Army expected to start fielding IBCS 'this year'

The Army is expected to begin fielding the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) "this year," and will field it "in a larger way" in 2025, an executive from prime contractor Northrop Grumman said today.

IBCS is the Army’s air and missile defense modernization platform that aims to connect sensors and effectors into one command-and-control system that utilizes multiple radars for threat detection.

The IBCS program underwent initial operational test and evaluation in 2022, and in 2023 it was approved by the Defense Department and the Army to go into full-rate production, Bill Lamb, Northrop Grumman senior programs director for global mission command and control, said during a media briefing today.

Fielding of IBCS to the initial Patriot battalions is expected to occur in mid-2025, the company has said.

Lamb said Monday that the Army will invest about $1 billion annually in IBCS over the next five years.

“And that’s not just in production. That’s into future research, development and test around new sensors and new effector capabilities,” he said.

Additionally, IBCS has been fully fielded to the first squadron of Polish Armed Forces, with more than 100 officers and soldiers having been trained on the system, Lamb said. The system is expected to reach initial operational capability for the Polish military “sometime this year.”