Australian Defence Force ditches European helicopters

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  June 21, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Typhoon’s 'Digital Stealth' Can Evolve To Meet Changing Threat

  by Jon Lake Mark Hewer, Leonardo's v-p for the Integrated Mission Solutions Business Area, believes that the company's open/reprogrammable electronic warfare (EW) suite for the Typhoon represents what he calls “digital stealth.” This will confer a high degree of survivability, even in a threat environment whose lethality is growing exponentially, with the emergence of a plethora of high-end, software reprogrammable, multi-spectral threats, including surface-to-air missile systems. These threat systems are being updated more regularly and are frequently networked, allowing them to share intelligence of the air situation. EW systems are able to evolve to deal with this dynamic and rapidly changing threat, in a way that fifth-generation stealthy aircraft cannot. While stealth aircraft are hard to detect, they are not invisible, and counter-stealth technology is developing rapidly. Moreover, the skin, internal structure, and configuration of an aircraft cannot be easily altered. “You cannot easily modify a stealth platform to counter new high-end threats,” Hewer said. Typhoon's EW capabilities are provided by Leonardo's Praetorian Defensive Aids Sub-System (DASS), which incorporates an onboard podded ECM system and off-board ECM, with a towed radar decoy, as well as missile approach, laser, and radar warning systems and a flare and countermeasures dispensing system. These systems will soon be augmented by the new BriteCloud, an active, highly programmable Digital RF Memory (DRFM) decoy that will allow the Typhoon pilot to better counter the highest-end threats. BriteCloud will give a discriminatory capability that is not on any other platform, providing a world-leading expendable active decoy capability on the Typhoon that none of its rivals will have. The MoD's Desidermagazine has predicted that initial operational capability on Typhoon will be declared in late 2019. Arguably more important than the performance of the individual hardware elements within Typhoon's DASS is their ability to be reprogrammed. “What is really important for the high-end customer buying Typhoon is that their EW system is highly programmable,” Hewer said. “There's no point in directing your ECM if it is going to be ineffective against a threat because you're not exploiting its vulnerabilities.” The Typhoon's EW system is undergoing continuous evolution, with regular upgrades to the hardware and a spiral software development process, but the most important factor is getting the right threat intelligence or “mission data” into the system. This is used to interpret the information that the sensors receive, and drives the behavior of the EW system. Mission success will often depend on having the most up-to-date data set to ensure relevance to the environment. This makes the rapidity of the upgrade cycle of paramount importance. Leonardo believes that many customers want a sustainable sovereign mission data capability, and it can offer to provide this as a service or as a fully tailored sovereign solution. The company can help customers to set up a national EW database or an aircraft specific database and has a suite of software tools available to customers. While F-35 naturally incorporates advanced EW systems, there is still a very heavy reliance on the U.S. for mission support, with a relatively cumbersome mission data cycle. Hewer believes that Typhoon is “many years more mature in its operational use of programming for EW.” While Leonardo's emphasis is currently on highlighting its ability to produce robust and agile high-end sovereign mission data generation capabilities for customers, the company is already looking to the future. Greater automation and machine learning promise a solution to the increasing complexity of the threat environment, and the company is also looking at the potential for sharing information across platforms as well as the possibility of reprogramming an EW system in flight. https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2019-06-19/typhoons-digital-stealth-can-evolve-meet-changing-threat

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  January 22, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

