The Air Force’s new information warfare command still has work before full integration

Sur le même sujet

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  2 février 2018 | Information, Terrestre

  Approvisionnement en matière de défense - Terre

  La Direction des grands projets – Terre est responsable des acquisitions relatives à plusieurs projets du ministère de la Défense nationale, y compris le projet de système de véhicule de soutien moyen et le projet de véhicule blindé tactique de patrouille. Système de véhicule de soutien moyen Modernisation des véhicules logistiques Véhicule blindé tactique de patrouille Système de véhicule de soutien moyen Pierre angulaire de la transformation de l'Armée, le projet de système de véhicule de soutien moyen vise à remplacer les véhicules logistiques moyens à roues existants du ministère de la Défense nationale par les deux nouveaux types de véhicules suivants : jusqu'à 1 500 camions de modèle militaire normalisé pour les unités opérationnelles et le soutien logistique pour la durée utile prévue du véhicule d'environ 20 ans; 1 300 camions militarisés en vente sur le marché pour l'instruction de la Réserve canadienne. Le projet vise aussi à acquérir un maximum de 300 remorques, un maximum de 150 boucliers blindés de protection et un maximum de 1 000 abris de véhicules spécialement équipés (VSE) et les ensembles connexes. Les ensembles consistent en espaces de travail, tels que des unités médicales ou des postes de commandement, conçus spécialement pour les abris des VSE. Une fois installés sur un camion, ils transforment ce dernier en une unité spécialisée, comme une clinique dentaire ou une installation de réparation d'équipement. Modernisation des véhicules logistiques Le projet de modernisation des véhicules logistiques vise à acquérir des véhicules logistiques légers modernes. Les produits livrables du projet peuvent inclure, mais sans s'y limiter, de nouveaux véhicules, des remorques, des plateaux déposables, des modules spécialisés à montage sur véhicule, des conteneurs spéciaux et des systèmes de manutention des marchandises en vrac. Le projet remplace deux parcs de véhicules, les véhicules logistiques lourds à roues et les véhicules logistiques de soutien à roues, ainsi que deux parcs de véhicules moins importants, les véhicules lourds de soutien du génie, générations 1 et 2. Ces camions seront utilisés pour transporter des cargaisons légères et lourdes ayant diverses configurations de véhicules et divers rôles pour l'instruction et les opérations au pays et expéditionnaires. Ces parcs de véhicules logistiques légers et lourds doivent être remplacés en raison de leur 'ge et de leur capacité défaillante. Véhicule blindé tactique de patrouille Le 7 juin 2012, le gouvernement du Canada a octroyé à Textron Systems Canada Inc. (TSCI) des contrats d'acquisition pour 500 véhicules blindés tactique de patrouille (VBTP) et leur soutien logistique pour un maximum de 25 années. TSCI les a obtenus après un processus d'approvisionnement qui a inclus une étape de demande d'expression d'intérêt et de qualification ainsi qu'un processus de demande de propositions dans le cadre duquel quatre fournisseurs ont présenté des propositions. La politique du gouvernement du Canada concernant les retombées industrielles et régionales était un critère obligatoire dans le processus d'approvisionnement, et TSCI doit procurer des retombées économiques au Canada de la même valeur que celle des contrats, dans le but d'assurer un investissement égal dans l'économie canadienne. Le VBTP est un véhicule de combat à roues qui doit remplir un grand nombre de rôles différents, y compris mais sans s'y limiter, la reconnaissance et la surveillance, la sécurité, le commandement et le contrôle, le transport de marchandises et le transport de personnel armé. Il doit posséder un niveau élevé de mobilité tactique et fournir un degré très élevé de capacité de survie à son équipage. Les premières livraisons de véhicules sont prévues pour 2014. Véhicules blindés La Direction des projets des véhicules blindés a la responsabilité de l'acquisition, de l'intégration et du soutien en service des véhicules blindés à roues et à chenilles. La Direction a aussi la responsabilité de la gestion des achats pour les projets ci-dessous faisant partie du programme de la famille de véhicules de combat terrestre (FVCT), qui a pour but d'améliorer ou de remplacer le parc actuel de véhicules de combat terrestre. Les projets du programme FVCT qui sont sous la responsabilité de la Direction sont le projet de modernisation du véhicule blindé léger (VBL III) et le projet d'amélioration de la mobilité de la force (AMF). Véhicules de la famille du Léopard 2 Soutien aux véhicules blindés légers à roues Bureau de gestion de projet des véhicules blindés légers et de modernisation du véhicule blindé léger III Projet de modernisation du système de surveillance du véhicule blindé léger de reconnaissance Véhicules de la famille du Léopard 2 Les projets des véhicules de la famille du Léopard 2 comprennent le projet de remplacement des chars et le projet d'amélioration de la mobilité de la force. Le projet de remplacement des chars a été établi en 2007 et se divise en deux volets : location de chars Léopard 2 A6M prêts au combat de l'Allemagne, afin d'offrir le soutien aux opérations en Afghanistan, et achat de 100 chars de combat principaux modernes Léopard 2 en excédent des Pays-Bas, afin de répondre aux besoins opérationnels et d'entraînement du ministère de la Défense nationale. La valeur totale du projet est estimée à 650 millions de dollars. La livraison des véhicules d'entraînement Léopard 2 A4 a été complétée en octobre 2014. Le projet prévoit aussi l'acquisition de véhicules blindés de dépannage (VBD) basés sur le Léopard 2, afin d'offrir un soutien aux parcs de chars de combat principaux Léopard 2. La livraison du dernier VBD est prévue pour décembre 2015. Le projet d'amélioration de la mobilité de la force a été établi en 2009 afin d'acquérir des engins blindés du génie basés sur le Léopard 2 pour offrir du soutien aux parcs de chars de combat principaux Léopard 2, et pour acquérir et intégrer de l'équipement pour les différents parcs de Léopard 2, comme des rouleaux de déminage, des charrues de déminage et des lames de buteur. La valeur totale du projet est estimée à 376 millions de dollars. La première livraison de véhicules est prévue pour novembre 2015. Soutien aux véhicules blindés légers à roues A la responsabilité du soutien en service des parcs de véhicules blindés légers à roues (VBLR) : 651 VBL, 203 Coyote, 199 Bison et 75 RG-31. Le soutien en service comprend l'acquisition de pièces de rechange, la réparation et la révision, la gestion du programme, la gestion du parc et les services de soutien technique. Le contrat de soutien optimisé des systèmes d'armes (SOSA) pour les VBLR constitue l'instrument d'acquisition principal et couvre la plus grande partie du soutien nécessaire. Une partie importante du SOSA pour les VBLR est donnée en sous-traitance. Des contrats gouvernementaux distincts existent pour répondre aux autres besoins associés à la protection blindée supplémentaire et aux armes spécialisées. Le soutien en service est aussi offert aux autres variantes du VBLR dans le cadre d'accords contractuels distincts avec leurs fabricants d'équipement d'origine respectifs. Entrepreneur principal : General Dynamics Land Systems – Canada, London, Ontario Bureau de gestion de projet des véhicules blindés légers et de modernisation du véhicule blindé léger III Le Bureau de gestion de projet (BGP) des véhicules blindés légers (VBL) fournit l'orientation stratégique pour les achats, la gestion de contrat et les services administratifs au ministère de la Défense nationale pour tous les projets de VBL. Le BGP complète présentement la modernisation des véhicules blindés légers de troisième génération (VBL III). Le projet de modernisation du VBL III, évalué à 1,4 milliard de dollars, offrira une mobilité, une protection et une létalité améliorée à 550 VBL III, avec une option pour 66 véhicules supplémentaires, au cours des trois prochaines années. Projet de modernisation du système de surveillance du véhicule blindé léger de reconnaissance Le BGP VBL est aussi responsable de l'élaboration et de l'exécution de la stratégie d'acquisition, de même que de la gestion de contrat, pour le projet de modernisation du système de surveillance du véhicule blindé léger de reconnaissance du ministère de la Défense nationale. Ce projet modernisera les capacités de reconnaissance et de surveillance de la force terrestre. La modernisation sera exécutée au moyen de l'acquisition de nouvelles séries de capteurs, de supports sur véhicules et au sol, de postes de commande d'opérateurs et de blocs d'alimentation de veille silencieuse. Ces systèmes et matériel feront augmenter collectivement le rendement du système de surveillance du véhicule blindé léger de reconnaissance et amélioreront la capacité de recueillir, traiter et diffuser des renseignements sur le champ de bataille. Le bureau des contrats aura la responsabilité de gérer globalement ce processus d'acquisition complexe, de fournir en temps opportun des services d'approvisionnement, et d'offrir son leadership, son expertise et son encadrement stratégique dans le choix du fournisseur du système de surveillance du véhicule blindé léger de reconnaissance parmi les fournisseurs de l'industrie. https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/app-acq/amd-dp/terre-land/index-fra.html

