Armed with quantum sensors, France eyes leaps in electronic warfare

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  January 24, 2019 | International, Land

  Report: Army’s new modernization command risks cost overruns and delays

  By: Meghann Myers When the Army first announced its intention to stand up a new four-star Futures Command, senior leadership said the days of years-long, expensive modernization programs and murky requirements were over. While failing early and often can prevent some of those issues before an idea becomes a program of record, there are still some risks that, by trying to be a more nimble and innovative enterprise, AFC could still run into cost increases and drawn-out timelines if it jumps too hard on emerging technologies, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Wednesday. “There are a variety of ways to fail when it comes to developing these technologies,” Jon Ludwigson, the GAO's acting director of contracting and national security acquisitions, told Army Times in a Wednesday phone interview. “I guess the way that I would look at it is, you can make sure that you have it right, or hope that you'll get it right.” The study was mandated by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, to take the temperature of Futures Command as it stood up. The Army officially activated the command in August, headquartered at the University of Texas in Austin. In general, the report found, the Army has applied best practices that GAO has previously touted, including close collaboration with senior leadership. On the other hand, the report found, there were a couple things that could be improved. AFC's plans to develop weapons systems with emerging technology could come back to hurt it, the report said. “GAO has raised concerns about this type of practice for almost two decades for other Army acquisitions, because proceeding into weapon systems development at earlier stages of technology maturity raises the risk that the resulting systems could experience cost increases, delivery delays, or failure to deliver desired capabilities,” according to the report. The GAO, Lugwigson said, is wary of creating programs around emerging technologies, before having a chance to test them in an operational environment. “As the Army identifies the capability, there are technologies that are used to achieve that capability,” he said. “What GAO has found is, there's an advantage to maturing those technologies before you begin what's called a program of record.” https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2019/01/23/report-armys-new-modernization-command-risks-cost-overruns-and-delays

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  April 1, 2024 | International, Naval

  RTX cyber and intel business becomes Nightwing following sale

  “Nightwing may be a new name, but we’re no amateurs,” the company's website reads.

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  October 16, 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Army tactical network office wants industry info on SATCOM as a service

  Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army's tactical network modernization office released a request for information Wednesday for commercial satellite communications as a service. The RFI, released by Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical, will give the Army tactical network team an improved understanding of existing industry best practices, technological advancements and innovative business models for commercially managed satellites that could replace the operating design of its logistics network, known as the sustainment tactical network. “We are looking to our industry partners to provide us with inventive approaches to meet our logistics transport capabilities needs,” said Col. Shane Taylor, the Army's project manager for Tactical Network (PM TN), in a press release. “This includes both end item material solutions, as well as what corresponding leasing cost models could look like to enable the Army to maximize capabilities while balancing long-term affordability.” Commercially managed SATCOM would be an improvement over the standard SATCOM capabilities because currently the Army must purchase all the hardware, software, maintenance and sustainment needs, along with other related capabilities, on independent, standalone contracts, the press release said. With SATCOM as a service, the PEO C3T will procure all the capabilities under a single contract, paying for each leased Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) ground satellite terminal. "We want to deliver the right STN SATCOM capability at the right price, while keeping current with technology and ahead of obsolescence,” said Lt. Col. Natashia Coleman, product lead for Unified Network Capabilities and Integration. “To do that we need to better understand how and what industry can provide, what their different managed services models would look like, how they could each best support our hardware and support services requirements, and then compare that to the more traditional way we are providing the capability now and determine which would work best. “Whatever the outcome, taking the time upfront to review all of the options will enable us to deliver the best solution for the Army,” she added. According to Paul Mehney, communications director for PEO C3T, the program office expects industry to demonstrate their SATCOM as a service capabilities for engineer and operational assessment. Mehney said that the office will consider the companies' ability to provide and maintain terminals, obtain host nation agreements for use of bandwidth, provide a help desk to address network access issues, and technical support to users and VSAT systems. Mehney also said that the logistics network modernization efforts aligns with increased capacity, resiliency and convergence goals of Capability Set '23, the next iteration of new network tools set to be delivered in fiscal 2023. “We are looking to incorporate STN design goals as part of CS23 and beyond; providing initial STN elements for CS23 (such as modernized VSAT and Local Transport capabilities) to support CS priorities over time,” Mehney said. Responses are due Nov. 6. https://www.c4isrnet.com/show-reporter/ausa/2020/10/14/army-tactical-network-office-released-rfi-for-satcom-as-a-service/