The Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a $3.5 million contract to “expedite imagery and intelligence report sharing” by early fielding of the Distributed Common Ground System integration backbone (DIB) at five Air Force sites, according to a company statement. Lockheed will be laying the foundation for the full DCGS upgrade, expanding the interoperability of diverse systems and enabling users to share internal and external imagery, secondary products and reports, and other data generated at ground stations worldwide, states the release. USAF wants Lockheed to install the DIB at the service’s two central DCGS stations at Beale AFB, Calif., and Langley AFB, Va., and three other unnamed locations. “Connecting these legacy ground stations via the DIB will provide actionable intelligence that we can use to provide enhanced tactical support,” said Lt. Col. Chuck Angus, commander of the 578th Aircraft Sustainment Squadron at Warner Robins AFB, Ga.
The U.S. supports “a stronger and more capable” European defense, Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said during an Oct. 22 press conference in Brussels—but that defense should not duplicate the functions and capabilities of the NATO alliance.