The Air Force has named Raytheon to pursue the next generation for the Distributed Common Ground System Integration Backbone. In a release, Raytheon notes that it first developed DIB under the DGCS Block 10.2 contract, delivering “more than 110 units of the software to integrate into their existing and emerging systems.” The company says that the DIB 1.2 will “extend the baseline architecture to address new requirements for more widespread sharing of data,” and will provide a means to introduce the latest technologies. DIB offers a Web-based application to share intelligence data regardless of service or intelligence agency. USAF has installed DIB at five sites.
Retired Col. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris, known for introducing the "tap code" by which American POWs in North Vietnam could surreptitiously communicate with one another, died July 6. Harris was brutalized by the North Vietnamese over almost eight years of captivity.