June 11, 2020 | International, Aerospace, C4ISR, Security
By THERESA HITCHENSon June 11, 2020 at 4:01 AM
WASHINGTON: Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper says he is considering taking over DoD's artificial intelligence (AI) experiment, Project Maven, to make it operational while the service pushes its own AI capabilities into the field.
“I was just speaking with USDI today about the potential of transitioning Maven over to the Air Force and making it an operational reality day-to-day,” Roper said.
Project Maven begun in 2017, was designed to put machine-learning to work to sort through the masses of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) data generated by DoD and Intelligence Community (IC) platforms. It has been a bit controversial, with Google pulling out of the effort in 2018; and the head of Air Combat Command head Gen. Mike Holmes saying he didn't believe it was ready for prime time.
Roper explained that the Air Force was best positioned to take on Project Maven because of its progress in standing up capabilities under its Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) family of systems, each dubbed with the prefix ONE. This includes the cloudONE for remote data storage, processing and access; platformONE for securely building software; the dataONE library; and the deviceONE that allows secure remote access to classified data.
Via the ABMS effort, which is the Air Force's flagship for enabling Joint All Domain Command and Control, the Air Force has been able to build the “AI infrastructure” that allows an AI system to actually do analysis, Roper stressed.
“That boring part, the AI infrastructure, is what has been critically absent in the Department, and we are finally doing it in the Air Force,” Roper said. “So cloudONE, platformONE, dataONE — this family of ONE systems — builds a tech stack that really is about getting data in proper custody so that analytics can be built on top of it and we can finally go do AI at scale.”
The key, he said, is “data curation and custody, so that that data is discoverable by analytics algorithms that are able to assess its import to different missions, and then push it to the machine, without having to have people be inside the loop.” And that, of course, is what Project Maven focused on, the algorithms.
Roper said the Air Force already has an “AI at scale operational today with the Distributed Common Ground System” as well as one being used for “predictive maintenance” that the service hopes have in use for 16 different assets within the next 18 months.
The DCGS family of systems, an effort that began way back in 1998, is DoD's flagship capability for providing daily processing, exploitation and production of analysis from DoD to ISR platforms. Predictive maintenance is using AI to figure out what parts of a weapon system or platform are likely to break next, to ease and speed logistics planning.
In both these instances, he explained, the environment is benign. That won't be so on the battlefield, where adversaries will be attempting to hack and spoof US AI systems — something that he says is all too easily done today.
“It's harder than meets the eye to try to teach an algorithm to know that something is messing with them,” he said. “They inherently trust their data.”
“I think there is this belief that that AI will just churn through it — throw enough data at it and everything will be okay — and that's not the case,” he elaborated. “We need another generation of this technology.”
Thus, for the moment, the best solution is for humans and machines to work in tandem — as the Air Force is looking to do with the Skyborg project and the development of an AI co-pilot Roper has nicknamed R2D2. “We need to be pairing our AI with people,” Roper stressed.
Still, Roper is enthusiastic about the progress made by the ABMS effort toward AI, including working with Northern Command on its response to COVID-19 — helping predict where pandemic hot spots might arise.
“We're excited that we have that first taste of AI changing operations,” he enthused. “That AI flag has now been planted for the department. We have seen a future that only silicon was able to see; the human brain was not. If we can get that out onto the battlefield and use the ABMS event in September as our stepping stone, then what a wonderful step towards getting our department and our military away from thinking of itself primarily in terms of the platforms that produce data, and rather instead of the insights that are created by that data, many of them being created by AI,” he said.
(The Air Force is planning the second “ABMS OnRamp,” to follow the debut field demonstration in December, for the first week of September. As Breaking D readers know, that second exercise will feature a scenario centered on Space Command operations.)
Roper also waxed enthusiastic about the recent decision by the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) to move its development operations to cloudONE. They are not alone, he said.
“I believe that portions of the Aegis Weapon System, and the F-18 are also using cloudONE for development,” he said.
The Air Force has “put a ton of effort into getting it certified at the various security levels, classified to critical unclassified information,” he added. CloudONE now can be used with secret-level and Top Secret/Special Access Program (TS/SAP) level data, and Roper said that by the end of June it will be certified for use with Secret/Special Access Program level data.
