The US Army has selected Northrop Grumman to further expand the capabilities of the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) with a new variant designed to increase the system’s survivability and mobility.
Northrop Grumman is under contract to provide two manufacturing prototypes to the Army by June 2027.
“Our sustained investments in innovation are turning IBCS into an ever-more capable combat multiplier for the warfighter. By boosting the Integrated Collaborative Environment’s survivability and mobility, we’re giving warfighters greater protection and faster access to advanced command and control technology as they face increasingly complex and dynamic battlespaces," Northrop Grumman, vice president and general manager, command and control and weapons integration, Kenn Todorov, said.
Under this US $21 million (approx. A $30 million) effort, Northrop Grumman will deliver prototypes for a modified IBCS Integrated Collaborative Environment providing an enlarged, configurable workspace.
According to Northrop Grumman, replacing the original tent, this design uses a more protected, expandable van whose interior extends to deploy sides from the shelter, creating additional space for soldiers, equipment and mission systems.
This new configuration enables IBCS to rapidly adapt to evolving mission needs and changing environments, while increasing mobility, survivability and accelerating set up and tear down. It supports six operator workstations and four staff operation stations.
This is an example of the US Army's effort to rapidly evolve IBCS to changing requirements. Whether on the move for expeditionary missions or deployed as part of a layered homeland defence, crucial new technologies include a smaller configuration to enhance mobility and survivability, automation to advance decision-making and modernised software to enable capability updates.
The company claims that it is harnessing more than US $10 million (approx. A $14 million) in strategic internal investments and cost-sharing to accelerate IBCS development, reducing integration risk and delivering enhanced capability faster.
IBCS is a system that delivers fire control quality data and battle management, unifying current and future systems regardless of source, service or domain.
IBCS is in full-rate production, operational in Poland, and fielded for Combatant Commands in Europe and the Indo-Pacific as part of the US Army program of record for integrated air and missile defence modernisation.