$60M to General Dynamics for USAF Distributed Common Ground System Support
The US Air Force awarded General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems a 5-year $60 million contract to provide network management and mission operations support to the 480th Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Wing.
General Dynamics will support the Air Force Distributed Common Ground System (AF DCGS) and 2 network operations centers in Virginia and California.
The AF DCGS is a globally networked intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system that integrates information collected by the U-2 high-altitude spy plane and the RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-9 Reaper, and MQ-1 Predator UAVs…
Under this contract, General Dynamics will provide the following support services:
- network and communications engineering;
- technical project management;
- systems integration and administration;
- configuration management; and
- network security management.
General Dynamics will also provide network management, mission and performance management and data traffic routing support for the AF DCGS network, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The AF DCGS is composed of 20 geographically separated, networked sites. The distributed ground and mission sites are a mixture of active-duty, Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve units working as an integrated combat capability. The 480th ISR Wing’s Operations Center ensures global synchronization for all the sites.
The weapon system employs global communications architecture to connect multiple intelligence platforms.
AF DCGS Facts
- Primary Function: Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance
- Major System Contractors: Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin, L-3 Communications, Northrop Grumman, Hughes, Goodrich and Houston-Fearless
- Major Support Contractors: Northrop Grumman, SAIC, Spectrum, Booz Allen Hamilton and General Dynamics
- Processing Capability: Approximately 700 gigabytes of information flow through the 480 IW Wing Operations Center daily – equivalent to more than 700 copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica
- Crew: 45 operational crew members (U-2 mission); 47 operational crew members (RQ-4 mission); 7 operational crew members (MQ-1/ MQ-9 mission). All mission crews are supported by maintenance, communications and contractor personnel.
- Unit Cost: Approximately $750 million (includes facilities, equipment, communications fees, and costs associated with personnel) for a primary weapon system.
- Initial Operating Capability: The 1st AF DGS weapon system node (DGS-1), July 1994; DGS-2, July 1995; DGS-3, November 1996; DGS-NV, October 2001; DGS-4, February 2003; DGS-5, October 2004; DGS-KS, July 2006; and DGS-AL and DGS-AR, November 2006.
- Inventory: Active force sites, 10; Air Force Reserve sites, 1; ANG sites, 9; Active force sites in development, 4; Reserve sites in development, 1; ANG sites in development, 4.
