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April 13, 2021 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

Raytheon names new CFO

Raytheon CFO Toby O’Brien has stepped down.

https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2021/04/12/raytheon-names-new-cfo

On the same subject

  • Lockheed Takes Another Shot at Multi Domain War

    August 17, 2018 | International, C4ISR

    Lockheed Takes Another Shot at Multi Domain War

    By COLIN CLARK SUFFOLK, VA: Multi-domain command and control, one of the most important efforts the Pentagon is pursuing, is getting plumbed again by Lockheed Martin at its fourth wargame this week where the company will be testing four systems it believes can fuse data from sensors around the world and allow rapid communications to troops. “Integrated teams” of air, space, and cyber experts representing the transparently named country of “Pacifica” will be planning missions and creating kinetic and non-kinetic effects. That's a major shift from the war game I attend a year ago, when separate groups of space, cyber and air tried to work together through a command and control unit. As Breaking D readers may remember, it didn't work quite as planned. During the war game, the organizers separated the air, cyber and space teams, forcing them to communicate directly with the MDC2 leaders. While central coordination was necessary, so was close consultation between those managing both the conventional attacks and the silent strikes using cyber, electronic warfare and satellites as weapons. Hence the change. Here'a a quick summary of the systems Lockheed will be putting through their paces. Common Mission Software Baseline (CMSB): An open systems architecture, CMSB is a cluster of automated decision aids that link operational planning to tactical execution — in a multi-domain context. Most interestingly, it reaches all the way down to the tactical level and includes tactical decision aides and tools. Cyber Attack Network Simulator (CANS): This is an internal Lockheed system that simulates cyber-attacks over a network. After all, you don't want Lockheed networks crashing when the teams launch a simulated attack. Full article: https://breakingdefense.com/2018/08/lockheed-takes-another-shot-at-multi-domain-war

  • New defense budget bill foresees US-Israel counter-drone cooperation

    August 14, 2018 | International, Aerospace

    New defense budget bill foresees US-Israel counter-drone cooperation

    By: Seth J. Frantzman JERUSALEM — For the first time, the National Defense Authorization Act includes a section on U.S.-Israel cooperation in countering unmanned aerial systems, in the fiscal 2019 version. The cooperation will identify “capability gaps” of the U.S. and Israel in countering UAVs and seek out projects to address those gaps to strengthen U.S. and Israeli security. The new cooperation envisions funding for research and development efforts and identifying costs that foresee close cooperation modeled on previous successful programs that Israel and the U.S. have collaborated on, including missile defense and anti-tunneling initiatives. Israel and the U.S. have been at the forefront of air defense cooperation for decades. U.S. Reps. Charlie Crist and Mike Johnson introduced in February a bill titled “United States-Israel Joint Drone Detection Cooperation Act.” Parts of the bill were included in the NDAA passed in both houses of Congress in July. “I am honored to have our bill included in the NDAA and to see it signed into law by President [Donald] Trump. This is an important step not only for our strongest ally in the Middle East but for the United States as well,” Johnson said in July. The president signed the NDAA into law on the afternoon of Aug. 13. The initiative foresees “joint research and development to counter unmanned aerial vehicles [which] will serve the national security interests of the United States and Israel.” Included as Section 1272 of the final NDAA presented to the president on Aug. 3, the cooperation contains five parts, including identification of the capability gaps that exist, identifying cooperative projects that would address the gaps, assessing the costs of the research and development, and assessing the costs of procuring and fielding the capabilities developed. Reports on the cooperation will be submitted to the congressional defense committees, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The threat of drones has increased in recent years. On Feb. 10 an Iranian-made drone entered Israeli airspace near the northern town of Beit Shean. It had flown from the T4 air base in Syria. Israel identified and tracked the drone from Syria and sent an Apache helicopter to shoot it down. The drone was revealed to be armed with explosives. Former Mossad chief Danny Yatom said in an interview in April that the drone was sophisticated and “an exact replica of the U.S. drone that fell in their territory,” referring to the American RQ-170 Sentinel, which was downed in Iran in 2011. Iran developed two drones based on the Sentinel, one called Shahed 171 and an armed version dubbed Saeqeh, which debuted in 2016. In 2012, Hezbollah used a drone to try to carry out surveillance of the Dimona nuclear reactor in southern Israel. “It's not the first time and it will not be the last,” warned Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Conflict Armament Research reported in March 2017 that kamikaze drones using Iranian technology were being used by Houthi rebels in Yemen against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE has sought to bring attention to this threat during the conflict in Yemen, in which a Riyadh-led coalition is fighting the Houthis. Drones were also used by the Islamic State group to attack U.S.-led coalition forces in Syria and Iraq. And Afghan officials reported an Iranian drone entered their airspace in August 2017. In September 2017, Israel used a Patriot missile to down a Hezbollah drone. Israel used Patriotmissiles twice to down Syrian UAVs near the Golan Heights demilitarized zone in July 2018. The U.S. reportedly used an F-15E Eagle to shoot down an Iranian-made Shahed 129 drone in June 2017 in Syria. The drone was heading for the U.S. base at Tanf, which is located in Syria near the Jordanian border. A systematic examination of the emerging drone threat is in the works. The U.S. Defense Department has been allocating resources to counter UAVs, with U.S. Central Command requesting up to $332 million over the next five years for efforts to counter drones. The U.S. Army has been looking for new missiles to defend against a variety of threats, including drones. This will include the Expanded Mission Area Missile and may include other Israel missiles such as the Tamir interceptor for use with a multimission launcher. https://www.defensenews.com/unmanned/2018/08/13/new-defense-budget-bill-foresees-us-israel-counter-drone-cooperation/

  • FRENCH ARMED FORCES BOOST THEIR SECURE, HIGH-THROUGHPUT SATCOM CAPABILITIES WITH THALES TECHNOLOGIES

    June 19, 2019 | International, C4ISR

    FRENCH ARMED FORCES BOOST THEIR SECURE, HIGH-THROUGHPUT SATCOM CAPABILITIES WITH THALES TECHNOLOGIES

    The French defence procurement agency (DGA) has awarded Thales a major contract to design and build the ground segment for the next-generation Syracuse 4 satellite communication system for the French armed forces. From 2023, the armed forces will benefit from interoperable communication capabilities with improved throughput, availability, threat protection and end-to-end connectivity. This contract will enable French armed forces to meet their initial strategic capability objectives for the Scorpion vehicle programme, the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier and the Rafale combat aircraft. An instrument of national power, space is strategically important for the defence authorities: military satellite capabilities enable forces to operate independently, with greater precision and with the highest levels of security. With the development of expeditionary missions and a growing operational need for advanced in-theatre communications, commanders and deployed forces on the move must be able to access and share information quickly. For urgent interventions and broader operations, forces need end-to-end, high-throughput mobile communication systems that are protected and secure with 24/7 operation and a high level of availability. Syracuse 4 will benefit from Thales's expertise in satellite communication systems, which the company has built up as a technology orchestrator and integrator in France and internationally. It will rely on the System21 highly secure transmission system to guarantee the availability and confidentiality of all communications and protection against jamming, interference, interception, detection and cyberattacks. As Thales Alenia Space will participate in the design of the ground segment, it will be responsible for the management of the mission and will enable the consistency of this kind of management in the frame of the onboard and ground contract for Syracuse 4 program. As prime contractor for the Syracuse 3 ground segment since 2004, Thales has deployed over 1,000 satcom stations worldwide and is a NATO approved supplier with its System21 protected and secure transmission system. https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/group/press-release/french-armed-forces-boost-their-secure-high-throughput-satcom-capabilities

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