Plug and Fight for Missile Might
ARMY DEVELOPS NET-CENTRIC SYSTEM FOR CONNECTING AIR AND MISSILE DEFENSE BATTLE COMMAND INTO THE GLOBAL INFORMATION GRID.
The Army operates a number of separate weapons programs that have the individual capacity for launching missiles at enemy targets. The Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM) is currently in the process of developing a plan to boost the interoperability of these systems, through the Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command Systems (IBCS) Development Program.
The goal of IBCS is to connect AMD systems to the Global Information Grid (GIG), thus transforming missile systems from a stovepipe configuration into a single integrated air picture, according to Colonel Lloyd McDaniels, project manager for IAMD.
“The IBCS program is providing for the design, development, testing and fielding of a common command-and-control element,” McDaniels said. “This effort will bring together into one common post those same elements that exist today in the current force. The IBCS program is part of a larger effort to migrate current stovepiped programs into a net-centric systemof- systems program.
“Projected capabilities are the ability to utilize sensor data from any sensor to conduct an engagement, the ability to conduct engagements on remote operations and increased defended area, as well as reducing sustainability and maintainability costs,” McDaniels added.
AMCOM first provided insight into the program in a request for information (RFI) to industry last summer, and followed up with an industry day in March. In solicitations for both events, AMCOM revealed its intent with the IBCS program.
“Today’s air and missile defense systems, composed of weapons, sensors and BMC4I [battle management command, control, communications, computers and intelligence] end items, operate as self-contained entities with inherent design limitations,” the industry day statement read. “These systems have limited interoperability with other AMD systems and the joint community, but are unable to conduct fully integrated operations.
“The Army intends to connect individual weapon (launchers with interceptors) and sensor components directly onto a network to achieve net-centric operations utilizing the IBCS development program products,” it added.
An IBCS command post would provide capacity to support the BMC4I systems. The IBCS contractor would develop “plug and fight” modification kits that could plug into existing weapons and sensors and provide connectivity with networks and then support the program office with the integration of the mod kits into legacy systems. The plug-and-fight mod kit is an extension of the plug-and-play concept, wherein peripherals connected to a network automatically gain the ability to interact with the devices along that network.
“This requirement will define the effort required by the contractor for the IBCS development program,” according to the AMCOM industry day notice. “This program covers program management, systems engineering, integration, manufacturing, test, logistics and initial production of the IBCS major end items (MEIs), the IAMD Integrated Fire Control Network (IFC-Net) and supporting products.”
The MEIs include the IBCS command post and the common plug-and-fight interface modification kits. The IFCNet consists of radios (serving as the communications transport layer of the network) and net management software within the command post and the plugand- fight mod kits.
“The IBCS contract is a three-phase effort. The first two phases are cost-type efforts for the development of the common command post and the plug-and-fight modules,” McDaniels explained. “Phase one is through the preliminary design review, at which time the Army and DoD will make a decision on continuing the effort. Phase two is for the full system design and development program. The third phase of the program provides for the low rate initial production of those items developed. This phase will be a fixed price type effort.”
The target date for fielding of IBCS capacity is currently 2011. The contract award should be announced in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007, according to McDaniels.
Two major teams have emerged to bid for this competition, led respectively by Raytheon and NGC.
At press time, a final request for proposals (RFP) had not been released; however, the contract teams understand they would have 45 days to respond to an RFP once it has been released, followed by a 90-day evaluation period of those responses by AMCOM. AMCOM could make an IBCS award as early as September of this year.
AMCOM TRANSFORMATION
The transition to plug-and-fight systems will transform AMCOM, said Daniel Kirby, Raytheon’s capture leader for IBCS.
“The power in making that transformation is significant and will change the way they are easy to fight in a positive way by making it much more effective and efficient,” Kirby said. “It’s a critically important acquisition. We take this very seriously. We are committed to providing the warfighter a lowest cost, best value solution to making that transformation.”
Kirby outlined a view of the three elements that would comprise a successful IBCS system. First, the IFC-Net would enable components to fight as one coherent entity. Second, the plug-andfight modification kits would enable that functionality by putting elements such as radars and launchers on one network. Finally, the command post would provide flexibility and oversight at the battalion, task force, battery or platoon levels with a common command-and-control system.
“That allows them to gain efficiencies in terms of logistics for life cycle support. It also allows them to gain efficiencies for a common seamless training environment,” Kirby noted.
Raytheon has assembled an IBCS team that includes General Dynamics, IBM, Teledyne Brown Engineering and Davidson Technologies, a prominent small business involved in the selection of bestof- breed components for IBCS. Raytheon is planning to reach out to other small businesses to recruit into the team as well, Kirby said.
General Dynamics brings network capabilities; IBM, enterprise architecture and data structure capabilities; and Teledyne Brown Engineering, systems integration and test and evaluation, Kirby elaborated.
“We are well prepared to provide an innovative, low-risk and low-cost response to the warfighter need,” he said. “We are committed to partner with industry and government alike to make this a reality by 2011. This has been a vision of theirs for some time, and it’s one we are very much committed to meeting.”
Kirby pointed to Raytheon’s vast experience in AMD systems as evidence that the company would succeed as the IBCS prime contractor. Raytheon has developed top-notch sensors and interceptors along with providing effective systems engineering and command and control.
“We have been a thought leader in how air-and-missile defense might transform in the future, focused on missile systems integration and joint battle space integration,” Kirby concluded. “So we have been studying this kind of activity for some time. We see this as the next chapter in what has been a long history of air-and-missile defense excellence by Raytheon.”
NGC did not return calls for comment for this article. The company’s team members in the contract competition include Boeing and Lockheed Martin. ♦
