Alliant Techsystems has received a nine million dollar contract from the U.S. Air Force to develop a Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze (HTVSF) under the Joint Capabilities Technology Demonstration (JCTD) program.
When my air conditioning broke in mid-July I was very nervous about the repair costs, but I remember that my real estate agent purchased a home warranty for my home. I called Nationwide Home Warranty and within a few hours my a/c was fixed for only a service call fee. My realtor really helped me out.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Canada of CH-47D CHINOOK Helicopters as well as associated equipment and services.
Software used for years by hackers and criminals have now become mainstream and, as we have mentioned before, hacking and cyber crime have been professionalized. As such, tool kits that enable these activities have been packaged for sale and wide dispersion across the Internet. These cyber attack tool kits make it possible to automate hacking, espionage, fraud, and much more. These top hacking tools are now being sold for prices ranging from less than $100 and up to $50,000.
And you wont believe this: The most advanced packages come with customer service/support. In at least one case the package includes 12 months of technical support and updates to ensure the kits stay up to date on the latest web vulnerabilities.
Arguably the most advanced hacker tool kit is MPack. According to Intelomics, MPack is a PHP-based malware kit with high quality key-logging capabilities that sells for between $500 to $1,000 USD and the first version was released in December of 2006. It is believed to have been produced by RBN, a multi-faceted cybercrime organization and appears to come with support and monthly updates.
RBN and their support units provide scripts and executables to make MPack undetectable by antivirus software. Every time MPack is generated it looks different to the anti-virus engines and it often goes undetected. The modularization of delivery platform and malicious instructions is a growing design in cyber weapons. MPack is very popular and powerful. In June 2007, it was used by a single person to attack and compromise over 10,000 websites in a single assault.
FACT: In 2007 a new piece of malware was identified every 45 seconds.
These tools have become common place and are quite affordable. Paul Henry, VP at Secure Computing, estimates there are currently about 68,000 cyber attack tools available for download and the number is growing fast. In some cases these tool kits are sold under the heading of "Penetration Testing Products," a legitimate and useful product.
However, the automation that enables multi-site scanning and intrusion would have very little applicability in the real security testing world. Experts have estimated that the underground market for cyber attack tools is in the hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide.
Note: MPack should not be confused with mpack, which is a harmless command-line utility.
Common Cyber Weapons and Attack Tools:
MPack SQLNinja
Shark 2 WFuzz
Nuclear ProxyStrike
WebAttacker Wireshark
IcePack httpRecon
John the Ripper Exploit-Me
USB thief Burp
Kismet Metasploit
Cyber Attack Tool Web Sites
http://www.ethicalhacker.net
http://www.metasploit.com
http://www.hackerscatalog.com/Products/Deal_Steals/index.html
Think we're going to hear a speech about this from our boy in Venezuela? Can you smell the sulfer here?
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead announced today the re-establishment of the U.S. Fourth Fleet and assigned Rear Adm. Joseph D. Kernan, currently serving as commander, Naval Special Warfare Command, as its new commander. Fourth Fleet will be responsible for U.S. Navy ships, aircraft and submarines operating in the Caribbean, and Central and South America.
U.S. Fourth Fleet will be dual-hatted with the existing commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command (NAVSO), currently located in Mayport, Fla. U.S. Fourth Fleet has been re-established to address the increased role of maritime forces in the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area of operations, and to demonstrate U.S. commitment to regional partners.
"Re-establishing the Fourth Fleet recognizes the immense importance of maritime security in the southern part of the Western Hemisphere, and signals our support and interest in the civil and military maritime services in Central and South America," said Roughead. "Our maritime strategy raises the importance of working with international partners as the basis for global maritime security. This change increases our emphasis in the region on employing naval forces to build confidence and trust among nations through collective maritime security efforts that focus on common threats and mutual interests. "
Effective July 1, the command will have operational responsibility for U.S. Navy assets assigned from east and west coast fleets to operate in the SOUTHCOM area. As a result, U.S. Fourth Fleet will not involve an increase in forces assigned in Mayport, Fla. These assets will conduct varying missions including a range of contingency operations, counter narcoterrorism, and theater security cooperation (TSC) activities. TSC includes military-to-military interaction and bilateral training opportunities as well as humanitarian assistance and in-country partnerships.
U.S. Fourth Fleet will retain responsibility as NAVSO, the Navy component command for SOUTHCOM. Its mission is to direct U.S. naval forces operating in the Caribbean, and Central and South American regions and interact with partner nation navies to shape the maritime environment.
Kernan will be the first Navy SEAL to serve as a numbered fleet commander.
And it's being honchoed by a SEAL?! Look out Citgo, we're coming to get you...
-- Christian
Congress' watchdog agency, the Government Accountability Office, is warning that the Pentagon needs to improve how it plans for and manages development of critical intelligence and surveillance systems.
In a report released April 23, the GAO said the military has struggled "to improve integration across DOD and national intelligence agencies" hampered by the widely differing missions and bureaucratic cultures of the intelligence agencies.
This is not an academic exercise. The report notes that the military plans to spend $28 billion over the next seven years to field a wide array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems. That's just airborne systems and does not include spy satellites, with their traditionally hefty price tags.
The GAO report cites one example where the Pentagon "had difficulty obtaining complete information" on top secret "national" assets - usually a veiled reference to highly classified radar and electro-optical satellites - "because of security classifications of other agency documents." Also, budget wars have hampered the effort to improve coordination across the intelligence enterprise, the GAO report says. In classic understated fashion, the report says that "disagreements about equitable funding from each budget have led to program delays."
The Pentagon has drawn up an "ISR Integration Roadmap" but it does not appear to help much, if the report's language is parsed carefully. The roadmap does not "provide a long-term view of what capabilities are required to achieve strategic goals or provide detailed information that would make it useful as a basis for deciding among alternative investments."
