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by Sandra Erwin In response to the SBIR solicitation, a space startup is developing a geospatial intelligence-based tool that can help governments identify infected areas. WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force Small Business Innovation Research office has posted a new solicitation that includes COVID-19 countermeasures as an area of interest. The March 30 Small Business Innovation Research solicitation, like most SBIR calls, is open to proposals on any topic that addresses a defense-focused need. But this is the first one that includes COVID-19 “defeat and mitigation related to Air Force operations and activities” as an area of interest. Proposals are due April 30. This SBIR is for “direct to Phase 2” contracts of up to $1 million over 27 months. Phase 1 awards are for early research work whereas Phase 2 are for technologies that are relevant to defense needs but also have commercialization potential. Some Air Force SBIR programs require matching funds from private investors. According to the March 30 solicitation, companies can compete for $1 million Air Force awards but private matching funds are not a requirement. The SBIR solicitation is an opportunity for startups in space and defense to adapt technologies for COVID-19 response, Shawn Usman, an astrophysicist with Rhea Space Activity, told SpaceNews. Usman said Rhea Space Activity has partnered with Illumina Consulting Group and Dynamic Graphics to offer a geospatial intelligence-based tool that can help governments identify infected areas much faster than is currently possible. “We can provide operational, real-time data analysis and alerting capabilities to federal, state, and military emergency operations centers,” he said. “Our solution will collect publicly available information, including social media and adware data, and correlate it with other data sets from public health organizations to create alerts detailing the emergence of COVID-19 hotspots.” Using open-source analytics and satellite collected geospatial information it would be possible to “readily confirm COVID-19 infected population areas, and will provide first responders with much more detailed, real time information to formulate their own reaction plans,” Usman said. https://spacenews.com/air-force-small-business-program-seeks-technologies-to-help-counter-covid-19/

Dans le cadre d'un effort coordonné pour lutter contre la COVID-19, IDEeS veut informer les innovateurs au sujet de défis liés à la COVID-19 publiés par le Centre de l'innovation de l'OTAN. Le Centre de l'innovation de l'OTAN est composé d'une communauté d'experts de partout au monde qui collaborent pour relever des défis de l'OTAN et de développer des solutions. En réponse à la pandémie, le Centre de l'innovation a lancé deux défis : Identifier les fausses informations et atténuer leurs effets; et Livraison de fournitures aux personnes et aux équipes isolées. Ces défis sont ouverts à tous. Vous pouvez soumettre vos solutions ici : https://www.innovationhub-act.org/challenge-intro Si vous avez des questions, vous pouvez communiquer directement avec l'OTAN par courriel sactinnovationhub@act.nato.int

April 3, 2020 - Saab has received an order from MSB, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, regarding Sweden's aerial firefighting capabilities. The contract is valid during the years 2020-2023. The order is for the capability to fight fires with two firefighting aircraft, from 1 April to 30 September, through to 2023. Under the contract there is also the opportunity to trigger an option for two more aircraft, beginning with the 2021 fire season. This resource will be available for Sweden and for EU. Saab has during a period of one year, established aerial firefighting capabilities, using the Air Tractor AT-802 F firefighting aircraft, with the associated pilot and technician skills, as well as the specific permits for their operation. "We are part of Sweden's national security and our specialist expertise and flight permits made it natural for us to complement our operations in Nyköping with aerial firefighting capabilities," says Ellen Molin, Head of Saab's Support and Services business area. "It is important to have a prompt national response to forest fires, and this service is going to help deliver that." The AT-802 F is a water-bombing aircraft that in the event of a forest fire can release 35,000-50,000 litres of water per hour. The firefighting aircraft will be based in Nyköping, where Saab already has aviation operations for, among other things, aerial target towing and support for the Swedish Coast Guard's aircraft. From Nyköping, firefighting aircraft can within two hours reach Copenhagen or eastern Finland and within three hours, Luleå in the north of Sweden. If necessary, the firefighting aircraft can be based at another location with advanced technical and maintenance resources. Rapid response to fires is crucial. For further information, please contact: For further information, please contact: Saab's press centre +46 (0)734 180 018 presscentre@saabgroup.com www.saabgroup.com www.saabgroup.com/YouTube Follow us on Twitter: @saab Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defence and civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents throughout the world. Through innovative, pragmatic and collaborative work, Saab constantly develops, adapts and improves new technology to meet the changing requirements of our customers. View source version on Saab: https://saabgroup.com/media/news-press/news/2020-04/saab-supplying-sweden-with-firefighting-capabilities/

