6 mars 2020 | Local, C4ISR, Sécurité
The Pentagon has been engaged in a quiet, deliberate effort to plug all of the cyber-holes in its high-tech systems and among its defence contractors — an operation that will soon spill across the border into Canada.
Ellen Lord, the U.S. undersecretary of defence for acquisition and sustainment, said today cybersecurity has been one of her biggest concerns since being appointed by the Trump administration two and a half years ago.
Increasingly, major defence contractors have found themselves targeted by hackers from China and Russia who have stolen troves of sensitive data on new and existing weapons systems.
"Bottom line is, I don't think the average American citizen understands that we're at cyberwar every day," Lord told the Conference of Defence Associations Institute's annual meeting in Ottawa today.
The burden of keeping data secure is being placed on the companies themselves, she added.
After consulting with the National Security Agency (NSA), the U.S. electronic spy service and the military's Cyber Command, the Pentagon rolled out a new program in January aimed at forcing defence contractors to deal with points of vulnerability.
"We have written new cyber security standards that we are putting in all of our new contracts," said Lord. "We are looking at the defence industrial base and how they need to address cyber security and how we as a government can hold them accountable."
The initiative includes a cyber security "certification and accreditation" system, similar to the International Organization for Standardization.
Lord said it's not a one-size fits all solution and that companies looking to do business with the Pentagon will have to meet one of five levels of certification, depending upon the contract.
The defence industrial complexes of Canada, Britain and Australia are tightly stitched into the U.S. system. Lord said allies are looking at a similar measures which she hopes to see coordinated with American efforts.
"This is something we're talking with Canada about, with allies and partners, because a lot of us are doing the same thing," she said.
The problems with existing systems — software already in the field — is being dealt with aggressively. Contractors who are responsible for maintaining complex systems on warships and aircraft are being told by the Pentagon to close their potential security gaps.
"We are going to start shutting equipment down if they are not brought up to standard because every day we see [intelligence], we see how much has been compromised," Lord said.
Troy Crosby, head of the Canadian Department of National Defence's materiel branch, said Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada has launched a "cyber secure program" and there's a hope that the two countries can find a way to align their efforts.
Some analysts and critics in the U.S. have argued that contractors — even those that make cyber security a priority — will find the cost of meeting uniform standards prohibitive.
Beyond that, many major contractors have complex supply chains with many smaller companies that also would be required to spend substantial sums of money to keep up with evolving threats.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pentagon-contractors-cyber-security-1.5487452
9 mai 2024 | Local, Naval
Ukraine, a nation with virtually no navy, humiliated Russia's mighty Black Sea Fleet using cheap, fast, disposable drones. Combined with artificial intelligence, drones are set to change the nature of naval warfare. But are the world's militaries prepared for the risks?
3 novembre 2017 | Local, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR
If the Canadian government is to inject billions of dollars into military procurement over the next decade and successfully deliver on dozens of major capital projects, the defence industry must play a critical role. When the new defence policy was released in June 2017, the Liberal government committed to increase the Department of National Defence (DND) budget from $18.9 billion to $32.7 billion by 2026-27 and provide up to $62 billion for the military over the next 20 years. Experience has shown, however, that increased spending can strain government and industry capacity to meet the requirements and schedules for multiple projects. Industry is up for the challenge providing it has predictability in the programs and the process, said Mike Greenley, president of Burlington, Ont.-based L3 WESCAM and a former chair of the board for the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI). “Industry capacity to respond and surge is obviously greater the more horizon you can give it,” Greenley said at a recent Ottawa conference, hosted by the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, examining the implications of Canada's Defence Policy: Strong, Secure, Engaged. Greenley–a former executive with General Dynamics and CAE and a veteran of many procurement programs–said large foreign and Canadian manufacturers would make the necessary investments in smaller Canadian companies and production capacity if they have confidence in the opportunity. “If we talk about these things far enough ahead of time, I think people will invest and have Canadian content ready,” he added. MGen Jean-Marc Lanthier, chief of program, said the new policy had generated almost four dozen projects, but he cautioned that the government and military could not succeed if “we don't tap into innovation.” One way to encourage early industry engagement might be to run competitions at the research and development (R&D) phase of certain projects, rather than waiting until after the statement of requirements (SOR) has been fully defined. “If [you wait] for the SOR and everyone fights to the death for that thing, then your ability to respond and scale up is obviously diminished because you are not going to believe in it until, for sure, you absolutely have [it],” Greenley stated. “Industry can do a lot more if they are engaged earlier.” As an example, he pointed to the process to replace the current fleet of CP-140 Aurora aircraft, which is undergoing a series of block upgrades to extend service life into the 2030s. If, as the commander of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has suggested, the goal is a Canadian-built maritime patrol platform with Canadian-developed anti-submarine warfare and other capabilities, “while we modernize the CP-140s today, we could run a competition tomorrow [to get] an industrial team together for next generation maritime patrol.” That would “allow things to happen easier and quicker, engage the whole base sooner, in addition to giving them stability” to survive a change in government or government priorities, he said. “We wouldn't normally do that in Canada. But to [earlier] points about how do you connect industrial capacity with innovation, with trying to get more done with less people with more money, we could [do it].” Defence policies rarely survive as economic blueprints beyond their first few years. In a panel on framing the government's challenge, several former senior public executives noted how quickly a shift in the domestic financial picture or international circumstances forced previous governments to change course. Still, current government officials were optimistic about the policy, noting it is still early days. Andre Fillion–chief of staff, Materiel, and a former RCAF officer who led the acquisition programs for the CC-177 Globemaster, CC-130J Hercules, CH-147F Chinook and CH-148 Cyclone–acknowledged that more certified project managers are needed, as are improvements to streamline the procurement process. An increase in contracting authority to $5 million would allow the Army, Navy, Air Force and special operations forces to directly manage about 80 per cent of DND's procurement projects, freeing up resources and staff for the larger, more challenging and riskier programs. The department will look more holistically at projects, factoring in infrastructure requirements, like hangars, when it acquires an aircraft, and it will place greater reliance on analytics using data to drive decisions on complex programs, said Jody Thomas, deputy minister of National Defence. The department also added two new associate deputy ministers with extensive experience in government and procurement. “We are restructuring the department to deliver,” concluded Thomas. https://www.skiesmag.com/news/oems-will-invest-canadian-content-procurement-program-stability/
5 janvier 2021 | Local, Aérospatial
By RICHARD SHIMOOKA If the government is serious in its desire to sustain the aerospace, and defence aerospace industry, it must do so through a well-reasoned and resourced strategy. Of all sectors, aerospace has been among the hardest hit in the global economy to date. This not only includes airlines, but manufacturers and maintainers—with decreased orders and reductions in maintenance, repair, and overhaul work due to reductions in service, which has knock-on effects for the rest of the economy. Aerospace is arguably among the most vibrant industrial sectors in the Canadian economy—with high levels of R&D spending and export revenues. Until recently, Canada was a top-five civil aerospace producer internationally, though its position has slid in the past several years. https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/12/30/the-decline-of-canadas-defence-aviation-industry/277088