The GAO reviewed 19 intelligence and reconnaissance systems proposals and found that 12 "sponsors" - this could be a combatant command, an intelligence agency or a service -- "did not complete assessments, and the completeness of the remaining seven sponsors' assessments varied." Perhaps most worrying, was the office's finding that the entity charged with overseeing these crucial decisions - the Battlespace Awareness Functional Capabilities Board -- "lacks adequate numbers of dedicated, skilled personnel to engage in early coordination with sponsors and to review sponsors' assessments."
The report's authors recommend that Defense Secretary Robert Gates tells Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and James Clapper, undersecretary of Defense for intelligence, to work together and develop "a comprehensive source of information on all ISR capabilities." Also, Gates should also put in place a monitoring process to make sure the capabilities board and those it works with do a better job. Finally, the report's authors say the capabilities board's staffing levels and their expertise should be reviewed.
-- Colin Clark
All right folks, you're about to get a true "first."
Over the last several months, Ward and I have been brain storming, kicking, screaming, cajoling, whining and moaning to put together a new product for Military.com that focuses heavily on investigative reporting of the defense industry.
Well, our temper tantrums have paid off and we're going to launch the new online blog/newsletter in May (which will remain nameless until launch). But in the meantime, I'd like to introduce the product's new editor, Colin Clark.
I've known Colin my entire career and we've been good friends out on the hustings as we both kicked over rocks for the next big story. He's a powerhouse in the defense industry news business, with a resume that sports stints at Defense Week, Defense News, Congressional Quarterly and, more recently, Space News.
While we're putting together the final design and wrapping up marketing plans for Colin's new gig, he's going to keep the engines turning and post his content here. He knows he's being thrown into a pot of boiling oil head first with you guys, and I don't expect you to pull any punches.
So please welcome Colin and we all look forward to his kick butt reporting.
-- Christian
Tamil rebels killed at least 100 Sri Lankan soldiers in the nation's bloodiest battle in 18 months on Wednesday, the separatists said, as the military claimed more than 100 rebels died in the fighting.
Today in Linköping, Sweden, Saab and its powerful network of leading international aerospace partners, proudly unveiled the first of the next generation of combat fighters, the Gripen Demonstrator aircraft.
Air Force officials today released Amendment 6 to Request for Proposals for the Combat Search and Rescue helicopter.
“Spring Flag”, the most important annual exercise of the Italian Air Force, in 2008 was hosted by 9° Gruppo and XII Gruppo, with their Eurofighter Typhoons taking the lead in the Air Dominance role.
Pakistan's new government has drafted a peace agreement with Taliban militants in its troubled tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials and a rebel spokesman said Wednesday.
BAE Systems has been awarded a $6 million contract from the U.S. Army for a Foreign Military Sale of Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) destined for Jordan. This is the third order for Jordan in the last four years, bringing the total value to over $16 million.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has selected Aurora Flight Sciences, Boeing and Lockheed Martin as contractors for the first phase of the Vulture program.
In a move that could upset Washington's policy towards North Korea, US intelligence officials are set to tell lawmakers this week that Pyongyang shared nuclear know-how with Syria, one official said Wednesday.
The Boeing Company has opened a new F-15E Mission Training Center (MTC) at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, United Kingdom.
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has selected the Selex Galileo Seaspray 7500E AESA surveillance radar system for its HC-130H radar upgrade program.
The U.S. has taken the unprecedented -- and some would say questionable -- step of selling some of its most sophisticated counter-IED technology to the Iraqi government, equipping specialized police, military and interior ministry troops with electronic systems designed to detonate roadside bombs and jam triggering signals.
Officials from Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq announced April 20 that its foreign military sales office had sold the Iraqis 411 Lockheed Martin-built "Symphony" counter-IED systems. A few of the Symphony systems are already up and running on Iraqi government vehicles, the command said, with the rest due to be installed by the end of the summer.
"This system will afford the Iraqi security forces long-term, independent counter-IED protection and relieves coalition troops from this responsibility so the latter may perform other tasks," said Army Lt. Col. Will Flucker, the command's Symphony program manager, in an April 20 release. "This system is a critical part of security transition from the coalition forces to the government of Iraq and integral to developing [Iraqi security forces] into a long-term partner in the global war on terror."
But some might see handing over America's most sophisticated and top secret counter-IED technology to Iraqi ministries, whose loyalty to Baghdad is less than certain, as extremely risky. Electronic jammers like the Symphony have saved American lives in a war where the roadside bomb is the number-one killer, and the possibility that an Iraqi official could hand over the technology to an insurgent or unfriendly government is all too real.
"You have to assume that about the third one that we ship over there is going to go straight out the back door," said John Pike, director of the Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-area defense research group. "We have a fundamental dilemma here in trying to indigenize these security forces."
Due to its highly-classified technology, Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Ellen Mitchell refused to discuss Symphony's capabilities or the Iraqi sale. A 2007 Pentagon contract announcement called the Symphony a "programmable, radio-frequency IED defeat system that is vehicle mounted."
The Army's Flucker acknowledged the risk that the technology could wind up in the wrong hands, saying the $51 million deal had been inked only after "numerous technical and administrative delays."
"Most of the administrative hurdles are related to providing effective technology to the partner nation while ensuring such technology is not compromised and does not proliferate beyond Iraq's borders," Flucker wrote Military.com in an email response to questions.
The Iraqi system will incorporate anti-tamper technology along with a fill or operating code that periodically expires and must be renewed in order for the system to operate, and the use of "trusted agents" to handle, control and distribute the operating code, Flucker added.
And that accounts for part of the lengthy "administrative" delays that kept the Symphony -- which costs about $78,000 per system -- out of Iraqi hands for nearly two years.
"This requires a combination of technical and administrative controls that require testing and refinement before they can be implemented with a high degree of confidence," Flucker said.
Pike said that electronic jamming of IEDs is a problem of physics -- there are a limited number of frequencies used to trigger IEDs and the jammers attack all of them. So a Symphony winding up in the hands of the insurgents would have limited utility.