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  18 novembre 2019 | Information, Autre défense

  Canada needs to start seeing Russia and China as 'adversaries,' says ex-CSIS chief

  Richard Fadden said Ottawa needs to acknowledge the United States is withdrawing from global leadership Murray Brewster Canada needs to be "clear-eyed" about the threat posed by Russia and China — and the power vacuum at the global level left by the United States' growing isolationism — a former national security adviser to prime ministers told an audience of military and defence officials Friday. "The risks posed by these two countries are certainly different, but they are generally based on advancing all their interests to the detriment of the West," Richard Fadden, former national security adviser to both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his predecessor, Stephen Harper, said in a speech to the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI) Friday. "Their activities span the political, military and economic spheres." Fadden, who also served as the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and as deputy defence minister, made the remarks at the CDAI's annual Vimy Dinner in Ottawa. He said his criticism was not political or aimed at any particular government, but was meant to prompt public debate about security and defence policies — a subject that was virtually ignored during the recently concluded federal election. Both China and Russia have demonstrated they are prepared to "use virtually any means to attain their goals," while the U.S. has effectively withdrawn from the world stage, Fadden said. That emerging vacuum means Canada will have to work harder with other allies to address global crises at times when the Americans are unable, or unwilling, to lead. 'Clear limits to what we will accept' But to do that, Fadden said, Canada will have to be "clear-eyed" about the way the world has changed over the last decade or more. Canada should "recognize our adversaries for what they are, recognize we have to deal with them, but draw clear limits to what we will accept," he said. Ottawa also has to recognize, he said, that the old post-Cold War world order "with comprehensive U.S. leadership is gone, and is not coming back in the form we knew." In some respects, Fadden's remarks are a more blunt and urgent assessment of the geopolitical landscape than the one Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland delivered in a landmark speech in June 2017, when she warned Canada could no longer depend upon U.S. protection and leadership. The comments by the former top security official came just as French President Emmanuel Macron also was lamenting the loss of American leadership, saying NATO is facing "brain death" without Washington's full involvement. When he was director of CSIS a number of years ago, Fadden warned about increasing Chinese influence over Canadian municipal and provincial politics. He said during his speech Friday that "the West does not have its act together as much as it could and should" and its response to emerging threats has been dysfunctional. Meanwhile, Fadden said, the rise in violent radicalism in the West is no longer being confined to Islamist extremism. "Right-wing terrorism is growing and, like its cousin jihadist terrorism, it is a globalized threat," he said. "We will ignore it at our peril." His speech also touched on emerging threats in cyber warfare. Many western democracies have not felt threatened in the globalized world of the last three decades — but that era is ending now, said Fadden, and Canadians have to face new sources of risk. "This issue is especially visible in Canada," he said. "We are surrounded by three oceans and the U.S., so we don't really feel threatened when, in a totally globalized world, that is unrealistic." https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-russia-china-fadden-trump-1.5357109

