Northrop Grumman held a program update on the production of their Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) and Forward Area Air Defense Command and Control (FAAD C2) on the afternoon of March 25.

Following the briefing, representatives from Northrop Grumman hosted a tour of their Huntsville Manufacturing Center, where IBCS and FAAD C2 are currently in production.

Three high-level Northrop Grumman spokesmen delivered remarks at the briefing. Brian Jensen, Program Manager, FAAD C2; William Lamb, Director, IBCS; and Ian Reynolds, Vice President, C4 Missile Defense, each spoke at the meeting.

Colonel Christopher Hill Sr., Project Manager, Integrated Fires Mission Command, PEO Missiles and Space, was also on hand to provide context from the perspective of the military customer.

“IBCS is the cornerstone modernization program for Army air and missile defense,” explained Colonel Hill. “For the past 40 years, we have protected the force with the Patriot Air Defense System. Based on the type of conflicts we see in our future with our near-peer adversaries, like China and Russia, we need a more network system. IBCS is going to give the battlefield commander flexibility that has never been seen before on the battlefield.”

On the tour of the Northrop Grumman Manufacturing Center production floor, visitors were able to see the hardware configuration for IBCS.

Soldiers will begin using this equipment in 2025. Colonel Hill anticipates that two battalions per year will adopt the IBCS system, beginning next year and going through 2031.

During the tour, Ian Reynolds discussed how the the IBCS program is supported by dozens of small businesses.

“We are extremely proud that IBCS is associated with Huntsville. It’s almost exclusively designed, tested, and built here,” Reynolds told the Business Journal. “If you look at the lift that IBCS provides to the industrial base overall–so this is beyond Huntsville proper–there are over 170 different suppliers that supply content for IBCS. Almost 100 of those are small businesses.”

Reynolds went on the explain that that international allies have already shown a great deal of interest in adopting IBCS, as well as FAAD C2.

“FAAD C2 is a combat-proven system that simultaneously integrates Short Range Air Defense (SHORAD), Counter-Rocket, Artillery, Mortar (C-RAM), and Counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) missions on a single pane of glass,” explained a release from Northrop Grumman.

Like IBCS, FAAD C2 is currently being deployed to U.S. partners abroad.

“Last year we successfully fielded FAAD to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. We are now creating an air defense network between these Baltic countries, NATO, and U.S. forces,” added Jensen. “Drone attacks are an increasing threat. As a provider of the [FAAD] C2 system, we have received a lot of interest internationally. We are planning on doing a demo for the British.”

Jensen says that tests will be held this spring to gauge the full range of the capabilities of FAAD.

Both FAAD and IBCS are expected to be impactful systems. Colonel Hill anticipates that Northrop Grumman’s IBCS system will be the world’s strongest air defense system.

A brief YouTube video, produced by Northrop Grumman, provides a visual representation of how IBCS works. Find it here.