The US Air Force is close to activating the first node in a new web portal that for the first time automatically collects and distributes the combined output of most airborne and space-based intelligence assets.
The Lockheed Martin/Raytheon Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Block 10.2 is set to go live at Langley AFB, Virginia in late April, following a successful round of acceptance tests now under way. Block 10.2 introduces the capability for a single ground station to tap into and fuse simultaneously the intelligence products of the Lockheed Martin U-2, Northrop Grumman J-8 J-STARS, the Northrop Grumman R-Q4 Global Hawk, the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1/9 Predator and various spy satellites.
Several more sites are planned to be opened by the USAF, while the US Army and US Navy are still working out plans for how to provide the same capability for their intelligence assets.
Source: Flight International