USAF Should Downsize, Avoid Stealth For Future Tanker, Study Says

On the same subject

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  September 20, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  Shanahan: cybersecurity will become new measure for industry

  By: Aaron Mehta NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Pentagon is preparing to press the defense industry to increase its cyber security, with Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan saying it will become a key measurement for how industry is judged by the department. “This is a public service announcement for those of you from industry, especially for those of you that are in the, I'll call it, higher tiers,” Shanahan told an audience at the annual Air Force Association conference Wednesday. “Cybersecurity is, you know, probably going to be what we call the ‘fourth critical measurement.' We've got quality, cost, schedule, but security is one of those measures that we need to hold people accountable for,” he said. “We're going to work with our industrial partners to help them be as accountable for security as they are for quality. And it shouldn't be that being secure comes with a big bill. It's just like we wouldn't pay extra for quality. We shouldn't pay extra for security.” The responsibilities of primes goes beyond just ensuring their own internal cyber security, in Shanahan's eye. The former Boeing executive laid down the gauntlet to the biggest industrial partners, saying flatly it is part of their job to make sure the lower-tier supplier are secure as well. “I'm a real strong believer that the Tier 1 and Tier 2 leadership has a responsibility to manage the supply chain. And that's where we have real gaps,” he said. “Security is the standard. It's the expectation. It's not something that's above and beyond what we've done before.” In recent years the Pentagon has been increasingly vocal about its concerns that lower-tier suppliers are not as secure digitally as they need to be; unsecured parts from those suppliers can then be incorporated into larger projects, potentially with vulnerabilities that would not be discovered until it is too late. To try and address that, the Pentagon has been looking at a plan to launch red team cyber attackson industrial partners, in which a cell would test vulnerabilities and try to penetrate the contractors' systems, in order to identify weaknesses. https://www.fifthdomain.com/digital-show-dailies/air-force-association/2018/09/19/shanahan-cyber-security-will-become-fourth-critical-measurement-for-industry

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  January 17, 2024 | International, Land, C4ISR

  NATO releases first ever quantum strategy

  Quantum technologies are getting closer to revolutionizing the world of innovation and can be game-changers for security, including modern warfare. Ensuring that the Alliance is ''quantum-ready'' is the aim of NATO’s first-ever quantum strategy that was approved by NATO Foreign Ministers on 28 November. On Wednesday (17 January 2024), NATO releases a summary of the strategy.

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  April 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Roper Sees Air Force ‘Flying Cars’ In Production By 2023

  "We are going to accelerate this market for domestic use in a way that also helps our military," Roper stressed. "The Air Force is all in." By THERESA HITCHENSon April 16, 2020 at 7:15 PM WASHINGTON: ‘Flying cars' using electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) technology could be in full-up production for Air Force use in moving cargo and people within three years, says Air Force acquisition head Will Roper. Such a capability, Roper enthused, would give the US military the ability to undertake missions “in three dimensions that we normally do in two,” giving the services “much greater agility.” This is why the Air Force program for investing in commercial firms now pursuing eVTOL vehicles is called “Agility Prime,” he noted. The Air Force will take a first look at vendor offerings in a virtual pitch event at the end of the month, with a focus on small eVTOL vehicles that could be used for missions involving transport of only a few people. Roper told reporters today that the size of any future Air Force vehicle buys would depend on what missions eVTOL vehicles prove capable of carrying out. “If it's helping us to do logistics at the edge, we could end up buying these in higher quantities. If it's things like security and rescue, it will be smaller quantities,” he explained. Roper has previously said he envisions large flying cars for carrying cargo, as well as smaller vehicles for Special Operations-type missions. But no matter what, Roper added that he expects that granting commercial producers Air Force safety certifications and allowing them to rack up flying hours under Agility Prime “will really help accelerate domestic use of these vehicles and [allow some companies to] get FAA certification sooner that it would have come if we had not interjected ourselves into the market.” The Agility Prime program will hold a “virtual launch event” April 27 to allow vendors to showcase their capabilities and interact with potential investors from both the private sector and the military, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) announced earlier this week. Roper, who will give a keynote, said the event originally had been planned as a live demonstration of capabilities by chosen vendors at the annual South By Southwest music festival in Austin that was scheduled for March 13-22, but cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “The objective of the event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector,” AFLCMC explained. Agility Prime is designed as a “challenge” where eVTOL vehicle makers compete in a series of demonstration that ultimately could result in a contract for full-scale production. According to documents provided for potential competitors on the program website, the Air Force is asking potential vendors to be able to complete a flight test by Dec. 17. In the first round, companies will need to demonstrate the following specifications: Payload: 3-8 personnel Range: Greater than 100 miles Speed: Greater than 100 mph Endurance: Greater than 60 minutes Roper said the second round of the competition would be dedicated to larger vehicles for cargo, and multiple people. Agility Prime is a unique effort that involves a number of service entities working together, including AFLCMC, the Program Executive Office for Mobility, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), the Air Force Warfighting Integration Capability (AFWIC) office, AFWERX, and the new AFVentures office that serves as an intermediary between vendors and venture capital providers. Roper said that besides helping to move the US into a prime spot in an emerging marketplace, he intends Agility Prime to also serve as an example to the commercial sector that the Air Force is serious about being “a good innovation partner.” One of the hallmarks of Roper's term as Air Force acquisition chief has been his focus on figuring out how to leverage commercial research and development to help DoD ensure that it can stay ahead of China in the pursuit of new technology — arguing that innovation is the new battlefield. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/04/roper-sees-air-force-flying-cars-in-production-by-2023