{"id":29363,"date":"2017-10-04T15:17:16","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T15:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2017\/10\/04\/lockheed-rockwell-get-contracts-to-develop-airborne-c2-system-for-launching-icbms\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:16:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:16:39","slug":"lockheed-rockwell-get-contracts-to-develop-airborne-c2-system-for-launching-icbms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/c2-comms\/2017\/10\/04\/lockheed-rockwell-get-contracts-to-develop-airborne-c2-system-for-launching-icbms\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed, Rockwell to develop airborne C2 system for launching ICBMs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Lockheed Martin and Rockwell Collins have been awarded contracts to continue development of an airborne command-and-control system that makes it possible for the U.S. Air Force to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile even if launch control centers on the ground are destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the Air Force announced it had given Lockheed an $81 million contract and Rockwell a $76 million contract for the technology maturation and risk reduction phase of the Airborne Launch Control System Replacement. That program, also known as ALCS-R, will support ICBM operations until 2075, meaning it will work with both the current Minuteman III system and its eventual replacement, the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent, which will come online in the late 2020s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Air Force fielded an ALCS capability in the late 1960s to make moot the Soviet Union\u2019s ability to decapitate the ICBM force by destroying the United States\u2019 command-and-control, or C2, facilities. The thought process was thus: Even if an attack were to wipe out the ground-based launch-control centers, those ICBMs would remain ready to launch in many circumstances, and an aircraft equipped with the ALCS system could fly overhead and give the command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, the U.S. military operates 16 E-6B aircraft equipped with the ALCS system, as well as one plane used for integration and lab testing. The E-6Bs are owned and flown by the Navy, while an on-board Air Force crew is tasked with providing a mobile C2 capability for the ICBM enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During ALCS-R, the Air Force intends to replace all of the airborne mission equipment on the E-6Bs as well as ground-based radios in 450 launch-control centers, which haven\u2019t been updated since the 1960s, said an Air Force official with knowledge of the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\t