Page 4 – Defense Daily

NRO Looks to Bolster Satellite Cyber Protection

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is moving to a zero trust/defense in depth cyber protection schemata for the agency’s satellites, an NRO official said on Tuesday.

“Whereas in the past the government was really the main tenant of air and space, that equation has flipped,” Jeremy Mucha, the NRO’s technical director of national communication systems, told the CyberSat conference in Reston, Va., on Tuesday. “For us–the government–we’re still grappling with that, to be perfectly honest, and how we manage and secure our systems. This has really caused us to evolve and think about everything as an IT system.”

Included in that, for example, are NRO desktops and data centers, the agency’s Cloud hosting, and on-orbit transport.

“We’re approaching a convergence of that terrestrial and space-based transport,” Mucha said. “It used to be that encrypting your mission link, encrypting your band link was pretty hot stuff. Those days are long gone. Viewing our space assets as IT systems means we’re adopting the zero-trust, defense in depth mantra. Perimeter defense is gonna fail because you have to assume that somebody will get through the perimeters, if they keep banging on the doors. That leads to a defense in depth.”

There has been some movement on the latter. For example, RTX [RTX] said last year that it had formed a strategic partnership with SpiderOak, a provider of cybersecurity solutions for space systems, to develop and field new zero-trust systems for satellite communications in proliferated low-Earth orbit (pLEO) (Defense Daily, Apr. 12, 2023).

Both the Space Force’s Space Development Agency and the NRO have been moving out on pLEO constellations.

Last month, a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched NROL-167–the NRO’s fourth pLEO mission in what the agency said will be “the U.S. government’s largest satellite constellation in history.”

By the end of the year, the NRO plans to have put more than 100 satellites into orbit since June 2023, NRO Director Chris Scolese said in August (Defense Daily, Aug. 28).

On the satellite cyber security front, Mucha said on Tuesday that “there’s a lack of supply chain traceability, in some cases, and so we’ve really gotta start treating our space architecture and production the same as we do our ground architectures and production where we have full traceability and bake in those cyber security tenets up front in manufacturing and production and not try to bolt them on later.”

The NRO is part of a space cyber security working group that focuses on the White House’s 2020 Space Policy Directive-5 and the 2012 Committee on National Security Systems Policy-12 document, which requires satellite operators to have command and telemetry security systems approved by the National Security Agency.

The zero trust satellite cyber security effort leverages the Aerospace Corp.‘s Space Attack Research and Concept Analysis (SPARTA) matrix, started in 2022, and the MITRE Adversarial Tactics, Techniques, and Common Knowledge (ATT&CK) data base, begun in 2013, of more than 200 cyber attacker tactics, techniques and procedures.

A “marriage” of the ATT&CK and SPARTA tools “is shedding all kinds of new light on threats to our space IT systems and mitigation techniques to prevent the adversary owning our satellites,” Mucha said on Tuesday.

AeroVironment Postures As Alternative Defense Prime With Deal To Acquire BlueHalo

Unmanned systems developer and manufacturer AeroVironment [AVAV] on Tuesday agreed to acquire defense technology company BlueHalo in a deal that creates a $1.7 billion diversified business and will position it in the mid-tier as an alternative to the larger, legacy defense prime contractors.

The proposed all-stock transaction has an enterprise value of $4.1 billion, including BlueHalo’s debt of about $770 million and $100 million in tax assets. The acquisition is subject to approvals by regulators and AV’s shareholders and is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

AeroVironment Chairman President and CEO Wahid Nawabi said the Defense Department wants “agile and innovative” suppliers with proven solutions that can be produced at scale, something both companies are demonstrating on their own and will be amplified once combined.

“This acquisition clearly positions AV as the leading pure play mid-tier defense technology solution provider, a company that is best positioned to innovate rapidly to support our customers’ evolving challenges, but with the scale resources and demonstrated track record to deliver highly reliable solutions at high volume,” Nawabi told investors Tuesday morning during a call to discuss the deal.

Bryon Callan, a defense analyst with the strategic advisory firm Capital Alpha Partners, is positive on the pending combination.

“We expect this emerging mid-tier will take share from larger contractors,” Callan said in a research note.

BlueHalo expects to generate more than $900 million in sales in 2024 and has been growing at a rate of 18 percent the last seven years through a combination of organic revenue and acquisitions. The company is headquartered in Arlington, Va., and is owned by the private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners.

AV is projecting between $790 million and $820 million for its fiscal year 2025 that began in August.

AeroVironment said the deal is complementary to its existing offerings with nearly no overlap.

BlueHalo goes to market with products in space technology, systems to counter unmanned aircraft, electronic warfare (EW) and cyber, and advanced technologies in robotics, materials, artificial intelligence and machine learning. In terms of revenue mix, the EW & Cyber mission area is BlueHalo’s largest, followed by Space, and then C-UAS and Advanced Innovations splitting the rest about equal.

