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May 6, 2020 | International, C4ISR

The Key To All-Domain Warfare Is ‘Predictive Analysis:’ Gen. O’Shaughnessy

By THERESA HITCHENS
on May 05, 2020 at 3:23 PM

WASHINGTON: Northern Command head Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy says the key to winning tomorrow's all-domain wars is predicting an adversary's actions — as well as the impacts of US military responses — hours and even days in advance.

The capability to perform such “predictive analysis” will be enabled by the US military's Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiative for managing high-speed battle across the air, land, sea, space and cyber domains,” he told the Mitchell Institute yesterday evening in a webinar.

“We see JADC2 is absolutely core to the way we're gonna defend the homeland,” O'Shaughnessy enthused. “And the part that I think is going to be so incredibly game-changing is the ability for us to really use predictive analysis and inform our decisions going into the future.”

“That's, to me, what JADC2 is going to do: it's going to inform our decision-makers, it's going to help them make decisions that, like playing chess, are thinking about two or three moves downstream,” he added. “It's going to give the decision-makers, at the speed of relevance, the ability to make really complex decisions.”

NORTHCOM was a key player in the Air Force's first “On Ramp” demonstration in December of technologies being developed under its Advanced Battle Management System effort, which the service sees as a foundation for JADC2. O'Shaughnessy said he is excited that NORTHCOM will be expanding its participation in the next demonstration, now slated for late August or early September having been pushed back from its original April data due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

O'Shaughnessy said JADC2 also will be critical for providing much-needed improvements to domain awareness in the Arctic. The US military has to “put together a bigger ecosystem for sensing” rather than relying on “traditional stovepiped systems” in the High North, he explained. That ecosystem needs to fuse information from as many systems as possible — from submarines patrolling beneath the icy waters to ground-based radar to long-endurance unmanned drones to future sensors based on large constellations of Low Earth Orbit satellites — which is exactly the goal of JADC2.

“We have to continue to work on our ability to see the approaches to our homeland and understand what what is there and be able to react to it,” said O'Shaughnessy, who also is the commander of NORAD.

As Breaking D readers know, the US military is turning an increasingly worried eye toward the Arctic where Russia and China both have begun to covet as a future zone of economic wealth as the Earth's climate opens shipping routes and expands access to undersea oil.

O'Shaughnessy said he sees three areas where more investment is required to up the US military's game in the Arctic: communications, training, and infrastructure.

Communications at northern latitudes is a particular struggle due to the difficulties of laying fiber optic cable in the harsh terrain, and the paucity of satellite coverage in the region. This, he said, is why NORTHCOM is extremely interested in the potential for so-called proliferated LEO satellite constellations. — both those currently being built by commercial firms and any future military networks.

As Breaking D readers are well aware, DoD's Space Development Agency is planning a multi-tiered network of satellites in LEO that includes “data transport” satellites to allow faster communications between satellites and air-, land- and sea-based receivers that Director Derek Tournear sees as integral to JADC2.

DARPA also is experimenting with proliferated LEO architectures under its Blackjack program, which plans 20 satellites using various buses and payloads to test their capabilities by the end of third-quarter 2022. DARPA late last month selected Lockheed Martin to undertake Phase 1 satellite integration of satellite buses with payloads and the central Pit Boss C2 system under a $5.8 million contract. SEAKR Engineering announced on April 28 that it had been granted a sole source Phase I, Option 2 contract (under a three-phased program plan) to develop a Pit Boss demonstrator, beating out two other teams led, respectively, by BAE and Scientific Systems.

“One of the things we find is after you get above about 65 degrees or so north, some of our traditional means of communications really start breaking down,” he said, “and once you get closer to 70, almost all except for our most exquisite communications capability really starts to break down. And so we see a need to relook our ability to communicate in the Arctic” — with proliferated LEO “one of the best approaches.”

“If you look at some of the companies out there doing incredible things, we see that as a solution set to allow us to communicate in the Arctic in the relatively near future, and that will be critical,” he added.

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/the-key-to-all-domain-warfare-is-predictive-analysis-gen-oshaughnessy

On the same subject

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 18, 2019

    July 19, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security, Other Defence

