The US Army has signed a contract with Northrop Grumman for the production of a unified control system for air and missile defense systems IBCS. As reported by Breaking Defense, under this agreement, the company will develop 160 systems for the US military and their foreign partners by the end of 2026.
Currently, American air defense systems and tactical missile defense systems are not able to exchange data with each other. For example, Patriot does not understand the issuance of radar information and target designation of the SHORAD system, and vice versa.
In 2009, Northrop Grumman received a contract to develop a unified control system for the IBCS air and missile defense systems. Since then, the system has been tested by processing data from different types of radars and launching different types of missiles. In particular, IBCS has shown that it can establish communication between Patriot and SHORAD, as well as between F-35A fighters, G/ATOR radar and PAC-3 missiles.
The US Army announced on December 23 that Northrop Grumman had won a five-year contract for small-scale and full-scale production of IBCS, although the decision on the latter will not be finally made until 2023. The company will develop 160 unified air defense and missile defense systems for the US military and their foreign partners.
In addition to the air defense and missile defense systems already in service, the "Indestructible Shield" can be integrated into the IBCS. This is a mobile ground-based system for protection against drones and cruise missiles, which is being developed by Dynetics.
Vasilisa Chernyavtseva
