US Navy issues, then cancels, ‘Screaming Arrow' solicitation

On the same subject

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  November 7, 2019 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security

  UAE launches ‘Edge’ conglomerate to address its ‘antiquated military industry’

  By: Agnes Helou ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates has launched a government-owned company meant to position the country as a global player in advanced technology that can address the threat of hybrid warfare and streamline the local defense industry. The crown prince of Abu Dhabi and the deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, led the inauguration ceremony of the new entity, known as Edge. “The solution to address hybrid warfare lies at the convergence of innovations from the commercial world and the military industry. Established with a core mandate to disrupt an antiquated military industry generally stifled by red tape, Edge is set to bring products to market faster and at more cost-effective price points,” said Faisal Al Bannai, CEO and managing director of Edge. With a combined annual revenue of $5 billion, Edge employs more than 12,000 individuals, and it will consolidate a number of companies and other entities totaling 25 subsidiaries. Those subsidiaries include Nimr, AMMROC, Abu Dhabi Ship Building, Al Tariq, Caracal, Emirates Advanced Research and Technology Holding, ADASI, Al Hosn, Al Jasoor, Al Taif, APT, Beacon RED, EPI, ERS, ETS, GAL, Halcon, Horizon, Jaheziya, Knowledge Point, Lahab, Remaya, and Sign4l. Edge will also adsorb Emirates Defence Industries Company, Tawazun Holding as well as Advanced Investments Group. “The conglomerate will manage effectively the five clusters it has, through the chief executive of each entity who will report to the chief executive of the cluster within the conglomerate,” Al Bannai told Defense News. Those five focus areas are platforms and systems; missiles and weapons; cyber defense; electronic warfare and intelligence; and mission support. The executive said ongoing contracts signed by the subsidiaries before Edge's creation will continue as usual. "With respect to new contracts, they will be signed by Edge if they are strategic deals, and others will be signed by the subsidiary entity depending on the type of the contract,” he added. “EDGE will invest extensively across [research and development], working closely with front-line operators to design and deploy practical solutions that address real-world challenges.” Lockheed Martin's Middle East chief executive, Robert Harward, praised the creation of Edge as “a great opportunity for Lockheed Martin and other partners to engage with the UAE in a new and innovative way.” “Today's announcement is indicative of the UAE's growing defense and technology ecosystem,” Harward said. "We look forward to working with Edge and helping them expand their capabilities through effective partnerships.” The conglomerate will develop partnerships with original equipment manufacturers and defense contractors, small and medium enterprises, and academia, according to an Edge news release. The company also said it will seek industry experts and talent from around the globe to help on a wide spectrum of modern product development related to its five clusters. The company also plans to develop technologies that advance autonomous capabilities, IT hardware, the internet of things, advanced propulsion systems, robotics and smart materials, with a focus on artificial intelligence across all its products and services. https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/dubai-air-show/2019/11/06/uae-launches-edge-conglomerate-to-address-its-antiquated-military-industry/

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  May 2, 2023 | International, C4ISR

  Generative AI providing fuel for hackers, DISA Director Skinner says

  Generative AI is “one of the most disruptive” technological developments in a “very long, long time,” DISA's Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner said.

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  August 3, 2020 | International, C4ISR, Security

  Soldiers tout new network tool as a ‘game changer’

  Andrew Eversden The Army's first iteration of new network tools, known as Capability Set '21, was heavily influenced by existing network gaps identified by the 82nd Airborne on more than a year's worth of deployments. According to Capt. Brian Delgado, S6 of the 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, the “biggest game changer” for soldiers in the field provided in the integrated tactical network kit of Capability Set '21 was the secure but unclassified environment. The SBU environment allows soldiers to more easily share and receive information. In the current network, information that flows through the network is classified, and many lower-level users don't have proper clearances. “Army operational construct requires battalion formations to conduct combined arms missions, but today's network does not support the battalion's organic capacity to deconflict an air picture, nor an ability to combine dismounted, mounted, fires, intelligence and air pictures into a combined operating picture (COP),” Delgado said. “Part of this challenge is due to the fact that dismounted and most mounted COP tools like Nett Warrior (NW) and Joint Battle Command-Platform resided on the Secret enclave. The vast majority of users at the tactical level do not possess Secret clearances, which makes sharing and receiving key information difficult.” Capability Set '21 lets soldiers securely share controlled unclassified information across the network, allowing war fighters on the ground to receive important information regardless of their security clearance. With the new tools, the Army moved from a 100 percent classified network to a 75 percent SBU network. “This means we now were able to use software applications at the Unclassified level in a tactical environment. SBU allowed the utilization of tactical software like the Tactical Assault Kit (TAK) to provide a [combined operating picture] down to the lowest level of leaders,” Delgado said. Col. Garth Winterle, project manager for tactical radios at Army Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical, said in a May interview with C4ISRNET that the SBU architecture ”opens the door for a lot of different things,” including improved information sharing with coalition partners. The integrated tactical network kit also unifies the disparate operating picture into a single digital operating picture. The combined operating picture “directly reduces risk in the clearance of fires, combat air support and maneuvering in widely dispersed formations,” Delgado said. “It allowed battalion commanders to fight teams in a dispersed manner that would have been impossible with legacy systems, and therefore greatly reduced the risk to the battalion combat power that enemy indirect fires commonly present,” Delgado added. Capability Set '21 was focused on solving immediate network capability gaps with current technology, while also making network hardware far more expeditionary and while improving network transport capabilities. The capability set includes new radios as well as smaller and lighter servers and satellite terminals. It was designed through collaboration between Army PEO C3T and the Army Network Cross-Functional Team. The Army completed critical design review of Capability Set '21 earlier this year and started procuring new tools this month. Right now, the “majority” of the Army's command-and-control systems sit on large vehicles that aren't useful on expeditionary operations, Delgado said. With the new technology, the integrated tactical network “separated these systems from vehicles, allowing for more network access during early expeditionary operations that we performed,” reducing the reliance on vehicles and allowing soldiers to dismount systems based on needs. Delgado said the new integrated tactical network, or ITN, hardware is “orders of magnitude” smaller than existing tools, providing more flexibility in how units choose command-and-control equipment for operations. “We were able to load a battalion tactical operations center worth of equipment onto a nonstandard small tactical vehicle, and then move it in a matter of hours onto a UH-60 [Black Hawk helicopter] to function as a true command aircraft,” Delgado said. The Capability Set '21 ITN kit also includes radio waveforms that are more resilient, and it allows for data transmission. The 82nd Airborne has previously been reliant on the Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System as well as the Soldier Radio Waveform for tactical radio communications, but Delgado said that both had “limitations regarding their effectiveness and survivability for distributed formations,” and that they didn't allow for SBU transmissions. The Army is investing several new radios with more resilient waveforms as part of its modernization initiative, including the two-channel leader radio. “The ITN presents a significant increase in radio resiliency while operating in a contested environment. Most noteworthy are a resistance to tactical jamming, and a near-complete inability of the enemy to ... find radio broadcasts,” Delgado said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/07/31/soldiers-tout-new-network-tool-as-a-game-changer/