Pentagon loosens cash flow for industry, more measures likely coming

Sur le même sujet

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  26 janvier 2021 | International, Aérospatial

  Missile Defense Agency picks 2 vendors for hypersonic weapon tracking sensor prototypes

  Nathan Strout WASHINGTON — The Missile Defense Agency selected two companies to build prototype sensors capable of tracking hypersonic weapons from space. L3Harris and Northrop Grumman will create the prototypes for the agency's Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor. L3Harris won a $122 million award Jan. 14, while Northrop Grumman received a $155 million award Jan. 22. In tandem with the Space Development Agency's tracking layer, the HBTSS constellation is the Pentagon's answer to hypersonic weapons, which are too dim to effectively track with current sensors in geostationary orbit and can potentially avoid terrestrial sensors. The constellation will be closer to the planet's surface in low Earth orbit, allowing sensors to more easily see the dimmer threat. However, being closer to the Earth's surface results in a far narrower field of view for each satellite. In order to get worldwide coverage, the Pentagon is pursuing a proliferated constellation made up of dozens of satellites. SDA's tracking layer satellites will initially pick up a threat, with each satellite tracking the weapon and then passing off custody to the next satellite as the weapon leaves its field of view. Ultimately, the threat will be passed on to the more sensitive HBTSS, which can provide targeting data. “The combination of high speed, maneuverability and relatively low altitude of some of the emerging advanced missile threats makes them challenging targets for our current missile defense systems,” the agency said in a statement. “HBTSS is needed, since we cannot populate the Earth and the oceans with terrestrial radars to meet this need. The ‘birth-to-death' tracking that HBTSS can provide when integrated with terrestrial sensors will make it possible to maintain custody of missile threats from launch through intercept regardless of location.” Four companies were in the running to build the new HBTSS prototypes, but MDA stated on Jan. 22 that L3Harris and Northrop Grumman will be the two moving forward into the on-orbit prototype demonstration. The other transaction authority contracts covers the prototypes through launch and early on-orbit testing. According to MDA, the prototypes should “demonstrate the sensitivity and fire-control quality of service necessary to support both the emerging hypersonic threat kill chain and dim upper-stage ballistic missiles.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2021/01/25/missile-defense-agency-picks-two-vendors-for-hypersonic-weapon-tracking-sensor-prototypes

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  5 février 2024 | International, Terrestre

  EU member countries push back on Italy’s call for European army

  The EU is developing a Rapid Deployment Capability force of up to 5,000 troops from member countries for use in non-permissive environments.

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  17 juin 2019 | International, Sécurité, Autre défense

  How contractors can guard against cyber intrusions

  By: Mark Pomerleau Contractors, facing an increasing barrage of cyber intrusions by foreign entities, should protect themselves using traditional regulatory approaches but also new techniques such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, according to a new report from Deloitte. As companies in the defense supply chain began following the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) cybersecurity regulations and the Department of Defense started to assess how adoption went, “we started to form our own ideas on what we see as emerging issues and solutions that [can] ... improve the cybersecurity posture against our enemies,” Jeff Lucy, managing director in cyber risk services practice at Deloitte, told Fifth Domain. On the regulatory side, the report, titled “Third-party risk management: Cybersecurity in the Defense Industrial Base,” says prime contractors must comply with the defense regulations measuring their companies' compliance with national cybersecurity standards. They should also create awareness among their subcontractors and smaller companies by providing training. Third, primes should create third party assessment programs for performing cybersecurity evaluations of their suppliers. However, the paper also suggests non-regulatory approaches, including automating supply chain functions, integrating blockchain to boost cybersecurity and using artificial intelligence to gain real time visibility into the threat landscape. Lucy noted that the Pentagon is beginning to take these regulations seriously and the problems aren't going away. “In 2019 we've seen that the DoD has started to move forward, start to take action to enforce their expectations around the DFARS requirements,” he said. “It's clear now with the steps that we're seeing with [Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment] Ellen Lord getting the [Defense Contract Management Agency] on board to start auditing the suppliers processes for assessing their suppliers.” Cyber intrusions into the supply chains of defense contractors have become more prevalent in recent years. In a recent example, the Chinese government was blamed for a series of hacks and while the information they stole was not technically classified, in aggregate, it was considered to be quite damaging to the U.S. This year's Department-wide annual report on Chinese military activity included a new section highlighting that China's exfiltration of sensitive military information from the defense industrial base could allow it to gain a military advantage. Ultimately, Lucy said the solution to the supply chain and cybersecurity for the defense industrial base is manageable. “Most primes, from what I've seen with interactions with our customers, have put some level of the basic elements for a supplier assessment program in place already,” he said. “They've done some level of canvassing their suppliers, critical suppliers, taking a risk based approach to understand whether their suppliers are in adopting” standards. https://www.fifthdomain.com/industry/2019/06/14/how-contractors-can-guard-against-cyber-intrusions/