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September 17, 2024 | International, C4ISR, Security

Shining a Light on Shadow Apps: The Invisible Gateway to SaaS Data Breaches

Learn how shadow apps bypass IT controls, increase SaaS risks, and the role of SSPM in detection

https://thehackernews.com/2024/09/shining-light-on-shadow-apps-invisible.html

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  • Lockheed-Boeing team pitch Defiant X, its candidate for the Army’s long-range assault helo competition

    January 26, 2021 | International, Land

    Lockheed-Boeing team pitch Defiant X, its candidate for the Army’s long-range assault helo competition

    By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin-owned Sikorsky and Boeing have pitched a tweaked version of the team's coaxial technology demonstrator — the SB-1 Defiant — which it plans to submit for the U.S. Army's Future Long-Range Assault (FLRAA) competition, according to the companies. The modified, competition-ready aircraft design is being called Defiant X, taking the same surname as little brother Raider X, which is Lockheed's submission for the Army's other helicopter competition — the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program — running nearly in parallel. Both aircraft build off and scale up from Sikorsky's X2 demonstrator which flew for the first time in 2008. Lockheed Martin came out with Raider X roughly two years ago at the Association of the U.S Army's annual trade show. “One thing that always comes out is the importance of this aircraft at the X,” Tim Malia, Sikorsky's FARA director, said at the time. “The ‘X' is defined by the Army as the terminal area where they actually have to go do the work, do the reconnaissance, do the attack mission. The operation at the X is really critical for this program and for this platform.” And according to the Lockheed-Boeing team, it's no different with Defiant. Modernizing its vertical lift fleet is the Army's third-highest priority behind Long-Range Precision Fires and Next-Generation Combat Vehicle development. The Army intends to field both a FLRAA and FARA by roughly 2030. Defiant X made its public debut Jan. 25 featuring changes to the outer mold line compared to the demonstrator airframe, such as a sharper nose cone; a tricycle-style landing gear; changes to the exhaust system and an integrated mission systems package. The “enhancements to the design” are born from roughly 1,500 hours running algorithms in a systems integration lab, 135 hours logged in the Propulsion Systems Test Bed, and 31 flights, adding up to 26 hours of flight time, the companies reported. Some of the changes to the airframe were made to reduce thermal signature and improve aerodynamic handling. The exhaust system alterations also reduce thermal signature, the team conveyed. The landing gear changes are meant to improve stability, landing and taxiing in combat and more austere environments, according to the companies. Adding integrated mission systems is a requirement for the FLRAA competition in order to upgrade and continuously improve aircraft capability through a modular open system architecture. The MOSA will allow the systems to stay relevant in a Joint All Domain Operations environment and on the battlefield in 2035 and beyond. Defiant X will also come with “fly-by-wire flight controls integrated with autonomy capability leading to safety and workload reduction for the crew and operations in complex and degraded visual environments,” the team noted. Lockheed and Boeing are claiming that, as of now, Defiant X is the only offering that can sling-load equipment during missions “at an operationally relevant distance.” “One of the key words here is versatility,” Heather McBryan, Boeing's director of sales and marketing for future vertical lift, told reporters during a Jan. 22 roundtable held in advance of Defiant X's public debut. “Although the FLRAA mission is about more than just flying fast, and although we know the pacing mission is the air assault mission, this aircraft is going to be asked to do a whole lot of other things on a daily basis and our design and capability really provides that extreme lifting power for those types of missions.” To date, the SB-1 Defiant helicopter — as part of the Army's technology demonstration and the ongoing follow-on competitive risk reduction effort — has reached 211 knots in straight-and-level flight and 232 knots in a descent. “During the [competitive development and risk reduction], we've done hundreds of trade studies to refine this transformational capability and worked closely with our Army partner,” Jay Macklin, director of Future Vertical Lift business development with Sikorsky, said in the same call with reporters. “The design you're going to see today is a result of those studies. The CDRR has provided a great vehicle to share data back and forth to help the Army again understand and come to a decision on exactly what they are looking for,” he said. The team, according to Macklin, continue to also run tests in a digital combat environment that allows the ability to look at and test designs and maintenance procedures, fly and run operational analysis in order to ensure the best design. While Defiant X came out looking a certain way, according to newly released renderings and animations, that doesn't necessarily mean something won't change before the actual aircraft is built and ready to fly, according to McBryan. The Army released a draft request for proposals in December for FLRAA, announcing its unsurprising intentions to limit the competition to the Sikorsky-Boeing team and Bell because they are the only ones that can meet all of the service's technical and production requirements after spending years building and flying Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator aircraft meant to help define requirements and the realm of the possible for a next-generation medium-sized helicopter. Bell is expected to submit a tiltrotor that would likely not stray too far from its V-280 Valor aircraft flown in the technology demonstration. Bell's demonstrator first flew in December 2017. Defiant took longer to get off the ground due to challenges in manufacturing its complex rotor blades. Defiant's first flight took place in March 2019. The Army is plans to drop the RFP in fiscal 2021, with plans to choose a winner to produce the aircraft in FY22. https://www.defensenews.com/land/2021/01/25/lockheed-boeing-team-pitch-defiant-x-its-candidate-for-the-armys-long-range-assault-helo-competition

