Raytheon: C4ISR Future?
(click to expand)

As video communications is integrated into robots, soldiers, and UAVs, and network-centric warfare becomes the organizing principle of American warfighting, front-line demands for bandwidth are rising sharply. The Transformation Communications Satellite (TSAT) System is part of a larger effort by the US military to address this need.

The final price tag on the entire TSAT program has been quoted at anywhere from $14-25 billion through 2016, which includes the satellites, the ground operations system, the satellite operations center and the cost of operations and maintenance. By mid-2007, the U.S. Air Force was scheduled to make a key decision: build the TSAT system on its current schedule and launch in 2013-2016, or postpone TSAT, take stopgap measures and add Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites 4 & 5 to the three slated for launch from 2009-2012.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have won a total of $514 million each in risk reduction contracts for the TSAT SS satellite system, in hopes of making that Plan B unnecessary. The bids are in, and both teams await a decision. TSAT’s $2 billion TMOS ground-based network operations contract is already underway.

The TSAT constellation of satellites, receivers, and infrastructure has seen a recent resurgence of news coverage, and its central role in next-generation US military infrastructure makes it worthy of in-depth treatment. Yet its survival is not assured by any means. Outside events and incremental competitors could spell its end just as they spelled the end of Motorola’s infamous Iridium service. This updated DID Special Report looks at the TSAT program, its challenges, and the potential future(s) of U.S. military communications – with new additions highlighted in green for your convenience. The latest item is a $336 million TMOS contract….

• Key Background – Why TSAT Is Thought to be Necessary (i.e. continue reading…)
• Key Background – The Big Picture: TSAT and the Transformational Communications Architecture
• Briefing – What Is TSAT?
• Briefing – TMOS: TSAT’s Ground Component
• Briefing – The AEHF Alternative, and Lessons Learned for TSAT
• Analysis – TSAT Program: Issues & Decisions
• Analysis – TSAT’s Competitors – and Its Fate
• News – TSAT: Timeline and Ongoing Developments [updated]
• Appendix A – Additional Readings & Sources
  
  Continue Reading… »

The growth of identity theft and related fraud has turned a spotlight on security practices in all companies and organizations that deal with sensitive public data. Private sector practices in this regard are often severely lacking, but even organizations like the military have had difficulties. In May 2006, for instance, a serious American incident was covered in “ID Theft the Potential Reward for 26.5 million US Veterans.”

Now the UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed that a laptop stolen from a Royal Navy officer in Birmingham on the night of 9/10 January contained personal information relating to some 600,000 people who have either expressed an interest in, or have joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the Royal Air Force. In some cases, nothing more than a name would be present. In other cases, the data may include passport details, National Insurance numbers, drivers’ license details, family details, doctors’ addresses and National Health Service numbers.

The UK MoD did not immediately notify the public of the risk, on the grounds that the West Midlands Police felt it might impair the investigation, and the MoD’s apparent belief that it might be better not to make the potential value of the theft clear. That latter rationale can be defensible. Bluntly put, many thieves are not terribly bright; as an illustrative example, it’s quite possible for someone looking to score a quick payoff for a drug fix to miss a detail of this kind. Media reports made those rationales moot, however, and so an official admission has been made, along with contact information for a help line (0800 0853600). In the meantime, action had already been taken with APACS [Britain’s Association for Payment Clearing Services] to inform the relevant banks and place a watch on potential accounts, and the UK MoD says that letters to the 3,500 people whose bank details were included on the database are in process. Meanwhile, the story will continue to play itself out in the media, and on the ground where investigations continue. UK MoD: “MOD confirms loss of recruitment data.”

Flew through turbulence
(click to view full)

America’s ITAR system for controlling military exports has become a persistent complaint abroad – and at home. Abroad, it is often seen as being about protectionism first, and protection second. At home, the system is widely seen as a stumbling block to joint projects with US allies, and to America’s defense industry more generally. Britain’s ITAR-related disputes with the USA (now resolved) over the multinational F-35 program, and recent problems with approval that tipped a major foreign weapon purchase in favor of a particular US competitor, illustrate both types of complaints at work.

