Specialists with the 480th Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance Wing at Langley AFB, Va., are scheduled on Friday to conclude Sentinel Focus 10A, a five-day review of the Air Force’s distributed common ground system. This scrub was meant to identify areas of optimization in how this global weapon system collects, analyses, and distributes actionable intelligence to ground troops based on overhead imagery collected by manned and unmanned ISR aircraft. Among the focal points, participants examined DCGS’s role in supporting the war in Afghanistan and the ongoing troop surge there, as well as the US military drawdown in Iraq. The initial Sentinel Focus occurred last August. They are scheduled to occur every six months. The Air Force operates five DCGS sites located in California, Hawaii, Virginia, Germany, and South Korea. (Langley release)
Boeing’s receipt of the 10th lot contract award for the KC-46 Pegasus this week leaves just three lots left to complete the Air Force’s buy of the tanker, although a further buy of 75 additional aircraft as a “bridge” to the Next-Generation Aerial-refueling System (NGAS) seems increasingly likely.