Nouvelles

By: Andrew Chuter LONDON — Britain's Royal Navy took delivery of two new aircraft carriers, but a government report on the ships achieving operational capability has laid bare some obstacles toward making a fully effective carrier strike group. In a report released June 25, the National Audit Office pointed to delays in developing the Crowsnest airborne early warning radar and contracting to build the logistics ships destined to support the 65,000-ton carriers as ongoing problems for the Royal Navy. The NAO also raised questions about future funding. The Ministry of Defence is making slow “progress in developing the crucial supporting activities that are needed to make full use of a carrier strike group, such as the Crowsnest radar system and the ability to resupply the carriers. In addition, it has not established a clear view on the future cost of enhancing, operating and supporting carrier strike, which creates the risk of future affordability pressures,” the NAO said. Added the head of the watchdog: “The MoD also needs to get a firmer grip on the future costs of carrier strike. By failing to understand their full extent, it risks adding to the financial strain on a defense budget that is already unaffordable.” HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of two carriers built by British industry in a £4.6 billion (U.S. $5.7 billion) program, is already undertaking extensive sea trials, with its F-35B jets ahead of a planned first deployment next year. The second carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, is also conducting sea trials but is some months behind its sister ship. The warships are not expected to be operated simultaneously. The NAO said the Lockheed Martin-led program to install Crowsnest radars on Royal Navy Merlin helicopters is running 18 months late and will impact how the British carrier strike force is initially deployed. The watchdog said the MoD is working to come up with an acceptable baseline radar by the time HMS Queen Elizabeth undertakes its initial deployment next year. “As at April 2020, the Department [the MoD] expected to achieve initial Crowsnest operating capability in September 2021, some 18 months later than planned,” the NAO reported. “As this is later than the December 2020 milestone for declaring initial operating capability for carrier strike, the Department is working to provide a credible baseline radar capability for the first deployment with the United States in 2021. It expects to recover some lost time to declare full operating capability in May 2023, 11 months later than planned. However, the existing timetable contains no contingency to accommodate any further slippage. The delays will affect how the Department can use carrier strike during this period.” British and U.S. Marine Corps jets will be based on the carrier during its first deployment, partly because the U.K. does not have a sufficient inventory of available jets. Eighteen of the aircraft have so far been delivered for use by the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force Lockheed Martin secured the Crowsnest contract in 2017, with Searchwater radar supplier Thales and helicopter builder Leonardo as subcontractors. Crowsnest is a key element in the protection of the naval strike group, giving air, maritime and land detection and tracking capabilities. The NAO said the delay “has been caused by a subcontractor, Thales, failing to meet its contractual commitments for developing equipment and not providing sufficient information on the project's progress. Neither MoD nor its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, were aware of these problems until it was too late, reflecting MoD's ineffective oversight of its contract with Lockheed Martin.” A Lockheed Martin UK spokesperson said the company is working to deliver the Crowsnest capability in time for HMS Queen Elizabeth's deployment. “As prime contractor for Crowsnest, we understand the fundamental component that this program delivers to the UK's Carrier Enabled Power Projection. We will continue to ensure that the program develops in line with our requirement to deliver the Crowsnest capability to support the first operational deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth,” the spokesperson said. “We will work with our industrial partners and the MoD to address any developmental issues which arise, including the deployment of additional resources, if necessary, to maintain program timescales and deliver this critical capability to the Royal Navy.” Thales UK did not respond to Defense News' requests for comment by press time. The NAO partly blames the setbacks for why the MoD faces a “tight timetable” to develop full operating capability for a strike group by 2023. But the watchdog also highlighted the Fleet Solid Support program as another obstacle. The MoD had targeted 2026 for when the first of up to three logistics ships could provide ammunition, food and general stores to the carrier strike group, but that timeline has extended by up to three years as a result of ongoing uncertainty over the schedule to compete and build the vessels operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The MoD abandoned a competition to build the ships late last year, saying it was concerned about obtaining value for money. At the time, the program was mired in controversy over whether the contract should go to a British shipyard consortium or awarded to a foreign company. That issue remains unresolved. No date has officially been given for restarting the competition. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the parliamentary Defence Committee earlier this year that he thinks it will relaunch in September, but that has not been confirmed. Defence Committee Chairman Tobia Ellwood was particularly critical of the failure to provide the necessary support ships, noting that without them, the carriers' capability would be seriously undermined. “It'll be hotched and potched, only available for short operational journeys,” he told the Daily Telegraph on June 26. “It will be for display purposes only, and that's a very expensive toy.” Britain has only one solid support vessel, RFA Fort Victoria, that can replenish a carrier at sea. It entered service in 1994 and is due to retire in 2028, having had its life expectancy extended. The NAO report said the limitations of RFA Fort Victoria would have a knock-on effect to carrier operations. “Having only one support ship with limited cargo capacity slows the tempo and reach at which the Department [the MoD] can replenish a carrier group. In addition, the Department will have restricted options for deploying the carriers for much of 2022 because RFA Fort Victoria will be unavailable due to major planned maintenance work,” the NAO said. Responding to the report, an MOD spokesperson said: ”Carrier strike is a complex challenge, which relies on a mix of capabilities and platforms. We remain committed to investing in this capability, which demonstrates the U.K.'s global role. “Despite the disruptions of COVID-19, the carrier strike group is on track for its first operational deployment.” https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/06/26/heres-why-britain-is-struggling-to-form-a-fully-effective-carrier-strike-group/

