3 mars 2024 | International, Aérospatial
9 octobre 2018 | International, C4ISR
Google Drops Out of Pentagon's $10 Billion Cloud Competition
By Naomi Nix
Alphabet Inc.'s Google has decided not to compete for the Pentagon's cloud-computing contract valued at as much as $10 billion, saying the project may conflict with its corporate values.
The project, known as the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud, or JEDI, involves transitioning massive amounts of Defense Department data to a commercially operated cloud system. Companies are due to submit bids for the contract, which could last as long as 10 years, on Oct. 12th.
Google's announcement on Monday came just months after the company decided not to renew its contract with a Pentagon artificial intelligence program, after extensive protests from employees of the internet giant about working with the military. The company then released a set of principles designed to evaluate what kind of artificial intelligence projects it would pursue.
“We are not bidding on the JEDI contract because first, we couldn't be assured that it would align with our AI Principles," a Google spokesman said in a statement. "And second, we determined that there were portions of the contract that were out of scope with our current government certifications.”
The spokesman added that Google is “working to support the U.S. government with our cloud in many ways.”
The Tech Workers Coalition, which advocates for giving employees a say in technology company decisions, said in a statement that Google's decision to withdraw from the cloud competition stemmed from “sustained” pressure from tech workers who “have significant power, and are increasingly willing to use it.”
Read more: Google Won't Renew Pentagon AI Drone Deal After Staff Backlash
Google is behind other technology companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. in obtaining government cloud-security authorizations that depend on the sensitivity of data a service is hosting.
The JEDI contract attracted widespread interest from technology companies struggling to catch up with Amazon in the burgeoning federal government market for cloud services. Final requirements for the project were released in July after a months-long lobbying campaign in Washington by tech companies including Microsoft, International Business Machines Corp. and Oracle Corp. that opposed the Pentagon's plans to choose just one winner for the project instead of splitting the contract among a number of providers.
“Had the JEDI contract been open to multiple vendors, we would have submitted a compelling solution for portions of it,” the Google spokesman said. “Google Cloud believes that a multi-cloud approach is in the best interest of government agencies, because it allows them to choose the right cloud for the right workload.”
In a report to Congress, the Defense Department said making multiple awards under current acquisition law would be a slow process that “could prevent DoD from rapidly delivering new capabilities and improved effectiveness to the warfighter that enterprise-level cloud computing can enable.”
The department also said it expects “to maintain contracts with numerous cloud providers to access specialized capabilities not available under the JEDI Cloud contract.”
— With assistance by Ben Brody, and Josh Eidelson
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20 mars 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
US Army chief: How COVID-19 will impact modernization is a wait-and-see situation
By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — It's realistic for the U.S. Army to wait and see how the new coronavirus might affect its ambitious plans to modernize the force, Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville told Defense News in a March 18 interview. With major economic centers on both U.S. coasts restricting public gatherings, and with most of the country attempting social distancing to avoid the spread of the virus, industry as of this week appeared to still be sorting out how it would handle its own workforce and keep employees safe from infection. Much of what the Army is doing to address its top modernization priorities depends on industry collaboration and efforts. “We're watching what is happening,” McConville said. “We do have some high-priority tests that we think are continuing to go, and industry is doing the same thing that we're doing — they're putting measures in place with their people. They're weighing risks to the force and, really, risk to their missions as they do that.” Some high-priority tests will continue, he said, while “other ones will slow down.” While he did not list all high-priority tests that would likely go on, McConville noted that the Army is still moving forward with contract awards and making progress where it can. He pointed to the service's recent contract awards to Bell and Sikorsky to continue to develop and test aircraft for the Army's Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program. That contract was awarded on the expected timeline. The Army also tested its Extended Long-Range Cannon Artillery system at Yuma Proving Ground, Arizona, on March 6, but that was only as uncertainty was just beginning to build in the U.S. regarding the spread of COVID-19. The service has an abundance of important milestones planned across its modernization priorities this year, to include a robust flight test program for the Precision Strike Missile at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, and a likely imminent flight test of a jointly developed hypersonic glide body. The Army also plans to award contracts to build Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft prototypes this month. But it's unclear how other programs will move forward. The previously troubled Integrated Battle Command System for air and missile defense is finally slated to go into a limited-user test in May this year, which is critical to the program's success. The Army planned to conduct a series of industry days to restart its effort to competitively procure a Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle replacement, but according to sources, a virtual industry day to kick things off has been postponed and the Army plans to post informational slides to industry on Beta.Sam.Gov in the near term instead. “The acquisition cycle continues to move on,” McConville said, “and we'll have a better idea over the next 30 to 60 days, as more measures are implemented in certain states, what and how that really plays out.” https://www.defensenews.com/smr/army-modernization/2020/03/19/army-chief-how-covid-19-will-affect-army-modernization-is-a-wait-and-see-situation/
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21 novembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial
Can data be shared among US, Chinese and Russian aircraft? Sudan did it.
By: Agnes Helou BEIRUT — Sudan has been flying military aircraft of Russian and Chinese origin alongside American fighter jets — and sharing data among them, according to the chief of staff of the Sudanese Air Force. “Sudanese engineers have been able to make an adaptation between Eastern and Western platforms," Lt. Gen. Pilot Salah Eldin Abdelkhaliq Saeed said at the second Manama Airpower Symposium this month. "They have even entered American, Russian and Chinese radars in one command-and-control center. We have provided all our platforms with a unified Sudanese surveillance system and Sudanese communication devices.” Russian fighters operating in Sudan include the Mig-29, Mig-23, Su-24 and Su-25, as well as the AN-26, AN-30, AN-32, AN-12 and Ilyushin Il-76 Russian military transport aircraft. Sudan is also operating the Chinese A-5, PT-6, FTC-2000 and K-8 aircraft, in addition to American C-130s, French Puma helicopters and German Bo 105 helicopters. Saeed noted that many of the European and American military aircraft cannot be operated by the Sudanese Air Force because there are no spare parts for the platforms, and Sudan lacks the maintenance capabilities to update them. This is especially caused by U.S. sanctions on Sudan that prevent the African country from cooperating with some American and European companies. The U.S. lifted some sanctions on Sudan in October 2017, but Sudan remains on a list of state sponsors of terrorism. The restrictions on that list “include restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance" and "a ban on defense exports and sales,” according to the U.S. State Department. https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2018/11/20/can-data-be-shared-among-us-chinese-and-russian-aircraft-sudan-did-it