Retour aux nouvelles

17 décembre 2020 | International, C4ISR

How DoD can improve its technology resilience

WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense must bolster its resilience in mission platforms in order to stay ahead of threats, a new think tank report says.

With the military's shift toward great power competition, or conflict against nation states, its systems and platforms will be under greater stress than technological inferior adversaries battled during the counterterrorism fight of the last decade-plus.

Systems and networks are expected to be contested, disrupted and even destroyed, meaning officials need to build redundancy and resilience in from the start to work through such challenges. In fact, top defense officials have been warning for several years that they are engaged in conflict that is taking place below the threshold of armed conflict in which adversaries are probing networks and systems daily for espionage or disruptive purposes.

“Resilience is a key challenge for combat mission systems in the defense community as a result of accumulating technical debt, outdated procurement frameworks, and a recurring failure to prioritize learning over compliance. The result is brittle technology systems and organizations strained to the point of compromising basic mission functions in the face of changing technology and evolving threats,” said a new report out today by the Atlantic Council titled “How Do You Fix a Flying Computer? Seeking Resilience in Software-Intensive Mission Systems.”

“Mission resilience must be a priority area of work for the defense community. Resilience offers a critical pathway to sustain the long-term utility of software-intensive mission systems, while avoiding organizational brittleness in technology use and resulting national security risks. The United States and its allies face an unprecedented defense landscape in the 2020s and beyond.”

This resilience, is built upon three pillars, the authors write: robustness, which is the ability of a system to negate the impact of disruption; responsiveness, which is the ability of a system to provide feedback and incorporate changes on a disruption, and; adaptability, which is the ability to a system to change itself to continue operating despite a disruption.

Systems, the report notes, are more than just the sum of its parts — hardware and software — but rather are much broader to include people, organizational processes and technologies.

To date, DoD has struggled to manage complexity and develop robust and reliable mission systems, even in a relatively benign environment, the report bluntly asserts, citing problems with the F-35′s Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) as one key example.

“A conflict or more contested environment would only exacerbate these issues. The F-35 is not alone in a generation of combat systems so dependent on IT and software that failures in code are as critical as a malfunctioning munition or faulty engine — other examples include Navy ships and military satellites,” the authors write. “To ensure mission systems like the F-35 remain available, capable, and lethal in conflicts to come demands the United States and its allies prioritize the resilience of these systems. Not merely security against compromise, mission resilience is the ability of a mission system to prevent, respond to, and adapt to both anticipated and unanticipated disruptions, to optimize efficacy under uncertainty, and to maximize value over the long term. Adaptability is measured by the capacity to change — not only to modify lines of software code, but to overturn and replace the entire organization and the processes by which it performs the mission, if necessary. Any aspect that an organization cannot or will not change may turn out to be the weakest link, or at least a highly reliable target for an adversary.”

The report offers four principles that defense organizations can undertake to me more resilient in future conflicts against sophisticated adversaries:

  • Embrace failure: DoD must be more willing to take risks and embrace failure to stay ahead of the curve. Organizations can adopt concepts such as chaos engineering, experimenting on a system to build confidence in its ability to withstand turbulent conditions in production, and planning for loss of confidentiality in compromised systems.
  • Improve speed: DoD must be faster at adapting and developing, which includes improving its antiquated acquisition policies and adopt agile methodologies of continuous integration and delivery. Of note, DoD has created a software acquisition pathway and is implementing agile methodologies of continuous integration and delivery, though on small scales.
  • Always be learning: Defense organizations operate in a highly contested cyber environment, the report notes, and as the department grows more complex, how it learns and adapts to rapidly evolving threats grows in importance. Thus, it must embrace experimentation and continuous learning at all levels of systems as a tool to drive improvement.
  • Manage trade-offs and complexity: DoD should improve mission system programs' understanding of the trade-offs between near-term functionality and long-term complexity to include their impact on systems' resilience.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/12/14/how-dod-can-improve-its-technology-resilience/

Sur le même sujet

  • Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 13, 2019

    14 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

    Contract Awards by US Department of Defense - August 13, 2019

    AIR FORCE DTH Corp., Newport News, Virginia (FA4830-19-D-A002); S&W Sales and Service LLC, Fort Valley, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A003); Artesian Contracting Company Inc., Albany, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A004); Pyramid Contracting LLC, Irmo, South Carolina (FA4830-19-D-A005); A.C. Blount Concrete Service Inc., Moultrie, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A006); Veterans South Contracting LLC, Tuskegee, Alabama (FA4830-19-D-A007); Nisou LGC JV LLC, Detroit, Michigan (FA4830-19-D-A008); Precision 2000 Inc., Atlanta, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A009); and Standard Contractors, Valdosta, Georgia (FA4830-19-D-A010), have been awarded a not-to-exceed $225,000,000 multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for multi-discipline construction task orders. Work will be performed at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia; and Avon Park Range, Sebring, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 12, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 40 offers were received. Operations and maintenance funds will be applied to individual task orders as needed. The 23d Contracting Squadron, Moody Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity. Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Florida, has been awarded a $99,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) foreign military sales production support. This contract will provide for lifecycle support for all efforts related to JASSM and any JASSM variants in the areas of system upgrades, integration, production, sustainment, management and logistical support. Work will be performed at Orlando, Florida, and is expected to be completed by August 2024. This contract involves foreign military sales to Finland, Poland and Australia. This award is the result of sole-source acquisition. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA8682-19-D-0003). G2i LLC, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A009); ORCOM, a division of Ortega Companies Inc., Los Lunas, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A015); Jack Wayte Construction, Alamogordo, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A013); LC Structural, Las Cruces, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A012); QA Engineering, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A010); Weil Construction, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A011); and Sky Blue Builders, Albuquerque, New Mexico (FA9401-19-D-A014), have been awarded a $95,000,000 multiple award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract. This contract will design portions for a broad range of maintenance, repair, design, minor and/or new construction. The work includes facility upgrades, utility work, airfield pavements, roads, roofs and other assorted repair and maintenance projects. The tasks include trades such as carpentry, asbestos abatement/removal, demolition, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, concrete, masonry, welding and paving. Work will be performed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is expected to be complete by Aug. 12, 2024. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and 16 offers received. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,695,204 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Installation Contracting Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity. Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $46,533,950 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to support the U.S. National Data Center (U.S. NDC) Operations Support and Studies (OSS) mission. This contract provides support to the U.S. NDC in the areas of maintenance, sustainment, configuration management, database and system administration, development, testing and integration of geophysical data processing software, hardware, and geophysical data from both traditional and non-traditional sources into the U.S. NDC system that includes the operational subsystem, alternate subsystem, training subsystem, sustainment/development subsystem, and special purpose/special access subsystems. The U.S. NDC OSS II effort will include conducting studies focused on improving and developing the U.S. NDC tools and methodologies for data collection, data analysis, event detection, event association, event location, event magnitude/yield estimation, event classification, seismic signatures repository, and advanced geophysical data processing needed to meet treaty-monitoring and national needs. Work will be performed at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2025. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition and one offer was received. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds will be used and no funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity (FA7022-19-D-A002). Spartan Air Academy Iraq LLC, Irving, Texas, has been awarded a $31,477,060 task order, against indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract FA3002-18-D-0009 for continued Air Academy training in support of the Iraqi Air Force. Work will be performed at Balad Air Base, Iraq, and is expected to be completed by July 8, 2020. This contract involves foreign military sales for the country of Iraq. This award is the result of a country-directed sole-source acquisition. Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $31,477,060 and are being obligated at the time of award. The 338th Specialized Contracting Squadron, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY G2 Global Solutions LLC,* Gainesville, Virginia, has been awarded a base year plus four option year time and materials contract (HHM402-19-F-0139) with a ceiling of $84,683,469 to provide analytical services for the Defense Intelligence Agency's (DIA) Directorate of Operations. Through this award, DIA will procure services of senior and mid-level analysts to who will provide strategic-level analytical support through focused all-source analysis to advance national and Department of Defense (DoD) strategic goals and objectives for protecting DoD personnel, operations and missions. Work will be performed in the National Capital Region with an expected completion date of Feb. 6, 2025. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $7,780,767 are being obligated at time of award. This contract has been awarded through a 100% 8(a) set-aside competition and four offers were received. The Virginia Contracting Activity, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity. DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY World Fuel Services Inc., has been awarded a minimum $20,284,125 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with 148 responses received. This is a 43-month contract with a six-month option period. Location of performance is Arizona, with a March 31, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE607-19-D-0119). ARMY Maersk Line Ltd., Norfolk, Virginia, was awarded a $7,124,218 modification (0001 77) to contract W52P1J-14-G-0023 for logistics watercraft and logistics support services in support of Army Prepositions Stock-4. Work will be performed in Yokohama, Japan, with an estimated completion date of March 16, 2020. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $1,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity. *8(a) Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/1933591/source/GovDelivery/

  • US State Department clears Australia to buy MQ-9B drones

    27 avril 2021 | International, Aérospatial

    US State Department clears Australia to buy MQ-9B drones

    The deal would allow Australia to buy up to 12 MQ-9B SkyGuardians.

