fgi.gov

The Air Force is performing a study on how it can improve its cyber capabilities, according to a request for information issued Wednesday.

The RFI is looking for submissions addressing the Air Force’s needs in the cyberspace for possible inclusion in the Air Force Cyber Vision 2025 study, which will identify best practices in the government and private sector, according to the solicitation. 

According to the RFI, the Air Force wants the study to address cyber capabilities as part of its core missions in air, space, cyber, and Command and Control Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and engage with industry, academia and “government to leverage capabilities and experience.”

The Air Force is seeking the “cyber advantage” in its air, space, C2ISR and cyber missions. This means cyber superiority in areas such as “doctrine, workforce development (education and training), acquisition and support.”

Responses that address cyber solutions should address “adversary threats which may exploit, disrupt, deny or degrade Air Force data, networks, systems and mission in the near- mid and far-term range.”

Submissions should focus on advanced solutions and ideas in early development stages and should also focus on future development.

The command said in a December 2011 contract justification and approval notice that iPads had exceeded the command’s requirements during tests. However, a command spokeswoman told NextGov in an email the command is keeping an open mind.

“We are… platform agnostic and fully expect improvements across the commercial market to develop in a variety of areas that will increase our capabilities,” Maj. Kristi Beckman wrote.

Beckman said the flight bags would only contain publicly available information as the command is exploring how to protect data in a mobile environment. Capt. Kristen Duncan, another command spokeswoman, told NextGov this data could include navigation charts from Boeing’s Jeppesen division.

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The Air Force is pursuing a wearable computer and tactical vest, according to a request for information posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website.

The Air Force said it wants a system that can run on Windows 7 or later systems and is compliant with commercial-off-the-shelf hardware and software interfaces.

The Air Force also wants the system to have a GPS receiver that is compatible with a digital magnetic compass and night vision goggles. 

The RFI also says the system must carry ballistic plates in the front, rear and sides.

According to Wired, the Army is conducting a similar search. Previous Air Force designs included eyepieces hanging from soldiers’ helmets to view maps and tactile keyboards attached to ballistic vests.

Now, the Air Force is gauging how to develop its new device to house more memory, remain undetected at longer ranges and and have possible “flotation characteristics,” according to Wired. 

According to Boeing, the SBSS is the only space-based sensor in the Air Force’s space surveillance network. The network is intended to detect distant objects despite interference from weather. 

Boeing won the original contract in 2004. Ball Aerospace and Technologies handles design, according to Boeing. The SBSS satellite was launched on Sept. 25, 2010.

Photo: commons.wikimedia user Pattafix

The competition is on for authorized Apple re-sellers as the Air Force Special Operations Command is looking to bring in 2,861 Apple iPad2 tablets to aid crew members during flights, according to an AFSOC notice and NextGov report. 

The Dec. 29, 2011 notice indicated the Air Force wants a solution that can “provide near-instantaneous, seamless, standardized updates to aircrews.” The iPads would replace paper manuals currently used.

According to NextGov, the group determined the iPad as the only tablet meeting command requirements as a result of a three-month product evaluation. The command tested tablets in five aircraft, NextGov reported.

The Air Force indicated that using electronic flight bags, approved by the Federal Aviation Administration in May 2011, would be cost-efficient because the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency frequently updates its Flight Information Publications for navigation.

NextGov reported that the Air Mobility Command tested electronic flight bags in 2011 and will decide in the spring if electronic systems will be integrated fleet-wide. The command plans to include Good.iware software on its iPads as well, which encrypts files to secure data in case a device is stolen.

Air Force photo

More civilian contractors are working directly with the U.S. military and CIA to gather intelligence and execute offensive strikes as the U.S. continues to expand the number of drones it operates around the world.

Many of these contractors are helping drive the U.S.’ demand for their personnel by rapidly evolving drone technologies and capabilities, working in tandem with the U.S. to develop a global network of pilot centers, analysis stations and bases that can collect intelligence or strike on adversaries in a host of countries.

Investing in this network requires more personnel than investing in more traditional military air platforms, David Cloud wrote in a Dec. 29 Los Angeles Times piece. Air Force figures indicate it takes around 168 people to keep a single Predator in flight for 24 hours and 300 people for the larger surveillance Global Hawk, compared to the approximately 100 people needed to operate a F-16 fighter mission.

Contractors fill in for the Air Force’s shortage of ground-based pliots and crews who fly the drones, the analysts who constantly pour over the intelligence and reconnaissance gathered, and the technicians and mechanics who provide upkeep, Cloud said.

