Nouvelles

Par Romain Rosso Avec 35,9 milliards d'euros (+5% par rapport à l'an dernier), la France consacre 1,82% de la richesse nationale à sa défense. Longtemps en déflation, le budget de la Défense est désormais une priorité nationale. A l'heure de la réduction de la dépense publique, le ministère des Armées est le grand gagnant des arbitrages budgétaires pour 2019. Les Armées présentent un budget en hausse de 5% par rapport à 2018, pour un montant de 35,9 milliards d'euros (hors pensions)*. "Pour mesurer le chemin parcouru, souligne l'hôtel de Brienne, c'est près de 4 milliards de plus qu'en 2016, après les attentats de Paris et l'actualisation de la précédente Loi de programmation militaire (LPM) [sous François Hollande, ndlr]. Pendant la même période, les crédits alloués à l'équipement des forces armées ont progressé, eux, de 2,5 milliards d'euros, soit 19,5 milliards d'euros en 2019." La question des crédits accordés à la défense est devenue sensible depuis la démission fracassante de l'ancien chef d'état-major des armées, le général Pierre de Villiers, en juillet 2017. L'officier s'était alors fait rabroué par le président de la République après avoir critiqué des coupes budgétaires. Pas de surprise cette année : avec une augmentation de 1,7 milliard d'euros, ce budget 2019 suit une trajectoire conforme à celle inscrite dans la nouvelle LPM, votée en juin dernier. Celle-ci prévoit une hausse substantielle, de l'ordre de 295 milliards d'euros, à l'horizon 2025. Renouveler des avions et des blindés hors d''ge Ces sommes permettront de "régénérer", c'est-à-dire de réparer, et surtout de renouveler certaines capacités les plus anciennes, dont les armées ont cruellement besoin lors des nombreuses opérations extérieures qu'elles mènent, notamment en Afrique et au Levant sur le thé'tre irako-syrien. Ainsi, le premier avion ravitailleur MRTT (un gros airbus A330) doit enfin arriver, en octobre, en remplacement des appareils actuels qui datent des années 1960. Douze appareils neufs sont prévus d'ici à 2023. Six drones Reaper seront aussi livrés : plusieurs sont déjà déployés au Sahel, où ils sont des outils indispensables dans la guerre contre les groupes armées djihadistes. Nouveauté : ces drones seront armés, comme l'a annoncé la ministre l'an dernier. Le futur porte-avions à l'étude L'armée de terre, elle, attend la livraison de 89 véhicules Griffon, un blindé "multirôle" à 6 roues motrices, pouvant partager en temps réel ses données avec les autres, à la place des VAB, eux aussi, hors d''ge. Quant à la marine, elle recevra une frégate multimissions (Fremm). Autre bonne nouvelle pour les marins : les études pour le futur porte-avions, qui doit succéder au Charles-de-Gaulle d'ici à 2040, ont été lancées. Si l'hypothèse d'un second navire étendard fait partie de la réflexion, il est peu probable qu'elle soit retenue, en raison du coût d'un tel outil, dans un horizon stratégique imprévisible et lointain. "Le choix se fera après la LPM", glisse-t-on à Brienne. Dans les prochaines années, un autre débat risque d'être encore plus animé, lié à la dissuasion nucléaire. 400 millions d'euros supplémentaires viennent d'être alloués à la modernisation de ses deux composantes (aérienne et navale) : missile, système de transmission, programme de simulation... Avec 4,45 milliards d'euros consacrés en 2019 à l'armement atomique, la "clef de voûte" de la défense nationale consume près de 23% du budget d'équipement des armées et 12% du budget global. Ce montant va aller croissant à partir de 2020. Certains, notamment dans l'armée de terre, craignent que cela ne se fasse aux dépens de l'armement conventionnel. Améliorer le quotidien des soldats Il n'y a pas que les grands équipements. Florence Parly en fait son mantra : la LPM, dite à "hauteur d'homme", prévoit d'améliorer le quotidien du soldat. Par exemple, en renforçant les petits équipements individuels, tels que les treillis intégrant une protection contre le feu ou les gilets pare-balles - 25 000, sur les 55 000 prévus à terme, doivent être livrés. De même que 8 000 nouveaux fusils d'assaut allemand HK 416, qui remplacent depuis peu les fameux Famas français. Quant au "plan familles", il bénéficiera de 57 millions d'euros supplémentaires. Au total, 450 postes seront créés, dont les trois quarts iront au renseignement et à la cyberdéfense. Le ministère des Armées affiche désormais la volonté de rendre son budget "sincère". Ainsi, les provisions des opérations extérieures (opex), naguère sous-évaluées en début d'exercice, progressent de 200 millions d'euros, à hauteur de 850 millions d'euros. Elles seront progressivement portées à 1,1 milliard d'euros, proche de leur coût réel. Si, malgré tout, des surcoûts devaient survenir, ils seraient pris en charge par la solidarité interministérielle, indique-t-on à Brienne. Dans le cas inverse - peu probable dans le contexte actuel - où les opex coûteraient moins cher dans l'avenir, les Armées conserveraient le surplus. Aux armées désormais de payer les "opex" Si la franchise a des vertus, elle n'en masque pas moins un changement de périmètre : "Tout ce qui concourt à rendre 'sincère' le budget est une bonne chose, relevait, dans une interview à L'Express, le général Pierre de Villiers, ancien chef d'état-major des armées. Toutefois, je note que, dans le programme présidentiel [du candidat Macron], le budget des armées 2025 devait s'élever à 50 milliards d'euros courants, hors pensions et hors opex." En clair, ce sont désormais les armées qui paient le surcoût des opérations extérieures et non plus la solidarité gouvernementale. Quant à la fameuse trajectoire prévue, elle sera portée à 3 milliards d'euros supplémentaires par an [soit 44 milliards d'euros en totalité] à partir de 2023, c'est-à-dire au-delà du quinquennat. * Une première augmentation de 1,8 milliard avait été décidée l'an dernier, qui a couvert les engagements de la précédente mandature. https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/politique/budget-2019-l-armee-se-debarrasse-de-ses-vieilleries_2036930.html