Vice-président recherche, technologie, innovation du groupe Thales, David Sadek intervenait jeudi 24 octobre à Toulouse au Forum Innovation IA, un événement organisé par Sciences et Avenir pour le groupe Challenges. Explicabilité, validité, intégrité... " Pour une IA de confiance " : c'était l'intitulé de l'intervention de David Sadek, le vice-président recherche, technologie, innovation du groupe Thales. "Nous aimerions tous pouvoir toujours faire confiance à tous nos outils technologiques. Mais en réalité tout dépend du contexte. Dans le cas des outils reposant sur l'IA, si Netflix me recommande un film que je trouve détestable, ce n'est pas bien grave, on s'en remettra. Mais dans le cas des systèmes critiques tels que l'on en conçoit régulièrement chez Thales pour des applications défense, espace et aéronautique, la question de la confiance est primordiale". David Sadek énonce trois impératifs, qui sont autant d'axes stratégiques de la feuille de route IA chez Thales, pour aller vers cette " IA de confiance ". Pour qu'une application de l'IA soi digne de confiance, il faut d'abord qu'elle soit capable d'expliquer. Si elle se contente de proposer ou décider sans être capable de dire pourquoi et comment elle est arrivée à cette proposition ou décision, la défiance s'installera. Elle doit donc être capable de répondre à la question : " Pourquoi ? ". "Si par exemple un copilote IA recommande au pilote humain de virer à 45°, et que ce dernier demande " pourquoi ", le copilote doit pouvoir répondre par exemple : " parce qu'il y a un problème météo (ou une menace ...) droit devant ". Il ne s'agit pas de simplement tracer la décision, de pouvoir indiquer à ses concepteurs quels neurones, quelles couches de neurones, ont fait pencher la balance dans un sens ou un autre, mais bien d'expliquer dans une langue compréhensible immédiatement par le pilote". Ce qui indique qu'à l'aspect intelligence artificielle s'ajoute celui de " l'interaction homme-machine ". IA connexionniste et IA symbolique Cela implique, en restant sur cet exemple, une capacité de compréhension et de génération du langage naturel. Mieux, le pilote appréciera de pouvoir dialoguer dans un langage mixte, reposant sur l'oral et le geste (pour désigner un point sur une carte, etc.). Deuxième impératif selon David Sadek : il faut pouvoir démontrer la validité d'une application de l'IA. C'est-à-dire sa conformité aux spécifications. "Le système développé doit faire tout ce l'on attend de lui et rien que ce que l'on attend de lui. Ce qui suppose que l'on sache spécifier très proprement". On connait l'exemple d'un jeu de bataille navale, un " serious game " destiné à former des officiers de la marine, qui gagnait à tous les coups, parce qu'il sacrifiait systématiquement chaque vaisseau touché, pour ne pas ralentir la flotte. Aucune règle ne prévoyait, n'interdisait ce cas de figure, passablement inacceptable. Troisième impératif pour une " IA de confiance ", selon David Sadek, la responsabilité des systèmes reposant sur l'IA. C'est-à-dire leur conformité aux cadres légaux, réglementaires et moraux. On connait le tendon d'Achille des réseaux de neurones : ce sont des boîtes noires, on voit ce qui entre et ce qui sort, mais on ne sait pas (trop) ce qu'il se passe à l'intérieur. C'est pourquoi David Sadek insiste sur le fait qu'il faut s'intéresser aussi à " l'autre IA ", l'IA symbolique, celle qui repose sur des règles et des raisonnements et qui s'oppose à l'IA connexionniste des réseaux de neurones. Cette IA symbolique, qui fait moins les gros titres, qui n'a pas connu les progrès fulgurants de l'IA des réseaux de neurones, est plus à même de répondre à ces trois exigences : expliquer, valider, responsabilité. C'est pourquoi la réponse à cette triple exigence passe sans doute, entre autres, par " l'IA hybride ", une IA tirant parti de ces deux branches de l'intelligence artificielle. Par Pierre Vandeginste https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/high-tech/intelligence-artificielle/ia-pvdg_138526

