Air Force leaders sound alarm over looming yearlong funding delay

Sur le même sujet

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  17 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

  Les ministres européens de la Défense appellent à plus de coopération

  Réunis à Bruxelles, les ministres de la Défense européens ont appelé mardi 16 juin à un redémarrage rapide des missions de défense et de sécurité communes momentanément interrompues par la crise du Covid. Ils appellent à aller de l'avant dans les opérations, à renforcer le fonds européen de défense, à aller vers un outil de financement pour pouvoir équiper les armées entraînées comme au Mali et enfin à affermir la base industrielle et technologique de défense européenne afin de réduire toute dépendance dans les secteurs critiques. « Le terme d'autonomie stratégique, longtemps tabou, est désormais accepté de tous, même si tous les pays n'en ont pas la même interprétation de peur d'opposer leur appartenance à l'Otan et à l'Union européenne », explique un membre de l'entourage de la ministre de la Défense Florence Parly aux Echos. Les Echos du 16 juin 2020

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  18 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Terrestre, C4ISR

  The next key to the Army network: air-ground integration

  By: Mark Pomerleau The Army wants greater network integration with its air and ground units and has started working with industry to make that process more seamless. Service leaders point to significant gaps in today's network architecture enabling aircraft to communicate with ground units and vice versa. But, they say, forces in the future will have to operate over significant distances and do so under a near constant jamming threat. “A lot of units and rifle squads in the 101st [Airborne Division] right now, that squad leader's radio in many cases can't interface with similar radios in adjacent units or the helicopter that just delivered him or her to an objective area. Or the helicopter that's providing close air support ... can't pass data with it,” Maj. Gen. Brian Winski, the division's commander, said in Nashville, Tennessee, May 30. “We need that capability for ground forces to be able to talk to their aviation partners and have that inextricable link that makes us so incredibly powerful. We also have to collectively figure out how we're going to communicate over significantly increased distances.” To solve these problems, Army leaders from the aviation and networking community gathered in Nashville, Tennessee at the end of May to hash out the challenges they face with industry and the operational community. The forum was a venue for members of the operational community to voice their concerns and provide examples of issues they faced while deployed. “This air to ground focus ... is the thing we've really got to crack the code on if we are going to penetrate deep into an [anti-Access/area denial] environment ... they've got to be able to communicate,” Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, director of the network cross functional team, said at the event. “Contested in space, contested in cyber, there are no easy answers to that wicked problem.” Gallagher stressed to the industry representatives that it's up to their engineers to “help us crack the code to making sure we have assured network transport in a contested environment, terrestrial, aerial and space.” Operating at long distances One of the first challenges officials described was ensuring network connectivity over hundreds of miles while facing a jamming threat. “No longer are we talking about operating at distances of 100 to 150 kilometers. We're about talking of operating at distance to 400 to 1,000-plus kilometers,” Al Abejon, chief of aviation architecture at the program executive office aviation, said. “Now the challenge is: how do you maintain that continuous mission command, [situational awareness] ... throughout that operational distance and oh, by the way, be able to survive the operational environments that are going to be changing at these distances at those air speeds. "All those rolled into one thing make up a considerable problem set.” Along with the newtwork, the Army has also listed future vertical lift aircraft as one of its six top modernization