20 avril 2018 | International, Naval
By: Mark Pomerleau
With a relative dearth of cyber expertise in the military, Congress mandated last year the services begin direct commissioning pilot programs. The Navy, however has been doing direct commissioning for highly skilled software engineers for a few years, albeit on a small scale.
The cyber warfare engineer (CWE) program is a highly competitive program with officers on five year rotations performing software or tool development for cyber operators. CWEs serve as members of the cyber mission force, the Navy's cyber mission force teams that serve as the cyber warriors for U.S. Cyber Command, producing cyber tools, but can also conduct target analysis, vulnerability research, and counter-measure development against malicious cyber activities.
Since 2011, the Navy has only recruited 25 of these commissioned officers to its ranks.
“Twenty-five developers in the Navy as military officers is definitely not enough,” Lt. Christopher Liu, the most senior cyber warfare engineer told Fifth Domain in an interview at the Navy League's Sea Air Space conference April 9.
With a relative dearth of cyber expertise in the military, Congress mandated last year the services begin direct commissioning pilot programs. The Navy, however has been doing direct commissioning for highly skilled software engineers for a few years, albeit on a small scale.
The cyber warfare engineer (CWE) program is a highly competitive program with officers on five year rotations performing software or tool development for cyber operators. CWEs serve as members of the cyber mission force, the Navy's cyber mission force teams that serve as the cyber warriors for U.S. Cyber Command, producing cyber tools, but can also conduct target analysis, vulnerability research, and counter-measure development against malicious cyber activities.
Since 2011, the Navy has only recruited 25 of these commissioned officers to its ranks.
“Twenty-five developers in the Navy as military officers is definitely not enough,” Lt. Christopher Liu, the most senior cyber warfare engineer told Fifth Domain in an interview at the Navy League's Sea Air Space conference April 9.
“We definitely need to increase the billets and increase the amount that we can hire ... to have more talents to be able to work on the cyber mission,” he said. “As soon as the number increases, we'll be able to expand the program rather than just five years to eight years, hopefully make it into a 20 year career so people can get trained up and work on missions and not be forced into different fields.”
The Pentagon has been besieged by concerns about the DoD's ability to both retain and attract cyber talent among its ranks when similar jobs in the private sector pay significantly more.
Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, commander of 10th Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command, acknowledged in recent congressional testimony that the military is not competitive with the private sector and noted that the base pay for the CWE position is around $37,000 a year.
“That's what we pay somebody to answer the phones around here,” Senator Claire McCaskill, responded to Gilday interrupting him in frustration. “We're asking them to have incredible expertise. That seems to me totally unrealistic.”
Some current CWEs feel the work they're doing inside the Navy has greater meaning than similar work they did in the private sector.
“I find that this is a lot more fulfilling,” Ensign Jordan Acedera, the most junior CWE told Fifth Domain. “You finish a project, you're given something that's a lot more challenging and that really tests you.”
For Lt. (j.g.) George John, who was formerly writing software at a stock trading company, work with the CWE provides a better environment that's not driven so much by profit margins and hitting quarterly revenue targets.
“We don't have to worry about profitability or bringing to market,” he said. “We can pursue a little more ... what's possible. Throw stuff against the wall, see what sticks, take our time to figure out a plan of action.”
One of the biggest challenges, however, is lack of knowledge of the program, even inside the Navy.
“You still walk across captains and commander who say 'CWE, what in god's name is that,” John said.
With more CWE personnel in the force, the Navy could build a more informed and skilled software engineering cadre, the group said.
“There's tons of software. Everybody has some type of software pet project,” John said. “To be able to get more CWEs on those things and coordinate with one another and say here's what [Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services] is doing with their communications and their infrastructure. How are we doing that differently on the base side? You can talk and address security concerns with one another.
Just within the cyber operations realm, Liu said, as the headcount increases, the CWEs could work on the requirements the operational community within the cyber mission force rather than having to prioritize projects. They could even start to look at developing capability prior to a specific requirement coming in as a means of staying ahead of the game as opposed to waiting for and reacting on requirements from operators.
