Northrop’s Integrated Battle Command System Achieves Initial Operational Capability

Northrop Grumman’s Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) has achieved initial operational capability (IOC) from the U.S. Army.

With this declaration, the system is now ready to be fielded to U.S. Army units to further support the development of the system’s capabilities.

IBCS is the cornerstone of the Army’s air and missile defense modernization strategy, replacing the multiple current air and missile defense command and control systems with a single system. The system has completed rigorous and demanding Initial Operational Test and Evaluation and numerous successful development and operational flight tests. During these demanding assessments, IBCS demonstrated its ability to deliver decision-quality fire control data across joint networks, increasing situational awareness and time for decision making.

This groundbreaking step toward putting multi-domain capabilities in the hands of the warfighter comes on the heels of the program’s recent approval for Full Rate Production. These milestones are the result of the successful completion of critical testing, and development of logistics, support and training. To date, IBCS has integrated, or demonstrated integration on many sensors and shooters.

IBCS implements a modular, open and scalable architecture that integrates available assets in the battlespace onto a common, integrated fire control network, regardless of source, service or domain. Its architecture enables integration of current and future systems and extends the battlespace by disaggregating sensors and effectors. By enabling network integration, the warfighter is given unprecedented time to make accurate decisions. Through numerous successful developments, operational tests and demonstrations, IBCS has proven its capability to connect and fuse multi-service sensor data to multi-service weapons, demonstrating the Army’s contribution to Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) capabilities.