OTTAWA — Canada and its NATO allies wrestled Thursday with responding to the COVID-19 crisis while reining in potential new Russian mayhem-making and helping war-torn Iraq and Afghanistan. The discussion unfolded via secure video links — a first in the alliance's seven decades — among the alliance's foreign ministers, including Canada's Francois-Philippe Champagne, as well as NATO's political and military chiefs. They discussed the need to combat “disinformation” as well as providing support to various partners, including the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the European Union, the alliance said in a post-meeting statement. Canada is leading NATO's military training mission in Iraq and has troops in Latvia as part of the deterrence efforts against Russia, which breached Europe's border by annexing part of Ukraine in 2014. Thursday's meeting was also looking at ways to further support the non-NATO countries of Ukraine and Georgia, the alliance said. A senior Canadian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada's priority is for the alliance to keep its eyes on the challenges already on its plate before the outbreak. “The COVID-19 pandemic is a test for all of us and highlights the crucial role NATO continues to play,” Champagne said in a statement. The competing challenges were reflected in the declaration NATO released following the morning talks, which were to include Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Tod D. Wolters. “Even as we do the absolute maximum to contain and then overcome this challenge, NATO remains active, focused and ready to perform its core tasks: collective defence, crisis management, and co-operative security,” the communique said. David Perry, a defence analyst, said NATO faces some of its own health challenges, among them the fact that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier is out of commission because of a virus outbreak, while Poland's army chief tested positive last month. “How much of the alliance is actually fighting fit is changing pretty fast, negatively,” said Perry, a Canadian Global Affairs Institute vice-president. “It's improbable other ships or assets aren't already impacted.” The NATO communique said the alliance is airlifting medical supplies around the world, providing people and goods and “vital equipment from military and civilian sources, and harnessing our medical, scientific, and technological knowledge” to deal with the pandemic. “Allies are also working together to ensure public access to transparent, timely, and accurate information, which is critical to overcoming this pandemic and to combating disinformation,” it said. The statement made no direct mention of Russia, but it affirmed that the alliance's “ability to conduct our operations and assure deterrence and defence against all the threats we face is unimpaired.” A day earlier, Stoltenberg said in Brussels that the alliance had made the necessary adjustments to address Russian military manoeuvres close to NATO's borders. Russian planes have flown close to Canadian and American airspace in the Arctic recently, for instance. Karlis Eihenbaums, Latvia's ambassador to Canada, said the pandemic has done nothing to stop the “wars and tensions” NATO was already dealing with. “We can even see that there are some who are using this challenging time to play their cynicism in full and to use this pandemic for their spreading of propaganda and disinformation. In essence, they are playing with people's lives because disinformation can kill,” said Eihenbaums. “We are still receiving report after report of a war going on in Europe, as attacks against Ukraine never stopped.” Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine's ambassador to Canada, said offers by Russia to send medics and supplies to Italy mask a malevolent intent. He said that amounts to “humanitarian wars, or humanitarian special operations” on Russia's part. The Kremlin has denounced criticism that it is using the crisis for political gain. “Russia has the experience of lying on an industrial scale, and also interfering into other nations' lives with their information tools,” said Shevchenko. “It's something we know so well from our Ukrainian experience, and it's something that Canadians should be concerned about as well.” Thursday's meeting also looked at stepping up the NATO training mission in Iraq and strengthening the alliance's partnerships in the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement today. The meeting was the first for the alliance's newest member, North Macedonia, which joined last Friday, expanding NATO's ranks to 30 countries. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2020. https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/canada-nato-allies-discuss-covid-19-response-in-face-of-world-security-issues

Desperate times call for bold measures, and the $2.2 trillion coronavirus economic rescue package passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump certainly passes that test. Tucked into the gargantuan measure was $58 billion for airlines and cargo carriers, including $29 billion in grants to keep workers paid for the next six months, even if they are staffing empty flights. Boeing did not get the $60 billion directly that it had sought for aerospace manufacturers, but the aircraft giant and its suppliers still qualify for hefty rescue loans or guarantees. The secretary general of the United Nations has called COVID-19 the worst crisis the world has seen since World War II, and governments have a duty to ensure that this unprecedented pandemic does not wipe out vital industries. But the torrent of rescue money could have negative side effects, and it is imperative