US Army describe vision to implement leaner IAMD pockets
Earlier this week, Commander of US Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), Lieutenant General Sean A. Gainey, described plans to implement lighter units in the battlespace.
Gainey noted that mid-century combat will comprise “tailorable formations that can be dis-aggregated across terrain for defense and to create pockets of air and missile superiority where needed most.”
These pockets will be enabled by the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS) pulling data from multiple sensor nodes across the joint force to create one composite firing solution. This level of coordination “sparks a fundamental change in how we fight”, Gainey observed.
Army Technology learned that this central command system will enable a coordinated effect at the tactical level by allowing soldiers to access the system through a mobile application. Northrop Grumman, the original equipment manufacturer, are in discussions with the Army to determine requirements for this, but the company expects to deliver the app within the next five years.
At the same time, Gainey identified that “combat credibility demands a strong focus on developing resilient space systems and counter-space capabilities to protect US assets and deny adversaries access to space.
“Both Russia and China have made it clear that they intend to compete with us in space. We must make it clear that it’s a competition they can’t win.”
To this end, Gainey revealed that SMDC’s 1st Space Brigade will also operate through leaner units integrating close combat space interdiction into corps-level manoeuvre exercises, helping to isolate enemy long-range fires brigades and working to disintegrate enemy counterattacks.
The creation of the new 40D Space Operations Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), which goes live in the coming months, will enable these changes.
“The establishment of 40D MOS will alleviate the burden on other Army branches who are lending their soldiers to space operations,” he explained.
“This new space operations MOS is designed to build a robust and experienced noncommissioned officer corps in Army space and will ensure that Army space formations are equipped with soldiers who have experience in space operations.”
Headway on Golden Dome
These lighter mobile units will fit into a layered air and missile defence architecture known as Golden Dome, a flagship project of the Trump administration, with ambitions to emulate the Israeli Iron Dome concept, but scaling it to cover the continental US.
For the centre of the Golden Dome network, the US defence prime Lockheed Martin developed a prototype command and control (C2) capability according to an announcement on 5 August, the same day Gainey delivered his speech in Alabama.
Leveraging its Center for Innovation facility in Suffolk, Virginia, better known as the Lighthouse, Lockheed Martin seeks to combine a range of existing C2 systems designed to connect sensors, shooters, and platforms across all domains, from seabed to space.
Prototyping is already underway at the Lighthouse, where real capabilities are being tested against current and future threat scenarios, from ground to space.
These capabilities include: threat evaluation, battle management, mission planning tools, sensor tasking, artificial intelligence/machine learning integration and optimisation, joint planning, data link sharing and more.
In addition, Lockheed Martin intend to work with government and industry partners to pull in technologies from across defence to facilitate delivery of the overarching C2 layers for Golden Dome ahead of 2028.
During Talisman Sabre 2025, a military exercise including 30,000 personnel among 19 nations, Lockheed Martin demonstrated its Next-generation Fires Application that integrates the Battalion Commander with Mid-Range Capability, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) batteries, and other applications, enabling rapid and effective kill chains.
To do so, the supplier rapidly scaled the Aegis naval C2 capabilities into a smaller form factor that enabled delivery of capability.
This demonstration proved the system’s ability to integrate with Nato data Link 16 for situational awareness and coordination across artillery fires units, from battalion to battery level.
