December 2, 2019 | International, C4ISR, Security

How the Defense Digital Service revamped Army cyber training

Earlier this year, the Defense Digital Service — the Pentagon's cadre of coders and hackers performing a short stint in government — finished the second phase of a pilot program to streamline cyber training for the Army.

The Army wanted to streamline two phases of cyber training: the Joint Cyber Analytics Course, or JCAC, which takes 27 weeks in Pensacola, Florida, and provides basic cyber training for joint forces that have no prior experience in cyber; and the more tactical training that happens at Fort Gordon in Georgia. Combined, the two phases take a minimum of 36 weeks.

To accomplish this, the Defense Digital Service, working with the Army Cyber Center of Excellence and a private vendor, built a course to conduct training in three months — everything a cyberwarrior needed to know from JCAC, said Clair Koroma, a bureaucracy hacker at DDS.

Phase two — which combines tactics involving hardware, offensive and defensive cyber, and networking — takes seven months. It excluded the classified course, Koroma added.

At this point, she said, DDS has transitioned all of its materials to the Cyber School, which will pick up the third phase of the pilot training, though DDS will still be available for assistance.

“The plan is that eventually the 17Cs, [who execute offensive and defensive cyberspace operations], will come to Fort Gordon on inception and do their entry and mid-level training at Gordon. They will run this as the course for those soldiers,” she said.

Koroma said success of the pilot will be measured from the operational world — evaluating the skill sets of the soldiers that graduate from the pilot program and comparing them to prior classes. Thus far, she added, no graduates from the pilot program have been overwhelmed in operations.

Students during the second pilot were also evaluated by senior leaders within the Army cyber community and commands where they might be assigned during their final project and presentation. Students needed to identify issues on the network and conduct an outbrief to these leaders.

“Senior leaders then got an opportunity to ask them questions,” Koroma said. “Every single person who was in that presentation said that they were impressed by the delivery of the students and the quality of the presentation that the students gave.”

In fact, Koroma said, there are two students she's aware of whose orders were changed at the conclusion of training because leaders who attended the presentation wanted them on their team.

https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/army/2019/11/29/how-defense-digital-service-revamped-army-cyber-training/