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  28 août 2019 | Information, Terrestre

  Uncle Sam Wants YOU To Compete For Army Network Upgrade: CS 21

  By SYDNEY J. FREEDBERG JR. TECHNET AUGUSTA: No incumbent contractor should feel safe, and all comers should consider taking a shot, Army network modernization officials told me here. Even for its upgrade coming in the next few months– Capability Set 2021, aimed at infantry brigades — the service is still thrashing out which technologies to include, let alone who gets paid to build them. Subsequent biennial upgrades — Capability Set 23, CS 25, CS 27, and beyond — are even more in flux, by design, to leave room to add the latest tech. In fact, even an upgrade already being fielded to specialized communications units, the Expeditionary Signal Battalion – Enhanced (ESB-E) kit, is open to change. On the flipside, if the Army decides your product isn't ready for the upcoming upgrade cycle, or it just doesn't fit the available budget, you should still aim for the next upgrade, or the one after that. And you should take that shot ASAP, because the early work on those later upgrades has already begun. Gone are the days of a stately, deliberate, laborious acquisition process in which the Army would plan out the future in detail before going to industry. “We'd almost always guess wrong,” said Maj. Gen. David Bassett, the Program Executive Officer for Command , Control, & Communications – Tactical (PEO C3T). “Eventually we'd deliver yesterday's technology tomorrow.” That said, Bassett doesn't want to overcorrect by delivering tomorrow's technology today, before it's ready for the harsh conditions and high demands of erecting a wide-area wireless network in a war zone. “I know y'all won't believe this, but some of the things that vendors show me as mature, it turns out they're not,” Bassett snarked at the TechNet Augusta conference last week. “What we're not doing is holding up a Capability Set for any given technology. If it's ready, bring it to us. ... If it's not ready yet, look to a future Capability Set.” For any given product, he said, “we need you to help us understand ... whether you see that as something that's part of the network of '23, part of the network of '25, or whether it's something we really ought to be trying to add in to the network of '21 at the last minute.” Bassett has held industry “outreach sessions” recently in Nashville and Baltimore, with another this November in Austin. These are forums for the Army to solicit white paper proposals to solve specific problems and then award small demonstration contracts using Other Transaction Authority (OTA). Larger-scale procurement for Capability Set 21 should start in April, Bassett said. “The contracts, the logistics, the testing,” he said, “we're in the midst of that right now, so we can buy the network in '20, we can integrate and test it next summer, and we can deliver to brigades in '21.” Competition, Accelerated To test new network concepts and designs as fast as possible, the Army is using a lot of “stand-in” technology — that is, whatever is available, from existing contracts or inventory, that works well enough to run the test. But those stand-ins aren't necessarily, or even probably, the final products the Army plans to use, and their manufacturers don't have any incumbent advantage over other contenders. “Believe us when we say that we're not vendor locked and that we're going to open this up for a competitive environment in FY 20, after we decide what the final network architecture needs to be,” said Col. Garth Winterle, who works for Bassett as project manager for tactical radios. So the Army has two main messages for industry about Capability Set 2021, Winterle told me. “Be prepared for competitive procurement in FY 20,” he said, “[and] be open to providing information, including some stuff they may not share typically, like potential price points.” It's not just stand-in systems that are subject to competition and change, Winterle continued. It's also formal Programs Of Record with incumbent vendors, established contracts, and painstakingly negotiated budget lines. Even today, “all of my radio contracts are multi-vendor,” Winterle told me. That means one vendor on the contract may win the first lot of radios, but a different vendor may win the second — or the Army may bring in a new vendor that wasn't even in the initial award, all without having to redo the POR. “All Programs of Record are being compared to potential commercial systems as part of the experimentation, so if elements of [the existing] WIN-T architecture come up against new commercial that are more affordable or more affective...they have to participate in a run off,” Winterle said. “Gen. Bassett's been clear: There're no sacred cows.” Yes, large chunks of the current Warfighter Information Network – Tactical will remain