Comtech Telecommunications Corp. Receives $9.1 Million Order from U.S. Army for Mobile Satellite Equipment

On the same subject

• 

  February 13, 2023 | International, C4ISR

  NATO initiative to bolster alliance’s space-based data collection

  Spy balloons sighted over NATO territory illustrate the need for data sharing among allies, including in space, said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

• 

  May 5, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  The defense industry needs new entrants, and a supportive government during crises

  By: Venture capital community leaders The COVID-19 health crisis is quickly leading to an economic meltdown, throwing millions of Americans out of work and forcing strategic reevaluations across industries. The defense industry is no exception. We are praying for a swift end to the crisis, but its effects will linger, shaping the Pentagon's priorities, organizational structure, military operations, logistics, supply chains and interactions with the defense-industrial base for years to come. In the past few weeks, we have had numerous conversations with government officials about our venture and growth equity investments in the defense sector. These discussions have centered on the eligibility rules of the CARES Act's Paycheck Protection Program and the risk of foreign capital seeking entry into defense technology startups desperate for investment in these trying times. But these are secondary questions. The primary question is this: How can the Pentagon best preserve its innovation base and develop the most competitive and advanced technologies? The answer is simple: Buy commercial. New and emerging defense startups — and our men and women in uniform — don't need symbolic gestures. What they need is concerted action to bring the latest and most advanced technologies — many of which are routinely used in industry — to dangerously antiquated defense weapons systems and internal IT infrastructure. This was true before COVID-19, it is true now and it will be true when the next crisis strikes. All too often the government has responded to crises by circling wagons around incumbent firms — the large prime contractors, whose political connections afford them bailouts in the name of “ensuring ongoing competition.” This process is already underway. After announcing its hope for a $60 billion relief package for the aerospace manufacturing industry, Boeing successfully lobbied for $17 billion worth of loans for firms “critical to maintaining national security.” The CARES Act also announced provisions to streamline the Defense Department's contracting process, which sounds promising, except for the fact that these provisions apply only to contracts worth over $100 million. This discriminates against smaller, more nimble innovators and providers of cutting-edge technology. This isn't how things have always been. After complaints about large horse dealers monopolizing military contracts during the Civil War, the government allowed quartermasters to purchase horses and mules from any dealer on the open market. In World War II, Congress created the Smaller War Plants Corporation, which awarded tens of thousands of contracts to small, competitive firms. Today, through innovative use of Small Business Innovation Research money, other transactional authorities, rapid work programs and the like, the Pentagon is certainly signaling interest in emerging technologies. But let us be clear: We are not advocating continuing to invest larger dollar amounts into never-ending, short-term pilots and prototypes. The key to sustaining the innovation base through this crisis and any future crises is transitioning the best of these companies and products into real production contracts serving the day-to-day needs of the mission. Host tough, but fair competitions for new innovations, and then rapidly scale the winners. America's technological supremacy has afforded our country nearly a century of military hegemony, but it is not a law of nature. Sovereign states and peer competitors like Russia and China will quickly outpace us if we take our prowess for granted. We need new entrants into the defense industry more than ever, but without government support through crises like this one, the talent and capital simply won't be there. Why do investors say defense isn't a safe bet? As the Department of Defense readily acknowledges, its mission is fundamentally changing. Breakthroughs in technological fields like artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, robotics, resilient networks and cyberwarfare mean that future conflicts will look nothing like those we have seen before. The DoD of tomorrow needs a fresh wave of technical expertise to understand and respond to these new kinds of threats. That is not to say that legacy defense contractors are not needed; their expertise in large air and sea vehicles is currently unparalleled. But the expertise to build these new technologies resides in pockets of talent that the big and bureaucratic incumbents, who made their names with 20th century technology, lost access to decades ago. The DoD has publicly exalted the importance of innovative defense startups for years. That is partly why we are so excited to invest capital into the defense sector at this moment in history. Silicon Valley has a chance to live up to its oft-ridiculed but sincere ambition to make the world a better place by investing in American national security. However, we as venture capitalists and growth equity investors also have a duty to our limited partners who have entrusted us to invest and grow their capital. If we see the same old story of the government claiming to support small businesses but prioritizing its old incumbents, those investment dollars will disappear. Times of rapid and unprecedented change, as COVID-19 has precipitated, also provide opportunities. The DoD and Congress can reshape budget priorities to put their money where their mouths have been and support innovative defense technologies. Each dollar awarded to a successful venture capital and growth equity-backed defense startup through a competitively awarded contract attracts several more dollars in private investment, providing the DoD significantly more leverage that if that same dollar was spent on a subsidy or loan to a large legacy contractor. This leverage of private capital means that every contract a startup receives accelerates by up to 10 times their ability to build technology and hire talent to support the DoD's mission. The bottom line is this: There's no reason to let a health crisis today become a national security crisis tomorrow. The DoD has an opportunity to not only sustain but grow its innovation base, and give contracts, not lip service, to innovators. We, the undersigned, hope they do. The contributors to this commentary are: Steve Blank of Stanford University; Katherine Boyle of General Catalyst; James Cham of Bloomberg Beta; Ross Fubini of XYZ Capital; Antonio Gracias of Valor Equity Partners, who sits on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX; Joe Lonsdale of 8VC, who also co-founded Palantir; Raj Shah of Shield Capital, who is a former director of the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit; Trae Stephens of, Founders Fund; JD Vance of Narya Capital; Albert Wenger of Union Square Ventures; Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital; Hamlet Yousef of IronGate Capital; and Dan Gwak of Point72. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/05/04/the-defense-industry-needs-new-entrants-and-a-supportive-government-during-crises/

