Sponsored by Spectra Group
https://spectra-group.co.uk/
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06 Oct 22. Spectra Group Announces 4000th SlingShot system milestone in United States at AUSA. Spectra Group, a specialist provider of secure voice, data and satellite communications systems, is announcing at the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) exhibition – the largest Land Warfare tradeshow in North America taking place in Washington DC, 10-12 October 2022 – that there are now over 4000 of their SlingShot satellite communication systems in operation with US Special Operations Forces. This announcement follows on from their recent celebration of over 7000 SlingShot systems in operation with both specialist and regular forces world-wide. The Spectra Group team will be available at AUSA to discuss their product capabilities.
Since its launch at the Military Satellite Conference in London in November 2014, there are now over 7000 SlingShot systems either sold or leased, in operation with specialist and regular forces in over 24 countries globally. The small and lightweight SlingShot system has proven to be hugely popular with the United States Special Operations Forces and Intelligence Communities. The system received safety accreditation from the US Army Test and Evaluation Command for US Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiments and has been recommended by Battle Labs for its continued deployment. Spectra Group are now poised to help the US Military to leverage all the key advantages of SlingShot, designed for specialist forces, to transform regular forces tactical communications capabilities throughout the wider US Military on land, sea and air.
Slingshot is perfect for missions where troops are deployed with minimal logistical support, in remote locations and have limited transport capacity. By integrating the SlingShot system with Inmarsat’s L-TAC satellite service, and attached to an in-service VHF or UHF radio, deployed troops instantly gain strategic communications over 1000s of miles that would otherwise not be available without a significant communications infrastructure. In addition to the robust Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) voice capability, SlingShot also has sufficient bandwidth to carry critical data to support essential applications such as: situational awareness tools; GPS tracking; reporting and other data messaging without the requirement for ground-based line-of-sight re-broadcasting architecture. Finally, the Slingshot omni-directional antennas provide manpack, land, sea and air platforms with real-time Comms on the Move (COTM) rather than having to be static, as experienced with traditional TACSAT systems.
Simon Davies, CEO of Spectra Group said: “We are very proud of the Slingshot system and how successful it has been in solving the communications challenges faced by both specialist and regular forces when deployed all over the world in austere locations. 7000 units globally and 4000 in the US is a significant milestone. In Europe, SlingShot is now proving to be a battle-winning capability for regular forces and part of its success is the fact it is genuinely “plug and play” converting any in-service tactical radio system into a BLOS and COTM satellite communications system with minimal training. We are now poised to help expand this capability from specialist to regular forces for the US Military.”
07 Oct 22. IDF using thousands of Orion handheld C2 systems. Israeli tactical solutions manufacturer Asio Technologies has announced that it has completed the delivery of thousands of Orion infantry command-and-control (C2) systems to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
“Orion systems are currently in operational use by the IDF, alongside the company’s other cutting-edge tactical solutions,” the company said in a statement released on 28 September.
Called the Olar (penknife) by the IDF, Asio uses a smartphone-like ruggedised terminal, while a smartwatch provides a more basic interface when on the move. Its main function is to replace paper maps with a digital geographic information system (GIS) that can generate three-dimensional (3D) imagery of the battlespace and visualise operational information to improve mission planning and situational awareness.
“This is the end of the era in which squad commanders had to move around with crates of maps, return them when they move sectors, shred them, and receive new maps. This data is now all loaded into the system,” Asio CEO David Harel told Janes. (Source: Janes)
06 Oct 22. Pentagon on track for $9bn contract award after abandoning JEDI. The U.S. Department of Defense is on track to award its pivotal Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability contract by the end of the year, after missing a previous deadline, a Pentagon official said.
“December 2022 is still the date we’re aiming for, for awards,” Lily Zeleke, an acting deputy chief information officer, said at an Oct. 5 event hosted by Federal News Network. “I can tell you we’re progressing well, and we anticipate to meet that date.”
The contract, known as JWCC, is a potential $9bn successor to the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure arrangement, or JEDI, which the Pentagon awarded to Microsoft after years of delays and then abandoned in 2021. The cancellation came amid accusations from rival Amazon that the Trump administration tainted the competition.
The Defense Department is working to institute the follow-up JWCC as pressure builds to more effectively process data and seamlessly connect forces across land, air, sea, space and cyber, a concept dubbed Joint All-Domain Command and Control.
