The Enhanced Production and Integration Center (EPIC) in Madison, Alabama, has been built by Northrop Grumman to support the US. Army's modernization efforts for air and missile defense. In particular, the first project being targeted is the production and component integration for the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) which is the Command and Control backbone of US (and polish) ground based air defence.
EPIC, with more than 129,500 square feet of flexible production space and 175,500 total square feet of covered production space, will help bring production capacity for IBCS to 96 Engagement Operation Centers, 96 Integrated Collaborative Environments and 192 Integrated Fire Control Network Relays each year.
EPIC also has 35,000 square feet of office space and can accommodate several hundred employees. It effectively doubles the size of the previous site, but the growth is also enabled by the integration of technological and digital advancements to drive innovation, enabling a fully digital approach to streamlining the design and build process.
Northrop Grumman invested $20 million in the project, knowing that strengthening air and missile defence is a a high priority for the US and Allies.
Selected by Poland for its NAREW missile batteries, the IBCS system is also being evaluated for possible adoption by the British Army.
The IBCS serves to integrate and coordinate diverse missile systems and sensors across the battlefield. The components mentioned previously are the key elements of the system. The Engagement Operations Center (EOC) is also known by the US Army as the “S-280”, a shelterized command and control post mounted on trucks for movement. The S-280 possesses an onboard relay capability, meaning it does not require an external relay unless the increased length of the external relay mast is necessary based on geography.
The S-280 works in cooperation with ICE: the Integrated Collaborative Environment is hosted within an air beam tent supported by the Environmental Control Unit (ECU; power generation and air conditioning), which contains IBCS servers and operator workstations and can also be remoted into an external space or building.
Finally, the all-important Fire Control Network Relays trailers carry the masts and radios needed to establish and maintain the network proper and put everything into connection. By deploying Relays alongside missile launcher units, the IBCS can control them; relays associated with sensors deployed elsewhere enable tracking data to be entered into the network from dispersed locations and from a variety of different sensors which, for the US armed forces, mainly consist of current PATRIOT radars, new Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor [LTAMDS] radar sets and SENTINEL radar sets. Poland adds its own radar types into the mix, including a passive system (PET-PCL/SPL), BYSTRA mobile radars and even the massive P-18PL early warning radar.
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