Earlier this month, the Army conducted a acceptable of rocket defence formation tests that utilized a caller prototype communications instrumentality that connects the conflict absorption strategy to a Patriot rocket interceptor.
During Integrated Flight Test-2 astatine White Sands Missile Range, N.M., connected Nov. 17, Army Integrated Fires Mission Command and members of the 3rd Battalion 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment successfully tested the Lockheed Martin [LMT] prototype Remote Interceptor Guidance – 360 (RIG-360) instrumentality to pass with an in-flight Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) interceptor missile.
The Army Integrated Fires Mission Command and Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment conducted a palmy rocket formation trial with the Integrated Air & Missile Defense Battle Command System astatine White Sands Missile Range, N.M. connected Nov. 17, 2022. (Photo: U.S. Army, Darrell Ames)
This constituent of the trial sought to trial the RIG-360 information nexus capabilities. The RIG-360 was connected to the Northrop Grumman [NOC] Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS).
The prototype RIG-360 “enables a 360-degree PAC-3 engagement capableness utilizing people information from assorted sensors,” Lockheed Martin said successful a statement.
IBCS is the Army’s aboriginal rocket defence bid platform, aimed astatine integrating and connecting the service’s sensor and shooter capabilities.
The Army said the “Special Test Event,” directed by the Air and Missile Defense Test Directorate Operational Test Command, had the nonsubjective of demonstrating Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense capableness to execute a termination concatenation against a crushed launched cruise rocket surrogate.
Soldiers successfully engaged with a cruise rocket menace surrogate by connecting the IBCS, Patriot defence system, Sentinel radars, adapted Patriot launchers and PAC-3 interceptors, the Army said.
The Army noted preliminary information indicates the people was successfully intercepted and planned formation trial objectives against the cruise rocket people were achieved.
This trial comes weeks aft Northrop Grumman said the Army finished the 10-month archetypal operational trial and valuation (IOT&E) play for IBCS, which marked the past main trial lawsuit earlier moving to full-rate accumulation (Defense Daily, Nov. 8).
Northrop Grumman underscored this lawsuit included 2 abstracted tests.
The archetypal unrecorded people engagement progressive a Raytheon Technologies [RTX] AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel radar tracking an unspecified cruise rocket people done the desert.
IBCS engaged the people utilizing Lockheed Martin’s RIG-360 prototype arsenic the uplink to the PAC-3 Interceptor. The institution said the RIG-360 to Patriot transportation was developed via interior Northrop Grumman probe and improvement efforts “to execute the engineering indispensable to integrate RIG-360 with IBCS.”
The institution did not disclose however overmuch interior backing this required.
Northop Grumman argued the archetypal trial proves IBCS is nary longer babelike connected the Patriot radar to supply connection links to the interceptor and shows the strategy tin beryllium rapidly integrated with caller exertion due to the fact that it uses a modular, unfastened and scalable architecture that allows the Army to disaggregate sensors and shooters.
“IBCS’ quality to integrate with immoderate disposable networked sensor and effector provides the warfighter flexibility, clip and dominance successful the battlespace. With each unsocial strategy test, the IBCS architecture has proven that the strategy is defining the possibilities of providing bid and power crossed domains,” Christine Harbison, vice president and wide manager of combat systems and ngo readiness astatine Northrop Grumman, said successful a statement.
Lockheed Martin’s PAC-3 missile, portion of the Patriot aerial defence capability. (Photo: Lockheed Martin)
The institution said the 2nd trial had the IBCS detect, track, prosecute and destruct a ground-launched cruise rocket surrogate, utilizing a Patriot interceptor for a occurrence prime way and communal operating picture.
“This palmy trial confirms our RIG-360 prototype arsenic 1 of the galore ways we proceed to present exertion to guarantee our customers enactment up of the afloat spectrum of 21st period threats,” Scott Arnold, vice president of integrated aerial and rocket defence astatine Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said successful a statement.
“The occurrence of this trial confirms that IBCS is advancing on the close way successful becoming the instauration of our nation’s modernized Air & Missile Defense capabilities,” Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, Army Program Executive Officer for Missiles and Space, said successful a statement.
Army Col. Chris Hill, Project Manager of the Integrated Fires Mission Command Project Office, agreed.
“This palmy trial confirms that IBCS is good positioned to combat the contiguous and aboriginal threats to our Nation and allies…We volition proceed to beryllium responsive to Warfighter requirements and enactment arsenic an integrated squad committed to modernizing our Army,” Hill said
Last year, the Army awarded Northrop Grumman a imaginable $1.4 cardinal production contract for low-rate archetypal accumulation and full-rate accumulation of IBCS, covering up to 160 IBCSs. At the time, the Army said a full-rate accumulation determination for IBCS is expected successful fiscal twelvemonth 2023 (Defense Daily, Dec. 23, 2021).
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24020034/226270_iPHONE_14_PHO_akrales_0595.jpg)
English (US)