Lockheed Martin F-35A Icy Runway Testing for Norwegian Drag Chute Underway in Alaska

On the same subject

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  May 18, 2023 | International, Other Defence

  New Zealand unveils defense budget, with Army in the lead

  The government's signals intelligence agency is to receive a 25% boost in funding.

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  October 18, 2018 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR

  Air Force looks for help on new, hard-to-jam, satellite waveform

  By: Adam Stone In the face of a rising near-peer threat to electronic communications, the Air Force is pressing forward with efforts to develop a new, more resilient, harder-to-jam waveform that soldiers could use on the battlefield. The service expects to receive responses from industry soon on a recent request for information around protected satellite communications. The request sought industry guidance on how best to implement a new, more resilient protected tactical waveform (PTW), which enables anti-jamming capabilities within protected tactical SATCOM. “The Air Force is looking to protect our warfighter's satellite communications against adversarial electronic jamming,” the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) said in a written statement to C4ISRNet. The threat comes from “adversarial electronic jammers that are intended to disrupt and interfere with U.S. satellite communications,” leaders at SMC said. Protected tactical SATCOM is envisioned to provide worldwide, anti-jam communications to tactical warfighters in benign and contested environments. The quest to solidify satellite communication links has taken on increasing urgency in recent years. As satellite communications has emerged as an integral component in the military's command and control infrastructure, potential adversaries have stepped up their ability to disrupt such links. “Tactical satellite communications are vital to worldwide military operations,” the agency noted. “Our adversaries know this and desire to disrupt U.S. satellite communications. The Air Force is fielding Protected Tactical SATCOM capabilities to ... ensure warfighters around the globe have access to secure and reliable communications.” Industry is expected to play a key role in the development and deployment of any new waveform. Officials at SMC said that early prototyping efforts will be conducted through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC), which is managed by Advanced Technology International. SpEC acts as a vehicle to facilitate federally-funded space-related prototype projects with an eye toward increasing flexibility, decreasing cost and shortening the development lifecycle. The organization claims 16 prototype awards to date, with some $26 million in funding awarded. Understanding the protected tactical waveform Government documents describe PTW as the centerpiece of the broader protected tactical SATCOM effort, noting that it provides “cost-effective, protected communications over both military and commercial satellites in multiple frequency bands as well as broader protection, more resiliency, more throughput and more efficient utilization of satellite bandwidth.” A flight test last year at Hansom Air Force Base suggested the emerging tool may soon be ready to deliver on such promises. While SMC leads the PTW effort, Hanscom is working in collaboration with MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the MITRE Corp. to conduct ground and airborne terminal work. Researchers from MIT's Lincoln Laboratory flew a Boeing 707 test aircraft for two and a half hours in order to use the waveform in flight. With a commercial satellite, officials gathered data on the PTW's ability to operate under realistic flight conditions. “We know this capability is something that would help our warfighters tremendously, as it will not only provide anti-jam communications, but also a low probability of detection and intercept,” Bill Lyons, Advanced Development program manager and PTW lead at Hanscom, said in an Air Force news release. The test scenario called for the waveform to perform in an aircraft-mounted terminal. Evaluators were looking to see whether its systems and algorithms would function as expected in a highly mobile environment. “Everything worked and we got the objectives accomplished successfully,” Ken Hetling, Advanced Satcom Systems and Operations associate group leader at Lincoln Laboratory, said in an Air Force press release. “The waveform worked.” Asking for industry input should help the service to chart its next steps in the development of more protections. While the request does not specify when or how the Air Force intends to move forward, it is clearly a matter not of whetherthe military will go down this road, but rather when and how. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/satellites/2018/10/05/air-force-looks-for-help-on-new-hard-to-jam-satellite-waveform/

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  August 18, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  Number of Foreign Companies Within Defense Supply Chain Grew Over Past Decade, Report Says

  Reliance on foreign suppliers in the defense industrial base rose—notably in packaged software and IT services—even as calls for reshoring increase, according to a new report. Reshoring the defense supply chain may reduce national security risks, but a new report detailing a heavy dependency on goods and services from foreign countries like China shows reshoring may be easier said than done. Researchers at Govini, a decision science company supporting the defense industry, analyzed data from over 1,000 Defense Department vendors across 100 industries to show how supply chain reliance on products from foreign countries has increased over the past decade. According to the survey, the number of Chinese suppliers in DOD's base increased by a total of 420% since 2010. For cyber and information technology, two statistics stick out. The share of companies based in foreign nations in the supply chain grew the most in the packaged software and IT services between 2010 and 2019. Companies based in foreign countries made up 3% of the packaged software supplier base in 2010. That number rose to 7% in 2019. The numbers are similar for IT services: Companies based in foreign countries made up 3% of the IT services supplier base in 2010 and 7% in 2019. Tara Murphy Dougherty, CEO of Govini, told Nextgov increasing adoption of IT infrastructure is critical for the Defense Department, particularly as COVID-19 forced the agency's workforce into mass telework. But that means it is imperative DOD addresses supply chain concerns for information and communications technology. Murphy Dougherty said these two investment areas are only going to continue to grow, which means the department needs to act to clearly define its stance on IT supply chain security. “What are you doing, other than responding to some of the legislation that we've seen come out of the Hill mandating investigation of this?” she said. “It would be great to see more options.” A key mandate from Congress related to supply chain was supposed to take effect on an interim basis Thursday. Section 889 (a)(1)(b) of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act bans agencies from contracting with companies that do business with five Chinese firms, including Huawei and ZTE. But according to a Defense News report, the Pentagon received a temporary waiver from the Director of National Intelligence pushing back the compliance date until September 30. Defense Undersecretary for Acquisitions and Sustainment Ellen Lord said at a Professional Services Council webinar Thursday she needs feedback from industry on what's working and what's not when it comes to implementing the rule. “I know we're all aligned in that we do not want adversaries in our supply chain. We don't want further theft of intellectual property. We don't want these nefarious actions going on,” Lord said. “But how do we get the language into the contracts, how do we practice the behaviors of ensuring we understand what we have in our supply chains for telecommunications equipment? What we need to do is continue to hear from you.” It's not yet clear how the brief deadline extension will affect the implementation process. Regardless, visibility down the supply chain remains a key concern. Murphy Dougherty said there needs to be more transparency in supply chains if the industry is going to address security risks. The Govini report focuses on firms in the mid-tier of the supply chain, with less visibility than a large company like Boeing. For companies further down the supply chain, U.S.-based companies make up less than half of the supplier base, according to the report. Chinese companies make up anywhere from 5% to 9% of the supplier base in the middle to lower ranges of the supply chain. Murphy Dougherty said it's going to take time to see changes in the data. How to address the industrial base at a structural level remains an unanswered question, she said, and collaboration between DOD and industry will be critical in coming up with a new system to ensure supply chain security. “It begs the question of do we have the right models in place today and the right framework for the department to get all of the goodness and partnership it possibly can out of the American commercial economy,” Murphy Dougherty said. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/08/number-foreign-companies-within-defense-supply-chain-grew-over-past-decade-report-says/167767/