US plants global surveillance hubs anywhere on Earth in 72 hours
By Marcus Boone ·
Targets worldwide are watched in near-real-time by a mobile hub that turns parking lots into intelligence centers, shielding processing staff from potential combat zones.
Twenty-seven shelters, each measuring ten by twenty-two feet, are all it takes to turn a parking lot or a patch of settled earth into a global intelligence hub. According to a program description mirrored by the FAS Intelligence Resource Program, this is the footprint of the Contingency Airborne Reconnaissance System Deployable Ground Station, or CARS/DGS. It is a system designed to process, exploit, and disseminate data from U-2R aircraft in near-real-time, regardless of the weather or the time of day.
For a long time, this kind of capability was tethered to the earth in fixed positions. The record shows that the system evolved from the 1980 TR-1 Reconnaissance System and the 1989 TR-1 Ground Station programs. Originally, the ground station known as TRIGS was intended to reside in a bunker near Hahn, Germany. That changed in 1990, when Congress directed an upgrade and a redirection of the system to support worldwide deployment. The bunker was traded for mobility.
Packed Gravel Pads
The physical requirements for a full CARS deployment are surprisingly modest for the amount of power the system wields. When the antenna farm is factored in for spatial separation, the entire operation requires an area approximately the size of a football field. It can be dropped onto "parking lots, packed gravel pads or settled earth," provided the unit brings its own generators, power distribution equipment, and environmental control units to keep the electronics from overheating.
Once on the ground, the CARS/DGS functions as a multi-INT gathering operation. The "multi-INT" label is government shorthand for a wide net. The system is broken into five segments, each targeting a different slice of the electromagnetic spectrum or a different method of observation.
The Mission Intelligence Segment handles mission control and the exploitation of Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar System data. Then there is the Deployable Ground Intercept Facility, or DGIF-2, which features 17 operator positions dedicated to collecting, analyzing, and reporting Signals Intelligence. While the DGIF-2 listens to communications, the Ground Control Processor-VIII focuses on Electronic Intelligence.
72 Hours to Deploy
The defining characteristic of the CARS/DGS is the speed of its arrival. The FAS document states the system is "capable of deployment to support operational requirements within 72 hours." It can move by air, sea, or highway, allowing the United States to plant a high-altitude surveillance processing center almost anywhere on the map in three days.
To move the data, the system relies on a Communications Segment that acts as a centralized demarcation point. It plugs into everything from commercial communications hookups to specialized government networks like JWICS, SIPRNET, AUTODIN, and TADIL-B. It also utilizes UHF and HF radios for various access points, including VPN, PRISM GOOSE, CTT, and TDT.
Perhaps the most flexible part of the operation is the Mobile Stretch, or MOBSTR. This segment allows the primary ground station to remain safely in garrison—likely back in the United States—while the aircraft are deployed forward in a theater of operations. The aircraft downlinks data to the MOBSTR segment, which then forwards it to the garrisoned DGS for exploitation. It is a way of projecting surveillance power without having to move the bulk of the processing staff into a potential combat zone.
Langley and Beale
Behind the technical specifications is a fragmented management structure. The record notes that there are seven different contractors, seven different integration segments, and seven different project managers for the CARS. This proliferation of contractors is common in these types of programs, where the cost of integration often rivals the cost of the hardware itself.
Flight testing for the system is split between two locations: flight test plans are approved at Edwards AFB, while the actual testing is conducted at Warner Robins. The Mission Intelligence Segment is noted as being the same as JSIPS-A; the document suggests that co-locating CARS and JSIPS-A would save money by capitalizing on both systems' capabilities together.
Currently, the record identifies two U-2 Deployable Ground Segments. DGS I is permanently assigned to Langley AFB in Virginia, having achieved initial operational capability on November 1, 1994. DGS II is permanently assigned to Beale AFB in California, reaching its initial operational capability on July 1, 1995. Both remain deployable to wherever the operational requirements dictate.