Northrop Grumman has released Version 2.0 of the U.S. Army's Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) software. This release, recently tested at the Northrop Grumman Contractor System Integration Laboratory (C-SIL) in Huntsville, is an upgrade to the Version 1.0 release of April 2011.

Notable new features include improved interfaces with Patriot, Sentinel radar and Link 16. Additionally, more combat aids have been added to the Common Warfighter Machine Interface (CWMI).

The CWMI upgrades are a result of several Warfighter Experiments held at Fort Sill, Okla., over the last three years. At these experiments, air defense soldiers were trained in user interface alternatives, measured for performance and accuracy, and asked for suggestions on improvement.

By incorporating the results in IBCS Version 2.0, Northrop Grumman continuously improves IBCS and ensures it will satisfy the needs of the Army.

"This is an important step toward an Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense [AIAMD] demonstration planned for 2013," said Kelley Zelickson, vice president of air and missile defense systems for Northrop Grumman Information Systems.

"We are excited to demonstrate our open architecture that will allow any sensor and any shooter to be plugged into the Army's integrated fire control network."

Version 2.0 was built on Northrop Grumman's successful Joint Track Management Capability (JTMC) demonstrated in September 2011. The JTMC demonstration was highlighted by the sharing of composite air tracks between the Army Integrated Fire Control Network and Navy Cooperative Engagement Capability for the first time.

The AIAMD demonstration will include IBCS V2.1 software, as well as other Army systems - Patriot and Sentinel, and will be the first display of IBCS directing fires for AIAMD weapons.

The IBCS program resulted from analysis of Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom operations to improve mission command as a top priority for reducing fratricide incidents and implementing an enterprise approach to command and control.

IBCS will establish an open, network-centric system-of-systems solution for integrating sensors, weapons, and battle management command, control, communications and intelligence systems.

IBCS uses a plug-and-fight approach to ensure current and future systems can be easily incorporated, allowing warfighters to take advantage of integrated Army and joint sensors and weapons.

The IBCS enterprise environment focuses on warfighter decision processes and tools to optimize time-critical engagements.