February 9, 2021 | International, C4ISR, Security
By KELSEY ATHERTONon February 08, 2021 at 5:08 PM
ALBUQUERQUE: The 16th Air Force, designed to constantly contest the electromagnetic spectrum, has awarded a $95 million contract to support both command and control and service cryptologic element roles.
The contract — Full Spectrum Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Operational Non-Appropriated Funds Support, or FUSIONS — was awarded to Scientific Research Corp of Atlanta. It will run through February 2026. In a sign that Scientific may have developed a promising approach, this is not the first award to the company for this sort of work. The Navy awarded the company a contract similar in scale and scope in 2018.
The 16th Air Force first started soliciting this contract in November 2019, one month after the command was created. The original solicitation emphasized the importance of “delivering timely and relevant intelligence data/products to the war fighter.”
The 16th was created by merging an Air Force cyber mission with an Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance component. Combining intelligence collection in the same component as one that can launch attacks on computers is a way for the Air Force to show how closely connected cyber attacks are to online espionage. Cyber, like surveillance and activity in the electromagnetic spectrum, can happen below the threshold of a shooting war but can also be used for targeting and to inflict physical damage.
The scale of the investment is a sign of the Air Force's commitment to fighting war effectively across all its domains, including cyber.
At a Dec. 11 symposium, Air Combat Command chief Gen. Mark D. Kelly said he'd told 16AF commander Lt. Gen. Timothy D. Haugh to “Take all of us, whether we go willingly, or kicking and screaming, into the non-kinetic competition.”
Much of the work of delivering data products to the Air Force will involve harnessing information it already has in its databases, and making them useful on a command level. Some of that work, as outlined in the solicitation, involves targeting products.
“The contractor shall provide targeting SME support regarding the Joint and Air Force Targeting Enterprise (JTE/AFTE), and kinetic, Electronic Warfare (EW), Information Operations (IO), Space and Cyber targeting,” reads the solicitation.
The contract is designed to support the 16th in its role as a “service cryptologic element,” or the formal mechanism by which signals intelligence components of the service work directly with the NSA.
Another component of the FUSIONS contract is identifying and recommending “new or unexploited information systems,” as well as “unique friendly, enemy, or neutral information sources,” with the goal of turning that information into relevant and useful intelligence.
This means, broadly, looking at new Internet-connected devices, tools, and networks, and making that information something troops at the tactical level can use. Vital to that intelligence collection and sharing is ensuring the data itself can be transmitted over existing DoD networks.
https://breakingdefense.com/2021/02/air-force-awards-95-million-for-cyber-intelligence/
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July 22, 2020 - BAE Systems has received a $33 million multi-year contract from the U.S. Army to further develop its Long Range Precision Guidance Kit (LR-PGK) for 155mm artillery shells, enabling the Army to conduct long range precision strikes in challenging electromagnetic environments. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200722005518/en/ LR-PGK is a critical program in the Army's 155mm Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) munitions suite, designed to deliver accurate, lethal fires at greater ranges than near-peer adversaries. The BAE Systems solution builds on proven, mature technology, offering greater performance than current guidance kits through increased maneuverability and an incorporated anti-jam capability. “We're helping the Army meet its precision strike objectives with this critical long range artillery capability,” said John Watkins, vice president of Precision Strike at BAE Systems. “Our experience in precision guidance, rugged electronics, and artillery platforms has helped us develop a kit that improves mission effectiveness.” Under the new contract, BAE Systems will produce a series of LR-PGK fuzes for live-fire testing, further validating the solution and demonstrating its accuracy and reliability in challenging battlefield conditions. Prior to the award, BAE Systems successfully demonstrated the LR-PGK capability and performance at Yuma Proving Ground in September 2019. The company committed significant investment to deliver on the Army's modernization goals by intentionally designing the LR-PGK's modular architecture for low-cost production and upgradeability. LR-PGK is one of several BAE Systems programs that support Long Range Precision Fires, one of the U.S. Army's top modernization priorities. In addition to designing and manufacturing the M109 family of Self-Propelled Howitzers, BAE Systems has developed and delivered guidance systems for precision munitions for decades and is a major supplier of artillery round explosives and propellants. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200722005518/en/