Northrop Grumman wins modification on big electronic warfare contract

On the same subject

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  September 5, 2018 | International, Land

  Marines want electroshock rounds to fire from standard weapons

  By: Todd South Marines have dazzling laser lights to wave off unwanted intruders at checkpoints and close-range police-style Tasers for crowd control. But what about when a Marine needs to reach out and shock someone? A new notice posted on the Department of Defense Small Business Innovation Research website shows that the Marines are looking for a Taser round that can be fired from conventional weapons such as 9 mm pistols, 12-gauge shotguns or even 40 mm grenade launchers, first reported by The National Interest. This request for Small Arms Long-Range Human Electro-Muscular Incapacitation Munition, or HEMI, is one of a range of nonlethal weapons sought and being fielded by all the services. The Army announced in June it would acquire a paintball-type gun that fires a round that releases a “debilitating cloud” of irritant, much like hot sauce. Earlier this year at a Pentagon showcase, the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program displayed concepts and prototypes of weapons, specifically lasers, that would do everything from heat a person's skin from a distance to create a plasma ball at any location that can “talk” to a target to ward it away from a restricted area. Full article: https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/09/04/marines-want-electroshock-rounds-to-fire-from-standard-weapons

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  September 12, 2018 | International, C4ISR

  DARPA Wants to Find Botnets Before They Attack

  By Jack Corrigan The defense agency awarded a contract to develop a tool that scours the internet for dormant online armies. The military's research branch is investing in systems that automatically locate and dismantle botnets before hackers use them to cripple websites, companies or even entire countries. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency on Aug. 30 awarded a $1.2 million contract to cybersecurity firm Packet Forensics to develop novel ways to locate and identify these hidden online armies. The award comes as part of the agency's Harnessing Autonomy for Countering Cyber-adversary Systems program, a DARPA spokesperson told Nextgov. To build botnets, hackers infect internet-connected devices with malware that allows them to execute orders from a remote server. Because the virus sits dormant most of the time, the owners of infected devices rarely know their computer, smartphone or toaster has been compromised. Through the HACCS program, DARPA aims to build a system that can automatically pinpoint botnet-infected devices and disable their malware without their owners ever knowing. Launched in 2017, the program is investing in three main technologies: systems that uncover and fingerprint botnets across the internet, tools that upload software to infected devices through known security gaps, and software that disables botnet malware once it's uploaded. Packet Forensics' technology falls under that first category, the DARPA spokesperson said. Eventually DARPA plans to integrate each of those technologies into a single system that can spot, raid and neutralize botnet-infected devices without any human involvement. Because the tool would only target botnet malware, people could continue using the devices just as they had before, the agency said in the program announcement. During phase one of the three-part project, Packet Forensics will build a technology capable of scanning some five percent of global IP addresses and detecting botnets with 80 percent accuracy. By the end of the program, DARPA anticipates the system to analyze 80 percent of the global internet and correctly spot botnets 95 percent of the time. The effort is scheduled to last to four years, with the first phase running 16 months. Later phases include additional funding. https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2018/09/darpa-wants-find-botnets-they-attack/151182/

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  October 17, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  Senior officials shed light on contentious procurement process for new surveillance aircrafts

  High-level bureaucrats on Tuesday provided an update on the government’s acquisition of a new fleet to replace its aging CP-140s, which has come under fire amidst rumours the feds are considering directly awarding the contract to Boeing.