Artificial intelligence 'Bill of Rights' unveiled by White House

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  October 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Cyber Solarium Commission outlines recommendations for strengthening the supply chain

  Mark Pomerleau WASHINGTON — On the heels of its capstone March report, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission has released a detailed follow-up with recommendations for how to secure the information and communications technologies supply chain. The commission is a bipartisan organization created by Congress in 2019 to develop a multipronged U.S. cyber strategy. It delivered a report in March, advocating for multiple cyber deterrence efforts. The whitepaper, released Monday, is one of several add-ons to the original report that go into greater depth on a particular topic or recommendation from the March report. This specific whitepaper solely focuses on the recommendation that Congress should direct the U.S. government to develop and implement a strategy for the information and communications technology industrial base to ensure more trusted supply chains and the availability of critical information and communications technologies. The whitepaper frames in stark terms that the United States lacks a strategy vis-a-vis China. “Over the past two decades, China has mobilized state-owned and state-influenced companies to grab a dominant position in markets for several emerging technologies, including the market for telecommunications equipment,” the report noted. “This is no accident but rather the result of a concerted, strategic effort by the Chinese government to capture these markets through a mix of government-led industrial policy; unfair and deceptive trade practices, including state-led intellectual property theft; the manipulation of international standards and trade bodies; a growing network of influence built on the back of diplomatic and trade negotiations; and significant investments in research and development in ICT.” As a result, the whitepaper is the commission's effort to help lay out a strategy for the government to better compete in this space, become less reliant upon manufacturing and resources in Asia, and thus spur greater security. “We're doing a lot but we lack a north star or a strategic approach that weaves or stiches it all together,” Robert Morgus, senior director for the commission, told C4ISRNET ahead of the whitepaper's release. “Without that north star, U.S. federal government efforts are uncoordinated.” The paper lists a five-pronged strategy to build trusted supply chains: Identify key technologies and equipment through government reviews and public-private partnerships to identify risk. Ensure minimum viable manufacturing capacity through strategic investment. Protect supply chains from compromise through better intelligence, information sharing and product testing. Stimulate a domestic market through targeted infrastructure investment, and ensure the ability of companies to offer products in the United States similar to those in foreign markets. Ensure global competitiveness of trusted supply chains, including American and partner companies, in the face of Chinese anti-competitive behavior in global markets. Moreover, the paper lists a series of recommendations to achieve the strategy, which include a variety of ways to streamline information sharing and efforts that could be taken within the federal government. The report couches supply chain security in both economic and national security terms, which Morgus noted cannot be decoupled. “The simple fact that we aren't competing with China on that front creates that security issue. ... The economic issue here is leading to a national security and a cybersecurity issue, and the two issues really can't be disentangled,” he said. “The fact that we don't have trusted suppliers or a robust network of trusted suppliers that can compete has created a security issue where we are reliant on Chinese manufacturing or companies with manufacturing presence in China, which is a potential security issue from the trustworthiness and the availability of those goods and services.” Among one of the key pillars of the strategy to build a stronger supply chain, the report suggests greater intelligence sharing between allies and partners to disseminate intelligence on risks, which is also beneficial to the private sector. The paper recommends Congress direct the president to create or designate a national supply chain intelligence center that would integrate supply chain intelligence efforts from across the government with other members of the public and private sectors. It would also serve as the shared knowledge center for threats to the supply chain. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/10/19/cyber-solarium-commission-outlines-recommendations-for-strengthening-the-supply-chain/

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  December 10, 2019 | International, Naval

