October 28, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security
Chinese Hackers Use CloudScout Toolset to Steal Session Cookies from Cloud Services
Evasive Panda targets Taiwan with CloudScout malware, enabling data theft from cloud services.
March 23, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Partnering With the U.S. Defense Industrial Base to Combat COVID-19
Statement attributed to Lt. Col. Mike Andrews, Department of Defense spokesman:
"The Department continues to aggressively partner with the defense industry to mitigate impacts from COVID-19.
Under Secretary of Defense Ellen Lord's Acquisition and Sustainment leaders in Industrial Policy, Defense Pricing and Contracting, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and the Defense Contracting Management Agency (DCMA) have made significant progress this week in addressing specific concerns outlined by defense industry leaders.
During the 4 daily COVID-19 update calls with defense industry associations leaders this week, led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy Ms. Jennifer Santos, several key concerns identified by industry included 1) critical defense contractor workforce ability to continue working; 2) ensuring cash flow to the defense industrial base; and 3) getting standardized guidance out to industry.
On Friday the Department issued two memos that address all three concerns. After working closely with the Hill and the Department of Homeland Security, Under Secretary Lord issued a Defense Industrial Base Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce memo that defined essentiality in the Defense Industrial Base (DIB) workforce, ensuring the defense industrial base's critical employees can continue working. The memo also reiterated her commitment to the safety of the workforce and support of the national security mission.
In addition, on Friday Mr. Kim Herrington, Director of Defense Pricing and Contracting, issued a Deviation on Progress Payments memo, which stated that once in contracts, the progress payment rate that contracts can get paid for will increase from 80% of cost to 90% for large businesses and from 90% to 95% for small businesses. This is an important avenue where industry cash flow can be improved. DCMA will work on mass modifications to contracts where applicable (vs one by one) using DCMA authorities. In addition, the Department is accelerating payments through several means to prime contracts and directing prime contracts to expedite payments to subcontractors.
Vice Admiral David Lewis, DCMA Director, has worked closely with the contracting workforce and the Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) to ensure that invoices are continuing to be paid in a timely manner.
On Friday, the Acquisition and Sustainment Small Business Office reached out to defense industry small businesses, and is working with the Small Business Administration and their small business emergency loan program to help protect these companies.
The Department is fully engaged with the interagency to leverage the Defense Production Act to help reinforce critical elements of the DIB. It is especially important to understand that during this crisis the DIB is vulnerable to adversarial capital, we need to ensure companies stay in business without losing their technology. The Department will be discussing this in more detail next week.
Under Secretary Lord remains grateful for the productive discussions with the defense industry associations, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Hill and State leaders. She's especially proud of the incredible efforts of Department leaders and contracting officers across the nation who are helping ensure a secure, reliable and resilient Defense Industrial Base."
On the same subject
-
-
January 22, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
Les 15 projets prioritaires du couple franco-allemand. La liste
(B2) Pour « mettre en œuvre le Traité d'Aix-la-Chapelle », Français et Allemands ont ciblé « 15 projets prioritaires, dont le suivi sera assuré par le Conseil des ministres franco-allemand ». En voici la liste : sympathique, mais pas vraiment très enthousiasmant... Coopération accrue au sein du Conseil de sécurité des Nations Unies, à l'occasion du mandat de deux ans de l'Allemagne, notamment par le « jumelage » des deux présidences du Conseil de sécurité (la France en mars et l'Allemagne en avril 2019, en 2020 soit en mai/juin soit en juin/juillet). Création de quatre instituts culturels franco-allemands intégrés (Rio, Palerme, Erbil, Bichkek) et co-localisation de cinq instituts français et allemands (Cordoba, Atlanta, Glasgow, Minsk, Ramallah). Création d'une plateforme numérique franco-allemande de contenus audiovisuels et d'information. Élargissement des programmes de mobilité, par exemple dans le cadre de l'Office franco-allemand pour la Jeunesse, notamment pour les jeunes ayant des besoins spécifiques, les stagiaires et les apprentis, et fixation d'objectifs quantifiables. Mise en place d'un Fonds citoyen commun destiné à appuyer les projets conjoints d'acteurs de la société civile, notamment les initiatives citoyennes et les jumelages de communes. Mise en place d'un comité de coopération transfrontalière chargé de définir une stratégie commune pour le choix de projets prioritaires, d'assurer le suivi des difficultés rencontrées dans les territoires frontaliers et d'émettre des propositions en vue d'y remédier. Mise en œuvre conjointe d'un projet de territoire portant sur la reconversion de la zone de proximité de la centrale nucléaire de Fessenheim dans le contexte de sa fermeture, au