GBAD - The return of 'FOBS'

[Kirkhill]

Australia announces $4.7 billion purchase of US air defense missiles

The deal checks off a top priority in Australia's 2024 defense strategy, published this spring.

www.defensenews.com

Australia announced this week it was buying $4.7 billion in American-made SM-2 and SM-6 missiles — two of the world’s most advanced air defense interceptors — in a colossal foreign military sale.

Funding for a decade, numbers not stated.

“There was a strong view we needed to both upgrade the capability of air defense, but also increase the numbers of missiles we’re holding,” Conroy said in an interview while visiting Washington.

Missile defense is one of the top priorities listed in Australia’s 2024 defense strategy, published this April, which name drops the SM-6. In the plan, the government pledged to double its number of major warships and build a firmer defense industry of its own — as the country, like America, accepts competition with China as the norm.

Canberra’s defense budget, published a month after in May, committed a record $37 billion, or just over 2% of GDP, toward its military. The government aims to reach 2.3% of GDP, right now around $67 billion, by 2033-2034.

The SM, or Standard Missile, Block IIIC and 6 included in the sale will help Australia defend against advanced missile attacks and, in the case of the latter, can provide an anti-ship weapon. The American missile company Raytheon manufactures both, which have a medium and long range respectively.

“This combination of long range air defense, anti-ship strike capability ... and giving us our first ability to defend against ballistic missiles through terminal ballistic missile defense was a huge step forward for our navy,” Conroy said.

 

[Kirkhill]

IBCS and IAMD

How The Army Will Use Its Super Integrated Air Defense System

Branded Content: Northrop Grumman's Bill Lamb provides an in-depth look at the soon-to-be-fielded Integrated Battle Command System.

www.twz.com

IBCS tackles evolving air and missile threats, from incoming drone swarms to hypersonic weapons, while creating a ‘any sensor, best shooter’ strategy. This enables operators to select the optimal effector for the situation.

Since 2015, the IBCS program has successfully executed multiple developmental and operational flight tests under increasingly realistic conditions, including early engineering to integrate the U.S. Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) to the IBCS Integrated Fire Control Network (IFCN). The joint multi-domain command-and-control provided by IBCS, along with its data integration and distribution capabilities, make it a pillar of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) vision. IBCS’s capability to fuse data from joint service sensors to create and distribute a single integrated air picture is particularly key.