BlueHalo’s Locust directed energy and Titan radio frequency counter-unmanned aircraft systems are used by various military services and the company is completing for a new low-cost kinetic missile to defeat drones. In the space realm, BlueHalo is designing and producing the Satellite Communication Resource program to modernize satellite operations for the Space Force (Defense Daily, May 24, 2022).

In the EW and cyber space, BlueHalo has solutions in EW, offensive and defensive cyber, signals, and measurement and signature intelligence, and open-source intelligence.

The Defense Department, military services, intelligence community, defense agencies, NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, and several prime contractors make up BlueHalo’s diverse customer base.

AeroVironment, which is also based in Arlington, develops and produces combat proven Group 1, 2, and 3 UAS, and loitering munitions, ground control solutions, small unmanned ground vehicles, and related artificial intelligence and autonomy capabilities.

Capital Alpha’s Callan also said that AeroVironment’s current manufacturing capabilities could be a plus once it acquires BlueHalo.

AeroVironment did not provide a growth outlook for the combined companies but pointed to revenue synergies in two areas, one of which is cross-selling BlueHalo’s products to AV’s international customer base that consists of about 55 countries, Nawabi said. BlueHalo has few international sales.

The other revenue synergy is selling AV’s UAS and loitering munitions to BlueHalo’s existing customers, he said.

AeroVironment only expects about $20 million in cost savings synergies from the acquisition given little overlap between the companies, Kevin McDonnell, AV’s chief financial officer, said on the investor call.

Nawabi said the “transformational acquisition” is a key milestone toward AV’s “future state” of providing solutions across all domains. Once beefed up, AV will be positioned for future strategic acquisitions, the company said.

BlueHalo has about $600 million in funded backlog and AV had $373 million at the end of July. AV said that BlueHalo’s total addressable market exceeds $50 billion, more than four times AV’s. BlueHalo has about 2,400 employees and AV at the end of April had 1,400.

AV expects the deal to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share within one year of closing.

AV’s financial adviser on the deal is RBC Capital Markets and BlueHalo and Arlington Capital are being advised by J.P. Morgan Securities.

DoD Launches Public-Private Maritime Security Consortium To Aid Southeast Asian Allies

The Defense Department on Monday announced a new public-private consortium aimed at strengthening the maritime security of allies in Southeast Asia by leveraging up to $95 million annually for low-cost commercial solutions.

The Maritime Security Consortium includes defense investors, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, the Defense Innovation Unit, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and South East Asian government decision-makers.

The funding will be put toward maritime domain awareness, logistics and sustainment, and maritime defense solutions. The MARSEC will expand technology demonstrations with allies and partners in multilateral exercises, DoD said, highlighting the annual BALIKATAN exercise with U.S. and Philippine forces.

Additional lines of effort include regular stakeholder meeting to reduce barriers to obtaining commercial solutions, and aligning security cooperation activities with the consortium’s objectives.

“The United States envisions a Southeast Asian region free of coercion where safety, security, sovereignty, self-determination, and prosperity are shepherded by ASEAN centrality,” DoD said. “With more than 60 percent of global maritime trade transitioning Southeast Asia by ship, the maritime domain is central to security and prosperity in Southeast Asia. The United States is committed to ensuring these trading lanes remain free and open for all.”

McCord Sees 2028 Goal To Pass Audit As ‘Achievable,’ As Pentagon Falls Short For 7th Year

The Pentagon has fallen short passing its financial audit for the seventh consecutive year, while a lead official has said the department is showing progress on its goal to achieve a clean opinion by 2028.

Mike McCord, the Pentagon’s comptroller, specifically cited the department’s incremental improvements in addressing “material weaknesses,” with several DoD entities closing or “downgrading” their fund balance with the Treasury Department and fully accounting for all funds.

Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord. (DoD photo by Lisa Ferdinando)

“This result was not a surprise and I know that on the surface it doesn’t sound like we’re making progress. However, that is not the case. I believe the department has turned a corner in its understanding of the challenges and more importantly in addressing those challenges,” McCord said in a briefing to reporters on the audit results. “Momentum is on our side and throughout the department. There is a strong commitment and belief in our ability to achieve an unmodified opinion on behalf of the department’s senior management.”

“I assess that DoD continues to make progress toward the congressional mandate for achieving an unmodified audit opinion in FY ’28. We were already halfway there last year in terms of assets under clean opinions,” McCord added.

The latest audit covered the department’s $4.1 trillion in assets and $4.3 trillion liabilities and included conducting 28 individual financial assessments of individual DoD entities with nine receiving a clean opinion, one receiving a qualified opinion, 15 failing their audits and three whose results remain pending.