Andrew Eversden Katie Arrington's job is to win the room. She's at San Francisco's Moscone Center on Feb. 26 at the RSA Conference, one of the largest cybersecurity events. In the last year, she's spoken at more than 100 events, which may explain why today, she's sick. Her voice, typically loud and energetic, is raspy and shaky. Arrington's title is clunky: chief information security officer for acquisition in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. Translated, she's leading the Pentagon's effort to add new cybersecurity requirements for the 300,000 companies that do business with the Pentagon. Her challenge, almost every day, is to convince industry it should embrace the Defense Department's new auditing standards, which are aimed at improving cybersecurity. In this room, she sits next to a top American executive from the Chinese technology company Huawei to discuss — rather, argue about — supply chain security, alongside a Harvard lecturer and think tank fellow. In the months leading up to the panel, the U.S. government and Huawei fought in court over a provision in the fiscal 2019 defense policy bill that bans federal agencies from buying the company's equipment. The audience is shoulder to shoulder, no seat spared. “This session promises to be one of the most interesting, colorful and perhaps debate[d] topic,” the moderator begins. Arrington, however, doesn't understand what all the “hoopla” is about. “Really, honestly, it's not that big of a deal,” she told C4ISRNET hours before the session. The Department of Defense has made the RSA Conference a greater priority in recent years as it tries to heal a strained relationship with Silicon Valley. Outside the Capital Beltway, the cybersecurity community often views the department's mission with skepticism or that of an overly strict parent. In contrast, defense leaders see themselves as offering lucrative contracts with reasonable sets of security requirements for winning the work, which can range from the acquisition of military weapons systems and basic IT tools to mowing grass at military bases. But after years of suppliers with weak cybersecurity tormenting the department, it's now Arrington's job to find a solution. The conventional wisdom among defense officials is that cybersecurity problems can't be solved — they can only be mitigated. “Supply chain security is an insurmountably hard problem,” said fellow panelist Bruce Schneier, the Harvard lecturer and well-known technology guru. So Arrington flies all over the country, speaking to room after room of defense contractors and trying to convince them, somehow, that they must impose tighter cybersecurity controls. And if they don't? The Pentagon could lose out on state-of-the-art technology to protect national security secrets. And if industry doesn't care about that? Then businesses will lose out on profitable DoD contracts. The underdog Arrington has spent much of the last two and a half years shuffling in and out of rooms, working to persuade audiences she can solve pressing community problems. In 2018, it was a different cause: politics. Her problem then was Rep. Mark Sanford. Sanford, she said, spent too much time on cable news fighting with President Donald Trump and not enough time on local issues. So Arrington challenged him in a Republican primary. Sanford, the former South Carolina governor of “hiking the Appalachian Trail” fame, had never lost an election. But Arrington, endorsed by the president, pulled off the unexpected, knocking off the political powerhouse by about 2,500 votes and adding her name to South Carolina political folklore. “If somebody tells her she can't do something, she ignores that,” said Andrew Boucher, a consultant for Arrington's congressional campaign. “She ignores the naysayers. Now, Arrington, 49, is leading a robust overhaul of the Pentagon's cybersecurity requirements for contractors, known as the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, or CMMC. The department is pushing the reform at a breakneck pace, at least as far as Defense Department reforms go. Her team has issued several drafts and the final standards in the past year. “She's got lightning in her veins,” said retired Adm. James Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander of NATO and a member of the board of directors for PreVeil, an email encryption company. “She's smart, and she's smart enough to know she doesn't know everything.” That lightning kept CMMC on pace for its final standards rollout in January, an aggressive timeline that one trade association representative characterized as a “herculean effort.” This summer, CMMC is scheduled to be included in requests for information for upcoming Pentagon contracts. If all goes according to plan, CMMC would mitigate several cybersecurity issues that plague the DoD supply chain, and the government would have a mechanism to verify contractors' cybersecurity claims. The guidance recognizes that security differs from business to business while allowing the government insight into companies' cyber posture before awarding contracts. The problem now is a system where companies can self-assess their cyber defenses. Arrington describes it this way: “Everybody thinks when they walk out of the room in the morning, when they walk away from the mirror, they look great, [but] when you put the mirror up and you say, ‘Yeah, nope' — you didn't draw your eyebrows on right today.” Through these changes, the department has to retain a fair and competitive acquisition process. It's a massive overhaul that needs a charismatic and competent leader to succeed, said David Berteau, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, a trade organization that represents more than 400 government contractors. “Very little important change gets done without a vocal, capable champion present all the way through,” he said. That's Arrington. Experts estimate that China steals hundreds of billions of dollars worth of American intellectual property annually, including military technology. The federal government's concern with Huawei is that its presence could allow the Chinese government to access