JWCC is meant to link the military’s most remote edge with its farthest headquarters, bridging unclassified, secret and top-secret classifications. No such ability now exists, officials say.
“It’s actually really exciting to have that coming forth, because it’s imperative to our ability to do Joint All-Domain Command and Control, JADC2, as you’ve heard,” Zeleke said. “We’ve also learned over the years that we’ve been doing cloud that it’s imperative that we do our due diligence, and we pivot when necessary, to make sure that we are going to arrive at something that is going to meet the warfighters’ needs, the stakeholders’ needs.”
The award window for JWCC, advertised for April, was pushed back earlier this year. Pentagon CIO John Sherman in March disclosed additional due diligence was required. He has since told Congress that implementing JWCC is a top priority.
The Pentagon contacted Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle last year about JWCC, emphasizing that only a few companies could satisfy the program’s requirements.
Initial JWCC contracts are expected to comprise a three-year base with one-year options.
Zeleke on Wednesday described the process as a “complex technical matter” with many moving parts.
“I really believe pivoting and sort of taking the right time to get to where we need to get to, in the right way, is a necessary step,” she said. “And that is really what the department is doing.”
(Source: Defense News)
06 Oct 22. POWER Aims to Create Revolutionary Power Distribution Network
- Project plans design and demonstration of airborne optical energy relays
DARPA is working on the next leap forward in energy distribution by leveraging wireless power beaming to create a dynamic, adaptive, speed of light wireless energy web. The goal of the Persistent Optical Wireless Energy Relay (POWER) program is to design and demonstrate airborne optical energy relays. These relays are a critical component necessary to allow ground-sourced lasers to be coupled with high-altitude, efficient long-range transmission. Additionally, such relays will enable future multi-path wireless energy networks.
“This is the internet for energy – harnessing resilient, multipath networks to flow energy from abundant sources to energy-starved consumers,” said Col Paul Calhoun, POWER program manager in DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office. “The military faces particularly acute energy challenges, which are driving this innovation. We often must operate far from established energy infrastructure and rely on liquid fuels that require precarious supply lines.”
Current military platforms that require long range, endurance, or significant weapons delivery capability must be physically large to carry the stored energy needed to complete a mission as liquid fuel. A wireless power transfer network transforms platforms into conduits rather than containers, which enables small inexpensive platforms with significant capabilities such as unlimited range or endurance.
Power beaming may sound exotic, but it is the exact same physics used in wireless communication. “You need a power source; you convert that power to a propagating wave, typically electromagnetic, send it through free space, collect it in through an aperture, and then convert it back to electricity,” said Calhoun.
Conversion efficiencies remain a challenge, though. In a multi-hop network, converting from a propagating wave back to electricity and back to propagating wave at each node quickly accrues unacceptable losses. Each one of those conversions is relatively inefficient and multiplying them across a chain is impractical.
“The POWER program will develop efficient power beaming relays that redirect optical energy transmissions while maximizing beam quality at each point along the way, selectively harvesting energy as needed,” said Calhoun. “It is a three-phase development effort, culminating in a compelling energy relay flight demonstration.”
History has shown energy transport breakthroughs like the Roman roads, railroads, mechanized warfare, and air-refueling tankers that more rapidly and resiliently flow energy through the battlespace give a decisive military advantage. “We believe the next energy revolution will be enabled by the wireless energy web,” said Calhoun. “It will dramatically compress transport timelines and resiliently provide distributed energy to consumers in air, on land, on the sea, undersea, and in space.” (Source: ASD Network)
06 Oct 22. uAvionix Demonstrates SkyLine C2 Management Platform at Choctaw Nation UAS Test Site. uAvionix recently completed a complex demonstration of its SkyLine Command and Control (C2) management service in which multiple Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) were being controlled from the cloud-based C2 platform, while each of the aircraft was connected to SkyLine by multiple simultaneous links to multiple terrestrial radios.
The demonstration was conducted in coordination with the Chocktaw Nation of Oklahoma (CNO) UAS Test Center, an FAA Beyond lead participant.
Avoiding a lost link scenario is critical to Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) operations. Every radio and frequency has advantages and disadvantages depending on the geographic location and altitude of the operation. The uAvionix solution of leveraging both path diversity and link diversity focuses on the prevention of lost link situations by enabling seamless and lossless switching between radio types.
Path diversity exists when the radio frequency (RF) information has more than one physical path to its destination. This can be achieved by more than one radio onboard the aircraft, or more than one radio on the ground. The demonstration involved the uAvionix microLink ISM radio on the aircraft, providing 2X2-multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) diversity, effectively 2 radios in one, with two separate antennas, each connected to multiple skyStation ISM radios on the ground, each of which itself is a 2X2-MIMO. Path diversity provides the best chance for any given link to reach its destination through more than one physical path.
Link diversity exists when different radios or frequencies exist. For this demonstration, in addition to the ISM frequency microLink/skyStation radios, the uAvionix muLTElink provided LTE connectivity by its own internal 2X2 LTE MIMO. Therefore, on the aircraft, both path diversity and link diversity exist because the data can reach its destination through different radios (and frequencies) as well as different physical pathways from antenna to antenna.
Combining both link diversity and path diversity creates a self-healing, deterministic, and low latency network incredibly resistant to interference or jamming due to the redundancy of pathways for the data to be transmitted and received. Managing this complexity is the SkyLine C2 management platform, which provides the operators with real-time statistics of each radio link, and allows either automatic or manual “roaming” from radio to radio, either in the air or on the ground.
“The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the unique Emerging Aviation Technology Center (EATC) site with its vast diverse terrain are a perfect location to demonstrate the muLTElink and SkyLine capabilities,” said Marc Hartman, Manager of Aviation Operations with CNO, “With existing gaps in cellular coverage it provides a real-world environment to showcase the unique ability of muLTElink and SkyLine cloud service to provide seamless command and control of an aircraft in real-world environment”.
In addition to automated C2 management, uAvionix also used SkyLine to demonstrate an integrated detect & avoid (DAA) capability from terrestrial sensors, including the CNO Detect HARRIER™ terrestrial primary radar information and several uAvionix pingStation3 ADS-B receivers to provide a complete picture of cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft in the entire airspace.
“The capability of presenting integrated radar and ADS-B data into a managed C2 solution ultimately utilizing uAvionix C-band radios is a major contributor to our planned BVLOS operations here at the Choctaw Nation,” stated Hartman.
The SkyLine system is currently deployed as the C2 Service Provider in Vantis, the State-Wide North Dakota BVLOS network SkyLine is also installed at the Oklahoma Emerging Aviation Technology Test Center, the New Mexico UAS Test Site, and the AIRmarket led Energy UTM trials in Canada. More commercial operators are expected to join the SkyLine Network in the very near future. (Source: UAS VISION)
06 Oct 22. Trust me, I’m a Doctrine. The Marine Nationale takes a robust line on the role of electronic warfare for anti-ship missile defence, but will its future ships have the tools to do the job?
French Navy officials gave a comprehensive overview of the force’s Electronic Warfare (EW) doctrine during a recent presentation on 13th September. The officials were speaking at the Direction Générale de l’Armement (General Armament Directorate) radar testing facility at Saint Mandrier on France’s south coast. ‘Commander Eric’, a navy EW officer, quipped that “all the anecdotes I have about electronic warfare are classified and sensitive”. That notwithstanding he stressed that radar-guided Anti-Ship Missiles (AShMs) “continue to be a major concern” and that “we are permanently assessing the risks”. Although the term Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2AD) has become fashionable its usage is rejected by the French Navy: “We refuse the idea and practice of A2AD. If we accept the term it would mean the adversary has won”. The Marine Nationale “must be able to operate in A2AD areas” he continued.
The evolution of AShM technology has followed two axes, Cmdr. Eric asserted. The first focuses on missile performance enhancing speed and manoeuvrability to counter vessel hard kill systems. The second continually accelerates the performance of the missile’s radar seeker. Much of this focuses on enhancing the seeker’s Electronic Counter-Countermeasures (ECCM) techniques to overcome vessel soft kill systems.
Electronic warfare, along with radar and optronics, all play vital roles in detecting AShM threats as protection is but a pipe dream unless the incoming missile is detected and tracked. Layered protection is at the heart of AShM vessel safeguarding, blending kinetics like close-in weapons systems with soft kill electronic attack. “You use both hard kill and soft kill if you can. It is essential to have several hard and soft kill layers”.