By: Jessie Bur Congress and the executive branch need to make a more concerted effort to address and prepare for the rise of artificial intelligence, Reps. Will Hurd, R-Texas, and Robin Kelly, D-Ill., said in a white paper released Sept. 25. The congressmen, who serve as the chairman and ranking member of the House IT Subcommittee, compiled information gathered in past congressional hearings and meetings with experts to argue for the criticality of federal input in the many facets of AI. “In light of that potential for disruption, it's critical that the federal government address the different challenges posed by AI, including its current and future applications. The following paper presents lessons learned from the Subcommittee's oversight and hearings on AI and sets forth recommendations for moving forward,” Hurd and Kelly wrote. “Underlying these recommendations is the recognition the United States cannot maintain its global leadership in AI absent political leadership from Congress and the executive branch. Therefore, the Subcommittee recommends increased engagement on AI by Congress and the administration.” According to the White Paper, under current trends the United States is soon slated to be outpaced in research and development investments by countries like China that have prioritized artificial intelligence investment. “Particularly concerning is the prospect of an authoritarian country, such as Russia or China, overtaking the United States in AI. As the Subcommittee's hearings showed, AI is likely to have a significant impact in cybersecurity, and American competitiveness in AI will be critical to ensuring the United States does not lose any decisive cybersecurity advantage to other nation-states,” Hurd and Kelly wrote. Hurd characterized the Chinese investment in AI as a race with the U.S. “It's a race, we all know this, and one of the things we need [is] a national strategy, similar to what we've seen in the conversations around quantum computing yesterday at the White House. What we saw almost a decade ago when it came to nanotechnology. And part of that strategy does include increasing basic research, opening up data sets and making sure the U.S. is playing a part, leader on ethics when it comes to artificial intelligence,” said Hurd in a Sept. 25 press call. The paper applauded current investments in R&D, such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's creation of the Artificial Intelligence Exploration program, and encouraged government hosting more “Grand Challenges” like those conducted by DARPA to encourage outside-government innovation. “I do believe the federal government has a role, because we're sitting on data sets that could be used as a backbone of a Grand Challenge around artificial intelligence,” said Hurd, who added that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, healthcare agencies and many other components of the federal government possess the data to administer meaningful AI competitions. “I think this would be a maybe a great opportunity for a public private partnership,” added Kelly on the press call. The paper also identified four primary challenges that can arise as AI becomes more prevalent: workforce, privacy, bias and malicious use. AI has the potential to both put portions of the workforce out of a job as more tasks become automated and increase the number of jobs for those trained to work with artificial intelligence. Hurd and Kelly called on the federal government to lead the way in adapting its workforce by planning for and investing in training programs that will enable them to transition into AI work. As with many technologies, AI has the potential to infringe on privacy, as intelligent products or systems such as virtual assistants constantly collect data on individuals. That data could be exploited by both the company that created the technology and hackers looking to steal personal information. “The growing collection and use of personal data in AI systems and applications raises legitimate concerns about privacy. As such, federal agencies should review federal privacy laws, regulations, and judicial decisions to determine how they may already apply to AI products within their jurisdiction, and—where necessary—update existing regulations to account for the addition of AI,” Hurd and Kelly wrote. The white paper also calls on federal agencies to make government data more available to the public for AI experimentation, while also ensuring that any AI algorithms used by agencies to “make consequential decisions about individuals” are “inspectable” to ensure that they operate without coded bias. According to Hurd, the question of whether and how that inspectable information would be made available to the public still needs to be asked. Finally, Hurd and Kelly called on government entities to consider how AI may be used to perpetuate cyber attacks or otherwise cause harm. However, while recommending that agencies look to existing regulation and statute and some limited changes to those statutes, the paper encouraged a similar hands off approach that the federal government took to the development of the internet. “The government should begin by first assessing whether the risks to public safety or consumers already fall within existing regulatory frameworks and, if so, consideration should be made as to whether those existing frameworks can adequately address the risks,” Hurd and Kelly wrote. “At minimum, a widely agreed upon standard for measuring the safety and security of AI products and applications should precede any new regulations. A common taxonomy also would help facilitate clarity and enable accurate accounting of skills and uses of AI.” https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/congress/2018/09/25/members-of-congress-look-to-make-ai-a-priority

