Last Updated: 08/15/2011*

Recent upgrades to Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) nodes for the 181st and 184th Intelligence Wings equip the Air National Guard with the latest net-centric, cost-efficient and service-interoperable capabilities.

The DCGS upgrades allow the Guard to process data from the Predator, Global Hawk and U2 aircraft and provide a two-fold increase in imagery processing capability. The upgrades also give the Air Force DCGS enterprise more capacity and flexibility for high-altitude missions, reducing operating and maintenance costs as well as costs associated with future upgrades.

Because Raytheon’s next evolution of the system is Web-enabled, it can more easily integrate applications and workflow, allowing the system to be readily updated with the latest technology as mission tactics change. In addition, Air Force and Army users will have access to each other’s data, making intelligence gathering and command and control of ISR situational awareness more effective.

The Guard nodes in Kansas and Indiana are, respectively, the third and fourth U.S. Air Force sites to enhance system capabilities -- and also represent the first National Guard sites to have the same tasking, processing, exploitation and dissemination capabilities as core active-duty DCGS sites. Core DCGS sites at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and Ramstein Air Base, Germany, upgraded to the new DCGS baseline earlier this year.

The network-centric upgrades to DCGS for the Guard are important elements of DoD’s initiative to enable seamless, real-time, multi-agency intelligence sharing and collaboration. Once sites are federated across DoD, DCGS will be able to serve as a key part of the Defense Intelligence Information Enterprise architecture for worldwide intelligence-information sharing.