Lockheed boosts DOD data software infrastructure

Lockheed Martin is upgrading Defense Department software infrastructure under a $2.6 million contract.

The award is part of the department's ongoing initiative to quickly and efficiently share the vast volume of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data.

The contract calls for Lockheed Martin to upgrade the Distributed Common Ground System’s Integration Backbone, the software infrastructure that allows intelligence sharing among national agencies, coalition partners and military services, the company’s June 21 announcement explained.

The Distributed Common Ground System integrates and draws intelligence data from various manned and unmanned ISR sensors and systems, then correlates that data into a coherent, easily interpreted picture for the end user.

The backbone, with its open standards architecture and horizontal integration approach, is the software that connects these previously stove-piped intelligence systems to enable intelligence sharing through the ground systems family of systems, the announcement said.

For the latest version, Lockheed Martin developed the Distributed Data Framework, an enhancement that uses free, open source software, which reduces integration and lifecycle costs and improves access to data without having to purchase expensive commercial off the shelf software licenses.

The upgrade includes increased security filtering capabilities.

This agile software architecture also lets Lockheed Martin continue to improve the overall capability of the DIB by releasing new capabilities incrementally without affecting ongoing mission operations, the company said.

Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., ranks No. 1 on Washington Technology’s 2012 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.