EXCLUSIF Défense : le leader français de la vision nocturne va passer sous bannière américaine

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  April 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Boeing gets another $827M charge on the KC-46 program

  By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — Boeing took a $827 million hit as cost overruns continue for the KC-46 tanker program, the company announced Wednesday. About $551 million of the pre-tax charge was caused by new expenses associated with designing and integrating a new Remote Vision System for the tanker as part of an April agreement with the Air Force. The remainder of the charge reflected “productivity inefficiencies and COVID-19 related factory disruption,” according to a news release. KC-46 production stopped for about three weeks over the past month due to a temporary shutdown at Boeing facilities in the Seattle area — including the factory in Everett, Wash., where the tanker is produced. With the new charge, Boeing has now racked up about $4.6 billion in cost overruns over the life of the KC-46 program. Those expenses must be completely paid by Boeing under the terms of the $4.9 billion fixed-price firm contract it agreed to in 2011. The bill comes as Boeing contends with the continued grounding of the 737 MAX and instability to the air travel market posed by COVID-19, which has led to lost orders and disruptions throughout the company's production lines. But the RVS deal struck in April could potentially mark a new chapter for the tanker program, which has been mired in disputes between Boeing and the Air Force for years. The RVS — integrated by Boeing with cameras and sensors from Collins Aerospace — feeds live video and other data to the boom operator, who is able to use those cues to pump gas into another aircraft. But the Air Force has complained that the system does not work properly in all lighting conditions, leading to an increased risk of the KC-46 accidentally scraping the aircraft receiving fuel. Under the terms of the new deal, Boeing will make incremental hardware and software improvements to the existing system, but it will also design a new “RVS 2.0” with high-definition color cameras, better displays and improved computing systems not on the market when the first RVS was developed. During an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the defense market continues to be healthy with solid demand. Overall, first quarter revenue for Boeing's defense sector decreased to $6 billion, down from about $6.6 billion in 2019. Most of that reduction was due to the KC-46 charge, according to the company, but a number of other defense programs were also impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, leading to reduced margin. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/04/29/boeing-gets-another-827m-charge-on-the-kc-46-program/

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  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

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  May 31, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  CAE awarded US$455M subcontract for U.S. Army Flight School Training Support Services

  The contract, valued at US$455M, supports the recent US$1.7B award to GDIT by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation