February 8, 2024 | International, Land
US 2024 elections to impact defence spending
The outcome of the US election is certain to have a massive impact on global politics and industry spending.
June 11, 2018 | International, C4ISR
Cyberwarriors need a training platform, and fast
By: Mark Pomerleau
U.S. Cyber Command's cyber teams are now built and transitioning to readiness, and now the force needs a dedicated platform to conduct training.
Given the importance of properly preparing cyberwarriors, the Army (acting as Cyber Command's executive agent for all the service's cyber teams) has been using a rapid acquisition approach called other transaction authorities to field a training platform.
The Persistent Cyber Training Environment, or PCTE, is not a single entity, but rather a complex system of systems that will require many moving parts for individual and collective training, as well as mission rehearsal.
According to Jim Keffer, director of cyber at Lockheed Martin, it will be more than just a cyber range. It'll require event management; scheduling for training exercises; scenario design features; control of the exercises; assessments; red forces; library of capabilities that can be linked to designing adversary network mock-ups (which will require good intelligence); and classrooms to put all this together.
The reason such a high-end training environment is being fast-tracked is because cyberwarriors don't currently have anything akin to what traditional war fighters use to prepare for combat. Capstone cyber exercises that only occur once or twice a year are not enough for the force, and in many cases the first-time cyberwarriors will engage with an adversary in the real world and not in simulations.
“It's like a fighter pilot going up and the first time he's flown actual combat is against a real adversary,” Keffer told Fifth Domain. “That's not a good way to fight wars. That's not a good way to train your troops. That's not a good way to decrease the risk to your forces.”
Incremental approach
The overall PCTE is made up of a number of cyber investment challenges, or CICs, that the Army is releasing incrementally and will eventually string together.
This will “bring together some of the best technology that's out there” to address immediate needs in various categories as the longer-term vision of what PCTE might look like coalesces, Deon Viergutz, vice president of Cyber Solutions at Lockheed Martin, told Fifth Domain in an interview.
The Army will release five CIC's to get multiple industry approaches as it heads up the full PCTE indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract, Viergutz said, adding, “I believe that is still under work, the long term for PCTE and the acquisition.”
While CIC one has been awarded, CIC two should be awarded in the next few weeks. According to contracting documents, CIC two is focused on enabling user access to the PCTE and training aids through a portal. CIC three, which is forthcoming in mid- to late-June, is focused on red team planning, as well as master exercise control. CIC four, estimated for release in July, will focus on training assessment.
There is no information released yet regarding CIC five.
One important question remains unclear, however: In the end, who will be the integrator of systems — the government or a contractor?
“The seams between all these capabilities tend to be the weak points. Having an integrator to kind of tie all that together — the ranges and all these different capabilities — would be important to make sure that the cyberwarriors get the best capability that they deserve ... as quickly as possible,” Keffer said.
“If the government wants to be the integrator, we'll do all we can to help them out. If they want industry to be the integrator, industry has a lot of experience doing that, especially Lockheed Martin; we're big in the training business.”
https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2018/06/04/cyberwarriors-need-a-training-platform-and-fast/
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February 11, 2022 | International, C4ISR, Security
Pentagon's main cybersecurity initiative for defense contractors switches hands
The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification is moving from the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment to the chief information officer.
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July 7, 2020 | International, Aerospace
U.S. Air Force will fund research into tech that enables eVTOL aircraft
The U.S. Air Force is looking to fund research into “deep tech” for eVTOL aircraft through its next round of Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract awards. By Elan Head An award-winning journalist, Elan is also a commercial helicopter pilot and an FAA Gold Seal flight instructor with helicopter and instrument ratings. Follow her on Twitter @elanhead View more posts NEWS U.S. Air Force will fund research into tech that enables eVTOL aircraft Monday July 6, 2020 The U.S. Air Force is looking to fund research into “deep tech” for eVTOL aircraft through its next round of Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract awards. The focus on technology research is one more aspect of Agility Prime, the Air Force's effort to accelerate development of the commercial eVTOL industry with the goal of establishing U.S. dominance in this emerging field. Speaking during an Agility Prime webinar on July 1, Dr. Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, suggested that the Air Force could help fill a funding gap left by Silicon Valley investors who have increasingly prioritized software enterprises that promise faster returns. “We want to take risk by investing in deep tech,” he said. “For programs like Agility Prime that are going to be tackling a lot of really tough challenges — from power to flight safety to logistics — there's a lot of really cutting-edge tech that has to be created, has to be matured and developed, if we're ultimately going to bring this market to bear in the U.S. first. Well, STTR is a great place to start tackling the hard challenges now.” STTR is a federal government program created to help commercialize compelling technology from across the U.S. research community. Like the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, it focuses on three phases — concept development, prototype development and commercialization — with various funding amounts available for different phases. Unlike SBIR, however, STTR requires that participating small businesses partner with an eligible nonprofit research institution. According to Roper, the Air Force devotes around $700 million per year to SBIR and another $200 million to STTR projects — not all of which will yield results. “We don't expect every company in STTR to succeed, just like we don't in SBIR,” he said. “This is an investment portfolio, so we're looking for return across the whole portfolio, not [on] a company-by-company basis. But we should start planting the long-lead seeds now, because if we don't, they're not going to bloom in time for us to harvest in a way that will benefit programs like Agility Prime.” The Air Force's next STTR Open Topic solicitation will include an Agility Prime focus area, intended to survey a large scope of technologies including autonomy, advanced aircraft materials and manufacturing, novel acoustics techniques, and sense-and-avoid systems, to name a few. The Air Force expects to award an estimated $10 million worth of phase one contracts for values up to $150,000 within 90 days. According to Jared Evans, a partner in AFVentures who also spoke during the webinar, phase two contracts are expected to have an initial value of $750,000, with the most promising projects then eligible for a “strategic fund increase” up to $30 million. “Ultimately, our end goal here is . . . transitioning to a full program of record,” he explained. “There's no STTR funding for that, but there's also no limit on government input or private investment.” In advance of the solicitation, the Air Force innovation division AFWERX will be hosting a virtual TeamUp event with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) on July 15 and 16. The first day of the event will be open to the public and will include an overview of STTR funding opportunities, plus a virtual trade show. The second day will be restricted to Agility Prime ecosystem members who have chosen to register for a virtual booth, with the aim of facilitating connections that could lead to collaborative STTR proposals. Registration for the event is available here. “TeamUp events like this one will provide opportunities for multiple stakeholders to come together and compete with speed,” stated AFWERX director and Agility Prime team lead Col. Nathan Diller in a press release announcing the event. “Just like AFWERX and AFRL are teaming up to bring cutting-edge commercial technology together with world-class research, we are encouraging entrepreneurs and researchers from around the country to ‘TeamUp' in a way that strengthens our national security and prosperity.” https://evtol.com/news/air-force-agility-prime-sttr/