  BREAKING: Marine Corps Planning Major Program Cuts

  By Jon Harper SIMI VALLEY, Calif. — The Marine Corps intends to divest itself of legacy systems as it transforms into a more mobile and expeditionary force, the service's commandant said Dec. 7. In recent decades Marines have been busy fighting land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But now they must prepare for a potential conflict in a naval environment against advanced adversaries such as China, Gen. David Berger told reporters at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California. “We cannot wait any longer before we start adjusting our service to what we've got to be six, seven, eight years out,” he said. “We have lots of changes we have to make and ... we have to get rid of legacy things in the Marine Corps. We've got to go on a diet. We've got to get back on ship. We've got to become expeditionary again.” What types of legacy systems will be on the chopping block? “Big, heavy things,” Berger said. “Expensive things that we can't either afford to buy or afford to maintain over the life of it. Things that don't fit aboard ships. Things that can't fire hyper velocity projectiles. Things that don't have the range that we're going to need or the precision.” Mobility will be critical in future fights, he noted. Marines must be able to operate from ships or ashore, and move back and forth between domains. Other platforms that could see cuts include manned logistics vehicles and aircraft. “All those things we're going to trim down,” Berger said. The service is also looking to add new capabilities. The commandant did not identify specific systems that the Marines plan to buy, but he provided a flavor of the types of platforms that will be on the shopping list. “Think unmanned. Think expeditionary. Think very light. Think things that we can sustain forward without a huge logistical train,” Berger said. Unmanned logistics vehicles and aircraft are examples of new technologies that the service is interested in. Human beings will still be on the battlefield, Berger noted. “I just don't need them driving a truck delivering chow” if a self-driving platform could perform the task, he said. Drones could also deliver supplies. “Amazon does it. Why wouldn't we do it?” he asked. Unmanned combat aircraft are also on the wish list, he noted. The Marine Corps has been conducting wargames and simulations to help determine how the force should be redesigned for potential future combat scenarios that might occur 10 years out. “We're in the last stages of that,” Berger said. That effort will likely wrap up in late January or early February. Force composition changes will be made over 10 years, but some will begin next year, he said. Officials are examining “every part of our air-ground team,” Berger said. A wide range of capabilities are being looked at. “From individual equipment to crew served [weapons] to F-35s and everything in between.” The analysis will help determine which programs will be killed, trimmed or added, he said. The service needs new weapon systems that can find and kill enemy ships at range from ship or shore. “We have to become a naval force that's lethal in terms of putting at risk another naval force,” Berger said. In the future, large numbers of unmanned air and ground systems could function as motherships that launch other robotic vehicles and drones to conduct missions, he said. A major funding realignment is planned over the next five years. “You'll see a little bit of it” in the fiscal year 2021 budget blueprint, Berger said. “The big muscle movement — that will come in ‘22, ‘23, ‘24 in a big way.” https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2019/12/9/marine-corps-planning-major-program-cuts

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  August 20, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  NASA Seeks Lunar Gateway Resupply Proposals

  Mark Carreau NASA has issued a request for proposals (RFP) from U.S. companies capable of carrying out up to $7 billion in re-supply missions to its planned lunar-orbiting, human-tended Gateway. The request asks for a service similar to how multiple commercial providers deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to and from the six-person International Space Station (ISS) under commercial resupply services contracts. The major difference is that the ISS orbits in a high inclination orbit about 250 mi. from the Earth's surface. The Gateway is to orbit the Moon in a near rectilinear halo orbit, an elliptical track that comes as close to the lunar surface as 1,875 mi. (3,000 km) and as far as 43,750 mi. Under the Gateway cargo RFP, the craft would remain parked at the Gateway for six months, followed by an automated departure and disposal. Responses to the RFP, issued Aug. 16, are due Oct. 1. Under the Artemis initiative unveiled by NASA earlier this year, astronauts will return to the lunar surface via the Gateway by 2024 as the agency pursues a sustainable presence by 2028 and prepares for the human exploration of Mars. Under the RFP issued through NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the agency is prepared to commit up to $7 billion to contract with multiple U.S. suppliers for 15 years on a fixed-price basis. Each resupply service would be assured at least two missions. NASA is asking RFP responders to address logistics, spacecraft design, cargo mass capability, pressurized volume, power availability for payloads and transit time to the Gateway. “We chose to minimize spacecraft requirements on industry to allow for commercial innovation, but we are asking industry to propose their best solutions for delivering cargo and enabling our deep-space supply chain,” said Mark Wiese, NASA's Gateway logistics element manager at KSC, in an Aug. 19 NASA statement. “In addition to delivering cargo, science and other supplies with these services, private industry also has the opportunity to deliver other elements of our lunar architecture with this solicitation.'' Once the initial contracts are awarded, NASA may issue additional lunar cargo contract opportunities to keep the operations competitive. With advance permission from NASA, its providers also may use mission capabilities to deliver, remove and/or return non-NASA cargo if the additional activities do not interfere with the prime mission. In late November, NASA announced the selection of nine U.S. companies under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, making them eligible to bid on the delivery of payloads to the lunar surface. The agency plans to invest up to $2.6 billion in CLPS over the next decade. https://aviationweek.com/space/nasa-seeks-lunar-gateway-resupply-proposals