In August, the Army will pick a single vendor to build the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC), focused on countering cruise missiles and larger drones. Later upgrades will add lasers and counter-rocket capability.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.“In my career, certainly this is the most amount of modernization I’ve seen,” Brig. Gen. Brian Gibson says. Can multiple Army programs make their 2023 deadline?
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.With the second battery now bound for the US, the Israeli-made missile defense system must prove it works with American command networks. “We have a very detailed plan to do the integration,” Rafael’s Pini Yungman told me.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The two air & missile defense batteries will be based at Fort Bliss, Texas, with the first Iron Dome weapons systems arriving from Israeli manufacturer Rafael by the end of the year.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.How do you keep a laser focused on a target moving at hundreds of miles per hour? The answer is crucial to Lockheed lasers being fitted on Army trucks and Air Force fighters over the next few years.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Contractors are already “bending metal” on components for both 50-kilowatt and 300-kW lasers, Army scientist Craig Robin said.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Israel’s Rafael will soon ship the first missile defense battery to the US and wants to build a factory here. The really hard part: connecting Iron Dome to US Army command networks.
By Arie EgoziUS and foreign missiles alike are welcome at next year’s missile defense “shoot off,” the Army’s acquisition chief told us, as long as they can share data with the Army’s IBCS command system.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The Israeli-made system is incompatible with the US Army’s missile defense network, the head of Army Futures Command told us. So instead of buying more Iron Domes, he aims to hold a missile defense “shoot off” open to all comers.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Israeli manufacturer Rafael says its anti-rocket system can now shoot down cruise missiles. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy and acquisition chief Bruce Jette are saying, show us the data.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.Research and development spending on hypersonics will nearly double in ‘21, and it will triple for lasers, as the service rushes to deploy combat-ready prototypes.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.The new approach will focus on an urgent but largely unmet threat: Russian and Chinese cruise missiles.
By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr.