eBrief: Drones An “Immediate Threat” – DoD Plans Rapid Acquisition of Counter-UAS Systems

On the same subject

• 

  August 16, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Sprint toward new missile-warning satellites begins with first contract award to Lockheed

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is racing to kick-start its new accelerated program to buy next-generation missile warning satellites, awarding a contract on Aug. 14 to Lockheed Martin for the first three satellites in the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared program. The award, which has a value of up to $2.9 billion, will allow Lockheed to do the design work, flight hardware procurement, early manufacturing and risk-reduction work necessary for a critical design review, the service said in a statement. Lockheed is set to provide the three geosynchronous Earth orbit satellites in the Next-Gen OPIR constellation. "As we develop these new systems, speed matters," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in a statement. "We are focused on providing a missile warning capability survivable in a contested environment by the mid-2020s." More specifically, the Air Force has said it plans to launch its first Next Gen OPIR satellite in 2023, two years earlier than its original plan to begin fielding the replacement for the Space Based Infrared System, or SBIRS, which called for first launches in 2025. Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, was one of the biggest critics of the Air Force's original procurement strategy for a next generation SBIRS. In December, he called the service's plan to field the new constellation by fiscal 2029 “ridiculous” and said it could be done faster. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/space/2018/08/15/sprint-towards-new-missile-warning-satellites-begins-with-first-contract-award-to-lockheed

• 

  January 23, 2019 | International, C4ISR

  The Army wants to use AI to prevent cyberattacks

  By: Justin Lynch If the U.S. Army has its way, soldiers deployed on the battlefield will be shielded from cyberattacks without human involvement. The Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground is conducting research into how artificial intelligence can protect soldiers' tactical networks and communications from cyberattacks, according to a Jan 14. announcement. Among the areas of research are ways for machine learning to automatically detect known cyber vulnerabilities, spot previously unknown malware and respond to a cyberattack. After the market research is submitted, the Army will use the submissions for informational and planning purposes only. The Army's hunt for AI research comes as the Pentagon has grown more interested in defending against cyberattacks that itself use machine learning. It is a future where machines will fight machines in cyberspace. That concern was evident in the service's announcement. “The cyber technology will secure automated network decisions and defend against adaptive autonomous cyberattacks at machine speed,” the Army wrote. Evidence of the Army's focus on AI was evident during the 2018 CyCon conference in November. The Army is interested in three primary categories of artificial intelligence attacks, Maj. Nathan Bastian, a researcher at the Army Cyber Institute said during the conference. First, data poisoning is a method in which an attacker inserts malicious information into a data set. Because artificial intelligence relies on these data sets to make decisions, their manipulation blunts machine learning's effectiveness, Bastian said. Second, an attack on artificial intelligence can take place by changing the classification methods. For example, if a cat is incorrectly labeled as a dog, than artificial intelligence's use is mitigated, Bastian said. Third, an inference attack, or figuring out where machine learning's boundaries lie, can be a weapon to defeat artificial intelligence. By discovering the limitations of the machine's algorithm, Bastian said hackers can manipulate its effectiveness. The Department of Defense has expanded its research into AI in recent months. In October 2018, the service created its AI task force, which is located at Carnegie Mellon University. Projects are initiated by the Army Futures Command. The Pentagon also created its Joint AI Center in the summer of 2018. At the CyCon conference, Brig. Gen. Matthew Easley, head of the Army's new AI task force, said that the Pentagon needs to integrate commercial AI products. “The commercial sector is driving current breakthroughs in applications of AI,” Easley said. Easley laid out four principles for what the Army sees as a successful AI project. They include clean data, an articulate use case, talent and technology. However, Easley cautioned about the boundaries of machine learning during the event. Limitations of AI can include a sample size that is too small and limited ability to use the machine learning in the field. He also said that AI struggles to detect zero-day attacks, which are programming bugs. “AI is not all that easy,” Easley said. “Realizing the potential of AI will require major transformation,” for the Pentagon. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2019/01/22/the-army-wants-to-use-ai-to-prevent-cyberattacks

• 

  June 30, 2020 | International, Land

  GM Defense wins Infantry Squad Vehicle production contract

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The Army has awarded GM Defense a $214.3 million contract to produce the service's new Infantry Squad Vehicle. The contract covers the cost of the first 649 vehicles, with work to be completed by June 24, 2028. The service hopes to eventually procure 2,065 of the ISVs. "Winning this Army award is well-deserved recognition for the hard work and dedication of our GM Defense team and their production of a fantastic vehicle. We are confident the GMD ISV will meet and exceed all of our customers' requirements," David Albritton, president of GM Defense, said in a statement. "It's indeed an honor to leverage our parent company's experience as one of the world's largest automotive manufacturers to design, build and deliver the best technologies available to the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and our allies." The ISV, designed to carry a nine soldier squad, was specifically put together to be light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk and small enough to fit inside a C4-47 Chinook, to provide maximum flexibility for deployment. GM's design is based off the company's 2020 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 midsize truck and use 90 percent commercial parts, according to the company, including a 186-horsepower, 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine. The attempt to procure a light infantry vehicle goes back to 2015, but nothing truly materialized until Congress forced the Army to launch the competition as part of the fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act. Last August, the Army awarded $1 million contracts to three teams — GM Defense, a team-up of Oshkosh Defense and Flyer Defense LLC, and a SAIC and Polaris team-up — to develop their offerings for the ISV program. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/29/gm-defense-wins-infantry-squad-vehicle-production-contract/