the feds' data. Chinese actors have continuously breached Navy contractors, as the Wall Street Journal reported in 2018. In addition, China accounts for 90 percent of the U.S. Justice Department's economic espionage cases as well as two-thirds of its trade secrets cases, according to a 2019 Congressional Research Service report. Pentagon officials see the success of CMMC as critical “because of the ongoing and escalating threat of cybersecurity challenges,” said Berteau, who also worked for six defense secretaries. “It has real consequences for America, above and beyond the consequences for a particular contract or a particular program.” But leaders in the defense industry still have questions. Company executives wonder what level of certification they will need, a centerpiece of CMMC that will affect competitiveness. Business leaders also don't know when they need to get the certifications. Others still have questions about reimbursement for “allowable costs” for compliance, or don't understand how subcontractors can recover compliance costs, if at all. Though some industry members have criticized the Pentagon for the rapid speed at which CMMC has proceeded, others acknowledge it is years overdue. For each day CMMC isn't part of solicitations, the Defense Department is losing out on implementing tighter cybersecurity controls until contracts expire, the argument goes. And Arrington is quick to mention the standards need to be in RFPs this fall. “Our adversaries ... their whole job is to have us not exist. The easiest way to do that has been through our supply chain,” she said on a January podcast. “It's the easiest way to get access to us.” ‘Everybody has a superpower' Tensions rise on the RSA Conference panel after Arrington explains why the Defense Department must stay away from risky technology that may allow access into DoD networks through backdoors. Why, she questions, would the federal government use hardware made by a company with close ties to the Chinese government — the same government that's plotting economic domination, trampling over human rights and looking to spread communism? But isn't it true there are several other countries that can install backdoors and launch virtual attacks, responds Huawei's Andy Purdy, implying the United States has that capability as well? “That's ridiculous!” Arrington says, with her arms outstretched to her sides. “The bottom line is we're a democracy, we're different!” In the last 18 months, Arrington's earned a reputation for her candor with the defense-industrial base, a community of vendors accustomed to dry presentations on programs from other senior DoD officials. She responds to criticism on LinkedIn. She's direct with contractors, once telling them to chant: “We all are going to get breached.” Then there's the origin story of the acronym that became shorthand for her program. “It was a glass of wine on a Friday night, and that's how you got ‘C-M-M-C,' ” Arrington jokingly said Jan. 28 at the law firm Holland and Knight. “Really, unique, huh? Yeah, I went cray-cray on the acronym.” But joking aside, Arrington knows the government contracting process can be cumbersome. She reminds audiences that she came up in industry and understands. “Ladies and gentlemen, we're a ‘we,' ” Arrington said in June last year, as if it were an applause line on the campaign trail. Her approach, she said, is part of a paradigm shift that defense contractors must adopt. Accepting there's a risk of a breach will lead to stronger cyber defenses. To get this done will require a web of industry relationships. Arrington knows this. “Everybody has a superpower,” she said in an interview, and hers is collaboration. Sources in industry agreed, telling C4ISRNET that Arrington and her team's success thus far is due to their engagement with small businesses, prime contractors and trade associations. “It's collaboration! That's what the human condition is about. What we can do together is far more impactful than what we'll ever do on our own,” Arrington said. Driven to serve Twenty-eight minutes into the RSA session, the prickly nature of the panel prompts the moderator to quip: “I'm glad we're at least expressing how we feel here.” Huawei's Purdy is passionately arguing that all bad technology should be removed from the supply chain, when Arrington cuts him off. He shuts his eyes momentarily and takes a deep breath. She continues until Harvard's Schneier says that “5G's lost, and our only hope now is to try to secure 6G.” He then adds: “I'm rooting for you, but I'm not optimistic.” Arrington — again finding herself on the defensive — interrupts the moderator to pointedly ask Schneier who he's really rooting for. He responds by saying he hopes Arrington can build a Huawei-free 5G network. “Why would I have to build a 5G network? When did the Department of Defense ever build a network?” Arrington asks, snapping her head back to look at the packed audience, her eyebrow furrowed on a face of sarcastic confusion. The quip earns laughter from the crowd, a sign her humor and wit are working to her advantage. Arrington “fell in love” with cybersecurity when she worked at the defense giant Booz Allen Hamilton. She's fascinated by the power and interconnectedness of technology. Cyber, she said, is like fire: It can provide benefits such as warmth or help with cooking. But handled improperly, it will burn you. Similarly, poor cyber hygiene can destroy everything a victim is connected to, including national security secrets. Or, as she said on a January podcast, “When Al Gore created the internet, he did not realize what he was doing.” She's also long been attracted to solving problems in public life; even President Jimmy Carter encouraged her at five years old to find solutions to problems. And there are plenty of problems to solve in local politics. So in 2016 she turned politician, winning a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives. That was a “great training ground” that prepared her to wrestle with contractors' concerns. “Your job is to listen to all the disparate pieces and work on the best solution set for all,” she said. Her foray into the South Carolina political scene was brief — just two years — before she launched her bid for Congress. Ten days after she beat Sanford in the Republican primary, however, Arrington and a friend were hit head on by a drunk driver. They were taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. She was bleeding to death. Her back was fractured. Several ribs were broken. A main artery in her legs partially collapsed. Doctors had to remove part of her colon and small intestine. She spent two weeks in the hospital. When Boucher visited, she wrote a note — unable to speak due to the tubes down her throat — telling him: “Two weeks and I will be right back at it.” He joked to her that finally he could tell her what to do without her talking back. With the hand that wasn't strapped down, she flipped him off. After a few weeks of recovery, she was in “tremendous” pain that limited how much time she could spend campaigning, Boucher said. Arrington spent weeks in a wheelchair, then used a cane. But toward the end of that summer, she helped pack and deliver sandbags as the area prepared for a hurricane. For Arrington, the wreck gave her a new perspective. “Even when you think you are at your worst, the sun will rise and you can make it better the following day,” Arrington said in an interview. “I mean, you don't go through what I went through with my car accident and getting that awareness of ‘tomorrow will be OK, like, I'm alive.' ” She went on to lose the election. But the week after the congressional race concluded, both candidates left for Washington, D.C., on the same day, with Arrington cryptically telling the Post and Courier she was “going to see some groups of people.” Later, she joined the Defense Department. “I teared up walking into the Pentagon the first day like, ‘OK, I'm really going to make a change now. I'm really going to be part of the solution,' ” she said. Unfinished business On stage at RSA, Chinese IP theft is a primary point of discussion. Arrington's CMMC effort is designed to defend against that, but the panelists continue to poke at the government's decision to ban Huawei. At one point the moderator asks Arrington: What if Huawei were to go through the CMMC process and earn certification? Then could its hardware be used in DoD networks? “It's against the law. Why are you asking a silly question?” Arrington quips, staring unflinchingly back at the laughing moderator, the crowd cheering in the background. “This is a moot point. The law is done.” But now Schneier wants to deal in hypotheticals: If it was legal, would it be reasonable to allow Huawei into the process? Before answering no, she says: “Even Huawei can admit [that] their programmers are where Microsoft was 25 years ago, right?” Purdy looks forward, tongue literally in cheek, tugging awkwardly at his black dress shirt. As CMMC becomes part of every acquisition, Arrington wants to move ahead with tools that highlight cybersecurity gaps in the supply chain, and she expects international allies to adopt some standards. Her goal for CMMC isn't for it to serve as checklist, but rather as a living document that can evolve to address new threats. Eighteen months into the job, Arrington is struggling with at least two other problems. The first is there aren't sinks to rinse out coffee mugs in the Pentagon. “We have to wash our coffee cups in the bathroom, it's not a big deal,” she said. “But if I could figure something out like a little kitchenette, that would be nice.” The second is her work-life balance, she said. When she says she'll meet with industry, she means it. For more than a year Arrington's been the public face of CMMC. That leaves a third problem lingering as a presidential election approaches: What happens to Arrington, and CMMC, if there's a new administration next year? For now, her trip to San Francisco is just another packed bag, another flight and another opportunity to evangelize to an audience of cybersecurity professionals. By now, the panelists have targeted her on several occasions, and at the end, the moderator says: “Katie, looks like they're, like, beating up on you here.” “We don't mean to, though,” Schneier interjects. “You're, like, on the good side.” “I am on the good side,” Arrington replies. The audience applauds. She wants to add another comment, but the clapping cuts her off. She waits. Even Purdy gives her a few claps. “I came here today because sometimes you just gotta say the truth and you just gotta hold the line.” She's won over this room, and she did it while making the case for more stringent requirements that put additional burdens on companies. Her voice was nearly gone, but another room, another meeting of industry leaders awaits. For Arrington, another set of problems is always waiting. https://www.c4isrnet.com/cyber/2020/06/25/lightning-in-her-veins-how-katie-arrington-is-convincing-defense-contractors-to-love-cybersecurity/

By: Mari Yamaguchi, The Associated Press TOKYO — Japan's National Security Council has endorsed plans to cancel the deployment of two costly land-based U.S. missile defense systems aimed at bolstering the country's capability against threats from North Korea, the country's defense minister said Thursday. Taro Kono said the country will now revise its missile defense program and scale up its entire defense posture. The council made its decision Wednesday, and now the government will need to enter negotiations with the U.S. about what to do with payments and the purchase contract already made for the Aegis Ashore systems. Kono announced the plan to scrap the systems earlier this month after it was found that the safety of one of the two planned host communities could not be ensured without a hardware redesign that would be too time consuming and costly. “We couldn't move forward with this project, but still there are threats from North Korea,” Kono said at a news conference Thursday. Japan will discuss ways to better protect the country and the people from the North's missiles and other threats, he said. The Japanese government in 2017 approved adding the two Aegis Ashore systems to enhance the country's current defenses consisting of Aegis-equipped destroyers at sea and Patriot missiles on land. Defense officials have said the two Aegis Ashore units could cover Japan entirely from one station at Yamaguchi in the south and another at Akita in the north. The plan to deploy the two systems already had faced a series of setbacks, including questions about the selection of one of the sites, repeated cost estimate hikes that climbed to 450 billion yen (U.S. $4.1 billion) for their 30-year operation and maintenance, and safety concerns that led to local opposition. Kono said Japan has signed contract worth nearly half the total cost and paid part of it to the U.S. He said Japan is trying to get the most out of what it has already paid, though he did not elaborate. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has steadily pushed to step up Japan's defense capability, said last week that in light of the scrapping the government would need to reconsider Japan's missile defense program and do more under the country's security alliance with the U.S. Abe said the government would consider the possibility of acquiring preemptive strike capability, a controversial plan that critics say would violate Japan's war-renouncing Constitution. Kono on Thursday also raised concern about China's increasingly assertive activity in regional seas and skies. He said Chinese coast guard vessels are repeatedly in and out of Japanese waters around disputed East China Sea islands, and a Chinese submarine recently passed just off Japan's southern coast. “China is trying to change the status quo unilaterally in East China Sea, South China Sea and with Indian border and Hong Kong as well,” Kono said. “It is easy to make connections about those issues.” https://www.defensenews.com/land/2020/06/25/japan-confirms-its-scrapping-us-missile-defense-system/