Cmdr. Eric is seeing changes in the tactical approach towards engaging and defeating AShMs through electronic attack. “For many years, you had one specific jamming waveform for each type of AShM radar seeker” he observed. “This is expensive and inefficient, as you are always having to react to the threat”. This process can exacerbate the time it takes to load new jamming techniques into ship EW systems. “Today, the approach rests on taking more generic tactics usable against a wide array of threats. These may be less precise but will deal with more threats and be more responsive as new threats emerge”.
Over the long term, the navy expects to employ generic jamming waveforms with high-powered jammers and to embrace emerging technologies like directed energy weapons. Cmdr. Eric also foresees roles for cognitive EW approaches. These could recognise AShM radar waveforms as and when they appear in peace and war through electronic intelligence gathering. Cognitive techniques could also be used for rapidly drafting innovative jamming waveforms to defeat these threats.
For but not with?
Despite the Marine Nationale’s clear awareness of EW’s role in anti-ship protection, new French Navy vessels appear bereft of the very systems Cmdr. Eric flagged as essential for layered AShM defence. For example, the fleet’s new ‘Amiral Ronarc’h’ class frigates are outfitted for, but not with, an electronic countermeasure.
There is clear interest in France in active Radio Frequency (RF) decoys. The country’s Agence de l’Innovation de Défense (Defence Innovations Agency) has an active Radio Frequency (RF) decoy research programme. Both Etienne Lacroix and Thales have proposed active RF decoy designs to the navy. However, the fleet has no formal active RF decoy programme at present. Industry insiders told Armada that this could emerge in circa six years’ time. Likewise, there appears to be no acquisition strategy for the new frigates to acquire a jammer in the immediate future. They will rely on hard kill capabilities like the ship’s MBDA Aster-15/30 surface-to-air missiles for now. It seems the ships will initially lack even the wherewithal to deploy corner radar reflectors.
The proliferation of anti-ship missiles around the globe remains a cause of concern. On 14th April 2022 Ukrainian forces sank Russia’s Moskva ‘Slava’ class destroyer using Luch R-360 Neptune AShMs. This makes the approach of the Marine Nationale towards outfitting the new frigates with soft kill capabilities mystifying. One can only hope this reticence changes course in the future. (Source: Armada)
06 Oct 22. Onward to Introduction. The US Army is moving ahead with the TLS-EAB programme which will provide operational-level cyber and electronic warfare effects for its manoeuvre force.
On 18th August the US Army commenced a $15 m, eleven-month Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreement with General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin. This covers work the two firms will perform on phase one of the Terrestrial Layer System – Echelons Above Brigade (TLS-EAB) initiative.
US Army manoeuvre force Cyber and Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) assets are undergoing a transformation courtesy of new capabilities. Army Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs) are receiving the TLS-BCT. This will be installed onboard a version of the General Dynamics M-1133 Stryker medical evacuation platform. M-1133 vehicles were selected as they have sufficient electrical connections for the vehicles’ CEMA payloads. Armoured BCTs will receive the TLS-BCT mounted on BAE Systems’ Armoured Multi-Purpose Vehicle (AMPV). The AMPV is replacing the FMC/BAE Systems M-113 tracked armoured personnel carriers in US Army service.
TLS-BCT
On 15th July, the army awarded a contract worth $58.9 m to Lockheed Martin covering the construction of three TLS-BCT prototypes. Both TLS programmes are managed by the US Army’s Programme Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEWS). The army says operational tests of the prototype TLS-BCT systems are planned before the end of 2023. The TLS-BCT will engage electromagnetic threats across wavebands of circa 30 megahertz/MHz to at least 18 gigahertz/GHz. The system will also use its electronic attack capabilities to inject malicious code into hostile computers and computer networks via red force communications.
The TLS-BCT replaces the Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS) equipping M-1126 Stryker platforms and the TEW-Light (TEW-L) onboard General Dynamics Flyer-72 four-wheel drive vehicles. TLS-BCT also replaces General Dynamics’ AN/MLQ-44A Prophet Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) gathering vehicle. The TEWS and TEW-L are quick reaction capabilities replacing the Sabre Fury electronic attack system. Sabre Fury is based on SRC’s AN/VLQ-12(V)4/5 Counter Radio-Controlled EW system. This rapidly provided the US Army with a mobile SIGINT/electronic attack capability for forward-deployed units like the 2nd Cavalry Regiment based in Vilseck, southwest Germany. The system also equips the US Army’s Electronic Warfare Tactical Vehicle (EWTV). EWTVs were primarily developed for training and electronic warfare research and development.