9 avril 2024 | International, Naval
The Navy's top civilian called the establishment of a robotics warfare rating "a significant milestone" in the service's journey toward a hybrid fleet.
16 juin 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
La Commission Européenne a annoncé que 205 M€ allaient être débloqués afin de soutenir le fonds européen de la défense et plus précisément les initiatives PADR (volet recherche) et EDIDP (volet développement). « Renforcer l'autonomie stratégique et la compétitivité industrielle de l'Union européenne ». La commission européenne a annoncé le 15 juin qu'un financement de 205 M€ avait été approuvé dans le cadre du fonds européen de la défense, une somme qui devrait ainsi permettre de soutenir au total 19 projets européens. Parmi cet ensemble, 16 projets se consacrent aux questions de défense et 3 autres sont orientés vers les « technologies de rupture qui seront menés à l'échelle paneuropéenne » précise la Commission européenne. Par ailleurs, notons que les projets menés dans le cadre du FEDEF s'inscrivent dans la continuité du développement de l'Europe de la Défense, avec 9 propositions issues de projets CSP (coopération structurée permanente). Préparer la création du fonds européen de défense. Dans ce cadre, ces projets seront développés à travers les initiatives PADR (preparatory action on defence research) et EDIDP (european industrial developement programme), qualifiés comme étant « deux programmes précurseurs d'un véritable Fonds européen de la défense ». Le premier se concentre sur le volet recherche lorsque le second vise à soutenir les développements industriels. Thierry Breton, commissaire au marché intérieur, s'est réjoui de cette annonce et a ainsi déclaré : « Ces projets prometteurs démontrent la capacité de l'Union à promouvoir et à soutenir la coopération entre les industries de la défense sur le territoire européen et entre les États membres. En développant des technologies et des capacités de défense de haut niveau, nous renforçons la résilience et l'autonomie stratégique de l'Union. Tous les participants à la chaîne de valeur dans le secteur de la défense, quelles que soient leur taille et leur origine au sein de l'Union, peuvent en retirer des bénéfices. Doté d'un niveau de financement adéquat, le Fonds européen de la défense permettra d'étoffer considérablement ces premiers succès ». Un intérêt paneuropéen. Outre les financements, la Commission Européenne a également tenu à souligner l'intérêt des entreprises de l'Union pour ces dispositifs, puisque au total de 40 propositions qui ont été soumise au titre de l'EDIDP, 16 ayant finalement été sélectionnées et représentant 223 entités. Plus de 24 Etats membres étaient ainsi représentés. Par ailleurs, ces fonds permettent de soutenir l'ensemble du tissu industriel européen et attirent particulièrement les PME et ETI qui peuvent, par ce biais, nouer des partenariats mais également diviser les coûts de R&D. « Les PME représentent 37% (83 entreprises) du nombre total d'entités bénéficiaires d'un financement au titre de l'EDIDP, ce qui montre le rôle important des appels à propositions spécifiques pour les PME et des bonus PME mis en place », détaille ainsi la Commission Européenne. Les technologies futures. La Commission Européenne rappelle enfin que l'ensemble des projets retenus permettent de répondre aux priorités fixées par les Etats européens et qu'un volet important est consacré aux technologies de rupture. Parmi les axes de recherche et développement, un effort particulier est consacré aux drones, aux solutions spatiales, aux véhicules terrestres sans pilote, aux systèmes de missile de haute précision, aux futures plateformes navales, aux capacités d'attaque électronique aéroportées, aux réseaux tactiques et de haute sécurité, aux plateformes de « Cyber situational awareness » ainsi qu'aux solutions basées sur la furtivité active. https://air-cosmos.com/article/205-m-pour-le-fonds-europen-de-la-dfense-23237
14 décembre 2023 | International, Aérospatial
Reston, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)—December 12, 2023 CACI International Inc (NYSE: CACI) announced today that it was awarded a five-year, single-award, task order valued at up to $420 million to support the...