"Whatever waveform it is using to jam ... will by definition be disclosed to the enemy when you turn it on," Pike said, adding that measures to prevent tampering or unauthorized use seem to work.
"I think that they are secure at least to the extent that Iran can't do anything about it," he said.
The Symphony systems will be doled out to Iraqi special forces, ministry of defense officials and interior ministry troops -- including Iraqi army, police, national police and explosive ordnance disposal units. The deal includes a nine-month support contract from Lockheed Martin to "ensure the units function properly and the Iraqis can properly utilize the systems to their full advantage," officials said.
Aside from protecting Iraqi officials, troops and police from roadside bomb ambushes, Flucker hopes the deal will help get more U.S. troops off the road by freeing them up from the dangerous and tedious duties of convoy escort.
"Affording counter-IED protection to the [Iraqi security forces] has been a partnership endeavor from the outset," Flucker added. "Given the theater IED threat, the [government of Iraq] and the coalition have wanted to make this happen for some time now."
-- Christian
Today, Saab announces a collaboration with the French company Thales. Together they will develop a new advanced radar based on AESA technology for the Gripen demonstrator, which will be shown for the first time during the day.
The aircraft designed and built by the Alenia Aeronautica starred in the Spring Flag 08 exercise, which unfolded for almost three weeks in the skies of the Central Mediterranean with the participation of 75 aircraft and over 1900 people belonging to the armed forces of Italy and of several of its friends.
Two pilots died April 23 when an Air Force T-38C Talon trainer crashed at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.
Raytheon Company has been awarded a $5 million U. S. Missile Defense Agency contract to begin initial planning and requirements definition for the European Mid-course Radar program proposed for the Czech Republic.
Gripen Demo, a new flying development platform for current and future generations of Gripen, is unvealed today for the first time. One of the new features is a completely new radar, that Saab is developing in collaboration with the French company Thales.
BAE Systems has been awarded a £24 million contract by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the Spearfish Transition Extension Programme (STEP).
A Chinese ship loaded with arms intended for Zimbabwe was headed to Angola, the agent handling the ship said on Tuesday, as China defended the shipment against international criticism.
Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is scheduled to deploy the Tactical Garbage to Energy Refinery (TGER), a prototype technology which converts waste to energy, to Iraq on 29 April 2008.
The countdown is on for the aviation event of the decade – the ‘Roll-Out’ of the next generation Gripen Demonstrator fighter aircraft.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation an 89-month, $1.16 billion contract for System Development and Demonstration (SDD) of the service's new Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System (BAMS UAS) program.
The U.S. Army Reserve marks its first century of service to the nation Wednesday with a re-enlistment of 100 Soldiers at 10 a.m. on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, a wreath-laying ceremony at 2:15 p.m. at Arlington National Cemetery and a gala ball in the evening.
US authorities announced Tuesday the arrest of a US Army veteran on charges he disclosed secret defense information, including on nuclear weapons and Patriot missiles, to Israel for more than 20 years.
The Government has signed a contract for upgradation of 63 MiG 29 aircraft with RAC - MiG, Russia, at a total value of about 964 million USD on March 07, 2008.
At 6 a.m., it's another early April morning in Iraq as the two pilots deployed from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, get ready to venture into harm's way yet again.
Russia's foreign ministry on Tuesday said that Abkhaz rebels were responsible for shooting down a Georgian unmanned spy plane over the weekend.
Northrop Grumman Corporation has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center for the development and flight-testing of a signals intelligence sensor payload for the U.S. Air Force MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) and for the preliminary design of an expanded sensor package for the MQ-9 Reaper UAS.
Raytheon Company has received a $241 million U.S. Foreign Military Sales contract to provide the Republic of Korea with command and control, communications, maintenance support, and training equipment for the Patriot air and missile defense system.
On the 66th anniversary of the historic Doolittle Raid on imperial Japan, Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley gathered every Air Force general officer and senior civilian to chart the future of air, space and cyberspace power at the Blue Summit.
Lockheed Martin and Rice University today announced the creation of an innovative, strategic partnership to develop new technologies for a broad range of applications in electronics, energy and security.
The Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) System Block 10 team, led by Boeing with Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. providing the space vehicle, today announced completion of the payload electronics, high-speed gimbal and testing of the space vehicle's visible sensor
ThalesRaytheonSystems has been awarded a contract by the Ministry of Defense, government of Malaysia, to upgrade the Malaysian Air Defense Ground Environment system. Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.
The most difficult weapons decision by the new administration that enters the White House next January will likely be the fighter issue -- how many and what kinds of fighters should be procured for the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.
The George W. Bush administration--with Secretaries of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Robert M. Gates -- has mapped out a fighter procurement strategy. Particularly controversial was the decision to produce only 183 to 187 F-22 Raptor advanced fighters for the Air Force. But many Air Force leaders believe that the service needs as many as 381 F-22s to bridge a "fighter gap" until the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) becomes available in numbers. The recent problems with the F-15 Eagle have provided ammunition for the advocacy of more F-22s in the near term.
Meanwhile, some Navy officials are becoming concerned about a "fighter gap" in that service. Their solution would be to increase the current procurement of F/A-18E and F Super Hornet aircraft. These strike-fighters would be for Navy service as the Marine Corps has kept with older F/A-18s and does not fly the E/F models.
All three services plan to acquire specific variants of the F-35 JSF -- officially named Lightning II, a moniker that is rarely used. But what impact would additional buys of F-22s or F/A-18s have on the F-35 program? Air Force Major General Charles R. Davis, the F-35 program executive officer, was recently quoted in Defense News (7 April 2008) stating, "Any time there is a discussion of a service or country pulling out airplanes from the program, the other service leaderships get very concerned. But we have told the Navy that buying them [F-35C aircraft] sooner at greater rates gives you a lower cost and more capability on your [carrier] decks than any other buying profile."