Mission
The TLS Echelon Above Brigade (TLS-EAB) architecture complements the TLS-BCT. Whereas the latter focuses on the tactical battle, the TLS-EAB will perform operational-level CEMA. The system comprises two Oshkosh FMTV wheeled tactical vehicles. One carries a SIGINT and jamming system likely to detect and engage threats on similar wavebands to the TLS-BCT. The second will have an electronic protection system to safeguard friendly communications networks from electronic/cyberattack. This platform will also perform cyber/electronic attack to pre-empt hostile actions. However, unlike the first vehicle it will not collect SIGINT. A PEO IEWS spokesperson told Armada that the TLS-EAB will focus “on the higher and more strategic echelons of the army which require longer ranges and the abilities to interoperate with a broader range of adjacent service, coalition, and national and strategic partners”.
Service Entry
The TLS-EAB OTA agreement engages industry and academe for research and prototyping and are not procurement contracts. A press release announcing the TLS-EAB award stated that during phase one “both companies will participate in a competitive developmental process consisting of concept design, system design review and a software architecture demonstration”. The OTA is “is planned for five total phases consisting of concept design; prototype build, test and Integration; production readiness and operational assessment; equip and transition to a follow-on programme; and design and development of future material solutions”, the spokesperson continued. They added that “TLS-EAB prototype systems will initially be delivered to an operational unit for a testing event in 2025. Prototype systems will then be issued to the operational unit(s) as residual operational capabilities following the test”. (Source: Armada)
06 Oct 22. October Spectrum SitRep. On 24th August Northrop Grumman announced via a press release that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Terma. This will see the two companies cooperating “on electronic warfare simulation and training opportunities in Northern Europe.” Specifically, the MOU covers the provision of realistic electronic warfare training for military pilots in European North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members. The press release continued that “the companies will contribute their expertise to creating modern, effective air operations training, combining Northrop Grumman’s leadership in digital environments with Terma’s long-standing support of regional partners”.
Looking towards Australia, Raytheon has selected Pacific Defence to provide MOSA (Modular Open Systems Approach) components as part of the Australian Army’s Land-555 Phase-6/Tranche-2 programme. This initiative will outfit several Thales Bushmaster armoured vehicles with electronic warfare capabilities to support the army’s manoeuvre forces. A report published by australiandefence.com.au stated that the Land-555 Phase-6/Tranche-2 programme should be completed by late 2025. An announcement in July by the Australian government stated the programme will deliver electronic support, electronic attack and command and control capabilities.
The Romanian Ministry of Defence (MOD) will purchase new Counter Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (CUAV) systems and communications jammers. The MOD is looking for a jammer to target the radio communications used by UAVs. Local reports said the MOD has allocated $49m for this acquisition to cover the purchase of five systems. The deadline for companies to respond to the solicitation closed on 16th September. The MOD’s acquisition is running alongside the purchase of a portable CUAS system for the Romanian military. Up to $5 m has been allocated for this with bids closing on 27th September. A further two tenders were released in September for the procurement of communications electronic warfare systems worth up to $203m.
The US Army plans to establish an office responsible for offensive cyber and space operations in 2023, according to a report in late August by Defence News. The office will be known as the Programme Manager Cyber and Space. It will be subordinate to the Programme Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors (PEO IEWS). Currently, army offensive cyber operations are the responsibility of the electronic warfare element of the PEO IEWS. US Army cyber capabilities include the Joint Common Access Platform which is used across the Department of Defence for offensive cyber missions.
The Indian Air Force’s Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name Flanker) combat aircraft are destined to receive Rafael Advanced Defence Systems’ X-Guard towed fibre optic decoy. The news was reported on the defenceview.in website. The decoy will help shield the aircraft from radar-guided air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. There was no word on how many of the IAF’s Su-30MKI fleet will receive the decoy, when installation will commence and conclude, and the value of the contract.
Hanwha Systems has responded to a Republic of Korea requirement for an upgraded version of LIG Nex1’s SLQ-200 Sonata naval electronic warfare system. Reports on the ajudaily.com website said that the system can be installed on vessels like the Republic of Korea Navy’s (ROKN) forthcoming KDDX destroyers. The SLQ-200 entered service in 2002 onboard ROKN surface combatants. Reports continued that the SLQ-200 could be installed within an integrated mast on the vessel.
