Army selects Lockheed, Boeing-Anduril team for next phase in IFPC Inc 2 competition

Boeing's Ground-launched Small Diameter Bomb (foreground) and the company's bid for the Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 interceptor program (pictured upright) are seen here on the final day of the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Ala., Aug. 13, 2026. (Breaking Defense)

WASHINGTON — The Army has selected Lockheed Martin and a Boeing-Anduril team to move onto the second phase of the service’s second Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) Increment 2 interceptor prototype program, a service spokesperson told Breaking Defense today, knocking a US-subsidary of Israeli company Rafael out of the competition.

The companies have been “selected to advance to the demonstration phase of the development effort. Additional information regarding the competitive effort will be released when appropriate,” the Army spokesperson said in a statement.

The Army’s IFPC Increment 2 program is designed to fill the capability gap between short-range air defense systems and longer-range air defenses, like the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems.

In October 2025, the Army awarded Lockheed an other Transaction Authority (OTA) for phase one of the program. That was followed by the December 2025 announcement by the Boeing-Anduril team’s inclusion, and finally, the addition of Rafael in February.

Lockheed Martin deferred queries about the decision to the Army, and Rafael did not respond to a request for comment. Boeing said in a press release yesterday that its interceptor “combines seeker technology, a compact form factor, a solid rocket motor supplied by Anduril Rocket Motor Systems and a Modular Open Systems Architecture.”

Further, Bob Ciesla, vice president of Boeing Precision Engagement Systems, said in the release that the company’s “scalable production approach is designed to provide a reliable, affordable layer of defense against a range of aerial threats to protect the warfighter with practical, dependable capability when it matters most.”

Today’s news comes more than two years after the Army began its search for a second interceptor for its developmental IFPC Increment 2 launcher. The Army awarded the current IFPC Increment 2 deal for the first interceptor to Dynetics, a Leidos subsidiary, and RTX in late 2024. That solution included Dynetics’s new developmental launcher called Enduring Shield, paired with a ground-launched AIM-9X Sidewinder from RTX.

Engineering decision advantage for the warfighter

Multi-orbit mission capabilities are accelerating decision making across domains.

Service officials discovered while using Enduring Shield that soldiers would need a second “more capable” interceptor to target lower flying, supersonic cruise missiles, then-Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, the service’s current Program Acquisition Executive for Fires told Breaking Defense in June 2024. (Lozano now has a third star.)

图中展示的是波音公司的陆基小直径炸弹（前景）和该公司参与的间接火力防护能力（IFPC）第二阶段拦截器项目的竞标方案（图中竖直部分），拍摄于2026年8月13日在阿拉巴马州亨茨维尔举行的太空与导弹防御研讨会的最后一天。（Breaking Defense）

华盛顿——陆军发言人今天告诉《防务新闻》，陆军已选择洛克希德·马丁公司和波音-安杜里尔团队进入该军种第二阶段间接火力防护能力（IFPC）增量 2 拦截器原型计划的第二阶段，从而将以色列拉斐尔公司的一家美国子公司淘汰出局。

陆军发言人在一份声明中表示：“这些公司已被选中进入研发工作的示范阶段。有关此次竞争性工作的更多信息将在适当的时候公布。”

陆军的 IFPC 增量 2 计划旨在填补短程防空系统和远程防空系统（如爱国者导弹和末段高空区域防御系统）之间的能力差距。

2025年10月，陆军授予洛克希德·马丁公司一份其他交易授权（OTA），用于该项目的第一阶段。随后，波音-安杜里尔团队于2025年12月宣布加入该项目，最终，拉斐尔公司于2月加入。

洛克希德·马丁公司将有关该决定的询问转给了陆军，而拉斐尔公司则未回应置评请求。波音公司昨天在一份新闻稿中表示，其拦截器“结合了导引头技术、紧凑的外形尺寸、由安杜里尔火箭发动机系统公司提供的固体火箭发动机以及模块化开放系统架构”。

此外，波音公司精确打击系统副总裁鲍勃·西斯莱在新闻稿中表示，该公司的“可扩展生产方法旨在提供可靠、经​​济的防御层，以应对各种空中威胁，在最关键的时刻为作战人员提供实用、可靠的能力”。

今天的消息发布于陆军开始为其正在研发的IFPC Increment 2发射器寻找第二枚拦截弹两年多之后。陆军于2024年底将首枚拦截弹的IFPC Increment 2合同授予了Leidos旗下子公司Dynetics和RTX公司。该方案包括Dynetics公司名为“持久之盾”（Enduring Shield）的新型发射器，以及RTX公司提供的地面发射型AIM-9X“响尾蛇”（Sidewinder）导弹。

为作战人员提供工程决策优势

多轨道任务能力正在加速跨领域的决策制定。

2024年6月，时任准将弗兰克·洛萨诺（现任军方火力项目采购主管）告诉《防务新闻》，军方官员在使用“持久之盾”导弹系统时发现，士兵需要第二种“更强大的”拦截器来拦截低空飞行的超音速巡航导弹。（洛萨诺现在是三星上将。）