February 4, 2020 | International, Naval
By: Mark Pomerleau
The Marine Corps is creating new network battalions and companies in an effort to improve oversight and the command and control of its network.
These new organizations — described as a “huge, huge deal” — are part of an effort to reduce the number of organizations charged with network functions. The move will also allow for more accurate readiness reporting, said Col. Ed Debish, commanding officer of the Marine Corps Cyberspace Operations Group.
“Currently, we have six different commands that have something to do with managing the Marine Corps Enterprise Network,” he said at a Jan. 31 lunch hosted by the AFCEA Quantico chapter.
Now, one commander — the head of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command — will oversee and manage these groups.
“Primarily, what they're going to do is deliver enterprise business services down to the end user device," Debish told C4ISRNET following his remarks. "They're also going to be responsible for managing the BAN and LAN — the building area networks and the local area networks on the bases and stations around the Marine Corps.”
The new commands will absorb the organizations that previously performed many of these functions, including the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Information Technology (IT) Support Centers, or MITSCs.
“The problem that it was designed to solve was unity of command and unity of effort on the Marine Corps Enterprise Network. It's going to give us visibility all the way down to the end user device where we didn't have that visibility before,” he said.
The arrangement will also help Marines better understand readiness of the network. Previously, it could be difficult to determine what equipment was working and part of the network. Now, with one command, those assessments should be easier, Debish said, as they'll be managed under a single entity.
Additionally, the new organizations will help with one of the Marine Corps' top IT priorities: to deploy its network abroad in a more agile and mobile way.
“The idea is to move that enterprise capability to the tactical edge with the deploying force,” Debish said. “If you were to just remotely connect back into the enterprise network, you're going over a VPN connection to a data center somewhere that might be thousands of miles removed from it. But if you lost that connection, then what happens? You don't have any access to any of your data or your network.”
The first battalion will be created this year at Camp Pendleton. The battalion commander will assume command around April. The first company is expected to be created this year and be based out of Marine Corps Forces Europe/Africa, located in Germany.
Next year, leaders expect to create the second and third network battalions at Camp Lejeune and Okinawa, respectively.
August 14, 2023 | International, Aerospace
Germany will own NATO's second largest helicopter fleet with the 60 Chinooks it announced it was buying last month, German Air Force Chief Ingo Gerhartz was quoted as saying on Friday.
July 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Other Defence
By: Diana Stancy Correll The Air Force has opened a $1.5 million facility designed to improve the fighter and bomber fleets' cyber defenses against adversaries. The new work area will provide a collaborative space for acquisition professionals to learn about current and emerging threats and better protect against them. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Fighters and Bombers Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio unveiled the facility during a July 9 ribbon cutting ceremony. “We are in an age where we have a very sophisticated threat and an adversary that is really trying to get into all of our systems,” Brig. Gen. Heath Collins, fighters and bombers program executive officer, said in a recent Air Force news release. “This facility is absolutely going to be at the core of how we protect our systems moving forward.” Joseph Bradley, director of the Cyber Resiliency Office for Weapons Systems, which provided funding and expertise for the project, called it a “key component of the CROWS mission” and said it will boost the Air Force's collaboration and ability to tackle challenges. The facility isn't the only one that CROWS intends to help launch. According to the Air Force, CROWS wants to set up similar facilities at development, acquisition and sustainment centers over the next five years. https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2019/07/16/new-wright-pat-facility-aims-to-improve-cyber-defenses-of-fighters-and-bombers/
September 16, 2021 | International, Aerospace
Daher annonce avoir reçu la notification de la part de la Direction de la Maintenance Aéronautique (DMAé) du contrat de maintien en conditions opérationnelles (MCO) pour la flotte d'avions TBM 700 relevant des forces armées françaises. Le contrat obtenu porte sur une flotte de 26 appareils : 23 TBM 700A et 3 TBM 700B, basés en France métropolitaine. Cette flotte est répartie entre 15 avions pour l'armée de l'Air et de l'Espace, 8 pour l'armée de Terre et 3 pour le centre d'expertise DGA-EV, le département Essais en vol de la Direction Générale de l'Armement. « Le ministère des Armées est un client exigeant qui nous a toujours poussé vers l'excellence, notamment dans des contextes critiques. Récemment nos équipes ont été mobilisées pour répondre aux besoins des forces armées françaises, dont la Gendarmerie nationale, impliquées dans la lutte contre la pandémie. Aussi nous sommes fiers que ce contrat de maintien en conditions opérationnelles soit renouvelé pour la quatrième fois » a commenté Nicolas Chabbert, directeur de la division Avions de Daher.