September 4, 2018 | International, C4ISR
BY FRANK KONKEL
MilCloud 2.0 is about to host a lot more data, and the Defense Department wants ideas for how to get it there faster.
The Defense Department's technical arm wants to see what capabilities exist in the marketplace to improve the migration of data and applications to milCloud 2.0, the Pentagon's on-premise cloud.
On Wednesday, the Defense Information Systems Agency issued a request for informationto industry seeking input on “rapid cloud migration” as it aims to understand capabilities relevant to “automated cloud migration techniques.”
The RFI, which does not constitute a solicitation but could lead to one-on-one discussions with vendors, comes three months after Pentagon memo directed all “fourth-estate” defense agencies to migrate all data and applications to milCloud 2.0 by 2020. In the interim, the Office of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer had planned to coordinate with affected agencies, including DISA, to plan their cloud migrations.
MilCloud 2.0 went live earlier this year as part of a three-year, $500 million contract won by CSRA, which has since been purchased by defense contractor General Dynamics.
The RFI makes clear the Pentagon's current migration strategy, which includes “manual cloning and conversion of server images, which are then provisioned, into the new cloud environment, or provisioning, building and configuring applications on virtual servers from scratch,” is not sufficient.
“This RFI seeks migration solutions that can accurately duplicate the suite of servers used with an application from their current environment into a cloud environment built on Apache CloudStack technology and KVM hypervisor,” the RFI states. “The scope of duplication includes all applications used with the system, configuration of network and network security controls when proper APIs are exposed, and identification of interactions within the application system and to external systems when needed network traffic is made available for analysis.”
Options, the RFI says, could include the “use of vendor-provided tools or analytic capabilities if packet captures, or other network monitoring information.”
Industry responses must be received by Sept. 10.
August 31, 2021 | International, Naval
Italian shipyard Fincantieri is holding early talks with Italy's Leonardo to acquire its naval gun manufacturing operation, formerly known as Oto Melara.
October 29, 2020 | International, Aerospace
Joe Gould WASHINGTON ― Raytheon Technologies is cutting 15,000 staff and 4,000 contractor positions, largely at the company's Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace divisions, due to decreased commercial aerospace sales from COVID-19 pandemic, CEO Greg Hayes said Tuesday on the company's earnings call. The Waltham, Mass., aerospace giant is the latest company to announce losses since the pandemic has sent commercial aerospace companies reeling, costing them tens of thousands of jobs and millions in lost profits. Hayes projected the market segment wouldn't get a sharp rebound, but instead see “a long, slow recovery,” over several years. “We don't expect commercial air traffic to return to 2019 levels, until at least 2023. And that's of course depending upon the timing of a widely distributed vaccine. In the near term, we expect a gradual recovery of commercial air traffic particularly given the recent spike in global cases [of coronavirus],” Hayes said. “As you know, we set aggressive targets in the first quarter to reduce costs by about $2 billion and to take actions to conserve about $4 billion in cash, making difficult but necessary actions to reduce headcount,” Hayes said. The ongoing personnel actions will reflect a 20 percent cut at both divisions, and include both temporary furloughs and a hiring freeze. In its merger with United Technologies in April, the company already planned to cut 1,000 jobs, mostly on its corporate side, Hayes said. The company is also reducing its infrastructure, which takes up 31 million square feet, by more than 20 percent ― beyond an earlier 10 percent goal for the merger. Hayes said that even after the pandemic subsides, it would continue to employ increased remote-work arrangements as part of a multiyear strategy to slash overhead. An announced aerospace-parts facility in western North Carolina is still in the works, as Hayes said the company would need the capacity when demand returns. “I think by the time this comes online in late 2023, we should see a kind of return to normalcy in commercial aerospace, and Pratt will be well positioned with a much lower cost, much more automated production facility,” he said. According to third-quarter numbers posted by Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney posted a $615 million loss in operating profit for the quarter versus a $520 million profit for the same period in 2019. Pratt's military sales rose 11 percent, driven in part by production of the F-35 joint strike fighter. Collins managed to post an operating profit of $526 million for the quarter, but the number marked a 58 percent drop over the prior year. Raytheon's commercial aftermarket business fell 51 percent at Pratt & Whitney and 52 percent at Collins Aerospace, while the company's military side was up. Both Raytheon's intelligence and space and missiles and defense segments offset some of the losses, as the company reported sales of $14.7 billion and an operating profit of $434 million for the quarter. Raytheon executives were upbeat on the defense business's backlog of more than $70 billion, and for the quarter, the segment posted $928 million in classified bookings. Correction: An earlier version of the story misstated the timing of the job cuts. They are ongoing, and most took place prior to Tuesday's call. https://www.defensenews.com/2020/10/27/raytheon-to-lay-off-20000-amid-commercial-aviation-slide/
March 18, 2022 | International, C4ISR
The new unclassified summary document comes nearly a year after the Secretary of Defense approved the Joint All-Domain Command and Control strategy.