BAE Systems has announced the corporate team that will compete to improve the U.S. Navy’s ship and shore-based intelligence stations after the initial deployment of the equipment and software in 2010.

The Navy delivered a request for proposals to BAE and other prospective contractors Nov. 4 for new applications and still-to-be-defined improvements to the Distributed Common Ground/Surface System Navy (DCGS-N), the planned network of workstations where analysts will fuse intelligence and share information with the DCGS networks of the other services and intelligence agencies.

The Navy has told contractors it plans to rush the DCGS network into service next year at 12 shore sites and on 24 ships while simultaneously preparing improvements through a program called the DCGS-N Prime Mission Product.

BAE, which is one of the Navy’s existing DCGS contractors, has added three members to its current DCGS team, according to Ray Ivie, BAE’s business development manager for C4ISR systems: General Dynamics for information assurance, signals intelligence and overall integration; MTCSC, a Chula Vista, Calif., maker of computer tools for intelligence analysts; and InVisM, a Denver-based gaming company specializing in U.S. military training.

Ivie said BAE might add more companies as the Navy clarifies the capabilities it is seeking in the next phase of the DCGS program. “We intentionally kept it as a small team because there are a lot of unknowns. Our intention is, we’ll bring on teammates to satisfy any new requirements,” he said.

The three companies will join BAE’s existing team of Utah State University’s Space Dynamics Lab, developer of the displays and software for imagery from fighter reconnaissance pods, and Athena Consulting, a company specializing in network integration, and Sun Microsystems.