The Air Force currently operates more than 50 drones at all hours over Afghanistan and other areas and has a total fleet of around 230 Predators, Reapers and Global Hawks.

Even with an unclear budget picture, both those figures stand to grow. The Pentagon plans to purchase 730 medium and large drones over the next ten years, close to double the 775 the Congressional Budget Office counted in the current U.S. inventory. That figure doesn’t include hundreds currently under construction or in planning.

What’s more, the CIA has its own category of stealth drones that go unaccounted for in public documents, Greg Miller wrote in a Dec. 27 Washington Post piece.

“Our number one manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platform,” Gen. Philip M. Breedlove told the LA Times. Cloud said the Pentagon plan would require thousands more personnel and that “without civilian contractors, U.S. drone operations would grind to a halt.”

SAIC Inc. said in a recent job advertisement that it has 450 employees analyzing battlefield video feeds for military units including the Air Force Special Operations Command.

BAE Systems‘ U.S. subsidiary has posted an ad for a special operations veteran to manage several hundred employs “while conducting [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] / [full motion video] missions.”

As the U.S. fleet of unmanned aircraft grows, so too does the international reach and work of contractors.

Miller writes that in 2009, the U.S. was only conducting non-war zone drone operations in Pakistan, where it had fired around 44 strikes over five years.

Today, the U.S. carries out drone operations above or near Yemen, Somalia and Iran and the U.S. military flies drones from bases in Seychelles and Ethiopia. The military and CIA now have clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents, with a newly constructured CIA base on the Arabian Peninsula.

Since 2009, the New America Foundation estimates the U.S. has carried out nearly 240 strikes in Pakistan.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) told the Post that the pace 0f technological development makes it hard to predict what uses the government will put drones to next.

One potential next stop: aircraft carriers. Northrop Grumman‘s prototype X-47B can be controlled by computer, rather than joystick, and will be the first drone able to take off and land on the moving deck of an aircraft carrier, the Wall Street Journal reports.

It can carry up to 4,500 pounds of weapons.

Air Force photo

Lockheed Martin will continue to maintain IBM software for the Air Force, as well as provide the branch with new software licenses in support of the Air Force’s global combat support system.

According to a Pentagon announcement, the work will support the system’s development and integration environment.

The company won an $8,510,044 firm-fixed-price contract for the support, which the Pentagon expects to run through December 2012.

Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama is the contracting activity.

Air Force image

ITT Exelis integrated and performed the initial power up of a full-size payload prototype for the U.S. Air Force‘s Global Positioning System III program, according to a company announcement.

The company said the test was intended to show that the digital communications, telemetry and radio frequency interfaces are working properly. A new generation of GPS III satellites is scheduled for first launch in 2014, Exelis said.

“Successfully completing the initial power-up of the GNST Navigation Payload Element demonstrates our confidence that any issues will be identified and solved prior to building the first space vehicle,” said Mark Pisani, a vice president and general manager for Exelis’ geospatial systems division.

General Atomics photo

The Air Force is sending a General Atomics Predator C Avenger drone to Afghanistan, according to a Flightglobal report.

The Avenger is referred to as a test aircraft, but Flightglobal reports the order meets Defense Secretary Leon Panetta‘s request for reconnaissance and strike capabilities.

“This aircraft will be used as a test asset and will provide a significantly increased weapons and sensors payload capacity on an aircraft that will be able to fly to targets much more rapidly than the MQ-9 [Reaper] UAS,” the Air Force said according to Flightglobal.

“Since it has an internal weapons bay and four hardpoints on each wing it will also allow greater flexibility and will accommodate a large selection of next generation sensor and weapons payloads,” the Air Force said. 

“The GPS III program continues to meet major milestones on or ahead of schedule, and the delivery of the core structure and propellant tanks for the first GPS III space vehicle is another achievement demonstrating this program’s solid execution,” said Lt Col Don Frew, the U.S. Air Force’s GPS III program manager. “The joint U.S. Air Force and industry team understands the importance of GPS III and we are focused on delivering capabilities to meet the demands of more than one billion GPS users worldwide.”

“Through actively partnering with our customer, ATK was able to meet the program needs on a very aggressive schedule while maintaining the quality of the deliverables,” said Dave Shanahan, Vice President, ATK’s Space Structures & Components. “ATK’s role in this program is critical to ensuring the next generation GPS satellites are successful.”

The next generation GPS III satellites will deliver significant improvements including position, navigation and timing services and provide advanced anti-jam capabilities, yielding superior system security, accuracy and reliability, while adding a new international civil signal that is designed to be interoperable with other global navigation satellite systems.