GenAI: A New Headache for SaaS Security Teams

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  November 6, 2019 | International, Land

  £2.8bn armoured vehicle contract secured for British Army

  November 5, 2019 - A contract worth £2.8 billion has been signed to provide state-of-the-art armoured fighting vehicles to the British Army. The Defence Secretary has announced that the army will receive more than 500 Boxer 8×8 high mobility, network-enabled armoured vehicles to transport troops onto the frontline. Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, said: “Our men and women of the Armed Forces deserve to have the best equipment to do their job. “The Boxer vehicle is a leader in its field and I look forward to it arriving in units from 2023.” The vehicles will form part of the Army's Strike brigades, new units set up to deploy rapidly over long distances across varied terrains. Boxer is modular by design to meet these requirements – the same vehicle base can be rapidly reconfigured to fill different roles on the battlefield, from carrying troops across deserts to treating severely injured service personnel on the journey to hospital. Initially the Army will buy a mixture of the troop-carrying variant, ambulances, command vehicles, and specialist designs to carry military equipment. Sir Simon Bollom, Chief Executive of Defence, Equipment and Support (DE&S), said: “This is excellent news for the Army and I'm delighted that we can now move forward with a contract for the Mechanised Infantry Vehicle. “We are looking forward to continuing to work closely with the Army and our partners across industry to deliver the best equipment and support for our troops.” The UK announced in 2018 that it would re-join the Boxer programme within the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) and explore options to modernise its vehicle fleet and meet the Army's Mechanised Infantry Vehicle requirement. The UK played a central role in the original design, development and testing of the Boxer. In re-joining the programme last year, the UK reassumed the rights it had as a project partner. Major General Simon Hamilton, Mechanised Infantry Vehicle Programme lead for the British Army, said: “I am delighted that we have committed to delivering the Mechanised Infantry capability through the purchase of around 500 battle-winning Boxer vehicles for the British Army. Boxer completes the suite of platforms to equip our new state-of-the-art STRIKE brigade where, alongside Ajax, Boxer's low logistic need, extended reach, high-mobility, and advanced digitisation will ensure STRIKE is ready for any global scenario.” This contract was signed ahead of the pre-election period due to the strong value-for-money agreement reached with industry and other OCCAR nations, which expires on December 31st 2019, and announced today due to expected market implications. It would be possible for a new Government to take a different position. The MOD Permanent Secretary, as the Accounting Officer, considered the value for money implications and, on this basis, determined the most appropriate course of action is to proceed with the contract award ahead of the election. View source version on MOD UK: https://des.mod.uk/armoured-vehicle-contract-secured-british-army/

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  October 19, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

  Contract Awards by US Department of Defense – October 16, 2020

  U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND Barbaricum LLC, Washington, D.C. (H92401-21-D-0001); iGov Technologies Inc., Reston, Virginia (H92401-21-D-0002); and NexTech Solutions LLC, Orange Park, Florida (H92401-21-D-0003), were awarded three indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a maximum combined ceiling of $780,000,000 under the Targeted Requirement Execution multiple award contract for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance related equipment solutions as well as related incidental development and/or other services in the following four categories: system integration, hardware and modifications, specialized communications solutions, and networks and signal processing capabilities. Fiscal 2020 procurement funds in the amount of $2,500 are being obligated for each contract at the time of award. The majority of the work will be performed at the contractors' facilities and is expected to be completed by October 2025. The contracts were competitively awarded using Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 15 procedures. U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. ARMY Navistar Defense, Melrose Park, Illinois, was awarded a $44,817,631 modification (P00013) to contract W56HZV-15-D-0037 for technical support services for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected MaxxPro family of vehicles. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2023. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity is the contracting activity. NAVY BAE Systems Land & Armaments L.P., Armament Systems Division, Louisville, Kentucky, is being awarded a $33,673,319 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00174-19-C-0004 for two overhauled/upgraded MK45 Mod 4 gun mounts, and their associated components, to include Mk63 Mod 1 weather shields, Mod 4 manufacture kits, and Mod 0 gun barrels. Work will be performed in Louisville, Kentucky, and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $33,673,319 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $25,053,891 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-2120 for additional fiscal 2021 development studies and design efforts for Virginia-class submarines. Work will be performed in McLeansville, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by September 2021. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $15,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. *Small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2385079/

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  October 17, 2019 | International, Land

  3 ways the Pentagon wants to make buying American weapons easier

  By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — America sold more than $55 billion in weapons abroad in fiscal 2019, but the man in charge of those efforts hopes to increase sales as he continues to tinker with the security cooperation system. Security cooperation has long been a foreign policy tool in America's pocket, but under the Trump administration, it “has been elevated to a tool of first resort for U.S. foreign policy,” Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, the head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, said during a panel at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference. Since taking over at DSCA, Hooper has implemented a series of reforms aimed not only at speeding the process up, but shaving costs for potential buyers. He intends to keep that reform effort going in 2020. Here's how: Continue to cut surcharge costs. In June, DSCA dropped a surcharge on American defense goods sold abroad from 3.5 percent to 3.2 percent; later that year, the agency also cut a transportation administration fee. Both those charges are used to support DSCA operations, but some in the security cooperation process had argued the increased prices for customers would lead potential buyers to look to cheaper Russian or Chinese goods in the future. Hooper said that in 2020, DSCA plans to also cut the contract administration surcharge — applied to each FMS case to pay for contract quality assurance, management and audits — from 1.2 percent to 1 percent. “This will reduce the overall costs of FMS and could potentially save allies and partners 16.7 percent in CAS surcharges in this coming year,” Hooper said. Make it easier for customers to get custom weapon systems. The FMS system is set up to help sell weapons that are identical to systems already in use by the U.S. military. It's easier to move a package of Abrams tanks equipped with the same gear that multiple countries use than to push through a custom version with specific capabilities. But Hooper noted that partners are moving away from standard designs and are looking for systems “designed and tailored to meet their needs. Our system was not initially designed to process these types of systems, which increases time and cost in the U.S. response.” To help deal with that, DSCA established an “interagency non-program of record community of interest,” which involves all the agencies that have a say in the process, to figure out ways to make moving custom systems more plausible. The goal is to have a new pathway for moving those capabilities by 2020, which Hooper says will “reduce the time it takes to review request for non-program of record systems, to facilitate industry ability to compete in this global market.” Plan out commercial offsets. Many countries require offsets from industry for big foreign military sales. These offsets are essentially throw-in sweeteners for the buying country, put together from the industrial partner. In the past, these were often things like building a new library or school. But in the last two decades, some countries specifically requested high-end technologies or tech transfer to jump-start their domestic defense industries. Because offsets are negotiated between the industrial partner and the customer nation, the Pentagon, which serves as the in-between for an FMS case, often finds out about offsets only at the end of the process. But with offsets becoming more technological, those now require more review time, and so a deal can slow down while the relevant agencies approve the deal. Hooper hopes 2020 will see industry better inform DSCA of potential offsets early in the process so that last minute hangups can be avoided. “We continue to encourage our industry partners to inform the U.S. of potential offset requirements early on so that we can begin the necessary technology security foreign disclosure and policy reviews as early as possible,” Hooper said. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/ausa/2019/10/16/3-ways-the-pentagon-wants-to-make-buying-american-weapons-easier/