in Army service for years to come, despite former Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley calling WIN-T inadequate for highly mobile high-tech war and truncating the program back in 2017. For all the Army's urgency about advancing, the service is just huge, so on any plausible budget it will take a decade to overhaul everything. The Army's target date for total modernization is 2028. But key pieces of WIN-T will be replaced much sooner, and some select units will be rid of it entirely in the near term. First up is the 50th Expeditionary Signal Battalion at Fort Bragg, which deploys teams worldwide to keep frontline units connected. The 50th ESB started turning in all its WIN-T kit this past October. Not only are all three companies within the battalion now using a new kit called ESB-Enhanced: Each company got a different version of the new equipment, which it field-tested, modified, and tested again. A council of generals approved proposed changes “at least every month,” said Col. Mark Parker, until recently the Army's capability manager for networks & services. Now, after about a dozen revisions in less than 12 months, the Army has a radically new ESB-E. That means not just new kit, but new personnel, training, organization — even a reorganized motor pool. The streamlined formation needs 18 percent fewer soldiers and half as many vehicles. It can deploy on commercial aircraft instead of heavy-duty Air Force transport — the basic network kit actually fits in the overhead bin — but it can provide communications to 60 percent more command posts. (48, up from 30). The final ESB-E design is due before the new Army Chief of Staff, Gen. James McConville, in October — a year after the first new kit was fielded — so he can decide whether to reorganize the other Expeditionary Signal Battalions across the Army on the new model. “Not all ESB-Es are going to look alike,” however, Parker told the conference. A battalion supporting the 18th Airborne Corps (as the 50th ESB-E does at Fort Bragg) might need parachute-qualified communications techs, while one supporting fast-moving armored divisions might need different ground vehicles to keep up. The Army also keeps hoping to add new technology to each ESB-E as it becomes available, Bassett told the conference. To 2028 & Beyond The way Army upgraded the Expeditionary Signal Battalion – Enhanced is preview of what it hopes to do across the force, Bassett said. That means streamlining or bypassing the traditional requirements process, and using existing contracts and authorities to get new tech to the troops fast — and then get their feedback to make it better in the next round. “We're a little late” with Capability Set 21, Bassett said frankly, because Congress didn't approve an Army request to reprogram already-appropriated funds to speed field-testing. But the Army was able to put the entire brigade architecture together in the laboratory — using stand-ins for the final product — and test it “end to end,” Winterle told me. That means sending realistic loads of both voice and data, based on real-world mission requirements, from tactical radios to satellite communications to US-based server farms. The next big step is to take the hardware into the field, with a full brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division to be field tested next year. While Bassett and his procurement professionals focus on Capability Set 21, the Army-wide Cross Functional Team for network modernization is already working on CS 23. While '21 is optimized for infantry units, '23 will take on medium-weight brigades of 8×8 armored Strykers and heavy brigades of M1 tanks and M2 Bradleys. These vehicles can carry a lot more hardware than infantry on foot, so they can field more powerful transmitters and larger antennas. But they'll really need that added power, because they can cover much more ground in a day and need to transmit signals over longer distances, without revealing their location to eavesdropping enemy electronic warfare units. By Capability Set '25, if not before, “we should be able to have constant communications where you can come up or drop off as required, depending on threat,” said the CFT's unified network lead, Col. Curtis Nowak. This ability to connect, get essential data, and then go dark to avoid detection is central to the Army's emerging concept of high-tech warfare, what's called Multi-Domain Operations. The Army's goal is to modernize the entire force to wage multi-domain operations by 2028. That's why the Army has already scheduled successive network upgrades in '21, '23, '25, and '27. But that's not the end, officials have made clear. “The reality is there will be a Capability Set '29,” Nowak told me. “We're no longer going to have a finish line.” https://breakingdefense.com/2019/08/uncle-sam-wants-you-to-compete-for-army-network-upgrade-cs-21/