Elbit America wins $500 Million contract to continue supplying Night Vision to U.S Marines

On the same subject

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  September 30, 2022 | International, C4ISR

  Beyond Killer Robots: How AI impacts security, military affairs

  Nations that set limits on AI capabilities may encounter adversaries who have no qualms about doing so, putting them at a disadvantage.

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  May 14, 2019 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  The Pentagon wants to create a broader network of innovators

  By: Mike Gruss The Pentagon is reorganizing its internal offices to better partner with universities and upstart technology firms to ensure the military has access to talent and research in the near future and to fortify its innovation pipeline. Defense leaders are increasingly worried about what they describe as the national security innovation base. They hope a series of steps will make it easier to work with, and take advantage of, the leading-edge science across the country. This includes technology that spans from the concept stage to the production stage, and outlets that includes researchers to the defense industrial base. The changes, which affect the Defense Innovation Unit and MD5, were first mentioned in the Pentagon's budget request for fiscal 2020 and have been discussed with increasing details in recent weeks. Defense innovation leaders explained the new setup to C4ISRNET in an interview May 9. DIU's mission is to help the military accelerate its use of emerging commercial technologies and lower the barrier of entry for businesses that don't already do business with the Pentagon. Under the new approach: - The MD5 National Security Technology Accelerator has been renamed the National Security Innovation Network. The network, which helps connect academia, DOD laboratories and users, will fall under the Defense Innovation Unit as a way to take advantage of economies of scale. Morgan Plummer, the network's managing director, said the new name, which changed May 6, more accurately portrays the agency's mission. The program has its own line in the budget for the first time in fiscal 2020. - The National Security Innovation Capital fund, a new program created in the fiscal 2019 defense policy bill, will set aside investment in upstart U.S. companies so they don't fall risk to foreign investors. U.S. leaders fear that as some startups become so desperate for funding they may not consider the national security ramifications of accepting money from overseas. “It's an attempt to keep hardware investment on shore,” said Mike Madsen, director of Washington operations at DIU. The NSIC also aims to signal to the investment community that the Defense Department is interested in developing dual-use technologies and to provide a foreign investment alternative for hardware companies. In testimony to Congress in March, Mike Griffin, the Pentagon's acquisition chief for research and engineering, said that the new groups will fall to DIU “in an effort to put similarly-focused organizations under a single leadership structure.” Perhaps more importantly, Defense leaders said the new structure will help the Pentagon “hand off” technology with a low readiness level or level of maturity until it is ready for broader adoption. “There are these huge pools of untapped talent,” Plummer said. To take advantage of that talent means going beyond research grants in academia and instead to create a network of hubs and spokes of early stage ventures in approximately 35 communities throughout the country. While DIU has offices in Austin, Boston and Silicon Valley, creating a broader network means the NSIN would have staffers in cities such as Chicago, Miami, Columbus, Boulder, Raleigh, St. Louis and Minneapolis. “It makes the Department accessible in a real way,” Plummer said. Previously, business leaders may see the Pentagon as a “big gray monolith” and “may not even know where the door to this place is.” DIU will continue to focus on artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber, human systems, and space. The Pentagon asked for $164 million for DIU in its fiscal 2020 budget request. https://www.c4isrnet.com/pentagon/2019/05/13/the-pentagon-wants-to-create-a-broader-network-of-innovators/

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  August 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  US Space Force completes upgrade to help protect GPS capabilities

  Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force has completed upgrades to the Global Position System's ground segment that will allow it to partially use a new military GPS signal known as M-code, the service announced Aug. 6. While the new anti-spoofing, anti-jamming, encrypted M-code signal has been available on many GPS satellites for years, the military has not had the corresponding ground and user equipment to access and leverage it. The $6.2 billion Next-Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, being built by Raytheon Technologies for that purpose is five years behind schedule and isn't expected to be delivered until June 2021. To provide access for war fighters in the interim, the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin a contingency operations contract in 2016 to build an M-code upgrade to the current GPS Operational Control System. That M-Code Early Use upgrade will allow war fighters with the appropriate equipment to use some aspects of the new military signal until OCX is ready. M-Code Early Use was delivered in June 2019, entered a trial period in October and was approved for everyday use in March 2020. The M-Code Early Use hardware and software upgrades were completed July 27, clearing the path for the system to enter the operational acceptance phase in November 2020. Installation took place at the master control station at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado and the alternate master control stations at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The upgrades allow OCS to task, upload and monitor M-code on the GPS constellation and will support testing and fielding military ground user equipment that can receive the signal. “Working closely with Lockheed Martin and our other mission partners — with the common national goal of providing enhanced [positioning, navigation and timing] signal security and safety always in sharp focus — means we're able to deliver the right mission capability faster to our warfighters,” said Lt. Col. Steven Nielson, program manager of the M-Code Early Use project. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/08/07/space-force-complete-m-code-upgrades-to-gps-control-segment/