that governments step back when the crisis subsides. The market distortions of state aid already are apparent in the airline industry, where a lack of coordination among governments—even those within the EU—has tilted the playing field. And what if Boeing receives government backstops that Airbus has said it does not need? It is increasingly likely that when the pandemic subsides, the aviation industry will be facing a long uphill march to recovery, rather than the quick bounce-back that had been hoped for. As such, we urge the industry's stakeholders to start looking ahead and taking steps that will position them to recover as quickly as possible. Consider this Code of Conduct: Take care of your employees. You will need them to excel and work as a team when you recover. Do whatever possible to keep them healthy and well-informed. In the near term, furloughs, wage freezes and hiring freezes may be unavoidable to control costs. But prioritizing shareholders or senior executives over workers would create labor issues that could slow any recovery. Take care of your customers. You will only recover if they recover, so be flexible in responding to their issues during the crisis. Relationships cemented during hard times will pay off, while fractured relationships could cause long-term damage. Take care of your suppliers. Aviation manufacturers have spent decades pushing risk down to suppliers while trying to limit their rewards to reduce costs. If your suppliers do not survive or take too long to recover, all those risks will rebound onto you. Take care of your industrial base. The Pentagon wields an enormous amount of buying power at the taxpayers' expense. That should be deployed to keep its supply base healthy in the near term, even if it is at the expense of delaying long-term capabilities. Take care of your business. You need to come back more agile and flexible than ever to adjust to the immediate challenges of a recovery and to tackle future challenges unrelated to the coronavirus, such as climate change. And what about taking care of shareholders? Consider that in one recent year Boeing returned nearly six times as much money to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends as it invested in R&D. Or consider that U.S. airlines sent 96% of their free cash flow to shareholders over the last five years. Now that hard times have hit, taxpayers are being asked to step in and foot the bill to save the industry. Shareholders need healthy airlines and healthy manufacturers. They can wait their turn. https://aviationweek.com/aerospace/editorial-code-conduct-aviations-recovery

By: Aaron Mehta How will US Marines adjust for the future fight? | Reagan Defense Forum 2019 WASHINGTON — The top officer in the U.S. Marine Corps is sticking to the planned procurement of the F-35 joint strike fighter — but indicated a willingness to cut planes in the future if analysis says it makes sense. Marine Commandant Gen. David Berger told reporters Wednesday that he is a firm believer in the capabilities the F-35 is bringing, in particular the jump-jet B model favored by the service. However, Berger made it clear he's not wedded to long-term procurement plans, at a time the corps is shedding legacy missions as it pivots to focus to a primarily naval-focused service. “Right now, the program of record plows ahead as it is,” he said. “But I'm signaling to the industry, we have to be prepared to adjust as the operating environment adjusts. Right now, the program of record stays the same, but we will — we must — adapt to the adversary and we must adapt to the operating environment that we're challenged with being in.” Berger noted that an upcoming independent review of his force posture plans, expected to be completed in the next few months, could be a forcing function for more changes. Already, his planning guidance to the corps changed how many planes are featured in each F-35 squad, from 16 to 10. Longstanding plans call for the Marines to procure 353 of the F-35B and 67 of the F-35C carrier variants. “There's nothing like it,” Berger said of the jet. “The F-35B, the ability to operate from austere airfields and ships both, [is] incredible. In wargames, it's one of the handful of capabilities that really caused an adversary problems, because it is so flexible, it's deployable ashore or from ship. Gamechanger is sort of an overused phrase, but I'm a huge advocate of the F-35 and its capabilities.” Broadly speaking, Berger said, what will drive how many F-35s are in a squadron going forward, or how many the Corps eventually buys, comes down to maintenance — a longstanding issue for the stealthy jet. “If the maintenance readiness of the F-35 proves to be very, very strong, then of course, like any other system you need less of them because more of them are up all the time. On the other hand, if it turns out not to be so, then you're going to need more of them, to account for the ones that are in repair, that are down right now,” he said. Complicating that issue is what he called the “unique” supply chain for the jet, which in theory lets parts flow in from all over the world, as opposed to the traditional U.S. based supply. “In all aspects, we absolutely know we will learn along the way, and if its appropriate we will make adjustments” to either the squad level or the overall buy, Berger said. “But it's not a lack of confidence in the airframe at all.” https://www.defensenews.com/air/2020/04/01/top-marine-signaling-to-industry-that-f-35-cuts-are-on-the-table/