  • Airbus Helicopters mise sur la « reprise » des commandes militaires

    October 1, 2018 | International, Aerospace

    Airbus Helicopters mise sur la « reprise » des commandes militaires

    BRUNO TREVIDIC La demande militaire devrait permettre à Airbus Helicopters d'atteindre ses objectifs en 2018, estime le nouveau PDG, Bruno Even. Arriver de l'extérieur pour prendre les commandes d'une entreprise sur un marché en crise n'est pas chose facile. Encore moins quand votre prédécesseur est susceptible de devenir votre patron. Tel est le défi relevé par Bruno Even, le nouveau patron d'Airbus Helicopters . Transfuge de Safran Engines, Bruno Even, 49 ans, a succédé il y a sept mois à Guillaume Faury, parti chez Airbus commercial aircraft. Sa mission ? Poursuivre la restructuration de l'ex-Eurocopter. Le NH90 reprend des couleurs « L'année 2018 est celle de la reprise des commandes militaires, se félicite Bruno Even. Ces derniers mois, nous avons sécurisé plusieurs opportunités, dont une commande de 28 NH90 pour le Qatar. Nous avons également reçu la confirmation d'une nouvelle commande de NH90 et de 50 hélicoptères légers Lakota pour l'armée américaine... En 2018, nous devrons avoir plus de commandes militaires que de livraisons ». Marché civil stable A l'inverse, le marché civil, sur lequel Airbus Helicopters a b'ti son succès, est toujours atone. « La remontée des cours du pétrole ne s'est pas traduite par une reprise des commandes, du fait des surcapacités accumulées. Environ 30 % de la flotte mondiale d'hélicoptères lourds dédiés au marché off-shore est au sol. La situation devrait perdurer un an ou deux », juge Bruno Even. Plan de transformation Pour faire face à cette situation, Airbus Helicopters a déjà dû en passer par deux plans de départs volontaires (800 postes au total). Surtout, l'hélicoptériste s'est engagé dans une vaste réorganisation industrielle , qui prévoit de spécialiser ses principaux sites de production en France, en Allemagne et en Espagne. Un chantier engagé il y a deux ans, mais qui est loin d'être achevé et que Bruno Even va devoir mener à bien s'il veut atteindre l'objectif de 10 % de marge d'ici cinq ans. « Dans un marché difficile, l'optimisation des sites et des coûts reste une priorité, souligne-t-il. Nous avons engagé la spécialisation des sites avec le programme H160, nous allons la poursuivre avec les programmes plus anciens. Cela passera par des transferts de production entre les sites. Nous sommes en discussion avec les partenaires sur les moyens d'y parvenir d'ici trois à quatre ans ». Le processus ne doit rien modifier à la répartition de la charge de travail entre la France, l'Allemagne et l'Espagne, assure-t-il. Aucun plan social n'est envisagé, les départs naturels devant permettre de réduire les sureffectifs en douceur. Les sous-traitants sollicités La réduction des coûts passera également par un sacrifice des fournisseurs, ajoute le dirigeant. « 70 % de la valeur d'un hélicoptère provient de la chaîne de sous-traitants, il est normal que chacun fasse un effort, estime Bruno Even. Nous nous remettons en cause, nos fournisseurs pourraient eux aussi revoir leur organisation ». Améliorer la satisfaction client Autre priorité de Bruno Even : la satisfaction client, mise à mal par des taux de disponibilité jugés trop faible sur les hélicoptères militaires et le crash d'un H225 en Norvège sur les engins civils. « Nous travaillons à ce sujet depuis plusieurs années, mais nous ne sommes pas encore là où les clients nous attendent », reconnait-il. Airbus Helicopters entend améliorer de 15 % la disponibilité des Caracal de l'armée française dès 2018, et faire revoler les H225 cloués au sol par les compagnies pétrolières. Quitte à leur trouver de nouveaux usages ou de nouveaux clients, comme l'Ukraine. Priorité au H160 En revanche, Bruno Even n'aura probablement pas de sitôt à gérer un nouveau programme , la gamme étant largement renouvelée. « La priorité, c'est de livrer le H160, dit-il. Nous sommes en phase avec le calendrier initial, avec une certification prévue pour fin 2019. Nous avons rentré les premières commandes, une dizaine, ce qui correspond à la trajectoire fixée. Nous avons également validé avec la DGA la première phase d'études de levée de risques, en prévision du lancement des versions militaires du H160, appelé à devenir l'hélicoptère multirôle de l'armée française. Le lancement du programme militaire devrait intervenir en 2023, pour des livraisons à partir de 2028 ». Bruno Trévidic https://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/0302322607770-airbus-helicopters-mise-sur-la-reprise-des-commandes-militaires-2209518.php