La NAHEMA (NATO Helicopter Management Agency) vient de confier à Safran Helicopter Engines le soutien en MCO (maintien en condition opérationnelle) de 276 moteurs RTM322 équipant les NH90 appartenant au BAAINBw (Office fédéral des équipements, des technologies de l'information et du soutien en service de la Bundeswehr) en Allemagne et à l'Agence norvégienne des équipements de défense (Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency). Ces moteurs vont bénéficier du contrat de soutien Global Support Package (GSP) du motoriste et qui fait partie de la gamme EngineLife Services, les offres de services de Safran pour les moteurs d'hélicoptères. Ce contrat concerne la flotte de NH90 de l'armée allemande (Deutsches Heer), de la marine allemande (Deutsche Marine) et de la Force aérienne royale norvégienne (Luftforsvaret). Air & Cosmos du 25 juin 2020

By: David B. Larter WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy's interminable quest to design and field a next-generation large surface combatant is going back to the drawing board once again, a victim of the Pentagon's disorganization around this year's long-range shipbuilding plan, according to documents and a source familiar with the situation. The Senate Armed Services Committee stripped $60.4 million dollars from the Navy's proposed fiscal 2021 budget intended to be used for preliminary design work for the future large surface combatant, according to documents released by the committee. Instead, the money is being funneled into a land-based testing facility in Philadelphia that will work on the future combatant's power system, which is the raison d'être for the envisioned class, a source familiar with the deliberations told Defense News. The money for the large surface combatant design is one of the victims of the Pentagon's inability to produce an annual 30-year shipbuilding plan, an annual requirement that is intended to give Congress an idea of where the Navy wants to steer its fleet, the source said, adding that the large surface combatant was not in the five-year future years defense program which is submitted with the President's budget. The 30-year shipbuilding plan has been held up this year by the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the Pentagon struggles to come up with a fleet that more closely integrates the Navy and Marine Corps for the Pacific theater and incorporates a significant fleet of unmanned surface and subsurface systems. It's the latest setback in the effort to field next-generation surface combatants, which has seen more than 20 years of false starts and setbacks. The Navy initially intended to field a fleet of 21st Century cruisers and destroyers to replace the current Arleigh Burk-class DDGs and Ticonderoga-class cruisers. But the DDG-1000 program was truncated to just three hulls, and the so-called CG(X) cruiser was cancelled in 2010 at the beginning of the Obama Administration. Given the long lead times for new ship development, as much as a decade or more, the situation is becoming increasingly urgent for the U.S. Navy. Many of the cruisers have reached their effective service lives and the oldest Arleigh Burke-class ships are closing on 30 years of age, but the Navy is not currently planning a class-wide service-life extension program. For its next-generation large surface combatant, the Navy is looking to field a ship that uses the latest AEGIS combat system destined for its Flight III DDG, but with a hull and power system that has ample margin for integrating future systems such as lasers and rail guns, and with missile magazines able to haul larger hypersonic strike missiles. But according to the SASC, the Navy is way too early in the process to justify funding for design, especially when Congress doesn't know what the Navy's plans are for fielding it and when. “The committee lacks sufficient clarity on the Large Surface Combatant (LSC) capability requirements... to support the start of preliminary design for the LSC program or completion of the Capabilities Development Document,” according to a document released by the committee. The document also shows the SASC directing $75 million toward the Integrated Power and Energy Systems test facility in Philadelphia, known as the ITF, which a source said is where the heavy work of fielding a power system with plenty of margin for future weapons would be performed. That facility should be up and running by 2023, according to the documents. The FY21 NDAA is currently working its way through Congress and is not yet in its final form, meaning funding for large surface combatant design work could still be reinstated at some point in the process. Subsystem Development Congress has been increasingly agitated by the Navy's design-on-the-fly approach to fielding new capabilities, such as the littoral combat ship's mission modules or several of the key technologies that have been holding up the lead Ford-class carrier. In the view of lawmakers, the delays could be mitigated by taking a more cautious approach to developing new classes of systems, by maturing technologies ahead of launching into construction. For example, if the Advanced Weapons Elevators on Ford had been developed before the start of construction, there would not be a months-long delay in getting the carrier ready for deployment because the system would work before it was installed. To that end, Congress has been inserting itself heavily into the development of unmanned surface vessels, restricting funding for procurement until the Navy can produce a reliable system. In its markup of the 2021 NDAA, the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee called for restricting funding for procurement of any large unmanned surface vessels, or LUSV, until the Navy can certify it has worked out an appropriate hull and mechanical and electrical system, and that it can operate autonomously for 30 consecutive days. Furthermore, the Navy must demonstrate a reliable operating system and that any systems integrated into the platform — sonars, radars, etc. — are likewise functioning and reliable. In short, the language would mean the Navy could not spend procurement dollars on a large unmanned surface vessel until it has a working model, and it may not try to develop those technologies on the fly. The Defense Department has been championing a major shift away from large surface combatants, based on decisions by Defense Secretary Mark Esper that are in line with his in-house think tank, the Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. The Pentagon wants to focus on fielding more unmanned platforms with missile cells that can be more expendable in a fight and act as an external missile magazine for larger manned combatants with more exquisite sensors. But Congress has repeatedly balked at the idea because the Navy has yet to produce a concept of operations or a coherent public strategy to back up the investment plan. https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/06/25/congress-aims-to-strip-funding-for-the-us-navys-next-generation-large-surface-combatant/

Mark Pomerleau While much of the national security community has had to rethink or delay operations and business practices because of the global pandemic, the Army's cyber school has been able to carry on business as usual due to prior investments in online tools and virtual training environments. “Our virtual training environment had existed prior to COVID and that was really what our students logged into and that's where our training ranges are and where we do a lot of coding and where we ... conduct our courses,” Col. Paul Craft, the Fort Gordon-based school's commandant told Fifth Domain in an interview. “Because we had that environment, we were already prepared, we were already postured.” This environment is called the Virtual Training Area or VTA. It is a conglomeration of open-source technologies that Army users can login from around the world on the open internet, not the closed DoD network, to access course prep materials, courses, tests or even to note curriculum changes. Now, all the officer courses are conducted remotely in the unclassified environment. With the empty classroom space this creates, the enlisted student body can now meet in person and still follow Centers for Disease Control mandated social distancing standards. For some of the classified material, officers still need to come into classes, also adhering to social distancing mandates and wear masks. “We did not change. For us, it just occurred over a weekend where our students backed out and said ‘I'm going to log in [from home]' ... continue to train like we were logging into that virtual training environment and we're still going to conduct the classes,” Craft said. “We set up for a success that we didn't know we needed to have.” This change is especially important as the cyber school expanded to teach “operations in the information environment,” which incorporates how cyber operations, electronic warfare and information operations interact. Within the last two years, the Army merged the electronic warfare and cyber branches together. While much of the rest of the world has been forced to either halt operations or drastically change practices, many within the military cyber community have been able to lean on technical advancements to continue training. In addition to the Army Cyber School, U.S. Cyber Command is conducting its annual major training event in June almost entirely remote relying on a virtual training platform for the first time called the Persistent Cyber Training Environment. Craft explained that when PCTE comes fully online for all of the Defense Department, the plan is to migrate operations from the VTA to PCTE to conduct their training. Migrating to an almost entirely remote environment on the officer side has also allowed the school to open up more seats to more trainees since they aren't limited to physical space. It's also reduced travel costs for those who need training, Craft said. For example, personnel can take courses from their home stations without having to travel all the way to Fort Gordon. Moreover, senior leaders are able to audit courses or even conduct guest speaking sessions right from their desks without having to travel to the cyber school. https://www.fifthdomain.com/dod/army/2020/06/25/pandemic-doesnt-slow-cyber-training-for-the-army/

June 25, 2020 - On Wednesday 24 June, the Dutch Ministry of Defense took an essential step in the replacement of the current M frigates of the Netherlands and Belgian Navies. The B-letter was sent to the Dutch Lower House, marking the completion of the investigation phase, with a design that meets the requirements of both the Defense and NATO. Damen, Thales and a whole chain of companies involved in naval shipbuilding in the Netherlands, are delighted with this next step. They are ready to start with the next phase of the project. Director Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding Hein van Ameijden: “This kind of launching customer projects are essential for the future of naval shipbuilding in the Netherlands. We are delighted that we can build the successor to the M frigates. Much more importantly, the men and women of the Royal Netherlands Navy will once again have an innovative ship at their disposal, to sail and fight with.” The main task of the frigates will be to fight submarines remotely. This will be performed by way of a new torpedo, to be deployed from the ship or by the NH90 helicopter onboard. This is one of the subjects stated in the letter that the Dutch Lower House received from State Secretary Barbara Visser. The current four M frigates of the Belgian and Dutch navies are at the end of their lifetime. In addition to submarine combat, the new frigates must be able to protect themselves and other units. They must be deployable worldwide for maritime combat and safety operations and assistance. This requires means of defence against threats from the air and enemy ships on and underwater. The frigate has room for a 110-man crew. For mission-specific personnel and their equipment, 40 extra beds and various spaces are available. The first ship is expected to be delivered in 2027. After that, operational effectiveness and safety of the ship will be tested. The Dutch Navy is expected to receive this first frigate in 2028 and the second one a year later. The Belgian frigates will be delivered no later than 2030. View source version on Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding: https://nlnavy.damen.com/important-next-step-in-the-m-frigate-project/