This makes it available to software developers across security levels, and opens the door for use by more Air Force weapons development programs, he explained.
For example, Roper said that the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent Program (GBSD) “will absolutely be using cloudONE and platformONE for its development.” And, he said, in talking with the F-35 program office he expects “they will do some portion of their development” using cloudONE.
Further, he said the highly classified B-21 bomber program will be “moving in at the right point for them.” He noted that prime contractor Northrop Grumman has just demonstrated the use of Kubernetes — a software development technique that helps manage multiple “containerized applications” (i.e. with its own operating system) across multiple machines in a secure manner — on flight-ready hardware. Indeed, he noted, the B-21 program involves an initiative called DevStar that is trying to establish an autonomous testing capability.
An Air Force spokesperson said in a statement that DevStar is “an Air Force initiative to use modern software development paradigms to rapidly deliver software to weapon systems while continually meeting safety, security, airworthiness and other compliance requirements that traditionally are performed in serial.” The Air Force website on the initiative shows it is trying to go beyond DevSecOps that seeks to build IT security into software upfront — to include super-high security and safety measures that will allow use in developing highly classified nuclear weapons-related systems.
“And you're gonna keep seeing more of the Air Force move into this,” Roper said. “You will hear people use terms like Agile Development and DevOps and DevSecOps — they are not all the same. The tech stack underneath that is producing the software matters.”
PlatformONE, he said, is one critical tool in producing software for the Air Force. “It is what is automating all those things that we have people doing today and people doing them in serial,” he said. And, he added, the use of platformONE and cloudONE in combination is “magic” that allows the sharing of software code across weapon systems development programs.
“One of my ambitions for this year is to have code that's been written for, say, B-21 run on F-16 and vice versa, and not have any humans check it in between.”
https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/roper-pushes-moving-project-maven-to-air-force
September 13, 2021 | International, Naval
A public-private partnership focused on accelerating tech breakthroughs for energetics has released its first requirements document, focused on hypersonic weapons and other munitions.
March 25, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security
Houston – March 23, 2020 – KBR (NYSE: KBR) announced today that it has been awarded a $26.8 million task order to provide additional cybersecurity engineering support to the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) Engineering Directorate Cyber Systems Engineering Division. KBR was awarded this cost-plus-fixed-fee task order under the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center's (DoD IAC) multiple-award contract. The task order is part of the DoD IAC's Cyber Security and Information Systems Technical Area Task (CSTAT). This task order was awarded by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) Installation Contracting Center. KBR won a seat on the CSTAT contract in December 2015. Under the new task order, KBR experts will develop cybersecurity frameworks for U.S. Air Force command and control (C2) and rapid cyber acquisition (RCA) customers. C2 and RCA systems provide integrating communications capabilities that permit almost all other Air Force weapon systems to operate and communicate securely. The cybersecurity of these systems is paramount to the secure operation of key assets including fighter, bomber, and remotely piloted aircraft. KBR will provide system and software security, mission assurance, risk management, and resilience in developing, implementing, training, verifying, and executing cybersecurity strategies across the portfolio of C2 and RCA weapon systems for AFLCMC. Through this work, which will be performed at Hanscom AFB in Massachusetts, KBR will increase the cybersecurity and resiliency of USAF systems while helping to ingrain cybersecurity best practices into the engineering processes of systems in acquisition. “This award demonstrates the military's trust in KBR's ability to provide knowledge-based cybersecurity services,” said Byron Bright, KBR President, Government Solutions U.S. “KBR's growing cybersecurity portfolio underscores our position as a leading provider of cutting-edge cyber and electronic security solutions for the government.” KBR offers an array of IT and cyber capabilities, including software engineering and development; big data analytics, computer network management, defense and support; cyber certification and accreditation; cyber policy development, translation and training; vulnerability assessment and evaluation; utility monitoring and control; health IT; and cloud security. About DoD IAC Program The DoD IAC program operates as a part of Defense Technical Information Center and provides technical data management and research support for DoD and federal government users. Established