By Heather Kuldell, Managing Editor The department is requiring bidders to deliver their proposals in person. Companies bidding on the Defense Department's multibillion-dollar Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud contract will need to hand-deliver their proposals. “In lieu of electronic submission, an offeror's entire proposal shall be captured on one or more DVDs and submitted in person only. No other forms of submission will be accepted,” the department said in an amendment to the JEDI request for proposal posted Monday. The department also pushed the deadline back a few days. Bidders must contact JEDI procurement officials by 5 p.m. Eastern time Oct. 10 to get logistical details for turning in their proposals in person on Oct. 12. It's the second time the department extended JEDI's original Sept. 17 deadline, following other amendments that answered industry questions and a pre-award bid protest from Oracle. Defense officials describe the JEDI acquisition as the foundation for hosting mission-critical data for warfighters around the world. But since it was announced a year ago, the procurement has drawn scrutiny from industry and lawmakers for requiring a single cloud service provider instead of multiple vendors. The contract could be worth up to $10 billion over 10 years if all the follow-on options are exercised. But before the project sees a cent, Congress wants more insight into JEDI and the rest of the department's cloud computing projects. In the final conference report for the Defense-related minibus, appropriators order the defense secretary to deliver a cloud-centric budget accounting plan and a detailed, enterprisewide cloud computing strategy that includes “defining opportunities for multiple cloud service providers.” The department would be prohibited from spending anything on JEDI or the Defense Enterprise Office Solutions—another multibillion-dollar cloud contract—until 90 days after those plans are delivered to defense committees. “The conferees believe cloud computing, if implemented properly, will have far-reaching benefits for improving the efficiency of day-to-day operations of the Department of Defense, as well as enabling new military capabilities critical to maintaining a tactical advantage over adversaries,” lawmakers wrote in the joint explanatory statement. The Senate passed the minibus—which also includes labor, health, education and a continuing resolution—last week. The House is scheduled to vote on the package this week. https://www.nextgov.com/it-modernization/2018/09/pentagon-extends-jedi-deadline-again-catch/151541/

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's planned 4 billion euro ($4.71 billion) tender to buy new heavy-lift helicopters that was due to be issued this autumn will be delayed, according to an official document seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The planned start of the tender by the end of September would be “delayed until further notice,” the office in charge of military procurement said in a letter to several defense firms. The procurement office did not give a reason for the delay or say when the tender would be launched. “As soon as a new date is fixed, we will inform you immediately”, it said in the short letter. The Bundeswehr, the German military, is due to receive 45 to 60 heavy-lift transport helicopters in the coming decade. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen earlier indicated the tender could be delayed as financing of the project was not yet secured in the ongoing parliamentary budget negotiations. Von der Leyen, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, is pushing for steeper military spending hikes, but she faces resistance from the Social Democrat-led finance ministry, which prefers more spending on infrastructure and digitalization. Reporting by Sabine Siebold; Writing by Michael Nienaber https://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-defence/germany-delays-tender-for-military-helicopters-document-idUSKCN1M6110

By: Valerie Insinna WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force is making changes to the way it sustains the B-1B Lancer bomber and C-5 Super Galaxy cargo plane, moving to a maintenance approach that will allow it to use data analytics to predict problems, the acting head of Air Force Materiel Command said. Both the B-1 and C-5 fleets transitioned to a conditions-based maintenance model last month, Lt. Gen. Robert McMurry, commander of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, told Defense News in a Sept. 18 interview. “Given the aging fleet situation that we have, we probably need to be using data better to take care of it — which is a drive toward what most everyone right now is saying is the right way to manage fleet sustainment, which is through condition-based maintenance and data analytics,” he said. “So we're trying to bring that on.” The approach — which involves using algorithms to predict the need for repairs rather than waiting for a part to break — is a standard practice in the commercial airline industry to help reduce maintenance-related delays or cancellations, but has been less common in the Air Force. AFMC determined it needed to make a greater push toward conditions-based maintenance as a result of servicewide reviews triggered by rising concerns about the number of aviation-related mishaps. The first review, directed by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein, involved a one-day standdown that would give flying and maintenance units a chance to communicate potential safety concerns up the chain of command. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, then the head of AFMC, also directed the organizations under her command, like the Air Force Sustaiment Center, to evaluate its own data. The reviews have since concluded, with the Air Force finding “two systems ... where high risk was accepted,” said McMurry, noting that “operational security does not allow us to identify them.” “Our process is dealing with those responsibly,” he added. The B-1 and C-5 were chosen as pilot programs for the conditions-based maintenance approach because they are sustained by airmen and have older, relatively small inventories, making for a more manageable data set. But the planes have something else in common — a recent history of well-publicized mishaps. The C-5 has sustained a number of nose landing gear malfunctions that led to a standdown and maintenance assessment in 2017. But despite a fix being put in place, there have still been problems with the gear, such as a March 2018 event where one C-5 landed on its nose at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. Meanwhile, the B-1 fleet was temporarily grounded in June after a safety investigation board found problems with ejection seat components while investigating a May 1 emergency landingwhere the ejection seats did not deploy. Full article: https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/air-force-association/2018/09/25/air-force-looks-to-data-analytics-to-help-solve-b-1-c-5-maintenance-challenges/

By: David B. Larter The Navy has to get software updates and patches to the fleet within days if it's going to win in the future, the Department of the Navy's acquisition boss said Sept. 25 at Modern Day Marine. James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, acquisition and development, said the fleet has been working on the rapid development of software to get needed upgrades to the ships ahead of pier-side availabilities, a pace he said was too slow for the modern battlefield. “We recently did one of our proof-of-principles to say: ‘How do you take ... software, get it system certified, get it cyber certified then get it out over the airwaves, uploaded on to a ship and into the combat system in 24 hours,” Geurts said. “My view is unless we get to the point where I can identify a software requirement, whether it's an [artificial intelligence] algorithm or something, find the solution, get it checked out on the network, give it whatever cyber-proofing it needs and get it into the fight in less than a week, we are not going to be successful in the long run.” The Navy has increasingly found that its current systems are capable of adjusting to new threats through software upgrades rather than buying new systems and installing them, a time-consuming and cripplingly expensive process that has been the norm in years past. Geurts said the Navy had to have a software architecture that was amenable to rapid upgrades so that developers would not need to re-test the underlying architecture each time a patch or fix is uploaded. Furthermore, the service also has to develop cyber security standards that don't just weigh whether or not something can be compromised but begin to think of it more in terms of risks associated. “The answer isn't yes or no, it's ‘Commander here is your risk.' And then weigh the risk of doing that [upgrade] versus a potential cyber impact so that commanders can make reasonable command decisions. Because there is always a risk to not doing something. We often talk about the risk of doing something, we don't often talk about the risk of not doing it.” Geurts told a gaggle with reporters after the talk that he was not talking about uploading whole new programs that sailors might be unfamiliar with but more iterative upgrades. "Don't take that to an extreme to where we will load on something that nobody has ever seen before, but it could be that there is a particular issue or new need, and you can envision us testing and training that shore-side, making sure it's right – we don't want to wait for the ship to come home we could potentially blast that out [to the fleet.]" The Navy is also working more with having digital doppelgangers of its combat system on board its ships so that new technologies can be tested by the crew and commanders before its uploaded into the main combat system, a hedge against reaping unintended consequences by uploading a feature or patch without knowing exactly how it will fit into the ship's systems. "The other thing we are doing a lot with is digital twins, where [the ship] might have the combat system that it's fighting with as well as a digital twin,” Geurts explained. “So you might be able to upload that new feature in the digital twin so you could have both, then it's up to the commander whether it's something you adopt or not.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/digital-show-dailies/modern-day-marine/2018/09/25/on-the-new-battlefield-the-navy-has-to-get-software-updates-to-the-fleet-within-days-acquisition-boss-says

By Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen, CNN Washington (CNN)The US Marine Corps' stealth F-35B Lightning fighter jet could fly its first combat mission within days, according to several US defense officials, who told CNN that the fifth-generation aircraft are currently aboard the USS Essex amphibious assault ship and should soon be in a position to conduct airstrikes over Afghanistan. The USS Essex has already sailed from the Gulf of Aden into the North Arabian Sea and is expected to move into the Persian Gulf in coming days, one official said. F-35 pilots have been conducting intelligence and surveillance missions in Somalia while on standby to conduct air support for US troops on the ground there if needed. While available for support, the advanced fighter jet was not used in an airstrike over Somalia on Saturday that killed 18 militants after US and local forces came under attack. In May, Israel Defense Forces said they were using their version of the F-35 in operational missions, striking at least two unspecified targets in the region. Full article: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/25/politics/us-f-35-combat-missions

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Necessity sparks invention at the Innovation Center, now open at Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) facility in Orlando, Florida. In this 6,500-square-foot space, employees are empowered with the technology and tools to develop creative solutions to complex problems. The company expects it to aid in the creation of new patents and the win of new multimillion-dollar contracts. Lockheed Martin IC-Opening-Sept 2018 "Innovation is our 'day job' — it is core to who we are and everything we do," said Frank St. John, executive vice president at MFC. "This facility gives employees the means to bring ideas from our unlimited imaginations to life. The result of which will help us invent technologies to solve previously unsolvable problems." Five specialized labs, a next-generation video conference capability and an interactive lobby serve more than 5,000 employees and counting amidst a hiring surge at the southwest Orlando facility. Virtual reality, robotics, computer-simulated environments, 3-D printing and more are available at workers' fingertips to encourage new ways of thinking and approaching business needs. The space will also host monthly hands-on demonstrations as well as live webcasts across the business. This is the second of its kind at MFC. In less than a year's time, the Innovation Center in Dallas, Texas, has helped secure millions of dollars' worth of captured programs. "The Innovation Center is a destination for our program teams to explore what's possible with the use of high technology," said Tom Mirek, vice president deputy of engineering and technology at MFC. "Like we already have in Dallas, we're going to recognize Orlando's Innovation Center for being a vital resource to the success of our company for years to come." Orlando's Innovation Center is comprised of five unique labs: The Application Research Experimentation & Simulation (ARES) facility allows teams to use their own computing environment and applications to conduct events on a rapidly reconfigurable 12-screen hyperwall. The Genesis Lab is where ideas are born, and one can incubate and develop concepts in a creative, resourceful environment — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Employees have access to augmented and virtual reality, small robotics, Arduino, Raspberry Pi, high-powered computing, and 3-D printers. The Iris Lab offers an indoor robotics test bay for safe and controlled training, experiments, and research. The Engineering Visualization Environment Lab and its animators take complex ideas and bring them to life through feature-film quality renderings. The Polaris Lab employs sensor, optics and laser testing that provides rapid response for employees and program development. This is a fire-control-focused lab that can benchmark new technology. Opening early 2019. Employees in Orlando lead the aerospace and defense industry in their experience with technologies related to electro-optics, millimeter wave radar, image and signal processing, advanced materials, electronic packaging, and large-system integration. About Lockheed Martin Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 100,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. This year the company received three Edison Awards for ground-breaking innovations in autonomy, satellite technology and directed energy. SOURCE Lockheed Martin https://news.lockheedmartin.com/2018-09-25-Innovation-Center-Opens-at-Lockheed-Martin-in-Orlando

DAVID PUGLIESE, OTTAWA CITIZEN The Canadian Forces is expanding its permanent footprint in northern Canada. A new building project in Yellowknife will see the construction of a 7,600-m2 building for some of the technical services elements of the Joint Task Force North Area Support Unit, and the 1st Canadian Rangers Patrol Group Headquarters. “The technical services are for supply and materiel management, vehicle maintenance, transport, and traffic (which is mostly responsible for the movement of materiel),” Department of National Defence spokesman Andrew McKelvey noted in an email to Defence Watch. The project is in the early planning stages, with the request for proposals for the building's design expected to be tendered by mid-2019. The overall project is estimated between $50 million and $99 million and will include offices, an assembly space, which will double as a drill hall, and warehouse and garage space. There are 52 military and civilian personnel from 1 Canadian Rangers Patrol Group headquarters and 314 military and civilian personnel from Joint Task Force North currently stationed in Yellowknife. Only the Area Support Unit (North), part of Joint Task Force North, will be moving into the new building with 1 CRPG. As this project still is in the early planning stages, it is too soon to know this building's exact location, McKelvey said. Construction is expected to start in the 2020-2021 timeframe, with opening anticipated by 2024. https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/canadian-forces-expands-presence-in-yellowknife