November 27, 2024 | International, Land
I/ITSEC: Saab to showcase full Ground Combat training offer
The Ground Combat Indoor Trainer is a virtual training solution that offers a cost-effective and highly realistic way to train soldiers.
August 3, 2020 | International, C4ISR
Pentagon CIO says the department’s cloud efforts are more than just JEDI
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon's top IT official provided an update July 30 on a wide range of ongoing initiatives underway at the department as it continues to grapple with a remote workforce amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief Information Officer Dana Deasy highlighted several ongoing projects related to artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing, while also discussing the department's Commercial Virtual Remote Environment that's allowed nearly 1 million Department of Defense employees to collaborate while working from home
Here's a roundup of what Deasy told reporters:
Cloud developments
The Defense Department has struggled for more than a year to procure its enterprisewide cloud, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, a platform DoD leadership has continuously said will break down data silos and enhance artificial intelligence capabilities. But, as Deasy has stated repeatedly, JEDI is not going to be the DoD's only cloud.
“Cloud has always been much more than JEDI,” Deasy said.
Work on the JEDI cloud, which was awarded to Microsoft in October last year and subsequently protested by Amazon Web Services, is on hold after a federal judge issued an injunction earlier this year upon determining it was likely the DoD erred in its evaluations of the two tech companies' proposals.
The DoD is taking corrective action on the award, with Deasy saying the department intends to re-announce the winner “probably sometimes towards the very end of August, barring any last minute, unforeseen additional issues that are raised.”
In the meantime, the DoD has stamped the Air Force's Platform One cloud offering as an enterprise service, giving DoD components a certified place to go for DevSecOps, Deasy said.
“What the big message there was, we actually for the first time had designated a cloud across DoD that could be used for a common way of doing DevSecOps,” he said.
AI and JADC2
The Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is pivoting to focus on Joint All-Domain Command and Control, a Pentagon-led effort to connect sensors and shooters. Through its Joint Common Foundation, Deasy said, the JAIC has tools and capabilities to develop AI capabilities at scale.
“That has now allowed us as we've matured to say: ‘What we've always known we really need to ... get JAIC focused on is the joint all-domain space,‘ ” Deasy said, adding that the center is looking at joint fires, the electromagnetic spectrum and strategic mobility.
The JAIC, he said, is working on a cognitive assistant to deliver commanders relevant data from the hoards of information that come from the battlefield to quicken decision-making. But he added that the JAIC will expand into other areas of joint all-domain operations.
“JADC2 is made up of a bunch of different areas ... including electromagnetic spectrum, how do we move forces, how do we target,” Deasy said. “But right now it's all about how do you take streams of information and allow the machine and human to interact together to make better decisions.”
The new chief data officer
In June, the DoD announced that former Special Operations Command chief data officer Dave Spirk would become the DoD's new CDO.
Deasy told reporters July 30 that Spirk will focus on “strengthening data governance, interoperability, and data protection across the department,” which he went on to describe as a “major effort.”
“The chief data officer is on a directed, 90-day listening tour where he is talking to senior leaders in the Pentagon, war fighters and at the combatant commands, industry and academia to assess the overall department's progress,” Deasy said. “At the conclusion of the 90-day tour, Dave will provide a written assessment with a plan of action.”
Deasy added that a DoD data strategy will be released “in the coming months.”
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June 20, 2019 | International, Aerospace
These US partners in the Asia-Pacific are to receive ScanEagle drones
By: Mike Yeo MELBOURNE, Australia — The U.S. Department of Defense has announced a contract award for 34 Insitu ScanEagle drones under the Foreign Military Sales program to partners in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the $47.9 million contract, announced May 31, the UAVs are for the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Respectively, they will take delivery of twelve, eight, eight and six ScanEagles. The manufacturer is a Boeing subsidiary. The announcement marks the first time that military equipment will be transferred to Vietnam following the end of a U.S. arms embargo imposed since the communist takeover there in 1975. It was fully lifted in 2016. The order also provides for spare payloads, spare and repair parts, support equipment, tools, training, technical services, and field service representatives. Work is expected to be completed in 2022. Defense News understands from multiple sources that the UAVs will be provided to these countries by the U.S. government, although there are conflicting reports on whether these will falls under the purview of the DoD's capacity-building program or the maritime security initiative announced in 2015. One of the key advantages of the ScanEagle is its ability to be launched by a pneumatic catapult unit and recovered by Insitu's Skyhook system, which means it can be operated from any patch of open space or from aboard a ship, negating the need for a runway. Sensor payloads available for the UAV include electro-optic, infrared and high-resolution video cameras that enable the operator to track stationary and moving targets. The UAVs will assist the recipient countries in improving maritime domain awareness over their territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. The contract announcement came on the same day that the DoD released its latest Indo-Pacific Strategy Report. The document lists as key priorities, among other things, building partner capacity and enhancing maritime domain awareness for third party partners in the region, as well as strengthening interoperability that includes increased information sharing between the U.S. and other like-minded countries in the region. All the recipient nations in this contract have interests in the South China Sea, with Indonesia being the only country among this group of four that does not claim ownership of any of the islands, features and rocks in the disputed Spratly or Paracel groups. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2019/06/05/these-us-partners-in-the-asia-pacific-are-to-receive-scaneagle-drones/
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March 1, 2019 | International, Aerospace
Poland wants to buy fifth-gen fighters under $49B modernization program
By: Jarosław Adamowski WARSAW, Poland — Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced Thursday he signed a military modernization plan document under which the country will spend 185 billion zloty (U.S. $49 billion) on new weapons and military equipment by 2026. The acquisition of 32 fifth-generation fighter jets is one of the priority procurements that are to be carried out under the program, the minister said. “I expect both the chief of the General Staff, and the chief of the Armament Inspectorate to immediately initiate actions to perform this task,” Blaszczak said in a Feb. 28 ministerial statement. The acquisition aims to help Poland replace its outdated Soviet-era Sukhoi Su-22 and Mikoyan MiG-29 aircraft. Other acquisitions to be financed by the multiyear program include short-range air defense systems, combat helicopters, cybersecurity systems and new submarines for the Polish Navy, according to Blaszczak. For 2019, the Defence Ministry has a budget of close to 44.7 billion zloty, an increase of 9 percent compared with a year earlier. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/02/28/poland-wants-to-buy-fifth-gen-fighters-under-49b-modernization-program/