July 11, 2019 | International, Aerospace

Air Force unveils ‘Digital Air Force’ initiative

The Air Force is launching a “Digital Air Force” initiative aiming to revamp its data management, IT architecture and business operations so the force will remain competitive against adversaries.

“Our advantage in future battles depends on our ability to fuse vast amounts of data to accelerate our decision cycle to guarantee the success of any mission," said acting Air Force Secretary Matthew Donovan in a news release Tuesday. “Victory in combat will depend on us becoming a Digital Air Force.”

This means the Air Force must establish tools to efficiently generate information and data in real-time to help the service make informed and quick decisions, he said. "Doing so will allow the Air Force to rely less on personal experience or intuition.

The Digital Air Force initiative, detailed in a July white paper, focuses on eliminating “antiquated processes” and overhauling how the service curates, uses and shares data and information, amid difficulties coordinating systems across air, land, sea and cyber domains.

Specifically, the initiative calls for cultivating a 21st century IT infrastructure that can react to the demands of modern combat. This will require cloud-based solutions to store and share data so airmen have constant access to data, the white paper says.

Additionally, the Air Force said it is creating data management architecture and standardized policies that facilitate sharing data and using platforms.

“This requires data that is gathered, stored and transmitted in commonly read and digested formats to minimize the delay between receiving, processing and using information derived from multiple systems,” the white paper said.

The service said it is hiring contracted service providers to handle daily IT infrastructure management so cyber professionals can “focus on warfighter tasks and connecting information operations to our tactical and strategic ends.” The process accompanies the Air Force's plan to streamline its business practices to free up funding for “efforts that increase the lethality and readiness of the force.”

“We must move beyond antiquated processes, systems and mindsets,” the white paper says. “We will pursue new ways to leverage technology and institute a culture of innovation and informed risk-taking.”

Such changes will influence every segment of the service, the Air Force said. The undersecretary of the Air Force is spearheading the initiative.

“The Air Force must control and manipulate massive volumes of information to out-think and out-maneuver its opponents,” Donovan said. “The Digital Air Force initiative will ensure all Airmen have uninterrupted access to the data they need, where and when they need it.”

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/07/10/air-force-unveils-digital-air-force-initiative/

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October 2, 2020 | International, C4ISR