in the 1940s, the IAC program serves the DoD science & technology (S&T) and acquisition communities to drive innovation and technological developments by enhancing collaboration through integrated scientific and technical information development and dissemination for the DoD and broader S&T community. About KBR, Inc. KBR is a global provider of differentiated professional services and technologies across the asset and program lifecycle within the Government Solutions and Energy sectors. KBR employs approximately 38,000 people worldwide (including our joint ventures), with customers in more than 80 countries, and operations in 40 countries, across three synergistic global businesses: Government Solutions, serving government customers globally, including capabilities that cover the full lifecycle of defense, space, aviation and other government programs and missions from research and development, through systems engineering, test and evaluation, program management, to operations, maintenance, and field logistics Technology Solutions, featuring proprietary technology, equipment, catalysts, digital solutions and related technical services for the monetization of hydrocarbons, including refining, petrochemicals, ammonia and specialty chemicals, as well as inorganics Energy Solutions, including onshore oil and gas; LNG (liquefaction and regasification)/GTL; oil refining; petrochemicals; chemicals; fertilizers; differentiated EPC; maintenance services (Brown & Root Industrial Services); offshore oil and gas (shallow-water, deep-water, subsea); floating solutions (FPU, FPSO, FLNG & FSRU); program management and consulting services KBR is proud to work with its customers across the globe to provide technology, value-added services, integrated EPC delivery and long term operations and maintenance services to ensure consistent delivery with predictable results. At KBR, We Deliver. Visit www.kbr.com Forward Looking Statement The statements in this press release that are not historical statements, including statements regarding future financial performance, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the outcome of and the publicity surrounding audits and investigations by domestic and foreign government agencies and legislative bodies; potential adverse proceedings by such agencies and potential adverse results and consequences from such proceedings; the scope and enforceability of the company's indemnities from its former parent; changes in capital spending by the company's customers; the company's ability to obtain contracts from existing and new customers and perform under those contracts; structural changes in the industries in which the company operates; escalating costs associated with and the performance of fixed-fee projects and the company's ability to control its cost under its contracts; claims negotiations and contract disputes with the company's customers; changes in the demand for or price of oil and/or natural gas; protection of intellectual property rights; compliance with environmental laws; changes in government regulations and regulatory requirements; compliance with laws related to income taxes; unsettled political conditions, war and the effects of terrorism; foreign operations and foreign exchange rates and controls; the development and installation of financial systems; increased competition for employees; the ability to successfully complete and integrate acquisitions; and operations of joint ventures, including joint ventures that are not controlled by the company. KBR's most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Form 10-Qs and 8-Ks, and other U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss some of the important risk factors that KBR has identified that may affect the business, results of operations and financial condition. Except as required by law, KBR undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. For further information, please contact: Investors Alison Vasquez Vice President, Investor Relations 713-753-5082 Investors@kbr.com Media Brenna Hapes External Global Communications 713-753-3800 Mediarelations@kbr.com View source version on KBR: https://www.kbr.com/en/insights-events/press-release/kbr-fortifies-cybersecurity-us-air-force-weapons-systems
June 17, 2022 | International, Aerospace
La Direction générale de l'armement (DGA) a annoncé, mercredi 15 juin, avoir passé commande auprès de la PME Cilas, basée à Orléans (Loiret). La DGA indique avoir attribué à Cilas le marché L2AD, qui prévoit notamment l'achat d'un prototype opérationnel de système laser capable d'identifier, poursuivre et neutraliser des micro-drones (de 100g à 25kg). Le système Helma-P, développé par Cilas, dispose d'une puissance de deux kilowatts, peut détecter un appareil à trois kilomètres de distance et le neutraliser à moins d'un kilomètre, même lorsque sa vitesse dépasse les 50 km/h. Le laser peut également éblouir le drone, en saturant ses capteurs optiques. Une technologie que compte utiliser le ministère des Armées « afin notamment de renforcer la protection des sites militaires sensibles et des opérateurs d'importance vitale », précise le communiqué. D'un montant maximal de 10 M€, ce contrat s'inscrit dans un programme plus vaste de lutte anti-drones, pour lequel les armées prévoient d'investir 300 M€ sur 10 ans. L'Usine Nouvelle du 16 juin