Case Study: The Importance of Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance

During the yearly Red Flag advanced aerial combat training exercises hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, the Distributed Mission Site USAF Warfare Center needed to update the system that collected and processed intelligence, the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System, to allow for second party coalition forces to be able to use the system during the exercise.

The U.S. Air Force Warfare Center required a system that:

• Allows for second party forces to have access to the intelligence processing system
• Updated with the tools needed to train as if the exercise scenarios are “real world” – train as you fight

Lockheed Martin introduced a two-phased security classification reconfiguration to the system being used by Geospatial Intelligence team to allow second party forces to gain access to the workstations required to participate in the Red Flag site exercises.

• Phase 1 added a new capability to the system which allowed analysts to transfer processed intelligence data to the Combined Air Operations Center that was set up to command the forces participating in the exercise. In the past, these reports were delivered as hard copy reports; the faster delivery of intelligence enabled commanders to be better informed to take corrective action if needed
• Phase 2 involved updating the security posture on the hardware to allow for second party forces to utilize the intelligence system, without the needed to additional security waivers, as was done for prior exercises. The second phase effort also gave the site the ability to expand its processing capabilities due to the new system allowing for other analytical tools to be installed, eventually making the training site nearly as operational as other military sites.