The case for LEO satellite connectivity in $50 billion EIS contract

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  23 novembre 2018 | International, Naval

  UK: HMS Sheffield revealed as new warship

  Defence Minister Stuart Andrew has today announced the name of a future world-beating British warship as HMS Sheffield. Built on centuries of history, the state-of-the-art submarine hunter will be the fourth ship to carry the name, and will be Britain's fifth state-of-the-art Type 26 frigate. The Defence Minister announced the news at Chesterfield Special Cylinders in Sheffield, a key supplier to the multi-billion-pound Type 26 programme. The company makes high pressure gas storage systems for the ships. Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said: HMS Sheffield will be at the forefront of our world leading Royal Navy for decades to come, providing cutting edge protection for our aircraft carriers and nuclear deterrent, and offering unrivalled capability at sea. From north to south, these ships are truly a national endeavour, built on centuries of British expertise and supporting thousands of businesses like Chesterfield Special Cylinders across the UK. Defence boosts the economy of Yorkshire and the Humber economy by £232million every year and it's only right the region's significant contribution to our national security is recognised by the naming of HMS Sheffield. The fourth HMS Sheffield will be built on more than 80 years of proud naval history, with the first ship carrying her name in 1935. She played a vital role in Scandinavia during the Second World War and assisted with the evacuation of Andalsnes in 1940. She also took part in the first major Allied landing of the war in North Africa during Operation ‘Torch', and patrolled waters from the Mediterranean to the Arctic. The second HMS Sheffield, a Type 42 destroyer, was lost during the Falklands War. The naming of HMS Sheffield, the fifth ship in the city-class of Type 26 frigates, came as Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson also announced the sixth ship would be called HMS Newcastle during a visit to the Tyne today. The two ships will join HMS Glasgow, HMS Belfast, HMS Cardiff, HMS Birmingham and HMS London. The final name has yet to be announced. All of the Type 26 frigates will be built on the Clyde, supported by suppliers across the country and securing decades of work for more than 4,000 people. The first three ships have already been ordered for £3.7bn. Chesterfield Special Cylinders is just one of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises in the supply chain delivering essential services to the UK defence sector. It is a world-leading designer and manufacturer of safety-critical high pressure gas storage systems. Its bespoke products are deployed in the Type 26 frigate for breathing air storage, safety and backup systems, fresh water and power systems. Chesterfield Special Cylinders' managing director, Mick Pinder, said: Chesterfield Special Cylinders has been a strategic supplier to the Royal Navy for over 100 years. Our high-pressure gas storage systems are in use across many platforms, from submarines to surface ships. Our reputation for excellence in the design, manufacture and maintenance of safety-critical naval systems has seen our customer base grow in recent years to now include almost every NATO-friendly overseas navy, though the Royal Navy remains a prime partner. It is an honour to host the Minister for Defence Procurement and for our manufacturing site to be the location for this important announcement. Last year the MOD injected nearly £2.5bn into small and medium businesses. The visit by the Defence Minister came ahead of Small Business Saturday on 01 December, an opportunity for defence to thank the workforce behind many SMEs. The news also came as the Defence Secretary announced he will retain three of the Royal Navy's patrol ships to bolster Britain's fishery protection capability. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hms-sheffield-revealed-as-new-warship

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  22 avril 2020 | International, Naval, C4ISR

