Sailor 360 Prepares Future Leaders of Ford

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  May 7, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  German government asks Lockheed, MBDA to rebid on missile defense system

  By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The German government has given Lockheed Martin and MBDA the go-ahead to bid anew on the TLVS air defense program. The latest request for a proposal, transmitted Wednesday, is the third iteration after previous attempts to draft a contract failed. If the vendor team decides to pursue the business, a new offer is expected by the summer. A Lockheed spokesman confirmed receipt of the solicitation but said the company could not comment further. The program, short for Taktisches Luftverteidigungssystem, is meant to wean Germany off the venerable Patriot air defense weapon. Formerly developed in concert with the United States and Italy, TLVS boasts a 360-degree sensing and shooting capability meant to lower its footprint in the field and allow for intercepts against threats from all directions. The Germans want a system that grants its military operators maximum national autonomy, meaning the government wants to own the rights to relevant software and hardware without having to consult with Washington to employ or modify the weapon. That requirement previously turned out to be a major headache in the negotiations with industry, especially relating to the Lockheed-made interceptor known as the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement. It also remains to be seen how firmly Berlin sticks to its guns on the issue in the upcoming round of talks. News of movement in the prospective multibillion-dollar program comes as the German Defence Ministry announced another major acquisition decision last month that continues to make headlines. The government has proposed a split buy of Eurofighter and F-18 fighter jets to replace its Tornado fleet by 2030, prompting spirited debates among German lawmakers, industry advocates and analysts. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2020/05/06/german-government-asks-lockheed-mbda-to-re-bid-on-missile-defense-system/

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  June 27, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Other Defence

  The Air Force’s 5 principles to advance artificial intelligence

  By: Kelsey Reichmann The Air Force has been on an almost three-year journey to integrate artificial intelligence into operations and that effort will soon be more apparent as the service plans to declassify its artificial intelligence strategy, Capt. Michael Kanaan, the service's co-chair for artificial intelligence, said June 26 at the AI World Government Conference in Washington, D.C. “We had to find a way to get us to a place where we could talk about AI in a pragmatic, principled, meaningful way,” said Kanaan. During his speech, Kanaan laid out five principles that have guided the Air Force with artificial intelligence in the meantime. They are: 1. Technological barriers will be a significant hurdle. Kanaan said the service has made it a point to limit technological obstacles. However, one problem contractors may face is higher priced products geared toward security-driven government programs versus the same, less expensive commercial programs. A new attitude toward commercial off-the-shelf technology within the service can help, he said. “Too often working with our agencies, they have to take risks in the framework of time, people and bespoke unique solutions to deploy on your systems,” Kanaan said. However, this does not have to be the case. “Accept commercial standards because unclassified does not mean un-secured." 2. Data needs to be treated like a strategic asset. “We used to ask the question, if a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound. Well, in the 21st century the real question to ask is was something there to measure it,” he said. He explained this involves looking at when and how to digitize workflows. 3. The Air Force must be able to democratize access to AI. “This is an opportunity now to say, machine learning as our end state, if done right, should be readable to everyone else,” Kanaan said. This will involve balancing support and operations and taking into consider the reality that the demographics of the traditional workforce are going to shift, Kanaan explained. “Not looking at the top one percent, but focusing on the 99 percent of our workforce,” he said. “The Air Force, of those 450,000 people, 88 percent are millennials [adults under 40]." Looking to digital natives in the integration process will be valuable because this younger slice of the workforce already has insights into how this technology works. 4. Computer skills must be viewed as strategic assets. Just as the Defense Department has treated foreign language skills as an asset, Kanaan said, the Air Force must view computer skills the same way. In the United States, 50,000 graduates qualified for 500,000 technology-based jobs each year, and the Air Force must promote emerging technology skills the way it did traditional electrical engineering, astronautics and aeronautics during the space race, Kanaan said. “I believe that it is time for another national defense education act," Kanaan said. 5. Communication, transparency and cooperation are imperative. As innovations are made, communication, transparency and cooperation are necessary for discussions with international governments, industry and academic partners, Kanaan said. “As Americans we should be communicating about the ethics of artificial intelligence and how we view society every single day. These are important topics and they do provide that signal to the rest of the world that we view our society in different ways than maybe some others and our values and norms are important because AI at its end state bolsters our biases.” Most importantly, these issues must be addressed sooner rather than later, Kanaan said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/artificial-intelligence/2019/06/26/the-air-forces-5-principles-to-advance-artificial-intelligence/

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  June 12, 2024 | International, Security

  Black Basta Ransomware May Have Exploited MS Windows Zero-Day Flaw

  Symantec uncovers Black Basta ransomware exploiting Windows flaw. Learn about Cardinal group's cyber threats via Microsoft products.