Networking the Navy

Northrop Grumman wins CANES. (Feb 1/12)

The US Navy’s Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) program is designed to streamline and update shipboard networks to improve interoperability across the fleet. It will replace 5 shipboard legacy network programs to provide the common computing environment on board for command, control, intelligence and logistics. The primary goal of the CANES program is to build a secure shipboard network required for naval and joint operations, which is much easier when you consolidate and reduce the number of shipboard networks. That consolidation can also lower costs and maintenance requirements and reduce training needs, if good choices are made.

In 2010, the US Navy awarded 2 contracts, with a potential value of $1.7 billion, for the design and development of the CANES common computing environment. Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are competing, and a single prime contractor was expected to be picked in 2011. It took until early 2012, but Northrop Grumman won.

In January 2012, Lockheed Martin Global Training and Logistics in Orlando, FL received a 5-year, $94 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract to continue supporting the USAF’s Distributed Mission Operations Center. The mission of the 705th Combat Training Squadron DMOC is to to conduct exercises, training, tactics, techniques and procedures-warfighter readiness, testing, experimentation, tactical to operational-bridged events, and standards development for USAF Air Combat Command and its allies. Their efforts range all the way up to theater-level, full spectrum combat training, test, and mission rehearsal, including Air Combat Command’s Synthetic Battlespace inter-team training events; Air Expeditionary Force-aligned, quarterly recurring Virtual Flag exercises; etc.

Lockheed Martin will continue to operate the award-winning center, building and maintaining network infrastructure, developing and maintaining associated software and hardware, and conducting distributed mission operations engineering activities at Kirkland Air Force Base, NM. The contract runs until Jan 31/17, and is managed by the AFNWC/PKE at Kirkland AFB, NM (FA9422-12-D-0001).

At the end of 2011, Level 3 Communications, LLC in Broomfield, CO received a maximum $410.8 million indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract, for up to 10 years of fiber cable operations and maintenance support, through Dec 29/21. Performance is stated as “various locations throughout the United States,” though some contracts with those designations include overseas infrastructure. This solicitation was issued without competition under FAR 6.302-1 (one responsible source) by the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization’s National Capital Region (HC1047-12-D-0002). The justification/approval package was marked sensitive/secure, and L-3 declined to discuss its contract further.

Level 3 is primarily a large-scale fiber optic communications infrastructure play, with significant quantities of “dark” (unlit/unused) fiber, alongside a lit Tier 1 network used by a number of medium and large telecom carriers around the world. They also offer managed services of various types on top of that, including a dedicated content delivery service that includes customers like Netflix and Apple. On Oct 4/11, the firm completed its purchase of Global Crossing, the IPv6 backbone provider whose 2002 bankruptcy and restructuring was one of the highest-profile casualties of the dot-com collapse.

Global Express

2 more Global Hawks for EQ-4B conversion. (Dec 28/11)

In late June 2009, the USAF awarded Northrop Grumman Defense Mission Systems Inc., of San Diego, CA an urgent requirement contract for its Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) System. At present, Northrop Grumman will help the USAF deploy BACN in up to 4 “E-11” Bombardier BD-700 Global Express (see also BACN-modified photo) ultra-long-range business jets, and in up to 4 EQ-4B Global Hawk Block 20 UAVs, for sustained deployment through 2015.

BACN is an airborne communications relay that extends communications ranges, bridges between radio frequencies, and “translates” among incompatible communications systems. That may sound trivial, but on a tactical level, it definitely isn’t…

• The BACN System [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

• Japan’s government decided to ease its arms exports policies set in the 60s and 70s.

• The United Kingdom may involve the private sector in running defense procurement. Chief of Defence Materiel Bernard Gray and Minister for Defence Equipment Peter Luff will discuss options under consideration today on BBC Radio 4.

• Finland arrests 2 Ukrainian crew of the British-flagged M/S Thor Liberty, which was en route to China with 69 Patriot surface-to-air missiles and explosives. Germany says “hey, that was our legitimate sale to South Korea!”

• The US Navy’s departure from standard ship class-naming conventions, and insertion of political figures instead (vid. “John P. Murtha” for LPD-26, instead of a city name), has raised a few eyebrows in recent years. USNS Cesar Chavez [T-AKE-14] may have tipped a backlash in Congress. This is so even though that example has far more merit. The T-AKE ships have honored other pioneering political figures, and Chavez was a Navy veteran.

• Northrop Grumman’s LN-251 GPS/INS will fly on the USMC’s forthcoming CH-53K heavy-lift helicopters.

• Manufacturers are working on ground control stations that could let a single pilot manage several UAVs at once.

• Mexico’s Zetas drug cartel had an entire system of encrypted short-range radio relays around their territories, in what amounted to a military communication infrastructure. The NPR report adds that some of their kidnappings have even been designed to get technical expertise – though holding highly technical people hasn’t always gone well for them.

IEDs: The Aftermath

JCREW 3.1 contract for USMC. (Dec 15/11)

The US military is working on the next-generation of jammers to defeat improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that pose such a grave threat to US forces deployed overseas. The jammers are called Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device (RCIED) Electronic Warfare (JCREW) devices. They are high-power, modular, programmable, multiband radio frequency jammers designed to deny enemy use of selected portions of the radio frequency spectrum. They come in 3 varieties – fixed, mounted, and dismounted.