travers d'un parc d'activités économiques et d'innovation franco-allemand, de projets dans le domaine de la mobilité transfrontalière, de la transition énergétique et de l'innovation. Amélioration des liaisons ferroviaires transfrontalières, par exemple : Colmar-Fribourg, en reconstruisant le pont traversant le Rhin en fonction des résultats de l'étude de faisabilité en cours, mais aussi liaison entre Strasbourg et l'aéroport de Francfort, liaison Strasbourg-Palatinat, liaison entre Sarrebruck et Paris. Renforcement de la coopération bilatérale de haut niveau en matière d'énergie et de climat, notamment concernant les plans nationaux pour l'énergie et le climat. Cela doit permettre de partager des hypothèses sur l'évolution du mix électrique, d'étudier la possibilité d'instaurer un plan commun franco-allemand dans les stratégies nationales, et de créer des incitations afin de faciliter la réalisation des objectifs nationaux en matière de transition énergétique. Création d'un réseau franco-allemand de recherche et d'innovation (« centre virtuel ») pour l'intelligence artificielle, reposant sur les structures existantes des deux pays. Coopération dans le secteur spatial en suivant trois axes prioritaires : promotion d'une stratégie commune pour une Europe plus innovante au sein de la nouvelle économie spatiale ; coopération permettant d'accroître la compétitivité de l'industrie spatiale, notamment dans un cadre industriel optimisé ; consolidation de l'accès autonome de l'Europe à l'espace gr'ce à des investissements en recherche et développement, la rationalisation industrielle et la préférence accordée aux lanceurs européens. Promotion de directives au niveau international sur l'éthique des nouvelles technologies et de valeurs communes dans la sphère du numérique et la société numérique. Création d'un groupe d'experts dans le domaine social, comprenant les partenaires sociaux, sur « l'avenir du travail ». Coopération au sein de l'Union européenne dans le domaine des services et des marchés financiers, afin de parvenir à un cadre de régulation de haute qualité, notamment sur la finance durable. https://www.bruxelles2.eu/2019/01/22/les-15-projets-prioritaires-du-couple-franco-allemand-la-liste/
-
December 10, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, C4ISR
Lockheed Martin: AI, Data Analytics Will Transform Navy Ship, Aircraft Repairs
Posted on December 9, 2020 by Seapower Staff BETHESDA, Md. — Sailors will soon spend more time focused on the mission and less on aircraft and ship repairs with a new information system driven by artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, Lockheed Martin said in a Dec. 9 release. Digitally re-engineering more than 20 standalone applications into one integrated system, this new tool enables Sailors and Marine Corps maintainers, to anticipate and resolve potential maintenance issues or part failures on aircraft, ships and other systems. The U.S. Navy is digitally transforming its legacy maintenance systems with a fully modernized, responsive logistics information systems solution developed by Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin partnered with the Navy to rapidly develop and test the integrated logistics information systems solution, emphasizing simplified user interfaces, streamlined workflows, and time-saving features such as auto-population and smart searching. “Lockheed Martin's solution is both intuitive and streamlined to maximize end user efficiency,” said Capt. Allan Walters, former program manager of the Navy's Command and Control Systems Program Office. “The ability to execute rapid and flexible changes to the software is impressive and designed to improve Navy readiness both ashore and afloat through reduced failure rates and improved repair times.” The solution's advanced software capabilities use the latest Department of Defense-approved DevSecOps tools, so software updates can happen in days or weeks instead of months and years, enabling the Navy's vision of “Compile to Combat in 24 Hours.” Navy maintainers can create, view and complete maintenance work orders from a mobile device. Instead of referencing a paper or digital manual, sailors can view 3-D models of objects and see where they're located in the context of an entire ship or aircraft. “Our logistics solution provides a digital twin capability, integrating 3-D model visualization with material data, maintenance history and the entire operational environment,” said Reeves Valentine, vice president of Lockheed Martin Enterprise Sustainment Solutions. “Sailors can simulate a maintenance action and see its results before doing it on the real thing. Having this capability will result in a greater ability to predict part failure, resulting in optimized maintenance actions to improve asset readiness.” Smart searching and auto-population functionality help identify proper parts and common issues when creating work orders, which eliminates work and reducing errors. Lockheed Martin partnered with non-traditional vendors IFS – an enterprise software developer – and Beast Code, a Florida software start-up, to create the logistics information systems solution, which will be initially fielded at 10 Navy sites with about 10,000 users. The delivered solution is part of the U.S. Navy Naval Operational Business Logistics Enterprise (NOBLE) family of systems providing enhanced situational awareness, planning, execution, and management of maintenance and supply logistics and business functions for more than 200,000 sailors. https://seapowermagazine.org/lockheed-martin-ai-data-analytics-will-transform-navy-ship-aircraft-repairs/