  • Navy Needs Bigger Budget Than Other Services: Rep. Wittman

    March 10, 2020 | International, Naval

    Navy Needs Bigger Budget Than Other Services: Rep. Wittman

    “You can have the greatest brigade combat team in the world," Rep. Wittman said, "but if they can't get to the fight because we don't have a robust ready reserve fleet, that's pretty shortsighted.” By PAUL MCLEARY ]WASHINGTON: A prominent lawmaker waded into the inter-service money wars today by calling for the Navy receiving a larger share of the budget than the other branches of the armed forces. The Army, Rep. Rob Wittman emphasized, can't even deploy abroad without the Navy's help. “We need to look at the one-third, one-third, one-third allocation of defense dollars to all the different service branches,” said Wittman, the top Republican on the Democratic-controlled House Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee. (The actual allocation is a bit trickier than that, but it's close). “No offense in any way, shape, or form to the other service branches, but we're going to need capability in certain areas and we're going to need those at a faster pace than in other areas.” Wittman represents the shipbuilding powerhouse of Virginia — home to massive naval bases and Newport News Shipbuilding, which makes all the nation's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and half its nuclear submarines. He appeared at the Hudson Institute today alongside Rep. Joe Courtney, who chairs the subcommittee and who represents Connecticut, where the other half of the nation's nuclear subs are built at Electric Boat. But it wasn't any of these high-tech, high-cost warships that Wittman singled out today. Instead, the congressman was referring to the major shortfalls in allocating money to modernize the nation's sealift fleet, humble but essential transports. A recent exercise showed the sealift fleet would be unable to haul military equipment overseas quickly in the event of a national security emergency. The snap drill found that of the 33 ships activated, only 22 were ready enough to leave port, according to a December paper from US Transportation Command. Shifting more money to the Navy would be a tough sell in Congress, with its hundreds of parochial interests, but Courtney added that his committee might take up the sealift shortage in its markup of the 2021 budget request in a few weeks, a move that could have wide-ranging implications for the Navy's budget. Wittman didn't lay out plans for shifting money to the Navy, but said “a great example” of why sealift needs to be a priority is “you can have the greatest brigade combat team in the world, you can have the greatest Stryker brigade in the world, but if they can't get to the fight because we don't have a robust ready reserve fleet, that's pretty shortsighted.” Splitting the budget roughly in thirds between the services “is not letting the strategy drive the budget, it's letting the budget drive the strategy,” added, which “creates a strategic vulnerability.” Wittman's comments come in the wake of a earlier dust-up between the services over their share of the budget, after Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday told a navy conference in January “we need more money,” in order to modernize. Budgeting as usual, he said, which means “a one-third, one-third, one-third cut, does not reflect the strategy,” laid in in 2019's National Defense Strategy, Gilday said. “It isn't necessarily aligned with where we need to go against the pacing threat that we face.” The Navy is in many ways faced with the trickiest path to modernizing among all the branches of the military. Even as the service continues to struggle to get ships out of repair availabilities on time, it has also committed to building a new class of aircraft carriers, and has to overhaul its Virginia-class submarines. On top of all that comes the biggest-ticket item — a new class of nuclear-powered submarines about to begin construction, which will eat up over 30 percent of Gilday's budget in a few years. The first of the 12 Columbia subs is scheduled to begin construction in 2021 and enter service in 2031. Once completed they'll carry a staggering 70 percent of the country's nuclear arsenal. To clear space, and the chart a path toward a planned 355-ship fleet, the Navy is scrambling. Last week, plans leaked of Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly's intent to stand up a Future Carrier 2030 Task Force, which will take six months to study how carriers stack up against new generations of stealthy submarines and long-range precision weapons being fielded by China and Russia. The study likely won't be ready until after Defense Secretary Mark Esper wraps up his assessment of the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan and its new force structure assessment, however. Esper took control over both studies last month. The Navy is also looking to speed up the acquisition of a new class of 20 frigates, which would be a relative bargain of about $900 each if the service can stick to its plans and things work out the way they envision. In an attempt to clear some budgetary space for all of this, Modly has kicked off a new ‘Stem to Stern' review of back office functions to try and wrong more money out of existing accounts, which he's hoping to find about $8 billion a year in savings. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/03/navy-needs-bigger-budget-than-other-services-rep-wittman/

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