November 27, 2023 | International, Aerospace
France and Spain are also slated to send aircraft for training visits, putting a "European face" on the summer deployment, the German air force chief said.
September 17, 2023 | International, Land
The security situation in Romania has become more turbulent than normal, with the finding of drone debris near the country’s border with Ukraine.
September 24, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval
Boeing and the U.S. Navy on September 19 completed the first test flight of the MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueler. Designated as T1, the MQ-25 test asset completed an autonomous two-hour flight under the direction of Boeing test pilots operating from a ground control station at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Ill., where the test program is based. The aircraft completed an autonomous taxi and takeoff and then flew a pre-determined route to validate the aircraft's basic flight functions and operations with the ground control station. “Seeing MQ-25 in the sky is a testament to our Boeing and Navy team working the technology, systems and processes that are helping get MQ-25 to the carrier,” said Boeing MQ-25 program director Dave Bujold. “This aircraft and its flight test program ensures we're delivering the MQ-25 to the carrier fleet with the safety, reliability and capability the U.S. Navy needs to conduct its vital mission.” The Boeing-owned test asset is a predecessor to the engineering development model (EDM) aircraft and is being used for what the company describes as early learning and discovery to meet the goals of the U.S. Navy's accelerated acquisition program. Boeing will produce four EDM MQ-25 air vehicles for the U.S. Navy under an US$805 million ($1.1 billion) contract awarded in August 2018. Boeing receives $805M MQ-25 contract Boeing explains the MQ-25 will provide the Navy with a much-needed carrier-based unmanned aerial refueling capability, which will allow for better use of the combat strike fighters currently performing the tanking role. It will also extend the range of the carrier air wing. “Today's flight is an exciting and significant milestone for our program and the Navy,” said the Navy's Unmanned Carrier Aviation (PMA-268) Program Manager Capt. Chad Reed. “The flight of this test asset two years before our first MQ-25 arrives represents the first big step in a series of early learning opportunities that are helping us progress toward delivery of a game-changing capability for the carrier air wing and strike group commanders.” The Navy expects the first four MQ-25s to reach operational capability on carrier decks in 2024. After this contract is complete, covering the design and production of the four MQ-25 airframes for testing, the Navy plans to buy 72 more vehicles with a total program cost of about US$13 billion ($17 billion). Héroux-Devtek to supply landing gear for Boeing MQ-25 Stingray In April 2019, Héroux-Devtek Inc. of Longueuil, Québec, was awarded a contract by Boeing to supply the complete landing gear system for the MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueling program. T1 received its experimental airworthiness certificate from the FAA in September, verifying that the air vehicle meets the agency's requirements for safe flight. https://www.wingsmagazine.com/first-test-flight-for-boeing-mq-25
June 17, 2019 | International, Security, Other Defence
By: Mark Pomerleau Contractors, facing an increasing barrage of cyber intrusions by foreign entities, should protect themselves using traditional regulatory approaches but also new techniques such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, according to a new report from Deloitte. As companies in the defense supply chain began following the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) cybersecurity regulations and the Department of Defense started to assess how adoption went, “we started to form our own ideas on what we see as emerging issues and solutions that [can] ... improve the cybersecurity posture against our enemies,” Jeff Lucy, managing director in cyber risk services practice at Deloitte, told Fifth Domain. On the regulatory side, the report, titled “Third-party risk management: Cybersecurity in the Defense Industrial Base,” says prime contractors must comply with the defense regulations measuring their companies' compliance with national cybersecurity standards. They should also create awareness among their subcontractors and smaller companies by providing training. Third, primes should create third party assessment programs for performing cybersecurity evaluations of their suppliers. However, the paper also suggests non-regulatory approaches, including automating supply chain functions, integrating blockchain to boost cybersecurity and using artificial intelligence to gain real time visibility into the threat landscape. Lucy noted that the Pentagon is beginning to take these regulations seriously and the problems aren't going away. “In 2019 we've seen that the DoD has started to move forward, start to take action to enforce their expectations around the DFARS requirements,” he said. “It's clear now with the steps that we're seeing with [Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment] Ellen Lord getting the [Defense Contract Management Agency] on board to start auditing the suppliers processes for assessing their suppliers.” Cyber intrusions into the supply chains of defense contractors have become more prevalent in recent years. In a recent example, the Chinese government was blamed for a series of hacks and while the information they stole was not technically classified, in aggregate, it was considered to be quite damaging to the U.S. This year's Department-wide annual report on Chinese military activity included a new section highlighting that China's exfiltration of sensitive military information from the defense industrial base could allow it to gain a military advantage. Ultimately, Lucy said the solution to the supply chain and cybersecurity for the defense industrial base is manageable. “Most primes, from what I've seen with interactions with our customers, have put some level of the basic elements for a supplier assessment program in place already,” he said. “They've done some level of canvassing their suppliers, critical suppliers, taking a risk based approach to understand whether their suppliers are in adopting” standards. https://www.fifthdomain.com/industry/2019/06/14/how-contractors-can-guard-against-cyber-intrusions/