US Army readies new artillery strategy spurred by war in Ukraine

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  December 2, 2019 | International, C4ISR, Security

  New details emerge on a nearly $1B cyber contract

  By: Mark Pomerleau The Army provided new details about its nearly $1 billion cyber training contract that will serve as the cornerstone of the Department of Defense's much needed cyber training platform. The Army released Nov. 25 updated information regarding the scope of work for the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE), which is the main component for the nearly $957 billion Cyber Training, Readiness, Integration, Delivery and Enterprise Technology (TRIDENT) contract. PCTE, an online client in which members of U.S. Cyber Command's cyber mission force can log on from anywhere in the world for training and to rehearse missions, is one of the more critical needs for Cyber Command. Currently, no integrated or robust cyber training environment exists. The updated statement of work, posted in advance of the Dec. 2 industry day, provides details regarding the overall TRIDENT contract, which will extend training services beyond Cyber Command to the joint services. It is expected that a single vendor will be selected for TRIDENT, serving as the integrator for various efforts that will be strung together to make up PCTE. At a general level, the updated documents describe a variety of management, maintenance and evolution services the contractor shall provide for PCTE. Included among those services: Platform architecture and product management Agile development and delivery systems engineering processes Development and automation Hardware and software infrastructure management Event or exercise support Cyber Innovation Challenge (CIC) capability integration and event support Development Operations (DevOps) environment management Distributed configuration management among various vendors and stakeholders PCTE infrastructure tool management License management Onsite and remote support Additional documents include details on three separate delivery orders. The first involves support for infrastructure and maintenance, the second involves support for the integration factory of PCTE capabilities, and the third provides details on platform capability production of PCTE. Currently, the Army is in the prototype phase of PCTE. Using what are known as Cyber Innovation Challenges to award smaller companies a piece of the program, they are incrementally building a platform. That platform, which is being used by forces currently, is helping to prove out the concept for PCTE, refine requirements for the final contract, and reduce risk. Regarding the future of the TRIDENT contract, industry sources have explained that a request for proposals was expected in November with a final proposal expected in March 2020. An award for TRIDENT is expected in late 2020. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/2019/11/26/new-details-emerge-on-a-nearly-1b-cyber-contract/

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  February 1, 2022 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  La Fabrique Défense s’ouvre à l’Europe

  La Fabrique Défense se veut le « rendez-vous de référence de l'ensemble des acteurs de l'écosystème de la défense », a expliqué la ministre des Armées Florence Parly lors de sa visite le 28 janvier en ouverture du salon à Paris. Il constitue un événement visant à participer au développement d'une culture européenne en matière de défense, notamment auprès des jeunes Européens. Outre le salon en lui-même, l'édition 2021-2022 a permis d'organiser une centaine d'événements en France et dans 20 autres pays européens autour de la question. A cette occasion, de nombreux acteurs (institutionnels, universités, associations, entreprises, think tanks, etc.) ont été associés pour organiser ces rendez-vous, autour de 136 stands répartis en 13 espaces thématiques. Outre les stands, un programme riche de tables rondes et de témoignages professionnels a permis aux visiteurs de découvrir les grands enjeux de la défense. Des espaces animations avec notamment des Serious Games (wargames, simulateurs de vol, etc.), et des démonstrations extérieures (drones) étaient également proposées. Au moment où la filière recrute, le GIFAS était présent, aux côtés de l'armée de l'Air et de l'Espace et des industriels du secteur. Cet espace avait vocation à présenter au public la contribution de l'industrie aéronautique et spatiale à la Défense et ses nombreuses opportunités de métiers et d'emplois.

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  August 22, 2018 | International, Aerospace

  L3, Northrop Selected for Next Generation Jammer Work; Program Stalled After Raytheon Protest

  By: Sam LaGrone The next phase of the Navy's effort to replace its decades-old ALQ-99 jamming systems on its fleet of electronic warfare aircraft is in a holding pattern amid a protest from a company cut from the competition, USNI News has learned. As part of rapid acquisition push for the new jamming technology, the Navy is splitting up the Next Generation Jammer (NGJ) ALQ-99 replacement work into three increments based on the frequencies the system must block – high-band, mid-band and low-band – to help shield U.S. aircraft from anti-air radar systems. In 2013, Raytheon won a $276 million award for the first portion of the NGJ project – the ALQ-249 mid-band jamming part of the new system – and was awarded an additional $1.2 billion for the work in 2016. In late 2017, Naval Air Systems Command announced a “demonstration of existing technology” contract to shape how it would pursue the low-band increment. The work would create “[a] demonstration that will lead to an assessment of the maturity level of the technologies that might be applied to a low band jammer pod,” a NAVAIR spokesperson told USNI News in a statement on Tuesday. “This will help inform the appropriate acquisition strategy of the program.” Last month, L3 and a team of Northrop Grumman and Harris were selected to move forward from a field of four competitors that also included Raytheon and a Lockheed Martin and Cobham team, USNI News has learned. Soon afterwards, Raytheon filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, arguing it should have been selected to move forward with the low-band jammer effort. Both L3 and the Northrop Grumman/Harris team confirmed that their low-band tech was selected for potential further study by NAVIAR but referred additional questions to the Navy due to the ongoing protest from Raytheon. “We have a mature and exceedingly capable offering for Next-Generation Jammer Low Band,” a Northrop spokesman told USNI News in a statement. “Northrop Grumman stands ready to demonstrate that technology.” USNI News understands a Lockheed Martin/Cobham team was not selected for further study. A Lockheed spokesperson referred questions to the Navy citing the protest. In a short statement, Raytheon implied the Navy did not fully take into account the benefits of the company's existing investment into the ALQ-249 mid-band jamming technology. “We believe there were errors in the government's evaluation,” Dana Carroll, a Raytheon spokeswoman, told USNI News in a statement. “Our low-risk, open architecture pod effectively and affordably counters modern threats while maximizing reuse of proven technology and taxpayer investment.” The GAO has until October to reach a decision on Raytheon protest. The Next Generation Jammer program has been a weak point the Navy's push to revitalize its aerial electronic warfare portfolio after the service shrugged off developing an improved capability for years in favor of other priorities. The program was placed on the backburner for years while the U.S. was mostly engaged in conflicts with largely uncontested airspace. Full article: https://news.usni.org/2018/08/21/l3-northrop-selected-next-generation-jammer-work-program-stalled-raytheon-protest