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  19 octobre 2020 | International, C4ISR

  Pentagon inks $197 million in contracts for microelectronics

  Andrew Eversden WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded contracts worth $197.2 million for microelectronics, it announced Thursday, amid concerns about with much production of the technology is taking place outside the United States. The Pentagon awards are part of the department's desire to entice microelectronics manufacturing back into the United States. Microelectronics are at the core of technologies the department considers critical to national security, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 5G communications capabilities. “The microelectronics industry is at the root of our nation's economic strength, national security, and technological standing," said Michael Kratsios, acting undersecretary of defense for research and engineering. The “awards support the Department's mission to promote microelectronics supply chain security and accelerate U.S. development of the very best in circuit design, manufacturing, and packaging. It's critical for the DOD and American industry to work together in meaningful partnerships to ensure the United States leads the world in microelectronics far into the future.” As part of the awards, Microsoft and IBM are splitting an other transaction authority contract worth $24.5 million “to advance commercial leading-edge microelectronics physical ‘back-end' design methods with measurable security.” The award is a phase one deal under the DoD's Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes using Advanced Commercial Capabilities Project. Another contract, valued at $172.7 million, was awarded to both Intel Federal and Qorvo to “develop and demonstrate a novel approach towards measurably secure, heterogeneous integration and test of advanced packaging solutions.” The award was given under phase two of the State-of-the-Art Heterogeneous Integration Prototype Program. “These awards highlight how the Department is moving towards a new quantifiable assurance strategy that will help the DOD quickly and safely build and deploy leading-edge microelectronics technologies,” the Pentagon's news release said. The department is increasingly concerned about the microsystems market because much of the production process takes place overseas, particularly in or near China. The department fears this allows China to implement backdoors into critical national security systems. Because of the current market structure, "we can no longer identify the pedigree of our microelectronics,” Ellen Lord, the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, said at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Electronics Resurgence Initiative Summit in August. “Therefore we can no longer ensure that backdoors, malicious code or data exfiltration commands aren't embedded in our code. While we develop the ability to identify the technical path to ensure all components, circuits and systems are clean regardless of their manufacturing location, we need to find a path to domestic sources to provide a secure and resilient supply of legacy, state-of-the-present and state-of-the-art microelectronics.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/it-networks/2020/10/16/pentagon-inks-197-million-in-contracts-for-microelectronics/

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  12 mars 2019 | International, C4ISR

  The Army hopes a new satellite will help alleviate congestion

  By: Adam Stone The U.S. Air Force is expected to launch the next satellite in its Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) program as early as March 13, a move that will bolster the military's foundational communication network. The addition comes at a time when the military is under increasing pressure to build up its communication capacity as tactical battlefield sensors and other data feeds create the need for added throughput. “The more data we use, the more congested it gets. Having more satellites gives us greater capability to deliver more information in a hurry,” said Army's Lt. Col. Anthony Whitfield, Product Manager, Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems (PdM WESS). WGS is the military's fundamental communications network and has an estimated cost of about $4 billion, according to the Government Accountability Office. The system of 10 satellites, built by Boeing, provides bandwidth and communications for tactical C2, C4ISR, battle management and combat support information. While WGS-10 was originally slated to complete the constellation, it now seems likely more satellites may come. In the most recent omnibus spending bill, Congress appropriated funding for two additional WGS satellites, although SpaceNews reported there are questions about funding the launch of those payloads. Should those future satellites come to fruition, Army leaders would have no complaints. In addition to fielding the ground control units that operate the constellation, “the Army is also one of the biggest users of WGS, and anything that can help us to deliver information across the globe for our senior leaders to make decisions -- we would welcome that,” Whitfield said. In fact, the Army has taken steps lately to bolster its own operation capacity around WGS. In 2018 the Army's Cyber Center of Excellence unveiled a wideband training and certification system (WTCS), for students enrolled in the school's Satellite Systems Network Coordinator Course. Soldiers training to staff the Army's wideband satellite communications operations centers (WSOC) located at five military installations worldwide, can use the system to leverage classroom learning against simulations generated from real-world events. “By using [that training system] to ‘train how we fight,' WSOC operators will be better prepared to deliver their 24/7, no-fail mission to enable satellite communications for our Warfighters. It is all about operational readiness, the Army's number one priority,” said Col. Enrique Costas, the Program Manager for Defense Communications and Army Transmission Systems, in announcing the new training tool. The Army's focus on supporting WGS falls in line with an overall military emphasis on the importance of satellite communications. “We must continue to build a robust SATCOM network that includes our allies and partners and leverages commercial SATCOM industries to integrate, synchronize, and share global SATCOM resources,” Air Force Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command, told the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee in 2018. “Our protected wideband communications are essential for allowing the warfighter to communicate in contested environments.” New capacity WGS-10 also will bring with it a more sophisticated payload, with more robust communications capabilities. “It provides the bandwidth to transfer your data ― that hasn't changed ― but we are always looking to move that data faster,” Whitfield said. “When we originally built WGS 1, 2 and 3 they were built to certain specs, they provided a certain capacity. Over time it has gotten better. We moved forward, we have continued to build additional capacity.” For security reasons, Army leaders have not disclosed the exact nature of the latest enhancements. In addition to supporting American forces, the enhanced networking capability will be leveraged by a coalition of allied forces that support the WGS constellation, including Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand. Looking ahead, SATCOM analysts have said that the congressional nod toward WGS 11 and 12 could shift the dynamic away from commercial satellite providers, who have long been angling for a bigger piece of the military space market. It remains to be seen, though, whether and how the Pentagon will decide to pursue future WGS acquisitions. “There has been an analysis of alternatives for what's next. That analysis has been conducted and we are awaiting further guidance. Right now, we don't know what is next,” Whitfield said. https://www.c4isrnet.com/c2-comms/satellites/2019/03/08/the-army-hopes-a-new-satellite-will-help-alleviate-congestion

