US defense contractor Leidos has announced that the US Army will soon have a new air defense system designed to defeat incoming cruise missiles and strike drones, targets Small is often difficult to intercept.
According to a press release from the company, the new system, called Increased Indirect Fire Protection (IFPC) 2, is compared to Israel’s Iron Dome and NASAMS Air Defense System.
The system’s launch prototype, called the Sustainable Shield, is currently being manufactured by Leidos Dynetics Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama.
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Defense against cruise missiles and attack drones has been identified as a major capacity gap in the Army’s layered defense strategy designed to create rings of security around troops. troops and property near the front.
The Leidos Program Director, Elizabeth Robertson, says that the need for an effective defense against military and civilian assets is now evident in Ukraine.
Scott Borchers, the company’s lead engineer for the program, said the Army plans to deploy four Enduring Shield launchers per platoon to create 360-degree protected areas.
“Enduring Shield is a portable, low-cost system that can engage multiple targets at once at the platoon level,” Borchers said. “It’s simple to operate, even in GPS-free environments, and integrates seamlessly with the Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense Combat Command System (IBCS), the brains of the massive network of the Army, helping to determine which gunners to activate against different threats.”
Perhaps the most important feature of the Enduring Shield, Borchers said, is its open architecture, which will allow the Army to add interceptors with new capabilities in the future.
Robertson said her team recently passed a major readiness milestone, with plans to test the first flight later this year. If all goes well, her team can then produce hundreds of durable Shield launchers for the Army.