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - July 18, 2019

    NAVY ERAPSCO, Joint Venture of Sparton and USSI, Columbia City, Indiana, is awarded a not-to-exceed $1,041,042,690 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the manufacture and delivery of a maximum quantity of 37,500 AN/SSQ-36B, 685,000 AN/SSQ-53G, 120,000 AN/SSQ-62F, and 90,000 AN/SSQ-101B production sonobuoys for fiscal years 2019-2023. Sonobuoys are air launched expendable, electro-mechanical anti-submarine warfare acoustic sensors designed to relay underwater sounds associated with ships and submarines. Work will be performed in De Leon Spring, Florida (51%); and Columbia City, Indiana (49%), and is expected to be completed in September 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-19-D-0032). MW Services Inc.,* Temecula, California, is awarded a maximum amount $99,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for commercial and institutional building construction alterations, renovations and repair projects at Naval Bases Coronado, Point Loma, and San Diego; and Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar. Projects will be primarily design-bid-build (fully designed) task orders or task order with minimal design effort (e.g. shop drawings). Projects may include, but are not limited to, alterations, repairs, and construction of administration buildings, maintenance/repair facilities, aircraft control towers, hangars, fire stations, office buildings, laboratories, dining facilities and related structures. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, with the term of the contract not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of July 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $5,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance (Navy). This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website, with 18 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-19-D-2625). Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $77,708,000 modification (P00019) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive-firm-target advanced acquisition contract (N00019-17-C-0001). This modification provides for the procurement of software data loads as well as long lead material and parts for the delivery of F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production Lots 12, 13 and 14. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (30%); El Segundo, California (25%); Warton, United Kingdom (20%); Orlando, Florida (10%); Nashua, New Hampshire (5%); Nagoya, Japan (5%); and Baltimore, Maryland (5%), and is expected to be completed in March 2023. International partner funds in the amount of $77,708,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $34,670,000 undefinitized cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to develop and deliver an engineering change proposal to enable the production cut-in of the Fuselage Station 425 Bulkhead structural modification required for F-35A and F-35C to allow full-envelope internal carriage of aft heavy weaponry. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in July 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps); and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participant funds in the amount of $9,953,400 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). This undefinitized contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($13,787,219; 39.77%); Navy ($6,893,610; 19.88%); Marine Corps ($6,893,609; 19.88%); and non-U.S. DoD participants ($7,095,562; 20.46%). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00019-19-C-0010). Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $22,558,157 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-5102 to exercise options for AEGIS Baseline 9 integration and delivery, Aegis Baseline 5.4 and 9A2A post-certification support. This contract provides for the completion of the development and fielding of the AEGIS Baseline 9 AEGIS Weapon System and integrated AEGIS Combat System on the remaining AEGIS Technical Insertion (TI) 12 configured destroyers as well as TI 12 and TI 08 configured cruisers. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey, and is expected to be completed by July 2020. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy); fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Missile Defense Agency); and fiscal 2014 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,925,765 will be obligated at time of award and funding in the amount of $2,456,011 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. R.A. Burch Construction Co. Inc., Ramona, California, is awarded $17,521,988 for firm-fixed-price task order N62473-19-F-4738 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62473-18-D-5852) for the construction of a forklift rework facility at Naval Base Coronado. The work to be performed provides for implementation of site improvements such as vehicle parking, storage and laydown yard, landscaping, and low-impact design storm water features as well as incidental related work. The facility is required in order to relocate existing tenants away from a separate project site area to make a complete and useable airfield facility. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by December 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Navy) contract funds for $17,521,988 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Five proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) Co., a public utility company regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, San Diego, California, is awarded $13,509,411 for firm-fixed-price task order N62473-19-F-4704 under the basic ordering agreement (BOA) N62473-18-G-5615 for energy conservation measures at Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar. The work to be performed provides for energy conservation and resiliency that includes light emitted diode retrofits, replacement of cooling towers and water source heat pumps, and installation of variable frequency drives. This project will utilize the installation's reclaimed water source to provide reliability, resource reduction, and lower costs. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by December 2020. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. This project will utilize third party financing through the utility company in the amount of $13,509,411. The energy conservation project will be amortized for a term of 20 years with an annual rate of 3.123% and the payment will be included as a separate utility bill submitted annually based upon the amortization schedule for a grand total cost of $18,970,106.57. This task order falls under the terms and conditions of the BOA with SDG&E. The BOA allows for services without full and open competition pursuant to the statutory authorities of 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(5) and 10 U.S. Code 2913. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-18-G-5615). International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Yorktown, New York, is awarded a $12,000,000 cost-type contract to provide research and development of computational models that mimic core cognitive capabilities of children to include machines with the general-purpose common sense of an 18-month old to advance scientific “reverse-engineering” accounts of a child's mind. This is a four-year contract with no option periods. Work will be performed in Yorktown, New York, and work is expected to be completed July 17, 2023. Research, development, test and evaluation (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) funds in the amount of $2,042,919 will be obligated at the time of award. This contract was competitively procured via Broad Agency Announcement and publication on the Federal Business Opportunities website, with 42 proposals submitted and nine selected for award. Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-19-C-4027). Lockheed Martin Aculight Corp., Bothell, Washington, is awarded an $8,184,205 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-5392 to exercise options for technical and field engineering services and a cost-only line item for travel in support of Surface Navy Laser Weapon System Increment 1, High Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-dazzler with Surveillance (HELIOS) system. Work will be performed in Bothell, Washington, and is expected to be complete by July 2020. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $249,882 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. Alliance Steel Construction Inc.,* Superior, Wisconsin, is awarded a $7,600,000 firm-fixed-price contract to demolish the central heating plant, steam piping and steam pits at Marine Corps Base (MCB) Camp Lejeune, and Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS), New River. The work to be performed provides the complete demolition of building 1700, which is approximately 42,000 square feet at MCB, Camp Lejeune, and the demolition of steam piping, steam pits and the central steam plant at MCAS, New River. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and is expected to be completed by October 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $7,600,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with three proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-19-C-8087). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Point Blank Enterprises, Pompano Beach, Florida, has been awarded a $63,491,328 firm-fixed-price contract for medium size enhanced small arms protective inserts. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a 15-month contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Florida, with a May 30, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-C-0010). Leading Technology Composites, Wichita, Kansas, has been awarded a $41,888,000 firm-fixed-price contract for medium sized enhanced small arms protective inserts. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a one-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Kansas, with an April 30, 2021, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-19-C-0011). Gossner Foods Inc.,** Logan, Utah, has been awarded a maximum $30,319,835 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for ultra-high temperature milk. This contract was a competitive acquisition with one response received. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. Location of performance is Utah, with a July 26, 2024, performance completion date. Using military services are Army and Marine Corps. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE3S1-19-D-Z210). ARMY Crowley Holdings LLC,* New Orleans, Louisiana, was awarded a $21,053,340 firm-fixed-price contract for shot rock to support the temporary repair of levees at Mill Creek and Big Tarkio in Missouri. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Craig, Missouri, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 19, 2019. Fiscal 2019 civil flood control and coastal emergencies funds in the amount of $21,053,340 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri, is the contracting activity (W912DQ-19-C-1082). Advanced Technology Systems Co. Inc.,* McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $17,896,404 firm-fixed-price contract for helicopter maintenance. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work will be performed in Fort Benning, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of June 27, 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $400,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Benning, Georgia, is the contracting activity (W911SF-19-C-0019). Buchanan & Edwards Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $9,283,593 time-and-materials contract for data frameworks initiative information technology support. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work will be performed in Fairfield, California, with an estimated completion date of July 17, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $1,384,778 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, New Jersey, is the contracting activity (W15QKN-19-F-1264). Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., McLean, Virginia, was awarded an $8,665,561 modification (P00002) to contract W91RUS-14-D-0002 for non-personal information technology support services for the U.S. Army Regional Cyber Center-Europe. Work will be performed in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim, Germany, with an estimated completion date of July 18, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $5,837,950 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. LLC, Oak Brook, Illinois, was awarded a $7,689,500 firm-fixed-price contract for Cape May beach fill. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work will be performed in Cape May, New Jersey, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2020. Fiscal 2019 civil construction funds in the amount of $7,689,500 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (W912BU-19-C-0026). InfoScitex Corp., Littleton, Massachusetts, was awarded a $7,011,545 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to develop and demonstrate advanced teaming of manned and unmanned aviation assets to execute tactical missions with minimal human intervention, while operating as part of a combined arms team in a complex operating environment. Bids were solicited via the internet with 46 received. Work will be performed in Littleton, Massachusetts, with an estimated completion date of March 17, 2022. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,545,576 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W911W6-19-C-0067). *Small Business **Small Woman-owned Business https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article/1909668/source/GovDelivery/