In realty, the Air Force has the least interest in near-term procurement of the F-35 JSF as it would take several years to buy up to an F-22 force of 381 aircraft. Similarly, the Navy is pleased with the F/A-18 Super Hornet for the next decade or more. That aircraft has both a fighter and attack capability, and the nature of expected air threats -- both in terms of quantity and quality -- should be effectively countered by the Super Hornets. Also, an "all F/A-18 Super Hornet force" -- including the new A-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft -- simplifies maintenance and training.
More critical is the U.S. Marine Corps situation. The Marines now fly the F/A-18C and D variants and, of course, the AV-8B Harrier STOVL aircraft. Both will be in need of replacement within a decade and the F-35B STOVL is the planned -- and needed -- replacement. STOVL aircraft can operate from the Navy's large carriers as well as the so-called amphibious assault ships (LHA/LHD), which are "flattops" as large as World War II-era fleet carriers but lack catapults, arresting gear, and angled flight decks.
Similarly, the Britain is planning procurement of the F-35B to succeed the less-capable Harriers flown from their carrier decks (by Royal Navy and Royal Marine pilots).
In the long-term, the U.S. Air Force has discussed buying about a thousand F-35A and possibly other JSF variants to replace all of its F-15/F-16/A-10 aircraft.
Thus, there are major fighter issues to be addressed when the new administration is sworn in next January. Because of aircraft production line and component concerns, some decisions will have to be made quickly. Still, an objective, all-service study of U.S. fighter requirements and options should be conducted as soon as possible by the new administration -- preferably during the November -- January transition period.
-- Norman Polmar
Sea trials have found eight major concerns with the Coast Guard's new National Security Cutter, but service officials say they are confident the ship, christened Bertholf, will pass acceptance tests soon.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is building the Bertholf as part of the Coast Guard's Deepwater Modernization program, a $24 billion effort to upgrade the agency's ships, aircraft and communications gear. So far, it's been a bumpy ride -- the Coast Guard had to shelve one of its boat projects as too ambitious, while another project foundered after eight upgraded 123'-foot cutters proved unseaworthy.
Now the Coast Guard is hoping the Bertholf will change the project's momentum. The ship is a few months behind schedule, but Coast Guard officials say there haven't been any big hiccups this year. The mid-April acceptance trials were a big milestone -- the Coast Guard wants to accept the ship by the end of this month so it can start training its crew. The latest list of technical issues hasn't dented the agency's optimism.
"These acceptance trials are good news for the Coast Guard because the number of starred cards written for Bertholf is extremely low, considering this is a first-in-class ship. The Coast Guard is confident that the contractors will be able to resolve all materiel deficiencies aboard Bertholf in a timely manner," Coast Guard spokeswoman Laura Williams said Monday.
The Navy also put a good spin on the Bertholf's performance. The latest trials turned up about 2,800 "trial cards", which identify areas that need more work. That compares to between 6,000 and 16,000 cards for first-in-class Navy ship. In addition, about 1,360 of the Bertholf's trial cards dealt with previously identified issues. This led the Navy to commend the Coast Guard's "superb quality assurance" while managing the project, the Coast Guard said.
Here's the new ship's honey-do list of major things that need fixing, as identified by Coast Guard and Navy inspectors:
- Machinery Control Monitoring System: a computer system that enables automated or manual operation of main propulsion and electrical systems.
- Line Shaft Bearings-These bearings support and align the ship's propeller shafts. The bearings require maintenance and re-alignment.
- Starboard Anchor-The anchor machinery requires additional lubrication.
- Mooring Line Controllers-The Navy recommended modifying these line controllers for portable operation to improve crew safety.
- Gantry Crane Hoists-Designed to raise and lower the NSC's cutter boats (Short Range Prosecutor and Long Range Interceptor), the hoists require adjustment to the wire ropes and swivel hooks.
- 57mm Ammunition Hoist-The ammunition handling system's brake must be repaired for safe operation.
- Incinerator-Requires repair for testing.
- Flight Deck-The Navy wants the Coast Guard to correct 14 deficiencies before BERTHOLF earns certification for naval flight operations. These deficiencies include: removing hoses from the flight deck; installing sound power communications between stations on the flight deck; installing additional tie downs; correcting flight deck markings for the Aircraft Ship Integrated Secure and Traverse (ASIST) system, etc.
In addition to this major list, there are 78 other items that require additional safety-related adjustments, the Coast Guard said. The new ship also has started TEMPEST testing, a Pentagon protocol required for classified communications systems, the agency said. Integrated Coast Guard Solutions, the Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman joint venture that is coordinating a big chunk of the Deepwater contracting, did not have comment on the acceptance trials when contacted Monday.
-- Rebecca Christie
A B-2 Spirit made a successful return to flight April 15 here after a 53-day safety pause for the aircraft following the first-ever crash of a stealth bomber Feb. 23 in Guam.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates established a new task force last week to ensure the Defense Department is doing everything possible to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets to support warfighters, he announced today.
While typical perceptions associated with the Air Force in combat might involve aircraft dropping bombs on targets, the several hundred security forces Airmen deployed here are proving these stereotypes outdated.
Ok, I gotta get into this fray...
So yesterday Gates dressed down the Air Force during an address at its war college in Texas. He said getting the service to deploy enough drones to Iraq and Afghanistan was like "pulling teeth" and he cited the struggle as an example of services refusing to adapt to the new era of warfare.
His criticism was greeted with quiet applause by many in the analyst/journalist/military world who are mainly concerned that the Air Force is focusing too much of its efforts on legacy platforms like the F-22. Don't get me wrong, I like it when a defense secretary shows a little backbone and acts like he's leading the services rather than being led by them (or Congress).
But I think we should inject some perspective into his undiplomatic attacks. I'll get this one out of the way first: Can you imagine the outcry if it had been Rumsfeld who delivered this critique? When the former secretary slapped the Army upside the head, he was slammed for being too wedded to an outmoded "revolution in military affairs" mentality and that he favored technology over manpower. Army generals initiated a whisper campaign to discredit him. And after a while it worked. Wonder if the powerful Air Force brass will start the same thing? Only time will tell.
