The U.S. Navy is on the verge of deploying the first parts of an intelligence collection and management network designed to share data between fleet task forces and command and analysis centers. The completed system will provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting support to government agencies, U.S. allies and all of the services.

Part of a larger U.S. Defense Department effort, the Distributed Common Ground System–Navy (DCGS-N) will operate within the Navy’s FORCEnet structure and serve both tactical- and national-level operational requirements by standardizing how the service processes and exploits information from a variety of sources. This incoming data will range from raw to fully analyzed material, explains Lorraine M. Wilson, direct reporting program manager to the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition for the Navy DCGS, Chantilly, Virginia. The first deliveries of DCGS-N-related systems are scheduled for 2007.

DCGS-N terminals, processing equipment and servers will be integrated into the command and control assets of Navy ships, allowing users to access intelligence databases. Wilson explains that the system will be very robust from the outset, noting that the program could have delivered a product of spiral development that processed imagery for specific missions only such as strike warfare. Instead, it will support a variety of missions such as signals and communications intelligence, intelligence preparation of the battlespace, special operations and precision-guided engagement. In later spirals, the DCGS-N will expand to provide antisubmarine-warfare and human-intelligence-gathering data.
 
All of the services will use the DCGS. A major component for this joint interoperability is the DCGS integration backbone (DIB), which will allow Navy units to communicate with each other and the other services’ DCGS systems. Primarily a software-based system with some related hardware such as servers and workstations, the DIB is designed around an open programming architecture. This structure will permit new applications to be easily added and will allow it to operate with other systems.

But the Navy must address a networking issue to fully realize its interoperability goals. Wilson notes that the service does not have an existing enterprise architecture that permits users to simply plug in new applications.

The DCGS-N and the Global Command and Control System (GCCS) are among the first Navy systems to rely on an open network. “In the future there will be a services enterprise and you will just bring your software. But being one of the first systems out there, we have to bring this to the table. We will all have to make sure that we converge on many of these common enterprise services and backbones,” she says.

Managing the system’s data fusion capabilities is an ongoing challenge for the program. Other concerns include data tagging and storage for future retrieval. Describing these issues as housekeeping concerns, she adds, “If you don’t have housekeeping, you don’t have a system.”

The new workstations will be flexible enough to compensate for new and unexpected operations and job requirements while performing data discovery functions. Wilson notes that analysts’ job functions are well defined and can be formatted into workflows. “Every DIB has to be populated with workflows and metadata to be of use to the service. That’s what we’re doing this year and testing out next year,” she says.

As a cost-saving measure, the U.S. Air Force—the executive agent for the DIB deployment—will procure the systems for all the services. The Navy received eight of the Raytheon-manufactured DIBs in the spring of 2005, but Wilson adds that because of production schedules, the designated ships will not be ready until 2007.

The DCGS-N is designed to serve across several echelons, or tiers, in the Navy. Tier 1 capabilities are shore- or command-ship-based systems serving as reach-back nodes for theater operations. Units fielding Tier 2 systems include carrier, strike and expeditionary task forces, with the main nodes installed on aircraft carriers and large-deck amphibious ships. The final category is Tier 3, which is tailored for individual ships. Future warships, such as the DDX, littoral combat ships and nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines may operate Tier 3 DCGS-N nodes.

Although the DCGS is designed for interoperability, additional systems engineering is necessary to make this possible. The services must first integrate the DIBs into their systems to establish enterprise architectures before they can be united into a Defense Department-wide network.

Wilson concedes that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is only beginning to fund efforts to promote joint interoperability. Yet even without such programs, the services’ DCGS systems already interoperate at a basic level because they share the same backbone. “But to really get the big bang for the buck to do warfighting, you need a joint concept of operations and you need the doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures to go with it,” she shares.

Additional information about the Distributed Common Ground System–Navy is available on the Web at www.hq.navy.mil/rda/drpmdcgsn.asp and www.capitol.northgrum.com/programs/dcgsn.html.

The full version of this article is published in the June 2005 issue of SIGNAL Magazine, in the mail to AFCEA members and subscribers June 1, 2005. For information on purchasing this issue, joining AFCEA or subscribing to SIGNAL, contact AFCEA Member Services.