Pentagon’s CIO shop teams with armed services to prep for move to JEDI cloud
Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's top IT official said Wednesday that his office has spent the last few months preparing the armed services to migrate to the department's long-delayed enterprise cloud as soon as it becomes available. “We're doing a lot of work with the services on getting them prepared to move their [software] development processes and cycles to DevOps so when the [Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure] cloud finally does get awarded, we're not starting at Day One,” Dana Deasy, Pentagon chief information officer, said during a Defense Writers Group roundtable. The JEDI cloud contract was originally awarded to Microsoft over Amazon Web Services 11 months ago, and then was halted by a federal judge in February. Though the court case remains unresolved, Deasy said the services must now identify tools, integration environments and directories that need set up to connect users into the cloud when it's available. Despite the judge's decision, “that's all work that we can do because it sits inside our ownership all ready,” Deasy said. While the Department of Defense has faced criticism for its single-award structure, particularly as cloud technologies have advanced during the yearslong delay, Deasy insisted the JEDI cloud still fills a critical capability gap the department needs to deliver to the war fighter: data at the tactical edge and DevOps. The JEDI cloud is the platform the department still envisions for those needs and is an important piece of the Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept, an initiative through which the services want to connect sensors and shooters. Deasy said the DoD has solutions in place to form that connection, but still needs “that tactical cloud out at the tactical edge.” “JADC2 is going to point out, time and time again, about the need of being able to swiftly bring data together. And guess what? That data is going to be of different classifications, and bringing that together in a cross-domain way in a very quick-to-need [way] is something that is still a need we have across the Department of Defense that JEDI was specifically designed to solve for,” Deasy said. Cloud, data and artificial intelligence are core elements to enabling JADC2. Using data for joint war fighting is the top priority of the department's forthcoming data strategy, which Deasy said he expects will be released in the next 30 days. The department has a lot of data, but it is not necessarily prepared or stored in a way that is ready to be used for any sort of operations. The data strategy is expected to outline how to approach those challenges. The DoD's new chief data officer, Dave Spirk, will finalize the data strategy. After he started in June, Spirk went on a “listening tour” across the department to inform the strategy. Deasy said Spirk was told by many components that the department needs to set goals to ensure data is visible, understandable and trustworthy, while also easily within classification levels. They also said the data needs to be interoperable and secure, while also linked and integrated between sensors and shooters. The Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, the department's AI hub that's situated under Deasy's office, is tackling joint war fighting this year under a new project that uses AI to link intelligence gathering systems to operations and effects systems for commanders. The JAIC recently awarded its Joint Common Foundation contract to Deloitte. The company is to provide an environment for an enterprisewide AI development platform. That platform, which uses the Air Force's Cloud One enterprise cloud, was originally supposed to operate inside the JEDI cloud. Therein lies the challenge for the DoD: Components that have been waiting for the JEDI cloud have had to look elsewhere — a problem Deasy recognizes he'll have to grapple with. Right now, Deasy is encouraging components that are waiting for JEDI but have an “urgent war-fighting need” to look elsewhere for platforms. “That is obviously OK in the short term, but over time that starts to become problematic because now you're starting to set up a lot of different solutions in different environments where you're going to have to go back and sort out in an enterprise way,” Deasy said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/09/30/pentagons-cio-shop-teams-with-armed-services-to-prep-for-move-to-jedi-cloud/
September 5, 2018 | International, Aerospace

Lockheed Martin, General Atomics, Boeing compete for laser-armed drone
By Stephen Carlson Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin, General Atomics and Boeing have received contract modifications for drone-mounted Low Power Laser Demonstrator system missile defense testing. Lockheed Martin's contract has increased to a total value of $37.7 million, while General Atomics and Boeing's have been increased to $34 million and $29.4 million respectively, the Department of Defense announced on Friday. Work for all three companies will take place in various locations across the United States. The contract modifications come from the Missile Defense Agency and can extend as far as July 2019. Specifications listed include a flight altitude of at least 63,000 feet, the endurance to stay on station for at least 36 hours after a transit of 1,900 miles, and a cruising speed of up to Mach .46 while patrolling its station. The aircraft needs to be able to carry a payload between 5,000 and 12,500 pounds and sufficient power generation to operate a 140 kilowatt laser, with the possibility of up to 280 kw or more. The system must also be able to operate the laser for at least 30 minutes without affecting flight performance, and be capable of carrying a one- to two-meter optical system for the laser. The Missile Defense Agency is responsible for the defense of U.S. territory and its allies from ballistic missile threats. It coordinates a network of land-based and ship-based missile interceptors, along with radars and satellites to detect and destroy enemy ballistic missiles. ICBMs are at their most vulnerable during their boost phase. A UAV capable of targeting them before they exit the atmosphere would greatly increase the possibility of intercept, the Pentagon said. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2018/09/04/Lockheed-Martin-General-Atomics-Boeing-compete-for-laser-armed-drone/9251536091266/
January 23, 2024 | International, Aerospace

Upgraded F-35 deliveries slipping to fall 2024, Lockheed says
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Air Force unveils ‘Digital Air Force’ initiative

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Upgraded F-35 deliveries slipping to fall 2024, Lockheed says If the F-35 upgrades known as Technology Refresh 3 aren't ready for deliveries to resume in the third quarter, Lockheed said it may slow down production.

Upgraded F-35 deliveries slipping to fall 2024, Lockheed says
If the F-35 upgrades known as Technology Refresh 3 aren't ready for deliveries to resume in the third quarter, Lockheed said it may slow down production.