The United States Air Force (USAF) now has better intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities thanks to nearly real-time imagery from manned and unmanned aircraft. Imagery data are sent to the Distributed Common Ground Station Imagery (DCGS-I) mobile test bed, designed by Lockheed Martin.
These capabilities are at a level never before achieved during Red Flag, the Air Force’s premiere aerial warfare exercise. Red Flag exercises consist of realistic demonstrations of aerial war games in order to prepare pilots for combat situations.
The intelligence is provided by the aircraft and then processed through the DCGS-I test bed. It allows for example for the delivery of the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery and infrared imagery taken by unmanned area vehicles (UAVs) such as the Global Hawk. The post-analysis provided by the DCGS-I test bed creates a better understanding of the complex environment and helps in the prioritization of combat assets.