PAS 2011: eCORE helps spread the word

Northrop Grumman has introduced the new evolution of its Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) through the eCORE (enhanced C4ISR Operationally Responsive Enterprise) project.

An ISR integration platform, the eCORE provides the 'missing element in getting the right information to the right people at the right time', John Johnson, VP and GM of Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, ISR division, told media at the Paris Air Show on 21 June.

The service-orientated architecture (SOA)-based system uses commercial technology to 'interface to any network the warfighter is on', and is an 'event-driven' system that it transmits the required information as and when it is needed.

All ISR platforms can be used by eCORE, from satellites down to airborne and ground-based systems, and the 'secret is in the software', as the main server could be anywhere.

'[They use] archived data that tracks people and movements, and they take all that together, and integrate it and they find patterns of activity,' Johnson explained.

'And they'll push it all to the individual that's out there with an iPad, and then they'll sit there, look at the information and say "well maybe it's not quite that way", and send information back so they update that database.'

Developed in conjunction with the US armed forces, the system can transmit information back and forth so that the archived data is constantly updated.

The threats that are monitored can be tailored so that it only searches for the particular one the individual is concerned about, and 'it is almost like the Google of the defence world', according to Johnson.

The US Army's DCGS programme allows analysts to gather intelligence data from multiple sources and distribute it to the army network, and the software from this system is now part of the eCORE.

Northrop Grumman received a license several months ago to take the system outside of the US, and although other military forces are interested in the eCORE, the company could not comment on which ones these were.

However, Johnson highlighted the Middle East as a target market for the platform. The main interest at present is from the military, but other utilities, such as homeland security, are also a possibility.