  • Army Wants Industry Input For Reliable Exoskeleton (Not Iron Man, Yet!)

    2 septembre 2020 | International, Terrestre, Autre défense

    Army Wants Industry Input For Reliable Exoskeleton (Not Iron Man, Yet!)

    By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. SOCOM couldn't build a bulletproof Iron Man. But Army experiments with more modest lower-body exoskeletons have shown real-world potential to help overburdened foot troops. WASHINGTON: Army Futures Command is drafting a formal requirement for a military exoskeleton and will seek feedback from manufacturers at a November industry day. The Army's top priority, officials told me: rapidly prototyping a system that helps the wearer “move faster, travel further, and carry heavier loads” – without breaking down in the heat of battle. “Reliability is a huge issue that needs to be resolved,” said Ted Maciuba, deputy director of robotic requirements for Futures Command. Now, don't expect a full-body bulletproof suit that can fly and access huge databases out of science fiction. “We are not going after the Starship Troopers/Iron Man system right off the bat,” said Rich Cofer, a former soldier who's now the Army's lead “capabilities developer” on the exoskeleton project. “We're not going to jump right in and expect Tony Stark... Expectation management is key.” (That's a stark contrast to Special Operations Command's highly publicized TALOS program, which explicitly compared itself to Iron Man but produced nothing of the kind). So instead of Iron Man, think Iron Leg. In a “soldier touchpoint” last December at Fort Drum, NY, Army soldiers from more than two dozen Military Occupational Specialties — ranging from infantry to supply — tried out various types of “lower-body exoskeletons,” including the Lockheed Martin ONYX that our own Paul McLeary tries out in this video. In essence, these are motorized knee braces and other wearable reinforcements for the legs that lighten the load on overburdened soldiers as they march for hours with heavy packs, manhandle artillery shells and such. The goal isn't to give the wearer superpowers, but to reduce fatigue and risk of injury. During the Fort Drum trials, “there were significant increases in the effectiveness of soldiers,” Maciuba told me. “The soldiers were able to do more with the exoskeleton than they could without.” That said, “we learned [that] there needs to be enough reliability engineered into our systems so that there is a very high probability they will not fail in use,” Maciuba continued. “It's one thing to be wearing a boot whose sole flips off. You can always take some 100-mile-an-hour tape and tape that back on your foot. It's another thing to be wearing an exoskeleton” that requires specialized training and tools to fix. So reliability will be a high priority when the Army speaks to potential vendors in mid-November. By that point, Maciuba & co. expect to have a draft Abbreviated Capabilities Development Document for industry to review and offer comment on. (Army Futures Command officially gave them the go-ahead to write the ACDD on Aug. 14th; the exoskeleton project falls under the command's Soldier Lethality team, with input from PEO-Soldier acquisition officials, Natick Soldier Systems Center researchers, and capability managers for infantry, armored, and Stryker units). While unclassified, the document will be considered sensitive and only released to qualified contractors. While the ACDD is formally considered a requirements document, Maciuba told me, it's not going to set rigid technical specs as would a traditional Army requirement. The technology is advancing way too fast to get that detailed at this early stage. Instead, he said, it will outline “desirable characteristics” but leave industry plenty of leeway to innovate on specific ways to achieve them – and the Army is open to revising those desires based on what industry says is actually achievable. “We want industry to grade our work,” Maciuba said. The industry day – which will be held online unless there's some miraculous breakthrough with COVID-19 – will include both a general session open to all contractors and one-on-one meetings with specific contractors so they can discuss their technology without competitors listening. Afterwards, Maciuba, Cofer, & co. will compile the feedback from all the companies, revise the ACDD, and send it to Army leaders for approval. The final Abbreviated Capabilities Development Document should be out by the end of 2021, Cofer estimated. The next step? Use a streamlined acquisition process known as Section 804, intended to field a working prototype within five years – that is, Maciuba cautioned, if the Army can find the funding. https://breakingdefense.com/2020/09/army-wants-industry-input-for-reliable-exoskeleton-not-iron-man-yet/

Toutes les nouvelles