In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., President George W. Bush issued a directive to increase the nation’s missile defense capability. Part of this directive included developing a Missile Defense System that layered defenses to “intercept missiles in all phases of their flight and against all ranges of threats."
At the heart of this layered missile defense would be a resilient, all‐domain system that would network space, air, land and sea sensors and weapon systems to enable the highest probability of defeating advancing threats. That system was then, and remains today, the backbone of American missile defense – the
Command, Control, Battle Management and Communications (C2BMC) system.
Presidential directive requested the layered missile defense capability be delivered in 2004 – less than two years from the initiating Presidential directive. To develop such an advanced system required a collaborative enterprise of the best and most experienced talent from the defense industry and United States government. In 2002, Lockheed Martin, given its extensive experience developing command and control systems for the United States Air Force, was selected to lead a collective team of Government and industry leaders.
Collaborating to Innovate
To meet the urgent timeframe, the team set up three different laboratories, co-located with warfighters, to enable concurrent spiral development of capabilities. This environment took down all the service walls and provided the C2BMC team with the environment and rapid acquisition decision authority to operationally field the integrating element of the U.S. Missile Defense System. In 2004, less than two years since development on the system began, C2BMC was declared operational.
Paving the Way for Joint All Domain Operations
What should be clear is that today’s C2BMC looks nothing like the C2BMC of 2004. While the C2BMC system provides a revolutionary approach to missile defense, its open architecture foundation enables the system to be much more, a true enabler for joint all domain operations. And as the MDS continues to evolve to address the challenges of today’s threat environment, C2BMC will also evolve to counter those threats.
