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JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. — The Air Force Distributed Common Ground System begins its seventh detailed examination into its operations Sunday, led by the 480th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Wing here.
The DCGS is the Air Force’s globally networked ISR weapon system, providing near real-time intelligence to battlefield commanders 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The week-long evaluation, called Sentinel Focus, has four main objectives:
• Document key areas requiring operational standardization
• Identify the effectiveness of new tactics
• Document lessons learned and best practices for weapons system integration of recently fielded ISR platforms, such as the MC-12, and select Air Force space-based intelligence platforms
• Assess the development of ongoing
operational relationships with coalition partners from the U.K.
“Our goal (with this evaluation) is to enhance cooperation between various intelligence entities by enhancing a culture of collaboration to share best practices and lessons learned,” said Col. Jeffrey Kruse, commander of the 480th ISR Wing, which manages the AF DCGS.
During Sentinel Focus, DCGS operations are assessed during real-world missions to provide wing leaders with accurate and timely decision-quality information to guide weapon system development.
DCGS sites in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Virginia, Ohio, Germany, Korea and the U.K. will be observed. Sentinel Focus includes active duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve partners.
Each location will have a team of subject matter experts to observe and evaluate how the Air Force DCGS enterprise functions.
The teams also work with coalition partners to share intelligence supporting Air Force DCGS operations. The partnership improves processes to better meet the theater’s intelligence requirements.
Air Force DCGS operations require the weapons system to evolve as enemy tactics evolve and as new ISR sensors come online to find the enemy.
Kruse says the wing is always open to new ways of doing business and improving operations in support of the war fighters and the nation.
“The power of the Air Force DCGS as a global enterprise,” he said, “is its ability to support combatant commanders across the spectrum of military and humanitarian operations with seamless precision anywhere in the world.”
This Hard Stare, as Sentinel Focus is also called, is the second of the two evaluations for 2012 geared toward standardizing processes for a global wing.
The wing held its first Sentinel Focus in August 2009 and has been holding them twice a year since.
