In 2010, the Army picked Northrop Grumman to be the prime contractor. In May 2015, the Army networked an S-280 engagement operations center with radar sensors and interceptor launchers for a test. Following Army doctrine, two interceptors were launched against a target missile, which was destroyed. In April 2016, IBCS demonstrated sensor fusion from disparate data streams, In May 2019, an IBCS Engagement Operations Center (EOC) was delivered to the Army at Huntsville, Alabama. In July 2019, the TRADOC capability manager (TCM) for Strategic Missile Defense (SMD) accepted the charter for
DOTMLPF for the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT). In August 2019 at
Reagan Test Site on
Kwajalein Atoll, THAAD Battery E-62 intercepted a
medium-range ballistic missile using a radar that was well-separated from the interceptors and without knowing just when it had launched. In the next test, Patriot interceptors were guided by THAAD radars, which have longer detection ranges than Patriot radars. From July (delayed from May by the
COVID-19 pandemic In August 2020, an air-defense battalion integrated data from two sensors (Sentinel and Patriot radars) to overcome jamming and shoot down two drones (cruise missile surrogates) with two Patriot missiles. The battalion then ran hundreds of drills simulating hundreds of threats, providing real-world data to check on
Monte Carlo simulations of an array of physical scenarios amounting to hundreds of thousands of cases. IBCS created a "single uninterrupted composite track of each threat" and handed off each threat for separate disposition by the air and missile defense's integrated fire control network (IFCN). The battalion used IBCS to detect, track, and intercept near-simultaneous low-altitude targets as well as a
tactical ballistic missile The tests allowed Army doctrine to be updated to allow the launch of a single Patriot against a single target. and 2022. From 2009 to 2020, the Army spent $2.7 billion on the program. In 2021, the Army awarded a $1.4 billion contract to Northrop Grumman for the IBCS. At the Army's Project Convergence 2021 tech demonstration and experimentation event, IBCS was used to pass information from ground, air, and space sensors to a fire control system. IBCS passed sensor data from an F-35 to AFATDS (Army Field Artillery Tactical Data System), using the aircraft as a spotter for artillery fire. In February 2022, testers used IBCS to engage targets using various mixes of radars, interceptors, and fire control systems from the THAAD and Patriot systems. For example, in a scenario where a THAAD system has to conserve its All-Up-Rounds, IBCS can calculate which targets are within the reach of its Patriot PAC-3 MSE interceptors, and fire those instead as needed. In December 2025, the country announced full operational readiness of its IBCS network, making it the first of the United States' allies to field the system. ==Raytheon GhostEye (Lower Tier Air and Missiles Defense Sensor)==