Northrop Grumman has been selected by the U.S. Army to finalize development of its Distributed Common Ground System-Army (DCGS-A) Mobile Basic system, specifically for the Army's emerging Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs). Valued at $296 million, this continuation development contract covers a total performance period of 30 months.

This critical upgrade to DCGS-A consolidates the Army's current fleet of multiple fielded intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) ground analysis and exploitation systems and significantly empowers individual soldiers at all levels by providing them with modern, common tools and services for accurate, time-sensitive warfighting support.

This award, made by the Army's Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEWS) at Fort Monmouth, N.J., will take the DCGS-A program through Milestone C in late 2011, with full system production starting in 2012. Initial Operating Capability for the DCGS-A Mobile Basic BCT is currently scheduled for late 2012 as part of the Army's Forces Generation (ARFORGEN) effort for equipping units in rotational deployments.

"This award expands the Army's ability to deliver actionable intelligence at every level," said Joseph J. Ensor, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Space and ISR Systems Division.

"By initially replacing six of the nine separate ISR programs of record, the DCGS-A Mobile Basic BCT system will speed and streamline situational awareness, data discovery, and collaboration at all levels of warfighting for more rapid, decisive action."

Northrop Grumman leads a DCGS-A team that includes General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Overwatch Systems and Tucson Embedded Systems.

DCGS-A Mobile Basic is the Army's latest in a series of DCGS-A systems designed to access and ingest multiple data types from a wide variety of intelligence sensors, sources and databases. This new system will also deliver greater operational and logistical advantages over the currently-fielded DCGS-A Version 3 and the nine ISR programs it replaces.

It will offer the ability to query authoritative data sources and large numbers of enterprise databases; visualize and exploit that data both relationally and geospatially; and collaborate with others in the intelligence enterprise and battle command community.

It will support all phases of combat and provide a scalable expeditionary-level capability that is not available today. Its enterprise-level Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) framework will easily allow the insertion of new, third-party applications developed in accordance with established standards.

The Mobile Basic system will incorporate fielded and possible quick reaction capabilities, while adding new services, analytical tools, and net-centric features. Future large Army Battle Command participating programs, such as Aerial Common Sensor, are scheduled to receive elements of this new infrastructure and domain processing capabilities to ensure net-centric connectivity, both on and off the battlefield.

"DCGS-A Mobile Basic BCT solidifies Northrop Grumman's leadership in developing and fielding DCGS and related predecessor systems since the mid 1990s," added Ensor.

The company has provided DCGS-related systems to all four military services and several government agencies. Most of these systems rely on an SOA framework that was developed specifically for ISR collection, processing, exploitation and dissemination, and uses commercially-available hardware and software that comply with Department of Defense and commercial standards.