On the same subject

November 12, 2018 | International, Aerospace

Italy signals slowdown on F-35 orders
By: Tom Kington ROME — Italy will stretch out the order of F-35 fighter jets, buying six or seven of the aircraft in the next five years instead of the previously planned 10 jets, a government source told Defense News. The decision follows a review of the program by Italy's populist government, which took office in June and is mulling defense spending cuts to pay for social welfare programs and cover tax cuts. The source said the plan did not envisage a reduction in orders, merely a slowdown of intake, which would leave the decision of the total F-35 purchase to a future government. Previous governments planned to buy 60 F-35As and 30 F-35Bs for a total of 90 aircraft. The new government will focus on spending plans over its five-year mandate and not beyond, the source said, adding that discussions are underway with the U.S. about the change in schedule. The decision on the slowdown keeps with Italian policy on the F-35 set out by Defence Minister Elisabetta Trenta after she took office in June. “What I would like to do is lighten the load, since we have other spending commitments in Europe. We will try to stretch out deliveries instead of cutting the order, which would reduce offsets and mean penalties,” she told Defense News at the time. Italy has taken delivery of 10 F-35As and one F-35B. Two of the "A" models as well as the "B" model are being used for training in the U.S., while eight "A" models are now based at the Italian Air Force's base in Amendola, southern Italy. Trenta was tapped for office by the Five Star party, one of two political parties in Italy's current coalition government. Five Star politicians took a hostile line toward the F-35 program before taking office, at one point promising to scrap it. However, a defense spending document released last month suggests the government will maintain spending on the program in the next two years, with €766 million (U.S. $874 million) due to be spent in 2019 and €783 million in 2020. Those figures should be treated as provisional until the overall budget is signed in Parliament in the coming weeks. Five Star politicians have also shown hostility toward another U.S. defense program — the ground station planned in Sicily to support the Mobile User Objective System, or MUOS, network, a U.S. Navy-run satellite network providing voice and data communications to U.S. military personnel and platforms around the world, even when they are under thick forest canopies. Long held up by legal challenges in Sicily amid health fears, sources have said the MUOS antenna in Sicily could soon see final approval from the Italian government. https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018/11/09/italy-signals-slowdown-on-f-35-orders
August 13, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 12, 2019
ARMY Birdon America Inc.,* Denver, Colorado, was awarded a $196,941,052 firm-fixed-price contract for acquisition of M30 bridge erection boats, crew protection kits, stock lists, tools, test equipment, service representative and support, training and storage. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 12, 2024. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity (W56HZV-19-D-0093). NAVY Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Connecticut, is awarded $107,353,729 for firm-fixed-price advance acquisition contract modification P00029 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-16-C-0048). This modification procures long lead items for six CH-53K low-rate initial production lot 4 aircraft. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut, and is expected to be completed in August 2020. Fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $107,353,729 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Austal USA LLC, Mobile, Alabama, is awarded $23,099,311 for cost-plus fixed-fee task order N6931619F4002 against previously awarded basic ordering agreement N00024-15-G-2304 to accomplish advance planning, material procurement and accomplishment of work in support of the post shakedown availability (PSA) of littoral combat ship USS Tulsa (LCS 16). This effort encompasses all of the manpower, support services, material, non-standard equipment and associated technical data and documentation required to prepare for and accomplish the PSA. The work to be performed will include correction of government responsible trial card deficiencies, new work identified between custody transfer and the time of PSA and incorporation of approved engineering changes that were not incorporated during the construction period which are not otherwise the building yard's responsibility under the ship construction contract. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) - only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Work will be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is expected to be complete by April 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2013 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,199,311 will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion, and Repair Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity. SOLPAC Construction Inc., doing business as Soltek Pacific Construction Co., San Diego, California, is being awarded a $12,111,121 firm-fixed-price task order (N6247319F5055) under a multiple award construction contract for the construction of a Littoral Combat Ship Mission Module Readiness Center at Naval Base San Diego. The work provides for the construction of a facility in a portion of the existing northwest wing of Building 3304. The renovated building will support a variety of functions including administration, conference, fabrication, maintenance, storage, locker rooms, secret and non-classified internet protocol router network telecommunications and a wash rack for the facility. The project includes all pertinent site improvements and site preparations, mechanical and electrical utilities, excavation and grading, foundations, roofing, telecommunications, plumbing, fire protection systems, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. The task order also contains two unexercised options and two planned modifications, which if exercised would increase the cumulative task order value to $13,102,121. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by March 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $12,111,121 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-18-D-5855). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY BMK Ventures, Inc.,** Virginia Beach, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $10,500,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for hospital equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency electronic catalog. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with 88 responses received; 20 contracts have been awarded to date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps. Location of performance is Virginia, with an Aug. 11, 2024, performance completion date. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2DH-19-D-0013). Epic Aviation LLC, doing business as Epic Card,** Salem, Oregon, has been awarded a maximum $7,955,949 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with 148 responses received. This is a 43-month contract with a six-month option period. Location of performance is Alabama, with a March 31, 2023 performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE607-19-D-0118). *Small business **Service-disabled, veteran-owned small business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1932379/source/GovDelivery/
July 6, 2020 | International, Naval

Ottawa awards $72.6M contract for Halifax-class frigate maintenance to Irving company
By Alexander Quon Global News Posted June 29, 2020 7:30 pm The Government of Canada has awarded a six-year, $72.6-million contract to a Halifax-based company for the maintenance of the Royal Canadian Navy's Halifax-class frigates. Ottawa announced the decision to award the contract to Fleetway Inc., a company of J.D. Irving Ltd., on Monday. The contract, award as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, can be extended up to 22 years for a total of up to $552 million. It will support 140 jobs in the region and is meant to ensure the Halifax-class frigates remain operational until the construction of the Canadian Surface Combatant vessels is complete, expected in the early 2040s. “Our Halifax-class frigates remain the backbone of our Navy, enabling us to maintain our presence at sea both at home and abroad,” said Vice-Admiral Art McDonald, Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, in a press release. “As we continue to transition to our future fleet, it is essential that we continue to foster an environment that enables the (Royal Canadian Navy) to keep our frigates floating, moving, and fighting.” The contract will provide a “full range of technical data management and systems engineering support services” for the 12 vessels used by the Royal Canadian Navy. Fleetway will be expected to secure a team of workers that will store and manage thousands of critical ship documents, ensuring that key information is up to date to support maintenance teams, the federal government said in a press release. “By investing in our fleet of Halifax class frigates, we will be able to provide our members in uniform what they need to continue advancing peace and security around the world,” said National Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan in a press release. Work for the contract began earlier this year and it will replace an existing contract provided by Fleetway Inc., which will expire in October 2020. The new contract was awarded through the federal procurement process. Irving Shipbuilding, another company based in Halifax and owned by J.D. Irving, has been awarded the contract to build the 15 Canadian Surface Combatant vessels that will replace the 12 Halifax-class frigates and the three already-retired Iroquois-class destroyers. https://globalnews.ca/news/7122823/ottawa-awards-contract-irving-company/

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