JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. —
A team of four U.S. Air Force intelligence analysts from the 20th Operations Support Squadron at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, traveled to JBLE on August 22 to demonstrate the capabilities of the fourth iteration of the Deployed Intelligence Combat Element kit.
The demonstration was part of a visit by the Air Force Headquarters Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Cyber Effects, which allowed Air Force, ACC and local intelligence community leadership to see firsthand the equipment used in the field to enable intelligence operations and combat flexibility.
The DICE-4 kit enables intelligence analysts to quickly deploy a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility and establish a secure connection to the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System from anywhere in the world – in just minutes.
“(DICE-4 is) a deployable, top secret communications capability,” said Maj. “Carnage,” 20th OSS senior intelligence officer. “We can deploy and move it forward like a pop-up SCIF that normally takes years to approve in a building on base. This can be operational in minutes, which really enhances our ability to get timely information and intelligence as close to the pilots in the cockpit as we can from any forward location.”
The most important improvement over previous versions of the kit is the satellite itself, which is now a single unit rather than having to be assembled from many individual parts. Even this small change has helped speed up the assembly process by almost five times.
“Today’s demonstration took less than an hour,” Carnage said. “That’s how long it would have taken just to assemble the dish, let alone to connect with the previous version. It was much slower and bulkier, and the upload/download speed was only about one-twentieth of the new connection.”
The speed of the connection was not the only topic of conversation during the demonstration; the kit is fast, effective and any pilot can use it, Carnage said.
“It’s really very easy to put together,” said Airman 1st Class Kaela, an intelligence analyst with the 20th OSS. “As long as you know the key parts of the system, everything else connects. I think I’ve put it together at least 20 times through practice and demonstration, and after the third or fourth time, I probably could have done it without instructions.”
Equipment such as the DICE-4 kit, which enables soldiers to deploy quickly and remain mobile at all times, increases the agility and resilience that are critical to operational success.
“The DICE program is led by ACC and spans multiple key intelligence directorates to enable global ACE,” said Brigadier General Abe Jackson, ACC intelligence director. “The demo was designed to demonstrate new connections in the Combat Intel Network. Because the speed at which a fight can evolve is unpredictable, it is necessary for the Air Force to focus on ACE tactics to remain operational in today’s warfare landscape.”