U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMAND L3 Unmanned Systems Inc., Ashburn, Virginia (H92408-20-D-0001); Precision Integrated Programs LLC Newberg, Oregon (H92408-20-D-0002); Arcturus UAV Inc., Petaluma, California (H92408-20-D-0003); Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington (H92408-20-D-0004); Wildflower International Ltd., Santa Fe, New Mexico (H92408-20-D-0005); and AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Unmanned Systems Inc., Hunt Valley, Maryland (H92408-20-D-0006), is awarded six indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a maximum combined ceiling of $975,000,000 for Mid-Endurance Unmanned Aircraft Systems IV intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services in support of U.S. Special Operations Command enterprise requirements worldwide. This multiple-award acquisition supports competition at the task-order level to ensure the most capable platforms and payloads provide real-time, responsive airborne ISR solutions to Special Operations Forces. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount $1,500 have been obligated for each contract at the time of award. The contracts were awarded competitively through a full and open competition with 10 proposals received. U.S. Special Operations Command, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity. ARMY The Boeing Co., Mesa, Arizona, was awarded a $439,179,677 modification (P00062) to contract W58RGZ-16-C-0023 for new-build Apache AH-64E aircraft and Longbow crew trainers. Work will be performed in Mesa, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of March 1, 2025. Fiscal 2020 Foreign Military Sales (Morocco) funds in the amount of $439,179,677 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. BAE Systems Inc., York, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $266,865,094 modification (P00039) to contract W56HZV-18-C-0133 for Bradley A4 Production Option Two, which awards 159 vehicles. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania, with an estimated completion date of March 31, 2023. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 weapons and tracked combat vehicle procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $266,865,094 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity. BHI Construction LLC,* Harrisburg, South Dakota (W912MM-20-D-0001); G.A. Johnson Construction Inc.,* Harrisburg, South Dakota (W912MM-20-D-0002); Golden Rule Construction Co. Inc.,* Sioux Falls, South Dakota (W912MM-20-D-0003); Howe Inc.,* Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Dakota (W912MM-20-D-0004); MDM Construction LLC.,* West Fargo, North Dakota (W912MM-20-D-0005); and Sunkota Construction Inc.,* Sioux Falls, South Dakota (W912MM-20-D-0006), will compete for each order of a $20,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to support the National Guard with construction projects. Bids were solicited via the internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 24, 2025. U.S. Property and Fiscal Office, Rapid City, South Dakota, is the contracting activity. Orion Marine Construction Inc., Tampa, Florida, was awarded a $14,648,100 firm-fixed-price contract for pipeline dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Port Mansfield, Texas, with an estimated completion date of March 1, 2021. Fiscal 2019 civil construction funds in the amount of $14,648,100 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston, Texas, is the contracting activity (W912HY-0C0021). NAVY Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, California, is awarded a $333,401,760 modification (P00007) to previously-awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract N00019-19-C-0008. This modification exercises options for the production and delivery of three low-rate initial production MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft, two main operating bases and one forward operating base in an integrated functional capability-four and multiple-intelligence configuration, with associated export compliance support for the government of Australia. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (23.3%); Red Oak, Texas (13%); Palmdale, California (11.5%); Linthicum, Maryland (9.4%); Salt Lake City, Utah (9.3%); Bridgeport, West Virginia (5.2%); McClellan, California (4.7%); Indianapolis, Indiana (4.5%); Moss Point, Mississippi (3.3%); Waco, Texas (2.1%); San Clemente, California (1.5%); Newton, North Dakota (1%); various locations within the continental U.S. (9.8%); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (1.4%). Work is expected to be completed by April 2025. Foreign cooperative project funds for $27,601,190 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, is awarded a $38,824,217 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide MK-41 Vertical Launch System repair and refurbishment. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and potentially other locations based only on an emergent basis. Work is expected to be completed by June 2021. If options are exercised, work will be completed by June 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $5,000 (for the minimum guarantee) will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was procured as full and open competition via the beta.SAM.gov website and one offer was received. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N50054-20-D-0006). The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri, is awarded a $16,543,143 firm-fixed-price order (N00019-20-F-0870) against previously-issued basic ordering agreement N00019-16-G-0001. This order procures retrofit modification upgrades to the series aircrafts' F/A-18 Block II Super Hornet and Growler display suites within the Block III Super Hornet and Growler Advanced Cockpit Systems. Work will be performed in St. Louis, Missouri (65%); Mesa, Arizona (15%); China Lake, California (10%); and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida (10%), and is expected to be completed by February 2025. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,075,223; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $1,467,920 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. Q.E.D. Systems Inc.,* Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded a $14,193,833 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Marine Gas Turbine Alteration Installation Team services in support of the Navy's Marine Gas Turbine (MGT) program. Work will be performed at various locations throughout the world based on each individual task order. The purpose of the contract is to provide for the installation of shipboard changes in accordance with approved ship change documents and to effect repairs and troubleshooting in accordance with government specifications on ships which utilize MGTs. Work is expected to be completed by June 2026. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $400,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a small business set-aside and competitively procured via the Contract Opportunities website at beta.SAM.gov and two offers were received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N64498-20-D-4015). L3 Harris Technologies Inc., Palm Bay, Florida, is awarded an $11,688,708 modification (P00016) to previously-awarded firm-fixed-price contract N00421-17-C-0024. This modification is for the procurement of 133 Fibre Channel Network switches in support of F/A-18 Lot 44 requirements for the EA-18 Growler, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and E-2D Hawkeye aircraft. Work will be performed in Malabar, Florida, and is expected to be completed by November 2022. Fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,688,708 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co., San Diego, California, is awarded an $11,172,403 modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-18-C-4439 to extend the delivery date of the USS Cowpens (CG 63) fiscal 2018 modernization period from December 28, 2019, to November 25, 2020, in order to complete ship repairs and alterations. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by November 2020. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $11,172,403 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The use of fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds was approved by the assistant secretary of the Navy (financial management and comptroller) on May 27, 2020, to fund within scope changes for this availability. The Southwest Regional Maintenance Center, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. MISSILE DEFENSE AGENCY Kepler Research Inc., Woodbridge, Virginia, is being awarded a $73,119,865 competitive cost-plus-fixed-fee level-of-effort contract with a two-year base value of $16,925,921 and three one-year options for contracting, compliance, cost/price and operations advisory and assistance services. The work will be performed in the National Capital Region; Dahlgren, Virginia; Huntsville, Alabama; and other locations as directed with an estimated completion date of July 2025. This contract was competitively procured via publication on the beta.SAM.gov website with five proposals received. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,099,719 are being obligated at time of award. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (HQ0858-20-C-0008). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Marketing Assessment Inc., Sterling, Virginia (SPE2DE-20-D-0015, $48,000,000); and Manus Medical LLC, Richmond, Virginia (SPE2DE-20-D-0014, $30,000,000), have each been awarded a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPE2DE-18-R-0001 for medical and surgical supplies. These were competitive acquisitions with 41 responses received. They are five-year contracts with no option periods. Location of performance is Virginia, with an ordering period end date of June 24, 2025, for Marketing Assessment Inc. and July 1, 2025, for Manus Medical LLC. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Raytheon Co., McKinney, Texas, has been awarded a $14,737,383 firm-fixed-price delivery order (SPRPA1-20-F-QD02) against a six-year long-term contract (SPRBL1-15-D-0017) for aircraft radar system spare parts. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. Location of performance is Texas, with a Nov. 14, 2022, performance completion date. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2022 (Navy) working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. *Small Business https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Contracts/Contract/Article/2232845/source/GovDelivery/

June 24, 2020 - This past January, the Polish government took the bold step to acquire thirty-two F-35A Joint Strike Fighters (JSF). Poland is becoming a major player in NATO. It is working to modernize its air, sea and land forces. It is also forging closer relations with the United States, hosting U.S. forces, allowing the prepositioning of military equipment, and working to improve interoperability. By making the decision to buy the F-35, Poland will leap ahead of a number of its European allies, most notably France and Germany, and enter the elite group of countries operating fifth- generation aircraft. The F-35 will not only be America's premier fifth generation fighter, but the world's. From its inception, the JSF was going to be an international fighter. The F-35 Consortium, consisting of the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Australia, Norway, Denmark, and until recently Turkey, contributed more than $4 billion towards the program's development costs. The aerospace industries in each of these countries also contributed critical technologies. Current estimates for international purchases are between 600 and 700 JSFs. If all the NATO members currently planning to acquire the JSF fulfill their commitments, the F-35 will constitute NATO's single biggest fighter fleet, ahead of the Franco-German-British Eurofighter. This will provide a major boost to air power interoperability for the Alliance. The move from the current fourth-generation platforms to fifth-generation is both inevitable and urgent. There is a general consensus that fourth-generation aircraft have decreasing survivability in the face of advanced, integrated air-defense networks. Efforts to sustain the ability of older aircraft to penetrate increasing lethal defenses will require larger force packages and the extensive use of scarce support assets, such as airborne jammers. Given that NATO air forces will also be fighting outnumbered, with their infrastructure under continuous attack from long-range-fire systems, this is a losing proposition. The F-35 will inevitably become the centerpiece of NATO's air capability. Fifth-generation aircraft with low-observable features, commonly referred to as “stealthiness,” and an array of advanced sensors are able not only to counter advanced air defenses, thereby restoring the West's erstwhile advantage in the air, but improve the performance and survivability of fourth-generation aerial platforms. Employing its sophisticated suite of sensors, the JSF can pass high-quality, near-real-time targeting information to fourth-generation platforms operating at a distance from high-threat air defenses. In addition, with its revolutionary array of sensors and computers, the F-35 can serve as both a penetrating ISR and stand-in electronic warfare platform. Read more from the National Interest. View source version on F-35.com: https://www.f35.com/news/detail/the-f-35-will-give-poland-a-more-advanced-air-force-than-some-major-nato-al