June 15, 2023 | International, Aerospace
CAE provides initial flight training to U.S. Air Force rotary-wing pilots
The US$44.5M initial contract award supports the training of all initial USAF rotary-wing air, ground, and simulation training.
November 28, 2018 | International, C4ISR
CYBERCOM Has a Vendor In Mind For Its Big Data Platform But Is Open to Options
By Aaron Boyd
The military's cyber branch plans to award a sole-source contract to manage and enhance its Big Data Platform but wants to know if other vendors are capable of bidding.
Anyone with a passing understanding of cyberspace knows there's a lot of data out there. As the military command charged with fighting and defending that domain, U.S. Cyber Command needs a platform that can move, store and process all that data.
CYBERCOM contracting officials posted a special notice Monday announcing plans to award a sole-source contract to manage the Big Data Platform program, which looks to help the command and military branches ingest and process huge swaths of data from across the internet. Officials intend to award the contract to Enlighten IT Consulting, however, they are reaching out to industry to see if a full competition is warranted.
“Any response to this notice must show clear and convincing evidence that competition would be advantageous to the government,” the notice states, urging interested qualified vendors to respond by noon on Dec. 11.
The vendor will be expected to develop prototypes for capabilities based on proofs of concept, design and build key components for those capabilities and integrate them with CYBERCOM infrastructure, as well as other military branches.
“Critical tasks include data acquisition, processing and storing packet capture, engineering support, enhancing the BDP tool suite according to real-world conditions and beta testing with the user population that includes Cyber Protection Teams, Computer Network Defense Service Providers, and Regional Cyber Centers,” according to the statement of work. The work will include “sustainment and enhancement” of tools in the classified and unclassified areas.
Program officials expect this effort to “significantly enhance” the platform's core capabilities. Officials are not looking for an overhaul of CYBERCOM's analytics capabilities, but rather the underlying metadata and tagging processes and existing data feeds that categorizes the data and help the analysts find what they are looking for.
However, “The contractor shall support the testing, deployment, integration and sustainment of BDP analytics as required,” the document states. “The contractor shall also assess and evaluate implementing analytics as developed by others on the BDP.”
Along with those capability enhancements, the vendor will also be expected to act as a system administrator, including ensuring the right people and teams have access to needed information and ensuring that information is properly stored and secured.
The Big Data Platform is part of a suite of tools CYBERCOM is using to analyze threat data and act as an information clearinghouse for the military and defense industrial base, according to Lisa Belt, acting cyber development executive at the Defense Information Systems Agency.
“Acropolis coupled with Big Data coupled with [the Cyber Situational Awareness Analytical Capabilities program] all come together to form what we consider the basis of our data brokering and analytics platform,” Belt said during DISA's Forecast to Industry day Nov. 5.
The contract will run for up to three years, with one base year and two one-year add-on options.
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November 4, 2021 | International, Aerospace
National Reconnaissance Office wants satellite imagery from commercial providers
A new request for proposals will govern the agency's new commercial imagery contracts.
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December 24, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR
Airports to go on counter-attack with 'killer' devices and bazookas
The Telegraph, Charles Hymas All Britain airports are increasing or reviewing their defences because of fears of copycat attacks ... following the chaos at Gatwick that ruined the travel plans of 140,000 people Britain's major airports are to step up security with military-grade detection systems that would help them counter Gatwick-style drone incidents by launching their own “killer drones” or shooting them down with firearms. The move emerged as Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, and Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, prepared to meet today (Monday) to review progress on the police investigation and measures to protect the public from future attacks. All airports in Britain are increasing or reviewing their defences because of fears of copycat attacks, according to Whitehall sources, following the chaos at Gatwick that ruined the travel plans of 140,000 people. Gatwick is expected to be the first to operate detection technology designed to be as sophisticated as that being used by the crack RAF and Army signals teams deployed to the airport last week. It allows personnel to detect, track and photograph drones at a distance of more than 1km and up to 5km. Whitehall sources said options for countering the threat included airports deploying their own drones, firing bazookas with projectiles that trapped them in nets, or deploying police with shotguns to shoot them down. The military team was due to remain at Gatwick until the airport's own defence system was operational, possibly for the two weeks over Christmas. Stewart Wingate, the chief executive of Gatwick, said: “We are equipping ourselves with capabilities to detect and defeat drones.” A Whitehall source said: “The first thing is to detect when a drone is coming in and having enough distance in which to do that. Second is being able to track the signal.” The Metis Skyperion technology, thought to be used by the military, deploys cameras, laser rangefinders, radar and radio frequency scanners to pinpoint the drone. To install a similar system at a major airport could cost up to pounds 5m, according to one expert. To track the drone to its operator would require additional sensors that even the military has not deployed at Gatwick. Finding the culprit becomes easier if they remain in sight of their device. Gatwick declined to reveal the measures it was considering to “defeat” or “disrupt” any further attacks. Police at Heathrow are testing a SkyWall 100 bazooka, a shoulder-launched weapon that fires a projectile containing a net. “Some of the airports are putting up enhanced firearms capabilities, most are doing increased police patrols inside and outside,” said a Whitehall source. “Airports are also assessing and monitoring potential launch sites.” Legislation will be rushed through in the new year to enable electronic jamming by airports, bigger drone exclusion zones and new police powers. https://nationalpost.com/news/world/airports-to-go-on-counter-attack-with-killer-devices-and-bazookas