The first generations of JCREW devices were developed and deployed quickly to meet an urgent need in the field. The next generation of JCREW devices, known as 3.x, are being developed to increase capabilities and tap into the power of the network to enhance their effectiveness. The JCREW 3.1 version is a dismounted device, the 3.2 version is a mounted device, and the 3.3 version is being developed to work in mounted, dismounted, and fixed-installation roles, using a common open architecture of electronics…

USS Philippine Sea

A quick look at almost any modern warship shows a bewildering array of gear on its mast and upper surfaces. These “topside apertures” serve an array of functions, from communications, to data transmission, to electronic listening and defense. Not only do they disrupt ship smoothness, and hence radar profiles, when installed, but they can also be extremely difficult to integrate together so that object A’s transmissions aren’t interfering with critical service B. While firms like Thales in Europe pursue “integrated modular mast” technologies, the US Navy is aiming to go one step beyond. They’re funding “Integrated Topside” R&D to go beyond just a pre-packaged array, and turn all of these little bolt-ons into one common, smooth-running, and upgradeable basic architecture.

InTop for surface ships will be based on AESA radar technology, and aims to become an innovative, scalable suite of electronic warfare, information operations, and line-of-sight communications hardware and software. Its performance goals are to improve ships’ anti-radar profiles, increase communications bandwidth, and resolve electromagnetic interference and compatibility issues…

Taking on the Cyber Enemy

DARPA’s programs. (Nov 8/11)

In response to the growing threats to US military and civilian networks, the Pentagon has unveiling its first formal cyber strategy.

This follows a series of events over the last few years that have escalated cyber attacks against networks and infrastructure to warlike events. For example, an unidentified foreign national penetrated the internal networks of the Department of Defense (DoD) with an infected thumbdrive in 2008. In 2009, a virus known as Stuxnet, suspected of being the product of Israeli-US government collaboration, shutdown an Iranian nuclear power plant. And in 2011, defense contractor Lockheed Martin suffered a major cyber attack that was suspected of being carried out by the Chinese government.

While the Pentagon has struggled to combat these threats, it has also had to fight some within its own ranks, as well as other agencies, for authority in cyberspace. This article focuses on the growing cyber threat to US military and civilian infrastructure and the efforts being made by the Pentagon to deal with these threats.

• Stuxnet and Beyond
• The China Connection
• The Best Defense is Offense
• Attribution: The Devil’s in the Details
• Cyber Turf Wars
• Integration Efforts
• Future War
• Key Contacts
• Additional Reading
  Continue Reading… »

• Former Secretary of Transport Philip Hammond is replacing Liam Fox as the UK’s Minister of Defence, a position that has seen a lot of turnover in past years. Fox resigned under pressure because of the access he gave to his friend Adam Werritty. FT, Guardian, BBC.

• The ADS British trade association surveyed Britain’s security sector. It found domestic sales to account for 81% of the total. 91% of the ~$235M goods and services exported to the US were for cyber security.

• The AP reported on Saturday that all US troops would leave Iraq by year’s end but Defense Department press secretary George Little then denied such a decision had been made. At stake is the number of troops that would remain involved in training the Iraqi military, if any.

• SAIC to add 200 jobs in Utah.

• After 2 failed attempts earlier this month, Oshkosh made a deal with UAW Local 578 for their 5-year contract that 77% of union members approved.

• Boeing consolidates its DRT, Argon, and ISR assets into an Electronic & Mission Systems (E&MS) division to go after the C4ISR market. DRT and Argon ST were acquired in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

• South Korea’s military exports to grow strongly through the rest of the decade.

• China is expanding its military reach, says Aviation Week.

• Defining a new “Air Sea Battle” strategy for Asia is in the works at the Pentagon, but it seems to shun the role of ground forces in coastal warfare.

• The US Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was expecting significant savings throughout the federal government thanks to data center consolidation, but agencies came back with much smaller projected numbers.

• US Marine science advisor Franz Gayl saw his indefinite suspension put on hold. In 2007 Gayl released information on tardy MRAP procurement, then he had his security clearance revoked last year in what some describe as retaliation for his whistle-blowing.

US “Chair” Force?

$65M to General Atomics. (September 30/11)

UAVs have played a crucial role in gathering intelligence in the US military’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There are thousands of UAVs gathering and distributing valuable data on the enemy, but each system uses its own proprietary subsystem to control the air vehicle as well as receive and process the data. Yet commanders need access to information gathered by all types of UAVs that are flying missions in their area of operation.

Recognizing this shortcoming, the Pentagon began an effort in 2008 to break down the proprietary barriers between UAV systems and create a single GCS that will fly all types of drones.

This free-to-view DID Spotlight article examines the problem of proprietary UAV systems and efforts to break down barriers to sharing vital UAV-generated information.

• Ground Control to Major Tom: The Role of GCS
• Come Together: The Pentagon’s UCS-WG
• Are You Going STANAG?: NATO’s Standard
• One is the Loneliest Number: AAI’s OneSystem
• Red ROVER, Red ROVER: The ROVER Datalink
• Masters of the Universe: Raytheon’s CGCS
• Too Close to the Sun: ICARUS and Autonomy
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »