Biden seeks legislation to invest in Australia, UK defense industries

On the same subject

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  December 7, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Is near-instant satellite imagery almost here?

  By: Mike Gruss Intelligence analysts and soldiers on the battlefield could have access to near real-time imagery from commercial satellites as soon as 2021 thanks to new industry partnerships. Amazon Web Services unveiled Nov. 28 a new product named AWS Ground Station, which includes parabolic antennas at 12 locations across the globe. Those ground stations can download imagery data as satellites pass overhead and then push that information to the cloud at faster speeds than traditional ground stations. Meanwhile, leaders from satellite imagery company DigitalGlobe said in tests they were able to move imagery data from the ground station to the cloud in less than a minute. Using today's technology, that task takes about an hour. Combined, the speed of the new ground stations and the expected launch of DigitalGlobe's constellation of next-generation imagery satellites in 2021 would offer a new level of immediacy to customers. “When firefighters are attacking a wildfire, they need the most up-to-date information to save lives and homes,” Jeff Carr, director of mission operations engineering support at DigitalGlobe, wrote in a Nov. 27 blog post. “When first responders are tracking down refugees fleeing danger in flimsy rubber boats, they need real-time information about where those rubber boats are located before they sink. The uses for current and accurate space-based data is growing — and the end-users need it quickly.” DigitalGlobe provides imagery to the National Reconnaissance Office under the Enhanced View contract and to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency with the Global EGD contract. Several companies that already provide imagery and data to the Department of Defense and intelligence community — including BlackSky, Spire and HawkEye 360 — are also using the ground stations. Traditionally, ground stations download information from satellites on a rigid schedule, meaning users must wait several hours until the next pass when new information is available and can be processed. The company's new Legion satellites will double the number of times the satellites contact ground stations. In addition, an imagery satellite could revisit the same target as many as 15 times a day. All of that means defense and intelligence agencies could have access to imagery that is a few minutes old, not several hours old. Turner Brinton, a DigitalGlobe spokesman, declined to comment on the technical aspects of how the company would support the U.S. government. “Satellite data is incredibly useful for building a wide range of important applications, but it is super complex and expensive to build and operate the infrastructure needed to do so,” Charlie Bell, senior vice president of AWS, said in a press release. “Today, we are giving satellite customers the ability to dynamically scale their ground station antenna use based on actual need. And, they will be able to ingest data straight into AWS, where they can securely store, analyze and transmit products to their customers without needing to worry about building all of the infrastructure themselves.” In addition, Lockheed Martin and Amazon Web Services announced a new partnership Nov. 27 that would allow customers to download satellite data faster, more often and from multiple satellites at the same time. That technology is a shoebox-sized antenna and satellite receiver known as Verge. Each antenna would cost about $20,000 and replace larger parabolic antennas, which are often priced at more than $1 million. While Pentagon officials have worried that larger ground stations for military satellite could make easy targets, the relatively small size of Verge could be an attractive feature to defense officials focused on resiliency. It's unlikely the Defense Department would rely on the new technology for its satellite downlinks, but Lockheed Martin leaders said they could envision the military would use the ground stations for experimental satellites, particularly those in low-Earth orbit. Or the technology could be used to create a backup ground station for some of the Pentagon's more sophisticated satellites. Already, Lockheed Martin has tested a network of 10 S-band antennas in the Denver area that downlinked from a small satellite from the Air Force Research Laboratory, said Rick Ambrose, Lockheed Martin's executive vice president for space. In addition, the company has also downlinked data from another, unspecified government satellite and sent that data to the agency's cloud. https://www.c4isrnet.com/intel-geoint/2018/12/03/is-near-instant-satellite-imagery-in-the-near-future

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  January 31, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  What do Cyber Command’s acquisition requests reveal?

