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DIMES: Right on target

By TSgt. Kevin Sebby, 36th IS/INAE and Lt. Col. Jonathan Wohlman, 36th IS/CC
Langley Air Force Base, Va.

Since the beginning of aerial bombardment, imagery has been the key ingredient of target identification.

During World War II, modified fighters flew countless perilous sorties to photograph strategic installations in order to give bombardiers the imagery they needed to identify and strike Axis targets.

The next four decades brought profound changes in aircraft, weapons, and intelligence collection platforms.

The 1960’s saw the advent of imaging satellites and Vietnam saw the introduction of Precision Guided Munitions (PGM) in an attempt to strike targets with greater accuracy. These PGMs, however, required the pilot to visually identify the target, which meant penetrating enemy air defenses — a risky proposition. This issue was addressed in the development of the F-117 Nighthawk, the world’s first and only stealth fighter. The low-radar observability of the F-117, combined with its PGM capability, provide the Air Force with a survivable means of delivering precision strikes against a well-defended enemy.

This capability was first used in Panama in late December 1989 in Operation JUST CAUSE.

Just over a year later and half a world away, the U.S. was once again involved in combat Operation DESERT STORM.

The F-117’s unique abilities allowed it to traverse unmolested through the heavily defended skies of Iraq to strike targets in downtown Baghdad with deadly accuracy.

The ability of the F-117 to strike its assigned targets with precision is heavily dependent on good intelligence. Imagery and target materials intelligence is provided by a number of dedicated imagery analysts at the 480th Intelligence Group using the Deployable Imagery Manipulation Enhancement System, or DIMES.

DIMES was developed in response to the F-117’s unique imagery requirements which early in the program were not being met to the satisfaction of the pilots. Air Combat Command formed an action team composed of representatives from the National Reconnaissance Office, National Imagery and Mapping Agency, ACC staff elements, 612th Air Intelligence Group, 480th IG and 49th Fighter Wing. (All F-117s are assigned to the 49th FW at Holloman AFB, New Mexico)

This group addressed a three-fold problem set. First, the 49th FW required imagery coverage that ranged from broad area to target specific. Second, the need for a responsive communication capability to disseminate imagery products within stringent mission planning and execution timelines for in-garrison training, as well as combat operations. The final requirement called for the 49th FW to have the ability to manipulate the target imagery it receives to match multiple and changing mission profiles.

DIMES meets all these requirements. DIMES can store large volumes of imagery to include broad area imagery. It can produce and manipulate dynamic range and resolution imagery graphics, both locally and remotely. Specifically, it allows analysts to compile the imagery products at a production facility, disassemble the products into image and product definition data, and transmit the data to a deployed location where they are reassembled retaining full imagery manipulation capability.

The 36th Intelligence Squadron (part of the 480th) was chosen as the DIMES production facility.

DIMES is comprised of two elements: the Customer Product Workstation, which is used by the 36th IS to build the initial product, and the Quick Reaction System, used by the 49th FW for imagery storage, reassembling the imagery data into target graphics, and imagery manipulation. Both, the CPW and QRS, were designed for compatibility with other Department of Defense intelligence ground stations and commercial/government off-the-shelf imagery exploitation software.

NIMA supplies the 36th IS with the raw imagery for building target databases based on the requirements of the 49th FW. Complete and separate imagery databases are maintained at the 36th IS and the 49th FW.

When a unit deploys, communication connectivity is established to send and receive new products (annotations), imagery for new targets, or to receive updates such as post strike imagery.

Products are built by 36th IS analysts by annotating imagery with the required information such as a North arrow. The annotations are then saved as a layer and transmitted to the 49th FW for superimposing on a copy of the same image residing in their database.

Because the 49th FW has a complete imagery database, it only needs to receive the annotation layer, thus reducing the communications infrastructure required to support the F-117s.

New annotation graphics are produced at the 36th IS as needed and sent to the deployed unit via the SIPRNET (a secure communications network). The graphics annotations are sent with certain data that tells the QRS exactly where to place the annotations on the imagery so it matches the original product built at the 36th IS.

The receiving F-117 unit has the option to use the product as originally built or to manipulate it to meet mission profile requirements. When updates to a specific image are required, imagery analysts at the 36th IS examine large-scale, full-frame images, then “chip” out only the portion of the image needed to meet the 49th FW’s requirement.

The chips are then sent to the deployed unit. Like the imagery annotations, chips are used to minimize the communications infrastructure needed to transmit the information on the SIPRNET, thus speeding up the transfer process.

The databases at the 36th IS and 49th FW are constantly updated to mirror each other. The databases are backed up on a regular basis to prevent critical information loss in the event of system failure. If data is lost before it’s backed up, DIMES has the ability to pull back information without affecting the deployed database.

DIMES was first deployed in November 1997, without an Operational Test and Evaluation period, to support the 49th FW deployment to Southwest Asia for Operation DESERT THUNDER, the enforcement of United Nations sanctions against Iraq. Without the OT&E period, some lessons had to be learned the hard way. During the first weeks of deployment the system suffered a catastrophic failure resulting in a complete loss of the database. Within 72 hours, the DIMES team, led by SSgt. Cynthia King and working with NIMA, had rebuilt the entire imagery database and had the system back on line. Under normal conditions the process to reload all the imagery would have taken 2 weeks. The data loss at the 480th did not affect the 49th FW deployed to Southwest Asia.

Since that time, the DIMES team, now under the leadership of TSgt. Andre Lewis, has supported numerous 49th FW deployments and exercises and has worked the kinks out of the system.

The efforts of Lewis, King, and the entire DIMES team were mission essential to the success of the F-117s flying in Operation ALLIED FORCE. Without their around-the-clock, seven days-a-week support, the F-117 pilots would not have the targeting imagery necessary to find and destroy their assigned targets. In fact, without DIMES support, the F-117s do not launch.

In the future, F-117 support will migrate to the NIMA sponsored Imagery Product Libraries, a new system for disseminating imagery. This will consolidate all of the 480th’s primary imagery support for weapons platforms into one dissemination system.

Yes, Air Power is targeting and for the F-117 targeting, for now, means DIMES.