By: Jen Judson WASHINGTON — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency plans to hold a competition that could split up the work among contractors to modernize and sustain America's missile defense system, which is designed to destroy intercontinental ballistic missile threats. Boeing has held the development and sustainment contract for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense systems in place at Fort Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Boeing's contract is set to expire in 2023. The GMD system is made up of more than 44 Ground-Based Interceptors buried in silos in the ground along with ground control stations, detection and fire control systems, and other support infrastructure. Boeing received a sole-source $6.6 billion award in 2018 to build a new silo and 20 more GBIs, as well as to sustain the system. But Vice Adm. Jon Hill, the MDA's director, told an audience in March at an Association of the U.S. Army event that “we know that contract is not giving us everything that we need for the future, so we are going to compete that contract downstream.” The agency is working to develop a Next-Generation Interceptor that would replace the current GBIs with more capable interceptors. Its plan to upgrade the GBI's exoatmospheric kill vehicle with a redesigned version was canceled in 2019 due to technical problems. Rather than rework that program, the agency decided to design an entirely new interceptor and stop building new GBIs. A request for proposals for the NGI is due imminently. But along with a new NGI, “we are going to make sure that ground systems, sensors and fire control, all the rest of the system, we have the opportunity to inject that competition because I think that is very important,” Hill said. The MDA previously considered splitting up the contract several times, believing that would reduce cost and create efficiency in the program, but nothing materialized toward that goal. This time, the MDA has released two requests for information with the possibility of splitting up the contract. The most recent RFI was posted on Beta.Sam.Gov in March. “I will tell you that our lead system integrator does a great job today and the partnerships with industry within that construct do a great job, but we think that it's so large and complex we should be doing everybody a favor by being able to split that up without losing the integration among all those pieces,” Hill said, “so our intent is to move in that direction.” The agency “is exploring different approaches for fulfilling the GMD Program Element requirements. Acquisition approaches under consideration range from an award of multiple contracts to execute segments/missions of the program scope to a single contract to execute the entirety of the program scope,” the RFI states. “Essential to all of the acquisition approaches under consideration is the establishment of an enduring arrangement strategy for the execution of the [Weapon Systems Integration (WSI)] functions across the program lifecycle, either under a single prime contract, or as one of the multiple contracts.” The RFI lays out a possible plan to split up the contract into five pieces. One contractor would provide the NGI, which is being addressed through a separate request for proposals. Another would be responsible for legacy and future ground systems, and another for sustaining the existing GBIs. And a company would operate the weapon system along with military operators and would run fleet maintenance scheduling and deconfliction, site operations, test support, and depot and parts management, the RFI lays out. Lastly, a contractor would serve as the weapon systems integrator, making it responsible for overall GMD integration “including physical and logical integration of the GMD components, GMD system and MDA enterprise level integration, planning and execution of all necessary testing to verify and validate overall requirements compliance,” the RFI states. Responses to the RFI are due April 10. https://www.defensenews.com/pentagon/2020/04/02/missile-defense-agency-to-inject-competition-into-homeland-missile-defense-contract/

