The Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre (DIFC) is based at

RAF Wyton Royal Air Force Wyton or more simply RAF Wyton is a Royal Air Force station near St Ives, Cambridgeshire, England. The airfield is decommissioned and is now home to the Joint Forces Intelligence Group. History Flying station Wyton has be ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. Largely created from the staff of the National Imagery Exploitation Centre (formerly known as the Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre (JARIC)) and then known for several years as the Defence Geospatial Intelligence Fusion Centre, it can trace its history back to clandestine reconnaissance operations at the beginning of

the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

by Sydney Cotton on behalf of

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

and then MI4, and the formation of the

Allied Central Interpretation Unit An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

RAF Medmenham RAF Medmenham is a former Royal Air Force station based at Danesfield House near Medmenham, in Buckinghamshire, England. Activities there specialised in photographic intelligence, and it was once the home of the RAF Intelligence Branch. Durin ...

(sister to Bletchley Park). Today, DIFC's role has grown beyond just imagery intelligence. Part of the

Joint Forces Intelligence Group Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

(JFIG) within

Defence Intelligence Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

, DIFC's primary role is to support Defence planning, current operations and the intelligence assessment process. DIFC still provides specialist imagery intelligence, but also conducts multi-disciplinary intelligence fusion for the armed forces and other UK Government partners. The integrated multi-disciplinary Task Groups at DIFC use data and reporting from various sources (including satellite imagery), together with other advanced technologies, to provide critical information and over-watch to tactical, operational and strategic decision makers. DIFC is a joint service and civilian organisation under the command of an RAF Group Captain.

History

Following a series of successful covert air

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

operations run by the United Kingdom's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) prior to World War II, the Photographic Development Unit (PDU) was established on 19 January 1940 (codenamed MI4) and later renamed Photographic Interpretation Unit (PIU) on 11 July 1940. Through a series of War Ministry reorganisations, the PIU was renamed the Central Interpretation Unit (CIU) on 7 January 1941 and changed again to the Joint Air Photographic Intelligence centre (UK) JAPIC Kin August 1947. On 17 December 1953 the unit was given the name of Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Centre K- JARIC K The JARIC Photographic Wing moved to Brampton near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire from locations at Medmenham,

Nuneham Park Nuneham House is an eighteenth century villa in the Palladian architecture, Palladian style, set in parkland at Nuneham Courtenay in Oxfordshire, England. It is currently owned by Oxford University and is used as a retreat centre by the Brahma Ku ...

, Wyton and

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in 1956 where they were joined by the Joint School of Photographic Interpretation (JSPI) in December. In 1980 the (UK) was dropped from the name to reflect the closing of the Cyprus-based JARIC (ME), later JARIC (NE) in April 1975. On 19 April 1996 the unit ceased to fall under operational control of the Royal Air Force and became an agency under the operational control of the Director General Intelligence and Geographic Requirements, taking a more centralised government role within the Ministry of Defence. On 1 April 2000 the unit stopped functioning as an independent agency and merged with Military Survey into the Defence Geographic and Imagery Intelligence Agency (DGIA). On 10 October 2005 the JARIC name ceased to be an acronym to reflect the fact that its sources of imagery had shifted away from those provided by UK Air Reconnaissance platforms to be predominantly satellite imagery based. The descriptor ‘The National Imagery Exploitation Centre’ was added to the JARIC title to better explain JARIC's role, not just within the Ministry of Defence but within the wider UK intelligence community. On 10 June 2006, DGI (as it became after agency status was removed) was renamed the Intelligence Collection Group (ICG) and, after moving under the Joint Forces Command (JFC) on 1 April 2012, was renamed to Joint Forces Intelligence Group (JFIG) which consisted of the Defence Geographic Centre (DGC) based at Feltham, Middlesex, the Joint Signals Support Organisation (JSSO), based at RAF Digby, the Joint Aeronautical and Geographic Organisation (JAGO) at Hermitage and RAF Northolt and JARIC-The National Imagery Exploitation Centre based at RAF Brampton. On 13 July 2012, after the formal retiring of the title JARIC, the unit was renamed the Defence Geospatial Intelligence Fusion Centre (DGIFC). Carbonite-2 Satellite Model MOD 45165144

Carbonite-2 Satellite Model MOD 45165144

The Joint Forces Intelligence Group (JFIG) achieved Full Operating Capability in 2014, the culmination of the PRIDE (Wyton) Programme. The commander of JFIG said at the ceremony on 17 September 2014: In 2017-18 the MOD invested £4.5 million in a programme to deliver high-quality imagery and 3D video footage from space, with the

Surrey Satellite Technology Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, or SSTL, is a company involved in the manufacture and operation of small satellites. A spin-off company of the University of Surrey, it is presently wholly owned by Airbus Defence and Space. The company began o ...

