Northrop Grumman is hoping its Integrated Battle Command System will be chosen as the command and control platform for the Golden Dome missile defense.
Kenn Todorov, vice president of command and control and weapons integration at Northrop Grumman, told Defense One that IBCS needs fewer Patriot missiles to deter incoming threats, thus conserving interceptor stocks.
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Shield Test Against Iran
The need for IBCS capability to use fewer missiles was evident during the U.S. Army’s deployment of 24 Patriot missiles in June from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to intercept incoming Iranian ballistic missiles in retaliation for U.S. strikes on Tehran.
According to Todorov, Northrop is anticipating IBCS deployment in Guam as part of the Pentagon’s new missile-deterrent plan for the island.
IBCS Demand Worldwide
“We think the international demand that we’re seeing, and the U.S. domestic demand, and the potential for things like Golden Dome and defense of Guam, we’re going to need to be able to ramp up production of the system to meet those demands,” he told the publication on the sidelines of the recent Royal International Air Tattoo in England.
In February, the company secured two IBCS contracts worth $1.4 billion to enhance air and missile defense for the U.S. Army and Poland.
Todorov shared that Denmark, Germany and Japan are also lining up their purchase of the system. He stressed that IBCS will not replace European air and missile defense systems but would complement them, including Germany’s European Sky Shield for NATO.