I also think it's a bit unfair to say the Air Force is stuck in the old ways of doing business:
In my view we can do and we should do more to meet the needs of men and women fighting in the current conflicts while their outcome may still be in doubt," he said. "My concern is that our services are still not moving aggressively in wartime to provide resources needed now on the battlefield."
He cited the example of drone aircraft that can watch, hunt and sometimes kill insurgents without risking the life of a pilot. He said the number of such aircraft has grown 25-fold since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to a total of 5,000.
Gates has been trying for months to get the Air Force to send more surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, like the Predator drone that provides real-time surveillance video, to the battlefield.
"Because people were stuck in old ways of doing business, it's been like pulling teeth," Gates said. "While we've doubled this capability in recent months, it is still not good enough."
If you really think about it, the Air Force has been pretty agile in this fight. They've deployed Airmen as provisional convoy security teams, sent over explosive ordnance disposal teams to augment Army, Navy and Marine IED hunters, scattered hundreds of tactical air controllers around the globe to help the ground pounders in close air support missions, their planes fly constantly over Iraq and Afghanistan helping spot IEDs, killing senior insurgent and al Qaeda leaders and tracking bad guy mortar teams. The service has done a lot of filling in on missions it's not traditionally done before and stepped up to the plate with little complaint.
Maybe complaining about the number of UAVs the Air Force has deployed is reasonable. A colleague in one of my email loops put it this way:
Gates apparently does not know about the real issues involved in deploying more Predators, and is paving the way to the inevitable day when an Army Warrior crewed by 19-year-old NCOs has a midair with a loaded C-130, directs a barrage of guided artillery on to a school bus or puts Hellfires through a group of allied vehicles.
The Air Force argues the delay in deploying UAV squadrons is due to training needs back home. My colleague above might be going a little far in his analogy -- I don't think we need winged aviators necessarily to fly UAVs on all missions -- but his point brings up a larger issue that Gates ignores in his UAV critique.
The bottom line is ALL the services need to adapt to a new way of fighting, and in large part they have. Now the Air Force's obsession with the F-22 is an easy mark for critique. But at least someone's thinking about air-to-air while everyone else is handing out soccer balls and building insurgent network wire diagrams.
-- Christian
French Prime Minister François Fillon has confirmed at a seminar in Rabat that DCNS has finalised the contract for a multimission frigate for the Royal Moroccan Navy.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Monday launched a push for more unmanned drones, complaining that the military is "stuck in old ways" and not moving aggressively to meet battlefield needs.
Soldiers can now look forward to less time away from their families as the Army finalizes plans for shortened deployment lengths in support of the war on terror.
The Land Forces of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed a multi-million euro contract with BAL Bauer Industries Ltd. for the procurement of large-scale mine clearance machines “MineWolf”.
Spain appealed to France, the United States and NATO on Monday for help in ending a crisis sparked when pirates seized 26 crew members of a Spanish fishing boat off the Somali coast.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today challenged military officers to become forward thinkers with the courage to advance new approaches needed to confront current and emerging threats.
BAE Systems has cut metal on its first component for the F-35 Lightning II production aircraft. This opening cut, on a component part of the aft fuselage, signifies a major milestone for the F-35 Lightning II programme.
General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, has been awarded two contracts valued at $57 million for Abrams Tank Urban Survivability Kits (TUSK).
Pakistan on Monday test-fired the Shaheen-II long-range ballistic missile, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads and hit targets within India, for the second time in three days.
This action will the procurement of non-recurring engineering activity for aircraft production program changes at a not-to-exceed price of $31,480,000 for the Peace Drive I (Pakistan) program for foreign military sales F-16 Block 52M aircraft.
AERO Vodochody a.s. finalizes already the 200th S-76C helicopter for Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (SAC). "The S-76C production is the largest program of AERO Vodochody in the field of aerostructures, which represent a key part of the current strategy of our company.
New software vulnerabilities are announced all the time. In fact, according to the NITS database, last year a new software vulnerability was announced every 57 minutes.
A software vulnerability is defined as a flaw in a software program which may allow a third party or program to gain unauthorized access. Some experts say that over 70% of the nearly 7,000 vulnerabilities discovered last year were exploitable remotely. This remote capability makes them valuable assets for cyber attackers.
The ability to rapidly respond to and mitigate the risks posed by these vulnerabilities is one of the most important parts of computer and network security. Vendors rapidly respond to the reports of newly discovered vulnerabilities in their products. But wouldn't we all be better off if the vulnerabilities did not exist in the first place?
I consulted a 25 year veteran of the software industry that hails from one of the icons of the software industry and posed the following question to him: Based on your experience, how often do software vendors investigate the root cause of reported vulnerabilities? He said, "They Don't -- they jump in and try to create a patch."
I followed up and asked so you are saying they do not look to see if the vulnerability was purposefully programmed? After a significant pause he said, "We never considered that possibility, we only worked to respond to the vulnerability."
If that's not bad enough think about the amount of software being developed offshore. Product liability exists in virtually every other category except software. How would you react if every 57 minutes your car dealer called you and said there is a problem with your car? We have been conditioned to accept software products with these problems and have allowed organizations to protect themselves by hiding behind the armor of the "Software License."
If software vendors, whose products run our critical infrastructure, do not investigate if these vulnerabilities are actually acts of espionage, that would seem to be a critical flaw in our efforts to protect ourselves against cyber attack.
I guess it's not news unless AP or one of the majors reports it, but today's lead story on Military.com has an interesting advance on the M4 debate.
It seems that Colt's strangle hold on the Army's carbine buy might be slipping as M4 oponents on Capitol Hill look to the 2009 budget season as an opportunity to force a competition for a new carbine.
There's not a weapon out there that's significantly better than the M4," says Col. Robert Radcliffe, director of combat developments at the Army Infantry Center in Fort Benning, Ga. "To replace it with something that has essentially the same capabilities as we have today doesn't make good sense."