priorities. These future aircraft will be capable of teaming with unmanned systems, a concept the aviation community is calling advanced teaming. From an operational perspective, Winski said the 101st must be able to share information digitally between air and ground units in the Army and with joint and coalition partners to “violently and decisively exploit developing opportunities on the battlefield.” They'll also need to provide electronic and kinetic fires over the horizon, increase the linkages between intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms and shooters, whether they are existing or future aircraft, future long range precision fires platforms or existing fires platforms. Gallagher told C4ISRNET that if beyond line of sight satellite communications are knocked out, alternative solutions could include high frequency solutions or mid-earth or low-earth orbit satellites rather than geosynchronous satellites. Abejon mentioned one option could be to link line of sight communications to the command and control aircraft that have beyond line of sight capability. Those aircraft can then move data forward while still maintaining connectivity to bases. Unmanned systems can also be used as range extension platforms. Common operating environment The Army is pursuing a common operating environment that will allow soldiers in a command post, ground vehicle, aircraft or on the ground to easily pass data back and forth, share information, communicate and look at the same map. Now, the aviation community is trying to change its mission command system and radios into a program called the Aviation Information System (AIS). This system will “centralize mission command on a single tool that connects war fighting function software and applications with [the] mission command network,” said Col. Ryan Coyle of the aviation enablers – requirements determination directorate. “Converging [the] mission command system and the network to support efficient data management but also rapid voice and data exchange are critical in order to optimize those cross domain effects.” This is similar to the Command Post Computing Environment, which will shrink stovepiped systems into applications on a common interface allowing all forces to have a common look and feel regardless of their location. The other part of a common suite of communications gear is having radios that can connect to ground and air forces. However, for air platforms, such as radios, waveforms or mission command systems, the air community must pass airworthiness standards to fly in domestic or international airspaces. “If we have a SINCGARS waveform in the bird and we have a SINCGARS waveform on the ground in a manpack radio or a leader radio, there is no reason we shouldn't be able to interoperate perfectly between those two systems,” said Jim Evangelos, standards branch deputy director of the Joint Tactical Networking Center. “One way to guarantee this interoperability is to have software defined radios on the ground, software defined radios in the bird operating the same version of the same software. That's a lot easier said than done. I totally get and understand the aviation challenges and you have to meet some very tough standards especially with airworthiness standards.” Overall, the top tactical network buyer for the Army says he wants one single network, though acknowledges there will be some exceptions. “My goal is one network. One tactical network,” Maj. Gen. Dave Bassett, program executive officer, command, control, communications-tactical, said. “There are going to be some exceptions. There are going to be some things the aviation platforms want to do in terms of [man-unmanned teaming] or sensor to shooter and other things where the networks that the common network isn't going to meet that requirement. We ought to manage those things as exceptions but that should not be the default.” To the extent possible, Bassett said, the Army should ensure the aviation community is part of the overall Army network using the waveforms and capabilities that are provided and common to all. The Army is currently soliciting white papers and will evaluate proposals to help solve these challenges. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/2019/06/15/the-next-key-to-the-army-network-air-ground-integration/

