On September 29, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a business unit of General Dynamics, announced that it collaborated with Google Public Sector to successfully demonstrate Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) air-gapped appliance at the tactical edge during Exercise Mobility Guardian 2025.
Mobility Guardian is the U.S. Air Force’s premier military exercise held biennially in the Indo-Pacific region. Led by the Air Mobility Command, the exercise is designed to enhance interoperability and readiness between the Air Force and its allies in a wide range of activities, including airlift, troop movements, aerial refueling and other air mobility operations. Bringing together thousands of airmen from multiple nations, the event demonstrates the Air Force’s ability to rapidly deploy and sustain joint forces in Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, and Limited (D-DIL) environments, where communication is unreliable, restricted, or even completely cut off.
During the exercise, GDIT and Google Public Sector demonstrated Google Distributed Cloud air-gapped appliance, a portable, ruggedized “cloud-in-a-box” solution approved by the Department of War (DOW). The solution enabled Air Force teams to seamlessly collaborate and address seven mission-critical use cases at the tactical edge, including Language Translation, Optical Character Recognition and Retrieval-Augmented Generation, among others. The solution leverages cutting-edge artificial intelligence capabilities, including Google’s open large language models to synthesize data in real-time, generate insights and support faster decision-making. The solution also applies zero trust principles to ensure controlled user access across multiple communication channels; supports hybrid-cloud flexibility; and enables teams to quickly and securely update mission software. This is the first deployment of this solution in the Indo-Pacific region to support D-DIL air mobility operations.
“Our national security depends on our ability to respond faster and smarter than the adversary,” said Brian Sheridan, GDIT’s senior vice president for defense. “This solution is a major milestone for defense technology and provides a critical advantage to our troops – bringing cloud, AI and secure collaboration directly to the edge to support fast, informed and decisive action.”
“Our partnership with GDIT demonstrates the power of bringing our secure, scalable technology–including our ‘cloud-in-a-box’ offering–to advance U.S. innovation and mission readiness across agencies,” said Jim Kelly, vice president of federal sales, Google Public Sector. “We know firsthand the importance of empowering our service members with real-time insights and the secure collaboration needed to make faster, more informed decisions in challenging environments.”
Source: GDIT
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By Loren Blinde
September 30, 2025
