Army receives Northrop system

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman has delivered the first battery engagement operations center for the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System to the U.S. Army.

When fully developed, the IBCS battery engagement operations center will enable an Army air defense battery to establish common battle command of air defense assets that are fully integrated with other Army and joint IAMD systems.

The initial system consists of common hardware and software housed in a rigid wall shelter and mounted on a 5-ton M1085 Medium Tactical Vehicle, the company said.

"This initial system will be used as a test bed to support the IBCS critical design review and the IBCS software development and coding," said U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Genaro "Gino" Dellarocco, program executive officer, Missiles and Space, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. "This prototype will allow the warfighter to interact early and influence the design to ensure we provide them this critical capability."

Northrop Grumman and its team were awarded a $577 million, five-year contract last December for the development of a common battle command system.

Systems that will be integrated via IBCS include the Patriot, the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile and the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor.