Safran Aircraft Engines and Qatar Armed Forces sign support agreement for M88 engines

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  August 19, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security

  New UULoader Malware Distributes Gh0st RAT and Mimikatz in East Asia

  New UULoader malware targets Korean and Chinese users with Gh0st RAT; phishing scams target cryptocurrency wallets and AI users.

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  September 6, 2019 | International, Aerospace

  Killing programs is ‘like working out,’ says acting US Army secretary

  By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army's program-killing project known as “night court” will continue and become more aggressive in the coming years as demands for the service's modernization effort increase, the Army's acting secretary said Wednesday. Named after the 1980s-era sitcom and a nod to the long hours worked by staff to pull it off, night court in 2018 identified $25 billion in savings and scrapped modernization efforts that the Army plans to use to finance new technologies. Acting Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy announced another $10 billion of savings in May. But keeping night court alive will require a deliberate effort until it becomes routine, McCarthy told the audience at the third annual Defense News Conference. “Night court is kind of like working out: You've got to get up, you've got to get after it,” McCarthy said. “It's hard. It wears you out. You think: ‘Boy, it would be easier to just stay in bed.' But it's necessary to keep the institution strong. We believe it has been institutionalized. ... But we've got to keep up the repetitions, and over time it will become a behavior, like a reflex.” McCarthy, who is expected to face a confirmation hearing to become Army secretary later this month, said as Army Futures Command's cross-functional teams identify requirements for the next generation of Army systems, the effort must become more aggressive. “What we've done in the cross-functional teams, those efforts have been successful,” McCarthy said. "So as we continue to go down the development pipe, they are going to come back with a requirement we are going to need X numbers of systems to lay in across our formations. And as we scale that out over time, that will cost more money. “So, when you look at where are the opportunities, you have to make choices — divestiture. Legacy systems that we have enjoyed for decades that have performed for us in combat operations for going on 18 years now, some of them will have to go away.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who formerly served as the Army secretary and championed the service's effort, signaled he will continue night court Pentagon-wide, something that will test his political clout as services are often loathed to give up reliable legacy systems, and lawmakers is even less willing to give up jobs in their districts that would be threatened by program cuts. But, McCarthy said, the effort is necessary to finance the new technologies the Pentagon needs to gain an advantage over China and Russia. “Night court will continue. In fact, night court is going prime time with Secretary Esper down the hall,” he said. “It's necessary to find as much trade space within that [$741 billion] in the '20 and '21 budgets to find every penny we can to finance our ambitions. Every investment program has a divestiture.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/defense-news-conference/2019/09/05/killing-programs-is-like-working-out-acting-army-secretary-says

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  February 12, 2020 | International, Land

  Army Seeks New JLTV Competition In 2022

  The service is already slowing production of Oshkosh's Joint Light Tactical Vehicle and now wants to find an alternative manufacturer —which could create logistical or legal headaches. Other Oshkosh programs are also ramping down. By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. PENTAGON: As the Army moves billions into new high-tech weapons, truck-maker Oshkosh is feeling the pinch. The 2021 budget request not only decreases spending on three Oshkosh vehicles, the 10-wheel FHTV, the 6-wheel FMTV, and 4×4 JLTV: It also calls for a new competition the following fiscal year for JLTV, the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle originally meant to replace the Humvee. That's especially worrying for the Wisconsin company, because JLTV is the youngest program of the three and the most important for the company's long-term future. But then-Army Secretary Mark Esper — now Secretary of Defense — has publicly criticized JLTV as overly specialized for the kind of counterinsurgency conflicts the Pentagon is no longer focused on. While the Army insists it will still buy the planned total of 49,099 trucks, eventually, it keeps slowing down the annual rate and extended the deadline to complete production, which now won't end until 2042. (That leaves the Humvee in service, at least with some units, indefinitely). Why recompete? “We do that to drive the price down,” said Deputy Assistant Army Secretary John Daniels this morning, when my colleague Jen Judson asked about the proposal. But any new competition would be two fiscal years from now and Daniels declined to give any details. The only other information about the plan is buried on page 102 of the fifth volume of the Army's newly released procurement request for 2021, which also includes projections for 2022 and beyond. Under JLTV, the “justification book” says that: “Current contract options may be exercised through 30 November 2023 assuming contractual quantity headspace is still available. Current funding indicates headspace quantity of 16,901 may be achieved in FY 2021, with competitive follow on contract award anticipated in FY 2022. A split procurement will occur between the existing Oshkosh contract and the new competitively awarded contract based on the approved acquisition strategy. The Program Office continues to gather insight from industry partners to better understand their position to ensure strong competition for the follow on contract.” In plain English, this means Oshkosh's current contract to build Joint Light Tactical Vehicles runs though fall 2023. Since production will continue for decades, the Army will have to award a new contract to buy more JLTVs for itself, the other services and allies. But when it comes time to award that follow-on contract, the service doesn't want Oshkosh to be its only option: It wants at least one competitor to drive down costs. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/02/army-seeks-new-jltv-competition-in-2022