By: Aaron Mehta WASHINGTON — The amount of funding for defense research awarded through other transaction authorities have increased nearly tenfold in five years, according to a new analysis seen exclusively by Defense News. The report, by data and analytics firm Govini, shows the use of OTAs and small business innovation research contracts has expanded to the point that, in 2019, the two methods accounted for $9.6 billion, or 10 percent of the Defense Department's research, development, test and evaluation spending. OTAs are small contracts awarded to companies of any size, in theory targeted at nontraditional defense contractors, with the purpose of conducting research or prototype efforts on a specific project; they are not subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation rules. SBIR contracts are targeted at small businesses in order to act as seed money for them to conduct research and development efforts; they are subject to the FAR rules. Overall, $34.5 billion have been handed out in the last five years through the two contracting methods, to 6,503 unique vendors. However, more than half the OTA dollars are going to only three consortia. The two contracting methods may be about to jump in importance for the department, in light of the new coronavirus outbreak. Navy acquisition head Hondo Geurts, in a March 24 memo, ordered his workforce to do what they can to keep small companies assigned to naval research programs on track, including specifically calling out the need to protect SBIR efforts. Govini tracked the use of OTA and SBIR contracts over a five-year period, from fiscal 2015 through fiscal 2019. “The Defense Department's surging use of OTAs reflects its strong desire to break free from the stringent acquisition process, better access innovative technologies, and lure new companies to the defense ecosystem who otherwise may not see the federal government as a viable or lucrative potential market,” said Tara Murphy Dougherty, Govini CEO. “Fundamentally, the Department is driven by the imperative to outpace China's military modernization in order to retain a military advantage, and they understand that leveraging emerging technologies and the very best technology available in American industry — not just the Defense Industrial Base — are critical to achieving that goal,” she added. OTA dominance The numbers tell a particularly stark story of how the department is increasing its use of OTA contracts. From 2015-2017, the government awarded $12.5 billion in SBIR contracts, versus $4.9 billion in OTA contracts. But from 2018-2019, the government awarded $5.7 billion in SBIR contracts, while it handed out $11.4 billion in OTA deals — an increase large enough to nearly draw even over the five-year period. That increase in OTA funding also ties into the mission laid out by the National Defense Strategy, which encourages a focus on great power competition with China and Russia. According to Govini, the two biggest OTA investments of RDT&E dollars during this time period were $5 billion for munitions and long-range fires, and $3 billion for space systems. While the dollar totals are becoming closer, overall SBIR recipients continue to dwarf OTAs — 6,213 to 290 during the five-year period. In the number of OTA awards per service, the Army leads the way. (Govini) The Army leads the way with use of the two contract methods ($14.1 billion) during this period, followed by the Air Force ($10.4 billion), defensewide agencies ($6 billion) and the Navy ($4 billion). The two contract types also split their dollars in divergent ways. The top SBIR vendor, Colsa Corporation, received 4 percent of total SBIR awards, and the top ten (which includes Colsa) received less than 20 percent of the overall total. In comparison, the top three OTA vendors are consortia managers that make up more than half of total OTA contracts. Those three are Analytic Services Inc. ($5.429 billion), Advanced Technology International ($1.616 billion) and Consortium Management Group Inc. ($1.238 billion). Traditional defense corporations are taking advantage of OTAs as well. The fourth highest recipient of OTA money is United Launch Alliance, co-owned by Lockheed Martin and Boeing; the sixth highest recipient is Lockheed; the eight highest is Northrop Grumman; and the 10th highest is Boeing. Given that OTAs were designed to reach out to nontraditional defense firms, “it's surprising how many traditional defense contractors benefit from OTA arrangements,” Murphy Dougherty said. “Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing were all top OTA vendors over the past five years. This is a good example of how accessing the data can help the Department measure its success in terms of achieving intended outcomes through actions like increased OTA use.” Earlier this month, Ellen Lord, the Defense Department's top acquisition official, was asked at a McAleese & Associates conference about data that shows prime contractors taking advantage of OTA contracts. Lord indicated her office needed to gather more data on the issue before taking a look. “The whole premise of OTAs was to get the nontraditional [vendors] and the smalls there,” Lord responded. “I find it hard to imagine a situation where large primes would predominately use OTAs, but I don't know what I don't know. That wasn't the objective. “Oversight is one of our responsibilities in A&S [the office of acquisition and sustainment] that I take very seriously, so we need to make sure that we don't have unintended results from some of the polices that we implement. We're always trying to improve that.” https://www.defensenews.com/industry/2020/04/01/pentagon-turns-to-new-buying-tools-10-times-more-often/