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  25 juin 2019 | International, Aérospatial

  Airspace Launches Galaxy Drone Security Solution

  Source: Airspace Systems Inc. Airspace Systems today introduced Airspace GalaxyTM, the first family of fully-automated, always-on airspace security solutions that accelerate the integration of drones into cities and protects people and property -- on the ground and in the air -- from clueless, careless or criminal drone operators. The new Airspace Galaxy security platform combines input from multiple sensors to detect drone activity at long-ranges, instantly identifies authorized and unauthorized flights, assesses risk, and if necessary and permitted, deploys an autonomous mitigation system to safely capture and remove an unauthorized or malicious drone. “We created Airspace to accelerate the integration of lifesaving drone technologies while giving communities the ability to ensure safe and secure skies,” said Jaz Banga, Airspace co-founder and CEO. “Galaxy is the first crucial step toward creating the trusted environment required to unlock the full potential of drones.” The airspace security company also today announced that cybersecurity veteran David DeWalt has invested in Airspace through the NightDragon Fund, and joined the Airspace board of directors as Vice Chairman. Additionally, Airspace announced that former Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Michael Huerta has joined the company's board of advisors. Airspace developed the Galaxy security platform for business, public venues, government, law enforcement, and the military to protect people, property, and IP from harm. Galaxy was recently deployed to detect and identify drone activity behind the scenes for Major League Baseball during the 2018 World Series games in Boston and Los Angeles, for the San Francisco Police Department in support of the U.S. Navy to protect its annual San Francisco Fleet Week, and in Sacramento for the 36th annual California International Marathon. And in the fall, during the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's BLACK DART live-fire exercise, Galaxy was the only airspace security solution to deliver a fully autonomous drone mitigation capability – from takeoff to landing – capturing both stationary and moving targets. “Airspace security is a prerequisite to realize the full potential of the drone economy,” said Huerta. “We are on the verge of many great things that drones can do for us, but without the kind of safety and security Airspace Galaxy offers, we are just one terrible event away from stalling what could be a thriving, multi-billion dollar industry.” We believe in the good that drones can do Drones have already proven critical in disaster response. Firefighters have used them to monitor ongoing fires to focus their efforts, keep themselves safe, and help them save lives. Emergency teams have used drones to survey damage after natural disasters, deliver supplies, and find missing people. But as drones get smaller and cheaper, the potential physical and cyber threats grow exponentially. And regardless of whether a damaging drone event is caused by the naïve or nefarious, the results will be the same: progress derailed, and benefits denied. Airspace developed the Galaxy software platform to protect people, property, and IP by stopping drone threats before they happen. Galaxy: Mobile, Modular, Simple to Operate The critical first step in airspace security is accurate long-range detection of drone activity. As a modular system, Galaxy options include the ability to configure detection based on a customer's site- and mission-specific requirements and includes identification of all types of drones, both signal and non-signal emitting. The Airspace sensors detect anomalies operating from ground level to 400-feet and beyond in the sky, and cover up to a 25-mile radius. Detection comprises three primary functions: radio frequency (RF) sensors that use drone-to-operator communication links to legally identify a drone's unique identifier and launch location, a camera array to minimize false alarms and improve localization, and communication alerts to the Galaxy operator. Galaxy then fuses data from multiple sensors into a single, easy-to-use graphical user interface that is coupled with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to create actionable intelligence for the system to handle automatically or with human override. Users can log in from a browser on their desktop or mobile device to see all pertinent information. Finally, if necessary and permitted by law, the Airspace mitigation option dispatches the Airspace Interceptor drone with a single click. Using advanced guidance systems and powered by AI, the Interceptor autonomously locks onto identified rogue drones and heads them off at high speed without human guidance. Trusted and deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Airspace Interceptor fires a Kevlar net to neutralize and capture unauthorized or malicious drones, and then delivers them to a safe place, preventing damage to either people or property. “Thinking about security in two dimensions is antiquated -- it's just not good enough to keep the bad guys out today,” said DeWalt, who has led two of the biggest companies in cybersecurity – McAfee and FireEye – and is now Delta Air Lines chairman of Safety & Security. “Today you have to protect in three dimensions – basically create an airspace security dome over everything -- events, your company – your entire city.” Among many other positions, DeWalt is the founder of cybersecurity platform NightDragon Security and the managing director of early-stage investor AllegisCyber. He sits on the boards of several cybersecurity firms, including Optiv, Callsign, and Claroty, and he has served on the Department of Homeland Security's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee since 2011. DeWalt was president and CEO of McAfee between 2005 and 2012 and was CEO of FireEye between 2012 and 2016. “David's and Michael's experience across the cybersecurity and aviation industries is incredibly relevant to our mission to create autonomous airspace security and our vision of a world of safe and secure skies open for business and social good,” said Banga. “They are both equally strategic assets for Airspace.” Airspace began producing Galaxy solutions that are now ready to deploy in three configurations after raising a $20-million Series A round led by Singtel Innov8 Ventures in March 2017. The company was founded in 2015 by a team from Apple, Google, and Cisco Systems, and backed by SterlingVC – the venture capital arm of the New York Mets – as well as Shasta Ventures, Granite Hill Capital Partner, Singtel Innov8, and S28 Capital. http://www.asdnews.com/news/aerospace/2018/12/20/airspace-launches-galaxy-drone-security-solution