Carbonite-2 satellite being the first technology demonstrator. Carbonite-2 uses

commercial off-the-shelf Commercial off-the-shelf or commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) products are packaged or canned (ready-made) hardware or software, which are adapted aftermarket to the needs of the purchasing organization, rather than the commissioning of ...

(COTS) components and has a mass of about 100 kg, and was launched on the

Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

PSLV-C40 PSLV-C40 was the 42nd mission of the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) program in the XL configuration. PSLV-C40 successfully carried and deployed 31 satellites in sun-synchronous orbits. Overview Two Surrey Satellite Technology sate ...

from

Satish Dhawan Space Centre Satish Dhawan Space Centre - SDSC (formerly Sriharikota Range - SHAR) is a rocket launch centre ( spaceport) operated by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It is located in Sriharikota, Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh. Sriharikota ...

in India on 12 January 2018. Data from Carbonite-2 is processed by the centre's

Geospatial Intelligence In the United States, geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is intelligence about the human activity on earth derived from the exploitation and analysis of imagery, signals, or signatures with geospatial information. GEOINT describes, assesses, and vi ...

staff. This programme is part of the RAF's vision of a future constellation of imagery satellites.

Relocation to Pathfinder Building at RAF Wyton (PRIDE Programme)

In 2013, DGIFC relocated from

RAF Brampton RAF Brampton was a non-flying Royal Air Force installation near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, England. Formerly the home of RAF Support Command, it also became the home of several elements of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), which itself was ...

to the Pathfinder Building at RAF Wyton creating a multi-intelligence, open plan environment aimed at improving collaboration and innovation changing its name to DIFC on 17 Sept 2014. DGIFC moved to RAF Wyton as part of the Programme to Rationalise and Integrate the Defence Intelligence Estate (PRIDE), which enabled Defence Intelligence, and the Joint Forces Intelligence Group in particular, to further improve and enhance support to operations and strategic

threat assessment Threat assessment is the practice of determining the credibility and seriousness of a potential threat, as well as the probability that the threat will become a reality. Threat assessment is separate to the more established practice of violence-r ...

s. The programme relocated the Joint Forces Intelligence Collection Group (JFIG -HQ) from Feltham, DGIFC - from RAF Brampton, as well as 42 Engineer Regiment (Geographic) from

Denison Barracks Denison Barracks is a military installation at Hermitage in Berkshire, England. History The site was used as an American military hospital during the Second World War and became the home of Royal School of Military Survey in 1949. The barracks w ...

in Hermitage and Ayrshire Barracks in Germany, to RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire.

Areas of expertise

DIFC's role has evolved from the more traditional photographic analysis to encompass more technical intelligence disciplines such as:

IMINT (IMagery INTelligence)

IMINT is an intelligence gathering discipline which collects information via satellite and

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing aircra ...

. DGIFC is involved in all aspects of imagery analysis from basic activity reporting to advanced scientific-based MASINT analysis.

MASINT (Measurement And Signatures INTelligence)

MASINT is scientific and technical intelligence derived from the analysis of data obtained from sensing instruments for the purpose of identifying any distinctive features associated with the source, emitter or sender, to facilitate the latter's measurement and identification. DIFC is the UK's only provider of ‘imagery derived MASINT’ otherwise known as AGI or Advanced Geospatial Intelligence.

GEOINT (GEOspatial INTelligence)

GEOINT is an intelligence discipline comprising the exploitation and analysis of geographically determined information. GEOINT sources include imagery and mapping data, whether collected by commercial or military satellites, or by other capabilities such as UAV (Unmanned Airborne Vehicle) or

reconnaissance aircraft A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Cyber Security

National Collection of Aerial Photography

National Intelligence Machinery
{{UK Intelligence Agencies, state=expanded 2012 establishments in the United Kingdom British intelligence agencies Huntingdonshire Intelligence analysis Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom) Military units and formations established in 2012 Military units and formations in Cambridgeshire Geospatial intelligence organizations