July 24, 2024 | International, Naval
The US Navy risks outsourcing control of its drones
Opinion: As the Navy prepares to field drones in larger numbers, officials may unwittingly outsource the means of controlling them to private companies.
September 24, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land
Russie: grandes manœuvres de l'armée, avec des militaires chinois
La Russie a lancé lundi 16 septembre de grandes manœuvres militaires annuelles, mobilisant jusqu'à samedi 128.000 hommes dans le centre du pays, dont des militaires et des avions chinois, avec pour scénario de repousser une attaque islamiste.
Organisées essentiellement dans la région d'Orenbourg, frontalière du Kazakhstan, les manœuvres Tsentr-2019 impliqueront «plus de 20.000 engins militaires, environ 600 appareils volants et jusqu'à 15 navires», selon un communiqué du ministère russe de la Défense. En plus des soldats russes, des troupes venues de Chine, d'Inde, du Pakistan et de plusieurs pays d'Asie centrale doivent participer à ces manœuvres. Une vingtaine d'avions et d'hélicoptères chinois prendront notamment part aux exercices. Ceux-ci se se basent sur un scénario dans lequel un pays indéterminé, converti à l'islamisme radical, entre en conflit avec la Russie.
«Un Etat imaginaire émerge au sud-ouest de la Russie. Ses leaders partagent les idées extrémistes des organisations terroristes internationales. Ce pays imaginaire, possédant une armée développée, tente d'exercer une pression sur la Russie, y compris militaire», e expliqué la semaine dernière le vice-ministre russe de la Défense, Alexandre Fomine. «L'escalade des tensions évolue finalement vers un conflit armé», a-t-il poursuivi, cité par l'agence officielle TASS, au cours d'un briefing.
La première phase des manœuvres sera consacrée à coordonner le commandement, repousser des attaques aériennes et mener des opérations de reconnaissance. Dans la seconde phase, la coalition internationale formée par la Russie dans ces exercices mènera des frappes massives contre l'ennemi, précise le ministère de la Défense. La Russie organise chaque année, au mois de septembre, de grandes manœuvres militaires. Les précédentes, organisées en Sibérie orientale et dans l'Extrême-Orient russe, avaient mobilisé 300.000 hommes et tout l'arsenal moderne de l'armée russe, dont les missiles Iskander, capables de transporter des ogives nucléaires.
L'année précédente, les exercices nommées Zapad-2017 («Ouest-2017») s'étaient déroulés près de la frontière avec la Lituanie et la Pologne, provoquant la fureur de l'Otan et de plusieurs pays européens qui avaient dénoncé une provocation.
On the same subject
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November 5, 2018 | International, C4ISR
After Hurricane Michael, the Air Force moved Tyndall AFB’s contracting data to the cloud
By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — After Hurricane Michael ravaged Tyndall Air Force Base in October, airmen took on an unusual mission: recovering the servers base officials used to write, release and award contracts. Reclaiming those servers — which contain data and contract vehicles used by Tyndall's two contracting squadrons to order everything for the base from supplies for the base to spare parts for aircraft — was a relatively minor victory when compared to the larger devastation faced by the installation. But the mission was an important one in that it allowed remaining base personnel to manage contracts in the wake of the disaster, Air Force officials told Defense News. “Obviously, the base is devastated ... but it's clear that there were open, existing contracts whether that was for simple things like cutting the lawn or delivering food to the chow hall on base,” said Richard Aldridge, the Air Force's program executive officer for business and enterprise systems. “Someone has got to either terminate them, or put them on pause or make sure vendors are getting paid for work that they had already done before the contract.” In the days after the hurricane, airmen from Gunter Annex in Alabama worked with the state's civil air patrol to fly into the Florida panhandle, obtain Tyndall's servers and transport them back to Maxwell Air Force Base, where Gunter is located. Then, the service transferred data from the legacy contract writing system into a new cloud-based system called CON-IT, short for Contracting Information Technology. The servers from Tyndall weren't necessary for base officials to use CON-IT, said Mike Allen, the Air Force's CON-IT program manager. But without them, contract officers would be left with no digital record of past contracts, and would be forced to draw up new contracts for mundane goods and services that would normally be bought through indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contracts that allow for multiple orders. "We were then able to migrate [the data from the servers] into CON-IT so that existing [indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contracts] or ordering vehicles were available to them, and all of their existing contracts would be available to work with,” said Allen. “They weren't starting from a blank piece of paper.” And moving to a cloud-based environment means that Tyndall's contracting data will no longer be vulnerable to future disasters, Aldridge added. “It's ubiquitous; it doesn't matter where you are, you can access it,” he said. Allen and Aldridge said the program office was able to transition Tyndall's data and train users on the new system, but were unable to provide details on how Tyndall's contracting officers had since used the new system. The plan is to move all of the Air Force's current contract data from existing legacy systems to CON-IT by the end of 2019. The system, built by and originally developed by Appian for use by the Defense Information Systems Agency, has deployed to 1,100 users in 30 locations so far, Allen said. CON-IT will replace three legacy systems: the standard procurement system that supports operational users; ConWrite, which supports the weapon system acquisition and research and development; and the automated contract preparation system for logistics contracts. https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/11/02/after-hurricane-michael-the-air-force-moved-tyndall-afbs-contracting-data-to-the-cloud
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April 24, 2023 | International, Naval
Why the US Navy needs dedicated command ships
Suggestions that there is no need for a sea-based battle staff platform fly in the face of Cold War and recent history.