September 21, 2020 | International, C4ISR
WASHINGTON — U.S. Central Command needs industry's help in designing a network infrastructure that provides improved secure information sharing with allies and partners, its top IT official said Sept. 17.
Brig. Gen. Jeth Rey, director of command and control, communications, and computer systems at CENTCOM, said his team is working to establish a data-centric architecture that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to limit access to data based only on what a user needs.
“What I have the team looking at is working in that transport agnostic, looking at a data-centric connection, and then how can we then use attributes to then release information to that person who is trying to access the data. And so that's where data centricity is at the end of the day trying to use machine learning and AI,” Rey said at the 2020 Intelligence and National Security Summit. “That's where we need help from industry.”
Rey compared CENTCOM's need to the service provided by banks, where a person logs in with credentials, and then the bank reaches into its massive database, pulling out only the information specific to that person.
CENTCOM, the largest combatant command, also has data and information sharing requirements with more than 50 nations, adding another degree of difficulty in developing a secure architecture where users can only access the necessary data.
“We here at CENTCOM are going to work with partners, and we need to share our information with them,” Rey said. “We need that help in order to display from a single document with multiple security measures ... but release only that information on that document to that person by their credential.”
The need Rey described is similar to an architecture developed by the U.S. intelligence community for its data access needs. That platform, known as IC GovCloud, enabled users to store data in one place and the community to implement security measures to limit personnel access to what they “need to know,” said Greg Smithberger, chief information officer at the National Security Agency and director of the agency's Capabilities Directorate.
“We built the GovCloud from the ground up with this thought in mind so that with the data comes knowledge of where it came from and what the rules are in terms of how it needs to be handled and who has the need to know. And the systems are enforcing that need to know, so that if the humans make a mistake, there's a safety net there,” he said during the same webinar.
November 17, 2021 | International, Aerospace
The system has a 150-kilometer interception range and a 350-kilometer detection range, and it features a 360-degree multifunctional radar fitted with a rotating active electronically scanned array antenna based on gallium nitride technology.
November 12, 2018 | International, Aerospace
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
By Michael Bruno As a multi-industrial manufacturer, Textron sells many transportation vehicles, from military helicopters to UAVs and even snowmobiles and recreational four-wheelers. But a new corporate review may indicate the conglomerate could be looking to become an aerospace and defense (A&D)-focused company similar to other large rivals, according to analysts. Earlier this month, Textron announced it is reviewing strategic alternatives such as a sale or spin-off of its German Kautex business unit, which produces fuel systems and other functional components. Kautex operates more than 30 plants in 14 countries and generated more than $2.3 billion in revenue in 2018. “Kautex strategic review suggests Textron wants to become an A&D ‘pure-play,'” Cowen analysts Cai von Rumohr and his team said Aug. 9. “The thesis is that ‘new Textron' could command a higher [valuation] multiple closer to A&D pure-plays; and it would have optionality for merger and acquisition (M&A) or stock repurchasing to leverage its new product-driven growth.” The Cowen analysts said they think that if Kautex is disposed of, so could golf cart maker Textron Specialized Vehicles or other units in Textron's Industrial division. In turn, the company could use proceeds and money saved to bolt on smaller A&D businesses, or it could continue active share repurchases to lever benefits of expected growth from new products such as Longitude, Sky Courier, Denali and V-280. “A third possibility is that free of Industrial, Textron could be of interest to larger primes, who would bring more lobbying clout to V-280,” the analysts said. Buying candidates could be Boeing or General Dynamics, they added. Separately, a well-known adviser to the A&D industry recently told Aerospace DAILY that Textron would make a good acquisition target for other A&D players. “Over the years I've had my clients take a hard look at that one,” the consultant said. This person listed Boeing and Lockheed for possible top-level consolidation, although getting Pentagon and Trump administration approval could be more of a challenge than for other recent M&A deals. To be sure, Textron is already an aerospace-focused multi-industrial. According to Cowen, it is the leader in Class 1-5 business jets (which make up 24% of annual total revenue), with positions in helicopters via Bell (26%), defense systems (12%), and then industrial products (25%). Defense as an end-market accounts for 29%. But conglomerates are increasingly breaking up and those with A&D elements continue to focus on those businesses. United Technologies is working to spin off its elevators and air conditioning businesses while adding Raytheon. General Electric is divesting major units but favoring aviation. Honeywell International in recent years has spun off units to focus more on A&D and related businesses. One reason for the portfolio shaping is because of pressure from major investors who want companies to be more focused, in part so they can balance their own investment portfolios rather than relying on a company to try to play in various industries. Goldman Sachs is advising Textron on its review. Textron reiterated that no decision has been made and there are no assurances that the process will result in any transaction being announced or completed. The company has not set a definitive timetable for completion of its review of strategic alternatives and does not intend to make any further announcements related to its review unless and until its board of directors has approved a specific transaction or Textron otherwise determines that further disclosure is appropriate. https://aviationweek.com/business-aviation/could-textron-become-purer-ad-company-or-be-sold