• 

  December 10, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  3 priorities for the Marines' information directorate

  By: Mark Pomerleau The new head of the Marine Corps' nascent information directorate is focusing on three priorities: network modernization, putting new information-related units to work and gaining asymmetric advantage. The Marine Corps reorganized its leadership in 2017 to create a new three-star position, the deputy commandant for information, that would oversee all aspects of information war to include cyber, electronic warfare, signals intelligence and information operations. Over the summer, Lt. Gen. Lori Reynolds became the second officer to hold this new position. William Williford, executive director of Marine Corps Systems Command, provided an outline of various efforts to modernize the network during the Charleston Defense Contractors Association Defense Summit on Dec. 5. The initiative includes: broader adoption of Windows 10, creating a cloud cross functional team, starting a network cross functional team, fielding Tampa microwave terminals, protecting spectrum used for the F-35 and running a pilot program to help ensure GPS signals aren't jammed. Kenneth Bible, deputy director of the C4 directorate and deputy chief information officer, said during the same conference that the Marines still have IT solutions that date back to the Navy-Marine Corps Intranet days that have to be modernized The Marine Corps needs to divest of some of its legacy systems and modernize them, he said. He added that Marines are finding there are systems needed to get the network “up to snuff to go support that.” Additionally, he said, systems need to be capable of supporting the automation needed in order to make the network more effective. Regarding the second line of effort, the deputy commandant is focused on using the new Marine Expeditionary Force Information Groups, or MIGs. These teams will work on all information related capabilities, providing commanders a clearinghouse of options including cyber, intelligence, electronic warfare and information operations. Bible said Marine Corps leaders are working hard to figure out how the groups can directly help commanders. Third, Bible said the Marines want to gauge whether they can create an asymmetric advantage. “How do we shape the conflict before we end up in a conflict,” Bible said. “A lot of this is going to merge in the information environment.” Some of the efforts related to providing an asymmetric advantage will involve Navy partners, Bible said. He discussed the need to for Marines to fight to get to the fight. “We're probably not going to have enough organic aviation assets to get all the Marines to all the different places that an advanced expeditionary base operations concept [and] very distributed operations” demands," he said. That will require partnering with the Navy in some regards. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/12/07/3-priorities-for-the-marines-information-directorate