Colt's exclusive production agreement ends in June 2009. At that point, the Army, in its role as the military's principal buyer of firearms, may have other gunmakers compete along with Colt for continued M4 production. Or, it might begin looking for a totally new weapon.
"We haven't made up our mind yet," Radcliffe says.
As you already know from our reporting here, the gas system on the M4 has been criticized for being way too maintenance intensive. The AP story goes into all that and delivers a pretty good summary of the testing and debate so far.
It also advances the story a bit by injecting another senator into the "let's have a competition" camp, as well as former Army chief Jack Keane voicing agreement with Coburn.
In 2006, a non-profit research group surveyed 2,600 soldiers who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and found 89 percent were satisfied with the M4. While Colt and the Army have trumpeted that finding, detractors say the survey also revealed that 19 percent of these soldiers had their weapon jam during a firefight.
And the relationship between the Army and Colt has been frosty at times. Concerned over the steadily rising cost of the M4, the Army forced Colt to lower its prices two years ago by threatening to buy rifles from another supplier. Prior to the warning, Colt "had not demonstrated any incentive to consider a price reduction," then-Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Sorenson, an Army acquisition official, wrote in a November 2006 report.
Coburn is the M4's harshest and most vocal critic. But his concern is shared by others, who point to the "SCAR," made by Belgian armorer FN Herstal, and the HK416, produced by Germany's Heckler & Koch, as possible contenders. Both weapons cost about the same as the M4, their manufacturers say.
The SCAR is being purchased by U.S. special operations forces, who have their own acquisition budget and the latitude to buy gear the other military branches can't.
Or won't.
"All I know is, we're not having the competition, and the technology that is out there is not in the hands of our troops," says Jack Keane, a former Army general who pushed unsuccessfully for an M4 replacement before retiring four years ago.
Again, I think it's important to give the troops the best technology out there. And if there's something that takes a beating better than the current system, let's field it.
The dispute over the M4 has been overshadowed by larger but not necessarily more important concerns. When the public's attention is focused on the annual defense budget, it tends to be captured by bigger-ticket items, like the Air Force's F-22 Raptors that cost $160 million each.
The Raptor, a radar-evading jet fighter, has never been used in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the troops who patrol Baghdad's still-dangerous neighborhoods or track insurgents along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, there's no piece of gear more critical than the rifles on their shoulders. They go everywhere with them, even to the bathroom and the chow hall.
Yet the military has a poor track record for getting high-quality firearms to warfighters. Since the Revolutionary War, mountains of red tape, oversize egos and never-ending arguments over bullet size and gunpowder have delayed or doomed promising efforts.
-- Christian
A prominent research organization estimated Thursday that 300,000 of the 1.5 million U.S. troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan have symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or major depression, and a similar number may have suffered traumatic brain injuries, mainly from explosions.
Ray guns and light sabers may be weapons of science fiction, but using energy as a war fighting tool is one area that members of the Air Force Cyber Command's 450th Electronic Warfare Wing will be charged with exploring.
US military commanders operating in Afghanistan have sought permission to attack Pakistani militants hiding in tribal areas inside Pakistan, but so far have been denied it because of diplomatic considerations, The New York Times reported on its website Saturday.
At least 29 people were killed Sunday in the heaviest clashes to rock Mogadishu in two months, bringing to 47 the death toll for two days of fighting between Ethiopian-backed Somali forces and Islamist insurgents.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin Sunday cast doubt over plans for a second aircraft carrier announced by President Nicolas Sarkozy, citing a cash crunch, and said a decision would be taken soon.
A Palestinian cameraman killed by tank fire in the Gaza Strip along with five other civilians this week may have been deliberately targeted by Israeli forces, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday.
Coalition airpower integrated with coalition ground forces in Iraq and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan during operations April 19, according to Combined Air and Space Operations Center officials here.
The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to the United Kingdom of continued participation in the USAF/Boeing Globemaster III Sustainment Partnership as well as associated equipment and services.
BAE Systems has developed a satellite navigation receiver system that provides uninterrupted operation of the Global Positioning System for air, land, and sea platforms and applications.
Fokker Elmo, a Stork Aerospace company, and Lockheed Martin have signed a Memorandum of Agreement identifying Fokker Elmo as the supplier of wiring harnesses for the F-35 Lightning II.
Two Air Force medical leaders told the Senate Subcommittee of Defense April 16 in Washington that the Air Force's state of medical readiness is aligned with the service's top priorities.
Northrop Grumman Corporation was awarded a five-year contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to support theoretical studies and engineering research for Army, Navy and Air Force research and development programs.
The Netherlands are destroying their CBU-87 cluster-bombs. Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop has told the Lower House that they can cause too much unacceptable human suffering.
Pakistan on Saturday test-fired a long-range ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads, the military said.
I don't know how many times I've worried about this very thing happening to me during one of my many embeds. I know the troops don't like reporters very much and sometimes the Port-a-Jon is the only option.
Have a great weekend.
-- Christian
The most powerful communications satellite in the Department of Defense inventory is circling the Earth and went operational April 15.
The Lockheed Martin team developing the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) has successfully delivered two key blocks of ground software integral to supporting the program's geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and highly elliptical orbit (HEO) constellation.
The United States on Thursday for the first time admitted it was scaling back its demands of North Korea in a bid to break a diplomatic stalemate on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear arms programs.
I just received this release from Humvee manufacturer AM General describing its team concept for the development of the next-generation tactical transport: the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.
As you all know, I think the JLTV project is a long time coming and is an exciting opportunity to leverage armor, powerplant, mechanical, vehicle systems and weapons advances since the design and fielding of the Humvee.
Its good to see some many companies jump into the program -- and there's a part of me that's glad to see AM General isn't fighting for the services to cling to its current technology, but is instead getting on the bandwagon with a strong effort on JLTV.
From "General Tactical Vehicles (a conglomerate of AM General and GD Land Systems):
Leveraging over 120 years of combined experience in the design, production and support of more than one million combat and tactical vehicles, General Tactical Vehicles has submitted its proposal for the Technology Development phase of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program.
GTV's offer for the JLTV optimizes survivability while maximizing power and payload. The approach focuses on commonality of systems and components along with modular armor, resulting in an innovative and agile vehicle system that will provide enhanced crew protection, considerable cargo capacity, ready transportability and unprecedented networked mobility.
"Our JLTV will provide America's Soldiers and Marines a vehicle with the strong performance, flexibility, protection and sustainability they need across the full range of missions, locations and operational scenarios," said Don Howe, GTV's JLTV program director. "GTV's JLTV will give our armed forces the rapid deployability, reliability, networking capabilities and survivability they need today and in the decades ahead."
General Tactical Vehicles applies proven technologies along with a modular design that will accommodate continuing advances in armor and vehicle systems. "While it's a significant advancement in design, it's also affordable and practical," said Howe. "Combined with manufacturing readiness that allows an accelerated path to production, our design will make the JLTV program a smart, low-risk investment for America's armed forces and taxpayers."
Innovative features of the GTV design include:
General Tactical Vehicles is a joint venture between AM General and General Dynamics Land Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics formed to provide the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps a low-risk, affordable, technically advanced and economically sustainable solution to their Joint Light Tactical Vehicle requirements. In 2006, both AM General and General Dynamics were awarded JLTV "Best Technical Approach" trade studies by the Office of Naval Research.
I've asked AM General for a photo or artist's rendition of the vehicle, but I'm intrigued by this idea of a "modular and scalable trailer." Sounds like their making the vehicle itself smaller to generate a lower profile and adding a trailer for gear and other stuff. I wonder how well this is going to go over with the Army and Marine Corps. They could read it as just something else to break.
Just a thought...
-- Christian
Israel carried out a successful test on Tuesday of a dummy ballistic missile that will be used in the development of an advanced missile interception system, the defence ministry said.
The Boeing Company has delivered the first Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (LJDAM) kits to the U.S. Air Force. The Precision Laser Guidance Set (PLGS) kits are being produced to satisfy the Air Force and Navy's urgent need for engagement of fast-moving land targets.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI), a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) and tactical reconnaissance radars, today announced the successful flight of the first Sky Warrior Block 1 aircraft for the U.S. Army’s Extended Range/Multi-Purpose (ER/MP) UAS Program on March 31 from the company’s El Mirage Flight Operations Facility in Adelanto, Calif.
The first A400M, MSN001, has just left station 40 where all the aircraft systems’ interfaces have been connected and the electrical system has been successfully tested with power-on.
Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne took administrative action on three members, including a general officer, and referred action for two others to their chain of command, for their roles in the Thunderbird Air Show Production Services contract.
The Upper House wants the defence budget to be made a fixed percentage of Gross National Product.
Boeing Integrated Defense Systems has awarded Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., a follow-on procurement contract to supply additional constant frequency electric systems for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey, under Lots 12-16 of the program.
The Boeing Company, through its commercial launch business, Boeing Launch Services, has been awarded a contract to launch DigitalGlobe's second WorldView Earth-imaging satellite on a Delta II launch vehicle.
Raytheon Co. won a $400 million Pentagon contract this week to move a missile defense radar from the Marshall Islands to the Czech Republic.
So far, the company has only received about $5 million to start planning for the transfer. But more work under the contract could be in train before long -- a Missile Defense Agency spokesman said Thursday that a permission deal with the Czech Republic could come "within weeks."
The U.S. wants to put an X-band radar in the Czech Republic to work with a missile interceptor site in Poland, to defend Europe against attack from Iran. Neither Poland nor the Czech Republic has given final go-ahead, however, and Russia continues to oppose the deal. For its part, the U.S. insists the interceptors would pose no threat to Russia, or even change the current military balance between Russia and Europe.
Raytheon's new award is an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract that extends through 2013. The initial task order covers money only for "site surveys, studies, analysis, planning, design, and similar activities," as provided for in the 2008 defense budget. Congress restricted what MDA can spend on the plan until the host countries have given the all-clear.
The X-band radar that will be used in the Czech site comes from the Marshall Islands, where it has been for about a decade. MDA says that radar is no longer needed for U.S. missile defense testing, which has moved away from the Marshall Islands to California and Alaska. So Raytheon will disassemble it, upgrade it and move it to Europe.
Because the radar has already been built, there won't be that many opportunities for local industry. But Raytheon says it's already talking to Czech officials about ways to get local workers involved in the project.
Official announcements of the new contract are expected in coming days from Raytheon and from MDA. The Defense Department announced the deal in one of its daily contract roundups. Earlier this year, Boeing received a similar contract to begin work on its plans for the Polish interceptor site.
-- Rebecca Christie
DT friend and Osprey investigative reporter for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Bob Cox sent me an alarming note today. Turns out a V-22 at New River caught fire in the nacelle a month ago and no one seemed to catch it until now (yep, not until after the $10 billion contract award for 167 new MV-22s). According to Bob's investigation, this isn't a new problem.
And it looks like there's still more concern about an oil cooling system that's malfunctioning, risking gear box damage.
From the Star-Telegram's Sky Talk blog:
Just two weeks prior to that award, yet another Osprey operated by Marines in North Carolina suffered an engine nacelle fire, a recurring problem. The good folks at Amarillo.com backed into the story a few days ago with a nice story on a local Marine who had to be hospitalized for inhaling too much fire suppressant while extinguishing the blaze.
No word yet on the degree of damage to the aircraft, which was apparently on ground at the time preparing to take off. A similar fire a few months ago, that broke out in flight and required an emergency landing in the middle of nowhere, essentially destroyed the engine nacelle -- the compartment on the end of the wing that contains the jet turbine engine -- and left the wing itself in very bad shape, according to both Marine and Bell sources.
