The US Army and Northrop Grumman Corporation have successfully demonstrated the ability of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) to conduct a simultaneous engagement of two cruise missile targets.

The demonstration occurred during an IBCS flight test at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The systems was manned by US Army personnel, and comprised US Army and US Marine Corps systems. It demonstrated the interoperability and the ability of IBCS to detect, track and simultaneously engage multiple threats.

“Building on the success of the most recent flight test this past August, today’s test demonstrates that IBCS is achieving unprecedented performance in defeating multiple missile threats,” Northrop Grumman vice president and general manager, missile defense and protective systems, Dan Verwiel said in a statement.

“Taking advantage of all available resources in the battlefield, IBCS enhances battlefield survivability by enabling 360 degree sensor coverage, and enables highest probability of defeat by ensuring the most effective weapon is used to intercept each threat.”

The IBCS Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN) linked together two battery IBCS engagement operations centres, a Patriot radar, two Sentinel radars, and two Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) launchers with Guidance Enhanced Missile-TBM (GEM-T) interceptors. Also contributing to the test were a US Marine Corps AN/TPS-59 joint radar connected to an external Link 16 network, and F-35B fighters with sensors adapted to IBCS.

Northrop Grumman says the flight test began when two cruise missile surrogate threats were launched and flew in a manoeuvring formation until they neared their targets before splitting off to attack two separate targets. It says IBCS fused data from the participating sensors and external networks into composite tracks of both threats, and developed the engagement plan to successfully launch two PAC-2 missiles and intercept both cruise missiles.

IBCS is expected to form part of Northrop Grumman’s proposed solution for the ADF’s Project AIR 6500 integrated air and missile defence requirement.