IBCS

Any Sensor, Best Shooter

By Michael Whetston, Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team

Article published on: January 1, 2024 in the 2024 Issue 1 of the Air Defense Artillery Journal

Read Time: < 5 mins

As one of the key signature efforts supporting the Army’s Air and Missile Defense (AMD) community, Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense (AIAMD) is the cornerstone of AMD modernization within the U.S. Army. The Integrated Battle Command System is the materiel solution for the AIAMD enterprise that integrates sensors and effectors onto the Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN) and compounds overall AMD effectiveness by dramatically enhancing the ability to identify, track, engage, and defend against diverse threats.

As part of Project Convergence Capstone 4 (PC-C4), taking place in February and March at locations along the West Coast, the Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team (AMD CFT) is participating in experimentation meant to transform how the Joint forces fight in the future.

According to Chris Wehmeier of the AMD CFT, “Project Convergence is the ideal environment to experiment with, and grow, AMD capabilities in the years to come.” Wehmeier went on to say that this is the third experimentation capstone event in which IBCS has participated. “PC 21 saw IBCS expand into the realm of Joint interoperability. By linking our integrated fire control network with our joint partners’ composite tracking networks, we learned that technology is catching up to concept, creating an expansive, effective, and robust air defense capability that leverages the best of all services.”

In PC 22, experiment design expanded the distances between sensors and shooters to extend the battlespace, added additional nodes to the network to increase the load, and used tactical communications systems rather than commercial systems to provide greater realism. PC-C4 will continue to increase the scope and scale of the network to produce data that can be used to inform future experiments as well as future acquisition and development decisions.

AIAMD combines current and future AMD sensors and weapons into a common integrated fire control capability that allows the warfighter to fully integrate AMD capabilities across all echelons. AIAMD replaces multiple disparate command and control systems, enabling better coordinated engagements, positive control of sensors and weapons, friendly protection, and shared situational understanding.

AIAMD enhances battlefield awareness contributing to improved command and control and integration of systems to produce desired effects. The system’s improved awareness and performance combine to provide Soldiers and formations that are more lethal and survivable.

“This is the greatest and most complex modernization of our air and missile defense capability since the Cold War, centered on connecting sensors, shooters and a common mission command system,” said Col. Bill Parker, Director of the Army Futures Command’s Air and Missile Defense Cross Functional Team. “Ultimately, it is about giving our warfighters capabilities sooner and increasing the options available in order to keep pace with our adversaries, making their challenges more complex.”

LTAMDS is a new, advanced sensor developed to integrate into the Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense (AIAMD) architecture and will replace the current Patriot radar. The IBCS provides a common mission command and sensor/weapon integration network for all Army AMD echelons that improves protection against threats in complex integrated attack scenarios. (U.S. Army photos by Nathaniel Pierce)

“AIAMD/IBCS is more than just a mission command node, it is an integral component of AMD weapon systems.”

IBCS is envisioned as the direct replacement for the mission command nodes for the Patriot weapon system, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system, Army Air and Missile Defense Command (AAMDC) Headquarters, Air Defense Artillery Brigade Headquarters, and Air Defense Airspace Management (ADAM) cells. It enables rapid convergence of sensors, shooters, and mission command components on an integrated fire control network.

Integration efforts of both legacy and developmental sensors/shooters will provide the force with capabilities to defeat emerging threats in a variety of scenarios. These capabilities allow the force commander to form operational air defense task forces, tailored to a specific mission profile and able to integrate with joint and multinational partners.

IBCS achieved Initial Operational Capability and was approved for Full-Rate Production in early 2023.

“Achieving IOC for AIAMD/IBCS was a team effort and represented both an accomplishment of monumental magnitude for the Army and a first critical achievement in transforming Army integrated AMD forces to support joint and multinational forces in future operations,” according to Parker. “It is the cornerstone of integrated AMD capabilities as we build the Army of 2030 and it lays the foundation for designing integrated AMD forces for the Army of 2040.”

Once fully fielded, IBCS will allow AMD forces to be tailored and scaled appropriately to meet the given threat. The quantity and mix of capabilities can be dynamically re-tasked into a formation with an inherent, integrated mission command system to build tiered and layered defenses.

The program will field common mission command nodes for Army AMD forces to defend against manned aircraft, unmanned aerial systems, air-to-ground missiles, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and rocket and mortar attacks. IBCS will operate with air surveillance and fire control capabilities across Army, multiservice, and multinational AMD capabilities throughout all echelons.

“Going forward, the Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team, teaming with our military and industry partners, continues to build momentum for AIAMD through testing as part of the Integrated Fires Test Campaign in 2024 and beyond,” Parker noted. “AIAMD/IBCS is more than just a mission command node, it is an integral component of AMD weapon systems. It remains our top AMD priority and is an essential part of not only delivering the Army of 2030, but designing the Army of 2040.”