  • Is your GPS equipment vulnerable to spoofing? The government wants to test it.

    April 14, 2020 | International, C4ISR

    Is your GPS equipment vulnerable to spoofing? The government wants to test it.

    Nathan Strout This summer, the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate is hosting an event where owners and operators of critical infrastructure, manufacturers of commercial GPS receivers, and civil industry stakeholders can see how their equipment holds up under a spoofing attack. “Accurate and precise position, navigation, and timing (PNT) information is vital to the nation's critical infrastructure,” said Bill Bryan, the senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary for science and technology. “[The Science and Technology Directorate] established this program to assess GPS vulnerabilities, advance research and development, and to enhance outreach and engagement with industry. The objective is to improve the security and resiliency of critical infrastructure.” Slated for this summer, the 2020 GPS Equipment Testing for Critical Infrastructure event will be the third of its type hosted by DHS that allows parties to test their equipment against GPS spoofing in unique live-sky environments. This event will focus mainly on fixed infrastructure applications, though there will be some support for testing ground-based mobile applications. There are no registration fees for participants, and interested parties have until April 24 to sign up. Though originally developed as a military tool, GPS technology has become a constant presence in civilian life over the decades, enabling agriculture, telecommunications, financial services, weather forecasting, the electrical grid and more. An RTI International report released last year estimated that a 30-day GPS outage could result in economic losses to the tune of $35-45 billion. U.S. adversaries are well aware of the country's reliance on GPS, both in the civilian world and by the military, and they have developed tools to degrade, deny or spoof that signal. In recent months, the U.S. government has raised concerns that relying solely on GPS for PNT data leaves the nation's critical infrastructure vulnerable to attack. To help address this, President Donald Trump signed an executive order Feb. 12 calling for the U.S. to develop alternative sources of PNT data that can supplement or replace the GPS signal, should it become unreliable. Under that executive order, the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy will be developing PNT services independent of GPS and other global navigation satellite systems, while at the same time working to increase the resiliency of critical infrastructure by having them incorporate multiple PNT sources. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/04/09/is-your-gps-equipment-vulnerable-to-spoofing-the-government-wants-to-test-it/

  • Why US Army network leaders are so interested in identity management

    August 17, 2022 | International, C4ISR

    Why US Army network leaders are so interested in identity management

    The Pentagon's 2020 ICAM strategy acknowledged failures to '€œmaximize the strategic, operational, and tactical benefits of information sharing.'€

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