December 28, 2023 | International, Security
Army numbers smallest since WWII — what units face cuts in 2024?
What steps will the Army take to avoid becoming hollow?
August 16, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Air Force Tests How Quickly, Nimbly It Can Deploy F-35 in 'Agile Lightning'
By Oriana Pawlyk
As part of the U.S. Air Force's effort to improve how it prepares to deploy at a moment's notice, the service earlier this month tested how swiftly it could move its premier stealth fighter to a forward operating location in the Middle East.
During an exercise called "Agile Lightning," held Aug. 4-7, airmen assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron of the 388th Fighter Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, temporarily deployed to an undisclosed location in the Middle East to train in an austere environment with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, according to a service news release.
"By executing the adaptive basing concepts we have only practiced at home until now, we increased the readiness, survivability and lethality of the F-35A in a combat theater," said Lt. Col. Joshua Arki, 4th EFS commander.
"The 'Fightin' Fuujins' of the 4th EFS successfully deployed a small detachment of aircraft and personnel to a forward location, supporting combat operations from that location for a given period of time, and then re-deployed back to our primary operating location," Arki said in the release.
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June 5, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security
Major Pentagon IT programs are reducing costs, but development challenges remain
Andrew Eversden A federal watchdog's review of 15 major information technology investments at the Department of Defense found that many programs were below cost estimates, though several had delays in their original timelines, shortfalls in cybersecurity testing and software development workforce challenges. The Government Accountability Office's 18th annual “Defense Acquisitions Annual Report," released June 3, evaluated 15 major business and non-business information technology programs, the first time the GAO evaluated IT programs as part of the review. The IT projects the GAO examined totaled $15.1 billion in spending. The report found that 11 of the 15 systems saw decreases in their in their life-cycle cost estimates. The biggest cost saver was the Army Contract Writing System, which decreased its cost estimate by $229 million. That system will replace several legacy platforms and serve as the Army's enterprise-wide contract management platform. Officials working on the systems with lower price tags said that the drops were due to contract cost revisions, program management efficiencies and lower costs than expected. Two of the remaining four programs that had higher costs experienced increases of over 20 percent, though the report doesn't note which programs. One program, not named in the report, experienced an increase of $315 million, or 151 percent. Officials from the unexpectedly expensive projects cited developmental challenges as a reason for the increases. Two-thirds of the projects experienced schedule delays, ranging from one month for the Marine Corps' Air Command and Control System Increment One, to five years for the Air Force's Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System-Increment One. Officials for delayed programs told the GAO that slowdowns occurred because of cybersecurity gaps, performance issues and longer-than expected maintenance periods. The GAO also evaluated the use of software development by the systems, finding that 14 of the 15 programs were using various types of iterative software development, such as agile, incremental and waterfall, among others. Among the other findings: - All eight major business IT systems it evaluated were using commercial-off-the-shelf software, consistent with DoD guidance from 2017. COTS software is supposed to reduce cost, development time and increase delivery. - Six of the 15 systems were conducting cybersecurity testing during the developmental stages of the program, which allows the services to fix vulnerabilities early in the software life cycle before the program is used, saving money and reduce delays before systems are fully implemented. - Eleven of the 15 programs conducted operational cybersecurity testing, during which vulnerabilities and their effects are identified in a mission context, the GAO said. While Pentagon leaders push faster delivery times on software, many programs reported workforce challenges associated with rapid development. According to the GAO, nine of the 15 programs said it was “difficult to find staff with the requisite expertise.” Seven struggled to hire staff fast enough to complete development, while six reported not meeting software engineering staff plans to be a challenge. The watchdog evaluated five programs from the Air Force, four Navy projects, two Army investments and four programs from the office of the secretary of defense. The GAO report said that a companion report on other major Pentagon IT systems would be released later this year. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/06/03/major-pentagon-it-programs-are-reducing-costs-but-development-challenges-remain/
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September 17, 2018 | International, C4ISR
Army looks to build stronger tactical cyber teams
By: Mark Pomerleau The Army is looking to build up and resource expeditionary cyber teams that will conduct cyber effects at the tactical edge. These units are called expeditionary cyber support detachments, or ECSDs, and are small teams attached to companies that provide cyber and electromagnetic spectrum effects such as sensing or jamming. These teams have evolved and continue to shift in size and capability. “Every time we go out we're always trying to find something new, some new angle or some way to leverage cyber effects to help the warfighter,” Staff Sgt. Christopher Knight, an ECSD team member told Fifth Domain in a recent visit to Fort Gordon. Knight said it is difficult to find the right staff given the small pool of cyber experts. The ECSDs are recruiting to expand, he said, adding they just received eight more soldiers and are working to train them and develop a pipeline. Currently there are three teams, which fall under the 780th Military Intelligence brigade, with as many as seven soldiers. Full article: https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/army/2018/09/14/army-looks-to-build-stronger-tactical-cyber-teams