available for export until FY17, after the
system had gone through operational test, he added.
"As was [shown] in the demonstration, it provides significant capability to bring more information
into the C2 centre that provides the user additional information and a better air picture. That is why
we are looking at it [for earlier export]," he said.
One issue is that some countries might not want to be tethered to the United States for all of their
IBCS upgrades and would prefer to take care of the system themselves, Achord added. "We can
bring in those sensors and they can build to the network and we can provide them a networking
capability, and then they could hook in their own sensors with our help."

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Northrop Grumman is also planning a joint demonstration with Lockheed Martin in December 2013
to integrate Lockheed Martin's Medium Extended Air Defense System surveillance radar into
IBCS. The demonstration will continue to show how IBCS can adapt other sensors into its
architecture without having to make significant and costly changes, Jassey said.
The army has also had some discussions with the USAF about integrating the 3-D Expeditionary
Long-Range Radar into IBCS. "They are incorporating the ICD we provided them as part of the
package they are providing their contractors," Achord added.

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