  By: Mark Pomerleau U.S. Cyber Command is looking to beef up its main acquisition and capabilities development arm with contractor support. In a Jan. 25 request for information released on the FedBizOpps website, Cyber Command's J9, or advanced concepts and technology directorate, is seeking feedback on a statement of work to provide front office support. The feedback will help craft the eventual requirements. Previously, the J9 was known as the Capabilities Development Group. The CDG had a three-pronged mission: planning and synchronizing capability development for the joint cyber force; developing capabilities in order to reduce risk or meet urgent operational needs; and maintaining the command's technical baseline. It was established in 2016 to coordinate, integrate and prioritize cyber tool development and delivery efforts across the services given the joint nature of cyberspace and the need to enable greater synergy across the joint cyber mission force. CDG was recently redesignated as the J9. This was done to clarify its goals and mission and to better align with Joint Staff and other unified combatant commands — all of which have J9s — a Cyber Command spokesman told Fifth Domain. Cyber Command, stood up in 2009, itself was elevated to a full unified combatant command in May 2018. As the command is looking to scale up its operations and its capabilities, it is going to need a more robust staff. Experts have noted that the CDG, now J9, has been very stressed over the past few years with a limited staff and burdened by developing tools for current operational needs — namely the fight against ISIS, called Joint Task Force-Ares. Cyber Command's top acquisition official, Stephen Schanberger, said as recently as September 2018 that the command is in its infancy from an acquisition perspective, adding that the command at the time had one contracting officer, one specialist and a couple of contractors aside from himself in the contracting shop. He did say he expected those numbers to double in the next three months at the time. Congress granted Cyber Command limited acquisition authority in 2016 following the model of Special Operations Command. It capped acquisition funds at $75 million, sunsetting in 2021. The thinking at the time, according to congressional staff, was to take a crawl, walk, run approach and see if the command could demonstrate it could properly exercises its limited authority. Schanberger said they want the command to show Congress it can use the authority in the way it's supposed to and start to stand up the backbone of a contracting organization. This includes being able to put together solicitation packages, plan contracting strategy for years ahead and be able to effectively implement and put out proposals and award them without making a mess. Schanberger added in September that the command wants a ceiling of $250 million and a sunset of 2025. In the recent request for information, Cyber Command is seeking a full range of program support, policy support and advisory and assistance services to support the needs of the J9 executive front office, which will assist in long-range planning, development of strategic communications, review of policies and procedures, recommending documentation and policy updates, consulting and reporting. A few of the specific tasks the document asks contractors to perform include: J9 strategy and policy — Contractors should help with interagency coordination, drafting policy, doctrine and concepts, provide long term planning strategy to support the growth and evolution of the command to include manpower, workforce structure, fiscal and acquisition expertise. Strategic coordination support — Contractors should work to communicate key command messages, supporting development topics to build awareness of overall cyber goals and objectives and managing logistics for events. Legislative preparation. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/cybercom/2019/01/30/what-do-cyber-commands-acquisition-requests-reveal

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  August 12, 2020 | International, Naval

  U.S. Navy Awards BAE Systems Modernization Contract for USS Carney and USS Winston S. Churchill

  August 11, 2020 - BAE Systems has received an $83.5 million contract from the U.S. Navy to modernize the guided-missile destroyers USS Carney (DDG 64) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81). The modernization work will be performed sequentially by the company's shipyard in Jacksonville. The contracts include options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $211.6 million. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005766/en/ The USS Carney will be first in the shipyard, arriving in September 2020. The 23-year-old ship just returned from a six-year operational period in Rota, Spain, and will undergo extensive repair and upgrade work that will take more than 400 days to complete. The shipyard will drydock the ship and perform maintenance of the underwater hull, renovation of crew habitability spaces and upgrades to shipboard systems. The modernization is scheduled to be completed in November 2021. The Winston S. Churchill will undergo a 390-day maintenance period when the ship arrives in June 2021. The shipyard's work aboard the 18-year-old ship will include drydocking, replacement of steel structures onboard and support of the electronic systems upgrades. The modernization of the Winston S. Churchill is scheduled to be completed in July 2022. “The modernization work aboard the Carney and Winston S. Churchill are significant for our Jacksonville maritime team and important for the service lives and mission capability of these combatants,” said Tim Spratto, general manager of BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair. “The back-to-back sequencing of work is efficient and beneficial for our employees, our subcontractors and our Navy customer.” BAE Systems' Jacksonville shipyard has posted jobs and is expecting to hire workers in a number of trades, including welders, pipefitters, electricians, and painters, over the next two years to work on the two destroyers and for its ongoing repair and modernization work on other ships. The award of these two ships will also provide work for our team of subcontractor partners and third-party vendors in the port. Commissioned in 1996, the USS Carney is named after Admiral Robert Carney, who served as chief of naval operations during the Eisenhower administration. The USS Winston S. Churchill is named after the renowned British prime minister and was commissioned in 2001. BAE Systems is a leading provider of ship repair, maintenance, modernization, conversion, and overhaul services for the Navy, other government agencies, and select commercial customers. The company operates four full-service shipyards in California, Florida, Hawaii and Virginia, and offers a highly skilled, experienced workforce, eight dry docks/marine railways, and significant pier space and ship support services. For information about company jobs, visit www.jobs.baesystems.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200811005766/en/ (Photo credit: BAE Systems)