  What new documents reveal about Cyber Command’s biggest operation

  Mark Pomerleau New documents provide insight into the growing pains U.S. Cyber Command faced in building a force while simultaneously conducting operations. The documents, which were released as part of a Freedom of Information Act request from the National Security Archive at George Washington University and later shared with journalists, are a series of internal briefings and lessons from the Defense Department's most complex cyber operation at the time, Operation Glowing Symphony. That operation was part of the larger counter-ISIS operations — Joint Task Force-Ares — but specifically targeted ISIS's media and online operations, taking out infrastructure and preventing ISIS members from communicating and posting propaganda. While Cyber Command described the operation, which took place in November of 2016, as a victory in the sense that it “successfully contested [ISIS] in the information domain,” the documents demonstrate the extent to which the command was still learning how to conduct operations and the exact steps to follow. “Process maturation is something they pull out a lot. Obviously, as CYBERCOM was standing up, it was pulling together plans for how they were going to operate. They actually hadn't operated that much,” Michael Martelle, cyber vault fellow at the National Security Archive, told reporters. “A lot of these frameworks were formed in theory. Now they go to try them out in practice.” Cyber Command leaders have stressed in public remarks for years that the command was building its force while operating. But the extent of those operations has been limited. Officials in recent years have explained that the command didn't undertake many offensive operations. One official said last year he could count on less than two fingers the number of operations, Cyber Command conducted in the last decade or so. One member of Congress said DoD didn't conduct an offensive cyber operation in five years. But when they were in action, in this case with Operation Glowing Symphony, Martelle said the documents show cyber leaders did not anticipate the amount of data they would access. “They actually weren't prepared for the amount of data they were pulling off of ISIS servers ... CYBERCOM was not set up for an operation of this magnitude from day one,” he said. “They had to learn on the fly, they had to acquire on the fly, they had to grow on the fly.” The documents note that Cyber Command's capability development group, is “developing USCYBERCOM data storage solutions.” The capabilities develop group, now known as the J9, serves as the advanced concepts and technology directorate and worked to plan and synchronizing cyber capability development and developed capabilities to meet urgent operational needs. Experts had noted that in the past the CDG/J9 had been stressed in recent years by a limited staff and burdened by developing tools for operational needs, namely Joint Task Force-Ares. Another example of potential growing pains the documents point to was the fact that updates to operations checklists were not made available readily to the team. Finally, the documents note that authorities and processes the command was operating under that the time were restrictive in some cases. “Absent of significant policy changes from [the office of the secretary of defense], USCYBERCOM is limited in its ability to challenge ISIS [redacted]. As a result, USCYBERCOM has [redacted] to achieve our objectives,” the executive summary of a 120-day assessment of Operation Glowing Symphony says. Those authorities and processes have been streamlined by the executive branch and Congress in recent years. Commanders now follow a process that defaults toward action, Maj. Gen. Dennis Crall, deputy principal cyber adviser and senior military adviser for cyber policy, said during an event Jan. 9. He explained the updated process provides continuity, tempo, pace and timing. Ultimately, Martelle noted that the real importance behind Operation Glowing Symphony is that Cyber Command used the experience from those events and Joint Task Force-Ares more broadly as a template for future operations. Cyber Command's top official, Gen. Paul Nakasone, who was also led Joint Task Force-Ares, has noted that the task force laid the foundation for the Russia Small Group, which was created to combat election interference in the 2018 midterms. “This concept of a task force lives on. A lot of that thinking came from what we were doing in 2016,” he told NPR. That task force has now evolved to be more all encompassing covering election threats more broadly. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/cybercom/2020/01/21/what-new-documents-reveal-about-cyber-commands-biggest-operation/

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  March 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  COVID-19 Stimulus Includes Aerospace And Defense Industry Assistance

  Jen DiMascio President Donald Trump signed a $2.2 trillion stimulus bill into law March 27, aimed at shielding the U.S. economy from damage done by COVID-19-related closures, and that will also provide assistance to the aerospace and defense industry. In addition to giving businesses numerous incentives to retain employees, the act offers $17 billion in loans and loan guarantees to national security contractors such as Boeing, which had appealed to Congress for $60 billion in relief for itself and its suppliers. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act does attach strings to the loans, restricting companies that accept the money from share buybacks, making increases to executive compensation and instituting layoffs. In a statement issued March 26, Boeing said its CEO and board chairman are giving up their pay, and that the company is extending its dividend and will pause share repurchasing “until further notice.” The law also provides $10.5 billion in new defense spending – primarily for personnel and operations – along with $2.5 billion aimed at maintaining the industrial base. The act “confirms that there is no risk that fiscal 2020 and prior appropriations would be raided to pay for pandemic response costs,” said Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners in a note to investors. But he cautioned that analysts and planners have to factor the changes made by the new law when looking toward budgets for fiscal 2021 and beyond. Another stimulus package is likely to follow in April or May, which may include additional funding for defense, Callan added. Industry groups cheered passage of the act. “We encourage federal government officials and lawmakers to continue to support the aerospace and defense industry through the duration of the pandemic and to ensure sector stability during the economic recovery phase,” said the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “The aerospace and defense contribution to the economy on the other side of the COVID-19 crisis will be crucial for restarting and building the economic engine to its pre-crisis momentum.” The legislation offers “tools and incentives” that will provide support to many small businesses and the supply chain, said Eric Fanning, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. And David Berteau, president of the Professional Services Council, which represents federal government contractors, is looking to the future, saying that as the impact of the pandemic continues, the council will focus on keeping the government working, keeping contractors working and ensuring that contractors and their employees are paid. Lockheed Martin President and CEO Marillyn Hewson made a related announcement about the company's plan to help with COVID-19 relief, saying it will advance $50 million to small- and medium-sized suppliers, donate $10 million to non-profit COVID-19 relief organizations and set aside a $6.5 million relief fund for its own employees. The company will also offer engineering and technical assistance to government officials, and donate corporate aircraft and vehicles for logistical support, facilities for medical supply storage, distribution and COVID-19 testing. “Finally, during this time of economic uncertainty, we will continue our planned recruiting and hiring,” Hewson said. “Given the requirement for social distancing, Lockheed Martin will deploy virtual technology and other techniques to sustain our hiring activity during this crisis period.” https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/covid-19-stimulus-includes-aerospace-defense-industry-assistance