At the same time, legitimate security concerns around military technology transfer must be satisfied – and hopefully updated in an era where nations like China have used “American” front businesses as vehicles for major espionage coups. Now an industry initiative is underway to change key aspects of the US defense export control system, with support from several European firms. A recent GAO report is adding fuel to the fire, noting vulnerabilities in the existing system and recommending rethink and reform.

Continue Reading… »

“It had to be you….“
(click to view full)

America’s recently-passed 2007 supplemental defense funding bill (#2) included $320 million for an unusual weapon: biometrics. Fingerprinting, iris scanning, certain approaches to automated facial recognition, DNA, and more are all part of biometrics, which seeks to identify humans based on unique physical characteristics.

Back in May 2005, “Biometric Access Card Project Underway for Iraq” shed light on biometrics’ increase use for defensive purposes; funding for those kinds of projects has continued, including research into fast, high-volume technologies and systems for National Guard units. What’s changing is the use of biometrics for offensive purposes as an integral tool in military operations, as opposed to just a defensive system for military installations. This requires a lot more interoperability and software bridging between systems, of course, in order to work. WIRED’s Danger Room e-zine covers the shift within Iraq, from operations in Baqubah to end-runs around the bureaucracy in order to get necessary equipment to warfighters. Read “Baqubah’s Biometric Squeeze” for more links and info…. and see also these front-line reports:

• US DoD DefenseLINK (Aug 15/07) – Officer Hails ‘Tremendous Success’ of Iraqi Automated ID System
• USMC (July 28/07) – BAT system helps 3/1 catch bad guys
• USMC (July 28/07) – High-tech ID system sniffs out hidden threats

On May 24/07, Australia’s Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence, Mr Peter Lindsay MP signed a statement reaffirming the importance of the Australian Department of Defence’s 2000 Enterprise License Agreement and relationship with Microsoft Corporation. The Australian DoD’s relationship with Microsoft also includes commercial and collaborative planning, research and development activities and premier support services.

Lindsay is quoted in the release saying that “Our strategic partnership with Microsoft provides the foundation for the modernisation of Defence’s information systems and business process reform.” At the ceremony, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said: “This agreement underscores how serious we are about working together to help protect Australia’s critical communication infrastructure.”

Microsoft is not generally known in the technology world for high security levels, though they have been investing R&D in a trusted computing initiative. The larger question among security experts is whether Microsoft’s vast resources will succeed in fixing an underlying operating system and application model that haven’t been designed from the outset for top-tier security. The US Defence Department recently issued a report on China’s activities in particular that highlighted the threat of cyber-warfare as a growing aspect of hostilities, and a growing concern.

Continue Reading… »

US ORNL laser test
(click to view full)

Readers who follow the tech press may be familiar with the concept of quantum computing. Computers use binary bits: on/off, yes/no, represented by 0 or1. A quantum bit, or qubit, can be 1, or 0… or both. Whereas 111 = 7 in binary, and each entry is a choice among all the possibilities in the number of binary digits, 3 qubits can hold all 8 possibilities (0-7), which means you can do calculations on all of them at once. The more qubits used, the more computation, so 32 qubits theoretically gets you 2 to the 32nd power computations (about 4.3 billion) at once – much more power than conventional computing, and it keeps on rising exponentially. It’s worth noting that quantum computing has limits; they are not fully understood yet, but have been shown to exist at the theoretical level. So far, all we can say is that certain kinds of problems will be solved much, much more quickly. The uses of such a system for searching large domains of information, of cracking codes, or creating codes, or running simulations that include the quantum level as a number of modern physical and medical science applications do, are clear. As an additional benefit, quantum cryptography methods benefit from quantum principles whereby eavesdropping is not only incredibly difficult, it will create noticeable interference.