L3Harris won an order worth up to $2.6m in mid-September from the US Navy as part of the Mk.234 Nulka Advanced Decoy Architecture Programme (ADAP). ADAP is providing advanced signal processing capabilities to the BAE Systems Nulka active offboard radio frequency decoy. These decoys are launched to lure anti-ship missiles away from a vessel. According to a report from militaryaerospace.com, ADAP payloads will be added to existing Nulka decoys. This will allow the decoys to target missile threats not in Nulka’s current repertoire. The report continued that L3Harris will complete this work by June 2025.
Operations
Speculation is surrounding the People’s Republic of China’s new Yaogan-33 satellite launched on 2nd September. Officially, the satellite is intended to help agriculture and disaster response, although speculation has focused on it potentially being used for more nefarious purposes. To this end, the satellites may have a dual purpose as a military platform, for example being used for signals intelligence gathering. Previous reports on the Yaogan-33 have stated that these satellites have been launched equipped with synthetic aperture radars. While also being used to assist agriculture such technology clearly has military applications.
Meanwhile, several electronic warfare developments occurred in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict last month. On 4th September, the Ukrainian Army’s 128th Brigade revealed it had captured a Silok-01 EW system used by the Russian armed forces. Reports stated that the Silok-01 is a CUAV system designed to jam radio links used by uninhabited aerial vehicles. These links control the aircraft from the ground, relay video and are used for satellite navigation.
In a separate victory, an electronic warfare pod from a Russian Air Force Su-30SM combat aircraft was also captured. The pod is thought to be an RTU-518PSM EW system forming part of the aircraft’s Khibiny-U electronic warfare ensemble. Reports state that the RTU-518PSM is a passive device used for detecting electronic emissions. The overall Khibiny-U suite was ordered by the Russian Ministry of Defence in 2013 and entered service onboard the Su-30SM in 2018. (Source: Armada)
05 Oct 22. Boeing Defence Australia delivers $842m Currawong comms system. The system faced a handful of small delays, Breaking Defense has learned, but nothing that derailed the project. After several technical and supply chain delays, Boeing Defense Australia has delivered the vast majority of a complex data and communications system known as Currawong.
“In just eight years, a team of more than 200 people, located primarily in Brisbane, has designed and developed a world-leading system which provides the Australian Army with access to more voice, data and video services in the field than ever before,” Boeing said in a statement here.
The $875m AUD program was formally known as Land 2072 Phase 2B when it began. Seven years later it’s known as JP 2072 Phase 5B. The system, Boeing said in the statement, is designed so Australian forces “can securely connect to one another and headquarters from anywhere in the world, anytime.”
The system has already been mounted on Australia’s vaunted Bushmaster vehicles and could be used by the Royal Australia Navy for its SEA 1442, the Royal Australian Navy’s communications program for its upgraded Anzac frigates.
But all was not without some drama. Breaking Defense had heard of some delays in the program and sent questions to the Ministry of Defense ahead of the show.
“The Headquarters On The Move (HQOTM) capability has been delayed due to a power issue identified on the vehicles that prevented Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) from completing production and delivery to Defence. BDA has worked closely with Defence to minimise the impact to the delivery schedule of the HQOTM Capability,” a ministry spokesperson said in an email.
In addition, “The Deployable Data Centre Assembly (DDCA) capability has been delayed due to supply chain issues which were exacerbated by COVID-19 and flooding in South East Queensland in February 2022. BDA is working closely with Defence to minimise delays to the delivery schedule of the Deployable Data Centre Assembly capability.”
The good news is that “the cost of the HQOTM and DDCA capabilities remains within the contracted budget, with delivery and training of both capabilities expected to be completed by mid-2023.”
Overall, the delays will not effect the program passing the Final Operational Capability milestone in September 2023.
That there were delays may not be a surprise, given the complexity of the Currawong effort.
How complex is it? “It includes multiple transmission options, from Wideband Global Satellite to fibre to public networks, combined with innovative system management and networking software, to deliver high-quality, uninterrupted communications services. These services can be tailored for any sized mission — from supporting a small unit to providing full remote headquarter operations,” the Boeing release says.
The program used the long-touted acquisition approach of build a prototype, test it, let users try it, improve it and build it. And the system was built entirely by Australians, with more than 220 smaller Australian companies contributing.
The Boeing team spoke today of exporting the system — though they did not identify any potential customers — and of building it out to “make it a true joint force architecture.”