The Marines have had a number of these fires over the last couple of years but fortunately none have caused a crash. No word on whether there have been any fires involving V-22s in Iraq, which were the first to have a nacelle fire prevention fix installed. What happens is hydraulic and other flammable fluids leak inside the nacelle and then get ignited by hot engine components.
The Marines have acknowledged that the Osprey's reliability in Iraq (and stateside) continues to be less than desired and now have said the aircraft's engines are wearing way too fast. Then this week we learned of another significant problem that has popped up in Iraq.
It seems that the oil cooling system that supplies both a generator and one of the tilt-rotor gearboxes has a nasty tendency to go bad, allowing temperatures to rise to levels that could damage the gear box components. On four occasions V-22s at forward bases were grounded until repairs could be made. generators aboard the aircraft has a problem with its oil cooling system.
An internal Marine memorandum says it has been very fortunate that the cooling system hasn't failed in flight and forced a flight crew to make an emergency landing in hostile territory. The memo says the oil cooling system is lasting just 25 percent of its expected life.
All I can say is that when I spoke with maintainers, pilots, crew chiefs and squadron officials in Iraq, nothing like this came up. They mentioned slip ring failures and avionics hiccups from the fine dust, but nothing as alarming as nacelle fires and oil cooling system failures.
And a Marine spokesman told me the fire on March 14 happened because someone neglected to remove an engine intake cover. I should have more on this later.
So, thanks again to Bob Cox for the head's up.
-- Christian
Ok, so I met today with a senior Northrop Grumman official who chatted with me about the ongoing Tanker Tango from the NorGrum/EADS perspective.
Sure, a lot of the conversation was about KPPs this, and job opportunities that. But he dropped a couple news tidbits I thought I'd throw your way.
First of all, the official told me the Air Force had formally submitted a request to the GAO to throw out the Boeing protest on Wednesday.
This is different from an earlier request to dismiss. That one concerned issues Boeing had brought up in their protest that the Air Force considered invalid, such as WTO conflicts and government subsidies.
GAO rejected that request for dismissal, so the Air Force compiled its case against the Boeing protest on the merits of the company's specific allegations, this official told me. The service has asked the GAO to dismiss the protest in its entirety.
I asked for a copy of the AF protest, but couldn't get it because the companies need to redact any proprietary information before it can be released.
Second, and kind of along the same lines, it turns out the Air Force, stung by the last tanker implosion that forced its secretary out of office and jailed two Boeing officials, Red Teamed the heck out of the tanker award before it was announced. I've been thinking all along that it seems to me the Air Force wouldn't risk a mis-dotted "i" or an un-crossed "t" given its previous experience.
Well, the NorGrum official told me that for a month and a half, the Air Force convened a Red Team of the Army and Navy's top procurement officers, staffers from Pentagon acquisition chief John Young's office and Pentagon IG officials at Wright Patterson Air Force base. The team was tasked with poking holes in the contract process to make sure there could be no protest from either side on how the Air Force handled the competition.
So it seems, on the face of it, that if proponents of the protest are trying in some way to impugn the Air Force on a slip shod process, assuming this Red Team happened, it doesn't hold much water.
Again, I just thought I'd pass along the info. And, I'd be happy to speak with Boeing's tanker team any time to get their side of the story if they offer.
-- Christian
On 16th March the CAMCOPTER S-100 UAV System successfully completed flights from a Type 21 Frigate of the Pakistan Navy in the Arabian Sea.
NATO's progress towards information and decision superiority in mission areas—including friendly force tracking, intelligence and surveillance sharing—will be the focus of a high-level Alliance conference in Antalya, Turkey on 30 April – 2 May.
Scientists from the University of Dayton Research Institute have manipulated the process of shell and pearl formation in oysters to demonstrate a method for depositing pearl-like coatings onto various metal surfaces.
In the skies over Basra, a crack squad of highly trained RAF Regiment snipers have been hard at work supporting ground troops and Immediate Response Teams (IRT) under fire from Iraqi militia.
The Boeing KC-767 Advanced Tanker would save billions of dollars over the anticipated lifetime of the aircraft compared with the larger Airbus-based KC-30.
The Navy’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I) announced the successful testing of two critical components of its planned upgrade to the Tactical Data Link (TDL) system onboard Navy ships.
BAE Systems has been awarded a $43.6 million contract by the U.S. Army to manufacture 730 Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) cargo vehicles.
Alliant Techsystems has received a contract option worth $134 million from Northrop Grumman Corporation to refurbish components and replace propellant on Minuteman III Stage 1, 2 and 3 rocket motors.
In a laboratory in Enköping there are seven green boxes which could have a major effect on the way in which the Armed Forces communicate.
U.S. military readiness is at risk due to rising defense operations and maintenance costs and ballooning personnel expenditures, a new report by the Aerospace Industries Association concludes.
Yesterday afternoon we ran a story on Military.com about a U.S. drone strike that killed four Shiite "militants" in Basra.
An unmanned U.S. drone fired two Hellfire missiles at militants attacking Iraqi soldiers in a Shiite militia stronghold in the southern city of Basra on Wednesday, killing four of the gunmen, the military said.
The airstrike in Basra occurred about 1 a.m. after militiamen attacked an Iraqi army patrol with rocket-propelled grenades on the eastern side of the Hayaniyah district, the U.S. military said. A vehicle suspected of containing more weapons and ammunition also was destroyed.
To me this strike seemed interesting for it's "close air support" flavor. Up until only recently, the armed Predators and Reapers have been used primarly for strategic and infrastructure strikes. We all know about drones going after HVTs in a "surgical" hit, but this time it seems they were used to support Iraqi troops on the ground.
We also saw reports of drones being used in this way during last week's fighting in Sadr City.
Does this signal a paradigm shift in the use of combat drones? I'd be interested to know what the coordination for CAS is with this kind of asset -- what's the response time? Seems to me it's a good idea in a place where US assets are thinly distributed like Basra. And as the US withdraws more and more troops over the coming years, we could see a lot more of this kind of drone-kills-man scenario.
-- Christian