  For the Navy’s hospital ships, networking is yet another challenge

  Andrew Eversden When the Navy hospital ship Comfort deployed to Haiti in 2010 following devastating earthquakes, media organizations broadcasting in the area ate up so much satellite bandwidth that the ship had to revert to paper processes and adjust its satellite communications for some ship-to-shore messaging. While the outages weren't a widespread issue, said Sean Kelley, who served as the ship's top IT officer at the time, the problem highlighted a challenge these ships face: broadband. Now, the hospital ships Mercy and Comfort are deployed to Los Angeles and New York, respectively, and are in the national spotlight as symbols of the coronavirus pandemic relief effort. But security and IT experts say the ships' mission presents the Navy with distinct networking problems, from cybersecurity to network connection for patients. Onboard devices When disaster strikes, the Navy's hospital ships deploy in a matter of days, mobilizing with a crew of about 100-1,200 personnel. But the influx of staff also leads to an incursion of devices, all of which must be secure and require bandwidth. “You have a lot of different people going to a lot of different places that now have to be acclimated to this environment,” said Kelley, now executive vice president at Unissant, an IT and cybersecurity company. “So that's really one of the biggest challenges, is getting all those things turned on, all those things activated, making sure that they are all compliant with the latest patches and fixes, and making sure they're good.” This process can be a “nightmare,” said retired Rear Adm. Danelle Barrett, former deputy chief information officer of the Navy and cybersecurity division director. “The challenging part is always in the first couple days whenever this happens,” said Barrett, who oversaw communications and cyberspace for Operation Unified Response, the U.S. military's mission in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake. “The team is coalescing about how they want to operate, and they're getting their feet wet, getting new accounts on networks ... [getting] their logins.” Cybersecurity aboard the ships is also complex. Both ships have 1,000 beds, 12 operating rooms, blood banks, labs, medical devices and a multitude of other “internet of things” devices connected to hospital beds. According to a 2018 survey by health care IoT security company Zingbox, each bed can have as many as 10-15 IoT devices. “They have to be cyber-ready, or the mission of the Mercy is considered [degraded],” said Dean Hullings, global defense solutions strategist at Forescout, which handles Comply to Connect — a Defense Department framework created to ensure the cybersecurity of new devices — for the USNS Mercy. Ensuring connectivity For the devices to function, they need connectivity. When the ships arrived in ports in late March, technology firm CenturyLink “donated” connectivity to the Mercy, while Verizon provided connectivity to the Comfort. Former and current Navy officials told C4ISRNET that adequate broadband is the most challenging IT consideration faced by these ships. “Obviously you're going to be transferring imagery of X-rays or things like that that are more dense and require a ... higher data rate, so that bandwidth in port is important,” Barrett said. And with the introduction of patients, bandwidth needs become more complex. “The greatest communications challenge we are going to face during this deployment is the increased need for patients to communicate off the ship during their stay,” Tom Van Leunen, a spokesman for Military Sealift Command, told C4ISRNET. “Our hospital ships are designed to support official communication for the ship's crew and embarked medical community to complete their job. Adding a capability for patients to reach loved ones increases the risk of saturating the bandwidth off the ship.” Aboard both ships, the Navy doubled the bandwidth, he said, adding that Navy personnel also set up separate networks for patients' communications. While this solves one networking problem, it can also create an increased cybersecurity risk. Securing the ships Cybersecurity on the hospital ships follows the same standard practices as the rest of the Navy fleet. Since those aboard are largely Navy medical staff and personnel, they know what activities are acceptable on the network, Barrett said. “You can't just go and plug anything into that network because of potential vulnerabilities that that system may bring that could affect not just the ship, but remember, the ship is then connected to the rest of the [Department of Defense Information Network],” Barrett said. “So risk by one is shared by all.” ForeScout's Hullings said a hospital environment “epitomizes” why the Comply to Connect program is necessary. The ship has desktops, servers, routers, printers and other networks equipment, as well as mobile devices, such as tablets, that health care providers use to track patient care. “The truly unique stuff is the mission systems of the hospital, like X-ray machines, MRI machines, the beds themselves in the post-operative recovery rooms, that are all sensors. And they are all passing data. They have to be protected,” Hullings said. A spokesperson for the Navy told C4ISRNET that the ships are prepared for the cybersecurity challenges associated with their missions, but declined to address what additional cybersecurity challenges are introduced with the addition of private citizens. “These ships have routinely deployed in humanitarian assistance missions such as Pacific Partnership (USNS Mercy) and Continuing Promise (USNS Comfort) that required them to operate in partner nation ports, with foreign national patients being brought to and from the ship,” said Cmdr. Dave Benham, a spokesman for the Navy's 10th Fleet. “In all operating locations, we take appropriate precautions to keep our networks secure, and we do not discuss specific measures in order to protect operational security.” Cybersecurity on the hospital ships follow the same protocols as any other Military Sealift Command ship, said Benham. “Protecting our networks is a continuous challenge, and the overarching concern is to ensure that the right information gets to the right place at the right time with the right level of protection,” he explained. Cybersecurity aboard the hospital ships follow similar efforts to those recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Wash your hands. “It's ‘wash your hands' with your computer, too,” Barrett said. “Do good hygiene with your computer.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2020/04/21/for-the-navys-hospital-ships-networking-is-yet-another-challenge/

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  24 janvier 2019 | International, Naval

  Marines’ Next High-End Fight Could Call for Larger Formations, Tougher Amphibs

  By: Megan Eckstein ARLINGTON, Va. – The Marine Corps is preparing for a high-end distributed fight inside island chains in the Pacific, and the service is pushing the Navy to invest in additional weapons and systems for amphibious ships to support this kind of battle in a contested environment. The Marine Corps is further developing concepts like the Expeditionary Advance Base Operations and Littoral Operations in a Contested Environment, but there are some materiel changes the Navy will need to make, such as upgunning amphibious ships and connecting amphibs into the surface combatants' and aircraft carriers' tactical grid, leaders said last week at the Surface Navy Association's annual national symposium. Maj. Gen. David Coffman, director of expeditionary operations (OPNAV N95), set the scene, describing a large-scale formation Navy ships and Marine landing forces beyond what the services typically rehearse today. “That level of integrated naval operations could be needed to take an island somewhere – natural or manmade. But it certainly will be required when a great power competition pits a whale against an elephant, or maybe two elephants – a global maritime power, that's us, against a regional land power hegemon with home-field advantage. In that long war, maritime superiority is necessary but not sufficient for the whale to beat the elephant,” Coffman said, noting the Marines were readying themselves to conduct day-to-day competition, deterrence against malign actions, and, if necessary, major combat operations in this high-end environment. “So what we need to do is reinvigorate naval maneuver warfare, linking sea control and power projection in order to win current and future fights.” Full article: https://news.usni.org/2019/01/23/marines-next-high-end-fight-call-larger-formations-tougher-amphibs