Boeing appears to have reason for optimism for the program to expand, since the Australian government has committed to a multi-year Capability Enhancement Program, which will see upgrades appear over time. In the Boeing statement, Tom Minge, Boeing Defence Australia’s Currawong program director, noted that is not the usual end to a program. “In the past, at the completion of development programs such as Currawong, we would traditionally shift to a pure sustainment contract, with limited scope for upgrades and enhancements.” (Source: Breaking Defense.com)
05 Oct 22. US: Joint report warns persistent threat by state-sponsored hackers to defence industry. On 4 October, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) issued a joint report about a 10-month cyber espionage operation against a US entity in the defence sector. The report highlighted that multiple state-backed advanced persistent threat (APT) groups attacked the unnamed organisation using a custom CovalentStealer malware, the Impacket framework – a collection of Python classes for working with network protocols – as well as HyperBro remote access trojan. The incident occurred following the mass data breach of Microsoft Exchange Server first discovered in January 2021. The hackers exploited four ProxyLogon vulnerabilities for the Exchange Server to gain access to the victim’s systems around the same time; many Chinese Chopper webshells were also installed on compromised systems to allow the threat actors to remotely control the web servers and establish persistence on the network. While the Microsoft Exchange Server breach was attributed to Chinese state-linked APT Hafnium, the US government did not provide information regarding the possible perpetrators of this attack. The report underlines the sustained threat state-linked APTs posed to the US defence industry and its international partners. The newly discovered Microsoft Exchange zero-day vulnerabilities could present a threat vector for fresh attacks in the coming weeks. (Source: Sibylline)
04 Oct 22. Rapid Mobile releases new naval communications technology. Rapid Mobile, the Pretoria based designer and manufacturer of advanced military communications technology, recently launched a new naval solution at the Africa Aerospace and Defence (AAD) show at Waterkloof Air Force base in Pretoria.
The RapidM Multi-Gateway capability was launched at the show (21-25 September), just weeks after its trials in South-East Asia. It is aimed at enhancing shore-to-ship and ship-to shore communications to ensure reliable and continuous high frequency communications. One of the system’s use cases is for joint force operations with a naval component.
Karel Koster, RapidM’s Tactical Product Leader, said the Multi-Gateway routing capability is a game changer for high-frequency networks in allowing existing transmit and receive stations to be connected and opens options for lower cost solutions. Due to interference, legacy systems often require a distance between receive and transmit stations. The Multi-Gateway solution allows messages and data to be routed through multiple possible shore stations and ensures improved connectivity, redundancy, as well as compression of messages, and prioritisation of messages.
While high frequency radio networks are widely used by militaries around the world, they can be unreliable because the ionosphere, upon which the waves from these transmissions bounce back to earth, change in its characteristics with the time of day due to changes in the sun. The Multi-Gateway solution allows different frequencies to be automatically tested and remembered.
Previously RapidM’s solutions had only a single gateway which allowed a radio network to connect via an internet protocol. The new capability allows high frequency radio voice, internet, transmission, and receiving gateways to operate off one system allowing substantial cost savings, said Koster. Older systems for high frequency transmission and receiving would have to be separated because of problems with interference.
Another attribute of the system is that it can remember which frequencies have been previously used for a specific connection and which have achieved the highest quality. One use case would be for the system to be placed in naval shore stations for both communication with ships and with other stations. A network using this solution can allow for transmissions to be re-broadcast from station to station.
Rapid Mobile also launched the RM10 Wideband Software Defined Modem with an Automatic Link Establishment capability at AAD 2022. While this product and the RC10 ARQ Server and IP Controller have been launched abroad and have NATO stock numbers indicating conformity to the alliance’s standards, the Africa launch of these products took place at AAD.
Koster said the RM10 addresses the need for higher speeds in data communications over wideband channels in the HF, VHF, and UHF bands. The RM10 design allows operation on crowded ship platforms where space and power consumption are paramount. Together with the companion product to the RM10, the RC10 allows broadcast chat and messaging, and email communications over long ranges at high speeds over a radio network.
Rapid Mobile supplies communications technology, particularly in the field of HF and V/UHF radios. It has a range of HF/VHF modems, software and voice encryption solutions. Adding RapidM’s software-defined modem technology, radios can provide encrypted digital voice communication, secure transmission of digital text, messages, SMS and e-mail, and gateways to link HF/VHF radio networks to intranets, Internet and GSM networks. Another of its products is its CommandPoint battle management system, which has been sold to forces in South East Asia, Australia and NATO. Since inception in 2001 the company has supplied naval, tactical and government communications solutions to customers in 45 countries. (Source: https://www.defenceweb.co.za/)
30 Sep 22. AOS and Asension launch HERCULES EW at Land Forces. Australian companies AOS and Asension have partnered to launch HERCULES EW at Land Forces, offering an Australian-made EW network for the ADF.
According to a release from the companies, the HERCULES EW leverages four components to deliver network survivability and scale, including:
- The AOS iWatchdog, which is a multi-vehicle tasking system that is also expected to enable to control of autonomous vehicles.
- The Kelpie, an autonomous vehicle designed by AOS.
- The Harlequin, which was developed by the Defence Science and Technology Group and enables radio planning and optimisation in threat environments.
- The Wombat, a locally made and software defined transceiver which enables “user-configurable RF applications”.
Andrew Lucas, managing director of AOS, explained that the system is a cost-effective solution for the Australian Army.
“Historically, the EW equipment that offers protection and enables offensive operations has been bulky and expensive. It has been housed in fixed locations, such as a deployed HQ, or more recently, under LAND 555, as equipment installed in a number of Bushmasters. But now we have HERCULES EW, which is a game changer,” Lucas said.
“HERCULES EW is a sophisticated, AI-driven system that will allow the Army to penetrate difficult areas with the communication network resilience they need, without risking the lives of our soldiers.
“With the HERCULES EW — a combination of Asension’s Wombat, AOS’ iWatchdog TM, the AOS autonomous Kelpie TM vehicle and DST Group’s HARLEQUIN — we have a cost-effective solution that delivers what the Army needs right now,” Lucas concluded.
Ian Spencer, chief executive officer of Asension, explained that the capability was designed to enable easy deployment. (Source: Defence Connect)
03 Oct 22. North Korea: Lazarus group will continue to present persistent security threats to security and defence industries. In a report published on 30 September, the cyber security firm ESET detailed the spear-phishing ‘Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver’ (BYOVD) attacks exploiting Dell hardware drivers’ CVE-2021-21551 vulnerability carried out by North Korea’s Lazarus APT group. According to ESET, this was the “first ever recorded” attack of its kind, highlighting Lazarus’s abilities and the growing complexity of their attacks. The espionage and data theft campaign unfolded in the autumn of 2021 and used tools such as ‘BLINDINGCAN’ backdoors, FudModule Rootkit, and trojanised open-source apps including wolfSSL and FingerText. ESET confirmed that two professionals in the aerospace and journalism sectors in the Netherland and Belgium, respectively, were targeted. On the same day, Microsoft also warned about the use of trojanised open-source apps and fake social media accounts, by North Korean threat actors against tech and defence industry professionals. Lazarus was likely aware of the CVE-2021-21551 vulnerability for far longer than the attacks occurred. While public warnings about the vulnerabilities were launched in December 2021, CVE-2021-21551 remained vulnerable for approximately 12 years before Dell provided security updates of it. As such, similar attacks by the Lazarus APT or other state-sponsored hacking groups with similar capabilities will probably have been conducted. Professionals in the security and defence industries will likely remain among the top targets for North Korean cyber espionage and data theft campaigns. (Source: Sibylline)
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Spectra Group Plc
Spectra Group (UK) Ltd, internationally renowned award-winning information security and communications specialist with a proven record of accomplishment.
Spectra is a dynamic, agile and security-accredited organisation that offers secure Hosted and Managed Solutions and Cyber Advisory Services with a track record of delivering on time, to spec and on budget.
With over 15 years of experience in delivering solutions for governments around the globe, elite militaries and private enterprises of all sizes, Spectra’s platinum and gold-level partnerships with third-party vendors ensure the supply of best value leading-edge technology.
Spectra was awarded the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise (Innovation) in 2019 for SlingShot.
In November 2017, Spectra Group (UK) Ltd announced its listing as a Top 100 Government SME Supplier by the UK Crown Commercial Services.
Spectra’s CEO, Simon Davies, was awarded 2017 Businessman of the Year by Battlespace magazine.
Founded in 2002, the Company is based in Hereford, UK and holds ISO 9001:2015, ISO 27001:2013 and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation.
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