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.
B-21 Raider First Flight Now Postponed to 2023
May 20, 2022
The Air Force says the B-21 Raider won't make its first flight until 2023; about a six-month delay from the last official estimates. No reason was given for the delay. While other programs have recently chalked up schedule slips to supply chain and labor shortages, the Air Force has said…