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  21 mai 2020 | International, Terrestre

  Army Braces For Post-COVID Cuts: Gen. Murray

  “I've heard some people talk about [going] back to a BCA [Budget Control Act] level of funding,” Gen. Murray says, referring to the steep cuts also known as sequestration. “And I've heard some people say that it's even going to be worse than BCA.” By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR.on May 20, 2020 at 1:11 PM WASHINGTON: Over the last two years, the Army has cut or cancelled more than 240 programs to free billions for its 34 top priorities, from hypersonic missiles to new rifles. Some of those 34 may have to die as the economy and budget reel from the COVID-19 pandemic, . “I start off with what Secretary Esper and Secretary McCarthy have said consistently, across DoD: three to five real growth is what we need,” said Gen. Mike Murray, chief of Army Futures Command. “Given what's going on in this country over the last two or three months.... my personal expectation is we're not going to see three to five percent growth. We'll be lucky to see a flat line.” LRPF: Long-Range Precision Fires. NGCV: Next-Generation Combat Vehicle. FVL: Future Vertical Lift. AMD: Air & Missile Defense. SL: Soldier Lethality. SOURCE: US Army. (Click to expand) While the Army is still working on its long-term spending plan for 2022-2026, the future topline is very much in doubt. “I've heard some people talk about [going] back to a BCA [Budget Control Act] level of funding,” Murray told an online AOC conference yesterday, referring to the steep cuts also known as sequestration. “And I've heard some people say that it's even going to be worse than BCA.” “I do think budgets are going to get tighter,” Murray said. “I do think that decisions are going to get harder.” Across its actual and projected budgets for 2020 through 2025, despite a slight drop in its topline, the Army has moved $40 billion from lower-priority programs to the 34 “signature programs.” Murray's Futures Command runs 31 of the 34, grouped in six portfolios: long-range rocket and cannon artillery is No. 1, followed by new armored vehicles, Future Vertical Lift aircraft, an upgraded battlefield network, air & missile defense, and soldier gear. Meanwhile, three most technologically demanding programs – including hypersonics and high-energy lasers – are handled by the independent Rapid Capabilities & Critical Technology Office. “We're prioritizing what I call the 31 plus 3,” Murray said. “We have fully funded those priorities in the program at the expense of a lot of other things.” The XM1299 Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) howitzer in an earlier test shot last year. But Army leaders have already warned that the Big Six will need more funding as they move from concept to prototype to mass production. Even a flat budget topline will be tight — and COVID makes flat the best-scare scenario. When and if the budget shrinks, Murray warned, “I do think we're going to have to make some tough decisions.” Hypothetically, he said, the choice may come down to something like, “Is it 31 plus three, or is it 24 plus two?” Considering the agonies the Army went through in its multiple rounds of “night court” cuts to find money for the 34 priority programs in the first place, cancelling any of them will be painful – but not impossible. Yes, the Army needs capabilities from each of its six modernization portfolios to work together in what's called Multi-Domain Operations against a future foe like Russia or China. Long-range precision firepower blasts holes in enemy defenses for aircraft, armor and infantry to advance; then they hunt out enemies too well-entrenched or mobile for artillery to destroy. Meanwhile air and missile defense protects the entire force, and the network passes intelligence and targeting data. But each of the Big Six includes multiple programs, and the Army has never expected all 34 to succeed. That's a crucial difference from the service's last major modernization drive, the Future Combat Systems cancelled in 2009, which depended on each of its 20 component technologies working as planned. Army slide showing the elements of the (later canceled) Future Combat System “Is there room for failures? Yes,” Murray told reporters at an Association of the US Army conference last year. “This concept does not count on any specific piece of capability.” That doesn't make cuts painless or easy, however. “Our priorities are our priorities for a reason,” Murray said yesterday. The Army's current weapons, from missiles to tanks to helicopters, largely entered service in the Reagan era. They've been much upgraded since, but there's only so much add-on armor, souped-up horsepower, and advanced electronics a 40-year chassis can take. The Army says it needs new weapons to take it into the next 40 years. “The kids running around on armored vehicles today are riding... fundamentally the same vehicles I rode around in as a company commander, way back when,” Murray said. “My now five-year-old granddaughter [lives] up the road at Fort Hood, Texas... I've got eight grandchildren, and out of all of them, I have absolutely no doubt that she is my infantry company commander wearing an Airborne Ranger tab at some point in the future. So that makes it personal for me.” https://breakingdefense.com/2020/05/army-braces-for-post-covid-cuts-gen-murray