Here’s a good introductory primer written in 2000 A.D. at Caltech, plus a more technical Wikipedia article and an extensive set of resources at Cambridge University UK’s Center for Quantum Computing.

The USA’s DARPA is interested, of course. A DARPA Quantum Network became fully operational on October 23, 2003 in BBN’s laboratories, running the world’s first Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) network using 24×7 quantum cryptography to provide unprecedented levels of security for standard Internet traffic flows. DARPA’s “Quantum Information Science & Technology” program lists as a completed effort and explored a number of facets of quantum computing and associated technological leaps, but its “High Productivity Computing Systems” effort includes some quantum related efforts and appear to be ongoing. So are the contracts…

Continue Reading… »

NCTAMS PAC HQ, Wahiawa

Shaw-Dick Pacific, LLC in Honolulu, HI received a $176 million (first increment) firm-fixed-price contract for construction of the Hawaii Regional Security Operations Center, at Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific. Work will be performed at Wahiawa, HI, and is expected to be complete by June 2010. This contract was competitively procured with 38 proposals solicited and 2 offers received by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Pacific in Pearl Harbor, HI (N62742-07-C-1329).

An additional $144 million will be funded upon the passage of FY 2008 Military Construction Appropriation Bill making the total amount $320 million, with one additional $40,000 option that may be exercised within 3 months.

Continue Reading… »

If you work in the industry, you know that navigating the designated layers of classified material can be challenging, and that decisions regarding classification may not always make sense to you. This is also true on a public policy level: the Federation of American Scientists, for instance, is deeply skeptical of recent NY Times claims re: materials in the public Iraqi documents archive, and whether there was anything in them that justified secrecy or their subsequent removal from public access.

Defense Tech has a link-filled report, noting that US Army intelligence (G2) has stepped up and released a “Standardized Methodology for Making Classification Decisions,” (Office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2, October 25, 2006, PDF format) along with a tutorial. So now you know… sorta… or don’t, as the case may be… anyway, you get the point.

Continue Reading… »

“Aurora” concept
(click to view full)

“Area 51” in Nevada, USA has been the stuff of myth and legend. Known world-wide as the birthplace and testing ground of famous planes like the U-2 Dragon Lady, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk, and other “black program” aircraft, it has also been the subject of wilder UFO rumours and speculation.

In the October 2006 issue of Popular Science, noted “black project” researcher Bill Sweetman pieces together “The Top-Secret Warplanes of Area 51.” It covers some of the projects he believes to be underway there, based on patent filings, budget holes, and unfilled niches in the USA’s arsenal. DID would caution readers that all of this is speculation; holes in the US arsenal could be real due to neglect or priorities, patent filings et. al. may well pertain to active programs and research related to the WALRUS, J-UCAS, HAA/ISIS and other less well-known but nonetheless public programs, etc. With that said, his article makes for interesting and entertaining reading. Sweetman’s most surprising conclusion? That the Mach 5-6 Aurora wave-rider aircraft (see extensive GlobalSecurity.org project & budget analysis) may be on again as a $9 billion program, possibly with global strike as well as reconnaissance capabilities.

Continue Reading… »

New dawn for the F-35?
(click to view full)

DID has reported the friction and threats to the F-35 program created by the USA’s ITAR restrictions on military technology transfer. These restrictions were a barrier to allied participants’ wish to be full participants in the project, and to be able to maintain their aircraft without always having to go hat in hand to the USA. Stealth technologies like the F-35’s radar-absorbing paint, software source code underpinning the aircraft’s equipment and weapons integration, and agreements on follow-on development of after-market capabilities that British firms could manufacture and market without requiring US permission were the key issues for the UK – but as DID’s reporting shows, the UK is not alone in its concerns.

Our March 2006 article “British JSF Prospects Looking Up” offered a complete history of the issue, and indicated progress…

Continue Reading… »