{"id":55499,"date":"2018-10-10T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T12:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/10\/army-nearing-strategy-on-way-ahead-for-indirect-fire-protection-capability\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:07:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:07:07","slug":"army-nearing-strategy-on-way-ahead-for-indirect-fire-protection-capability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/ausa-digital-show-dailies\/2018\/10\/10\/army-nearing-strategy-on-way-ahead-for-indirect-fire-protection-capability\/","title":{"rendered":"Army nearing strategy on way ahead for Indirect Fire Protection Capability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Army is nearing the completion of a strategy on the way head for an Indirect Fire Protection Capability <\/a>that could include a solution to address cruise missile threats <\/a>in the near term, according to the service\u2019s Air-and-Missile Defense modernization lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think by the end of the month, we will have a strategy that should be known,\u201d Brig. Gen. Randall McIntire, told Defense News in an interview just before the Association of the United States Army\u2019s annual meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congress had mandated that the Army turn in a strategy for the IFPC program <\/a>by Oct. 31 in its fiscal 2019 appropriations bill, which passed last month, giving the service just 30 days to turn in its homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IFPC<\/a> is being designed to defend against rockets, artillery and mortars <\/a>as well as unmanned aircraft systems and cruise missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has already decided to delay moving forward into the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the IFPC Increment 2 program because of a need to reprioritize and focus on countering cruise missiles and UAS ahead of developing a capability against RAM threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army\u2019s AMD Cross-Functional Team, led by McIntire, was also tasked by Army leadership to look into the possibility of bringing into the program a non-developmental interim cruise missile defense capability, after the service previously denied the need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In McIntire\u2019s view, the Army has been tasked by Congress to determine how to solve a gap in cruise missile capability in the short term, while also coming up with a long-term plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s possible the Army\u2019s strategy will contain two different paths, one that offers the best possible short-term solution that allows the Army to move quickly, and the best solution for the Army\u2019s long-term benefit, according to McIntire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent the last couple of weeks really honing in on the pros and cons of each one of those things,\u201d McIntire said. \u201cIt\u2019s all pre-decisional, quite frankly. It\u2019s pretty close. I don\u2019t know which way it could go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more coverage from the AUSA annual meeting, click here.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the short-term interim capability, McIntire said, \u201cwe are looking at a variety of candidates, to include our current Multi-Mission Launcher,\u201d which is under development by the Army internally, and \u201cwe are looking at some foreign systems.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIntire added that the service is examining those solutions\u2019 different performance measures as well as weighing them against cost and affordability factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A missile is launched from the IFPC Increment 2-I Block 1 multi-mission launcher demonstrator. (Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among some of the things being hashed out as the Army formulates a strategy for Congress is the possibility of renaming IFPC, which, \u201cis a terrible name,\u201d McIntire said. \u201cWe are actually coming up with a better name for it as we come up with a strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also part of the Army\u2019s plan in the near term is to qualify a second interceptor for the system. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and a Raytheon and Rafael team were awarded competitive contracts to mature possible second interceptors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army has already qualified the AIM-9X interceptor and requested $173.2 million in its FY19 budget for the munitions and multi-mission launcher components.<\/p>\n\n\n\t