March 20, 2024 | International, Land
North Korean clones of US drones show Kim’s ambitions, Aquilino says
The country's drones have in the past crossed into South Korea, prompting a military response.
January 23, 2019 | International, C4ISR
Can the National Guard help solve states' cyber problems?
By: Mark Pomerleau
The Department of Defense, in conjunction with the National Guard, has drafted a plan to allow for better coordination and information sharing to states in the event of a cyber emergency.
Aside from the typical assistance the National Guard offers states, such as natural disaster cleanup, the Guard also helps states respond to major cyber threats or incidents. This can include securing critical infrastructure such as power plants, water treatment plants or major ports.
The new plan, known as a concept of operation, describes a framework for how information flows from the federal government — Department of Homeland Security and Cyber Command — to the states to help government officials improve their cybersecurity.
The plan is still in draft form, Lt. Col. Jody Ogle, director of communications for cyber programs at the West Virginia National Guard, told reporters Jan. 17.
“That concept of operation helps shape that framework for how that information can flow up and down” the government, Ogle said. For example, if an IT technician working for a secretary of state notices something out of the ordinary on the network, that can be passed up to higher levels of the government and included with other threat signals across sensors on the network making that initial small tidbit of information more actionable.
Ogle said he helped write the concept during a recent stint at U.S. Cyber Command's Joint Force Headquarters-DoD Information Networks, which is tasked with defending DoD's network.
Full article: https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2019/01/22/can-the-national-guard-help-solve-states-cyber-problems
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March 31, 2023 | International, Land
EU scrutinizes Emirati takeover of Estonian robotics firm
Surprised by the takeover, officials in Brussels are examining the case and its implications for European collaborative defense projects.
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July 9, 2020 | International, Land, C4ISR
Army to award new contracts to support mobile comms units
Mark Pomerleau The Army is awarding delivery orders to three vendors to support equipment for three Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced (ESB-E) units. Specifically, the awards will support fielding of satellite baseband equipment, said Paul Mehney, director of public communications at Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical. Expeditionary signal battalions support units that don't have organic communications capabilities. These groups could include military intelligence battalions, chemical battalions, engineering battalions or air defense artillery branches. The ESB-E aims to be more mobile and require less equipment in order to drop in, support units and move more quickly on the battlefield. Overall, the vendors will be responsible for providing 48 baseband sets of equipment for each ESB-E formation. “Due to aggressive initial fielding timelines, after the first six ESB-E formations are fielded, the program office intends to open baseband capability competition for future ESB-E needs,” Mehney said. PacStar was recently awarded a contract to support the ESB-E program to provide its 400-Series modular platform to enhance tactical expeditionary communications, the company said in a July 7 release. The 400-Series is lightweight allowing these smaller and expeditionary units to maneuver more quickly. It includes 128 GB RAM, virtual routing and the PacStar 463 Radio Gateway. “Network modernization to meet warfighter needs and defense priorities is a core focus for the Army and across the DoD, and we are proud to support these efforts with PacStar 400-Series for ESB-E,” Peggy J. Miller, chief executive of PacStar, said in a statement. “With these solutions, ESB-E [Scalable Network Node] will get the smallest, lightest, modular tactical communications platform in the industry, which is part of our larger initiative to enable increased reliability and innovation for warfighters.” The other vendors include Klas and DTECH, with all three supporting one ESB-E. An additional delivery order for each vendor to a second ESB-E will be issued, meaning in the near future, each vendor will support two units a piece. After that, the Army will open up the contracts to competition. This approach follows how the Army has been experimenting to date by providing similar, yet comparable equipment to several ESB-E's. These companies have provided separate equipment to three units allowing the Army to gain useful feedback from units to see what they liked and disliked about the gear. This has allowed the Army to execute rapid prototyping and experimentation on a tighter timeline for making fielding decisions while providing equipment to soldiers in the interim. The first two ESB-Es fielded include the 57th ESB-E at Fort Hood and the 50th ESB-E at Fort Bragg. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2020/07/08/army-to-award-new-contracts-to-support-mobile-comms-units