Northrop Grumman has delivered the first production-representative engagement operations centre (EOC) for the Integrated Air and Missile Defence (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) to the US Army, the company announced on 1 May.
IBCS is an integrated air- and missile-defence command-and-control (C2) capability. It will integrate current and future air- and missile-defence systems in an open architecture, enabling users to employ a range of sensors and weapons. It uses common software and creates standard interfaces, providing expanded sensor and weapon system combinations through an integrated fire-control network.
Northrop Grumman has delivered to the US Army the first production-representative engagement operations centre for the IBCS. (Northrop Grumman)
The EOC is carried on a 6×6 medium tactical vehicle. Its components provide a common integrated fire control capability and include the integrated collaborative environment. It provides the tactical command post for air-defence commanders. A battalion EOC provides a gateway to external sensors and networks.
Northrop Grumman said that the delivered IBCS EOC has completed all functional configuration audits for major configuration items and system verification review, and is representative of the production configuration for hardware and software that will undergo qualification testing before independent operational test and evaluation (IOT&E), which is scheduled for late 2021. Initial operational capability is scheduled for mid-2022.
Prior to that, a further IBCS development test is scheduled for mid-2019 and limited user testing in early 2020. A Milestone C production decision is scheduled for late 2020.
Northrop Grumman said that it is on schedule to deliver 11 EOCs and 18 integrated fire control network (IFCN) relays for the IBCS programme by the end of 2019.
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