The result is a slight improvement over last year’s audit result, in which the department also failed to achieve a clean opinion while noting the financial assessment did not result in the reporting of any new department-wide material weaknesses (Defense Daily, Nov. 16).

Following the release of this year’s audit, McCord reiterated that the result “was expected” as the department works toward achieving a clean opinion of its more than $824 billion budget.

“Despite the disclaimer of opinion, which was expected, the department has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges,” McCord said. “Momentum is on our side, and throughout the department there is strong commitment—and belief in our ability—to achieve an unmodified audit opinion.”

During his briefing with reporters, McCord said he believed it would be “unfair” to characterize the Pentagon as having “failed” its audit once again.

“As I said, we have about half clean opinions. We have half that are not clean opinions. So if someone had a report card that is half good and half not good, I don’t know that you call the student or the report card a failure. We have a lot of work to do but I think we’re making progress, as I said,” McCord said. “We have made progress and we need to get better and faster.”

The Pentagon on Friday said its “firmly committed” to achieving a clean audit opinion by the end of 2028, as mandated by Congress in the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, with McCord adding he believes it’s an “achievable” goal.

“The path forward is clear,” McCord said in a statement. “Significant work remains and challenges lie ahead, but our annual audit continues to be a catalyst for department-wide financial management reform, resulting in greater financial integrity, transparency, and better-supported warfighters.”

The Pentagon noted the Defense Threat Reduction Agency was one of the new DoD offices to achieve a clean opinion this year, joining the Defense Commissary Agency, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defense Finance and Accounting Service Working Capital Fund, Defense Health Agency–Contract Resource Management, DISA Working Capital Fund, Military Retirement Fund, National Reconnaissance Office and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Civil Works.

A total of eight DoD entities closed or downgraded their their fund balance with the Treasury, i.e. addressed material weaknesses, to include Department of the Army General Fund, Department of the Navy Working Capital Fund, Department of Air Force Working Capital Fund, DISA General Fund and Working Capital Fund, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, DARPA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

AFRL Picks Silent Arrow to Demo 200 Mile Autonomous Delivery, Yates Says

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory has chosen California’s Yates Electrospace Corp. to build six CLS-200 autonomous, attritable cargo drones under a $1.8 million direct to Phase II small business innovation research award, the company said on Monday.

CLS-200 stands for Contested Logistics System-200 nautical miles and is to be able to carry 500 pounds.

Yates said that its Silent Arrow product line consists of five attritable, autonomous drones able to transport 350 to 2,000 pounds of “emergency, disaster relief and humanitarian response supplies anywhere in the world on short notice”–the GD-2000, Widebody, SA-PGB, the CLS-300, and the new CLS-200.

The GD-2000 is to be able to carry 1,500 pounds of cargo up to 35 miles. The company said that it has built 73 GD-2000s and that the latter is in full production in the United Kingdom. GD-2000 stands for “Glider, Disposable, 2,000 pounds,” and Yates Electrospace Corp. said that the glider is “capable of internal or external airborne deployment from rotorcraft or from fixed-wing cargo ramps,” such as the C-130, C-17, and A400M.

Last December, the Department of the Air Force’s AFWERX innovation arm awarded the company a small business innovation research contract for the company’s Silent Arrow Contested Logistics System-300 (CLS-300), based on the GD-2000. The CLS-300 is to be able to fly nearly 10 times as far as the GD-2000 via “an innovative propulsion unit and propeller system that are inexpensive enough to allow the entire cargo drone to be attritable,” the company has said.

Yates has said that it has received work from Air Force Special Operations Command, including the deployment of Silent Arrows from MC-130s.

Like the CLS-300, the CLS-200 carries an inexpensive propulsion system and is based on the GD-2000, “the world’s first heavy payload, autonomous and attritable cargo delivery aircraft to enter full-rate production,” according to the company.

Chip Yates, the company’s founder and CEO, said in a statement on Monday that CLS-200 “flight testing at our Pendleton, Oregon facility will be exciting as we longline airdrop five units from our UH-1H rotorcraft and then deliver a 6^th unit to the Air Force for their hands-on evaluation.”

“Attritable” is a new DoD buzzword, especially for combat drones in DoD’s Replicator and the Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft programs, yet “attritable” also applies to future cargo drones.

The word “attritable” first finds DoD mention in a 1999 Director of Operational Test and Evaluation report on the General Atomics‘ MQ-1 Predator as “a system that operates autonomously, is attritable (air vehicle cost is less than $3.5 million), and does not compromise sensitive technology should it be lost over enemy territory,” according to a 2017 Air Force Institute of Technology paper.

AUKUS Partners Sign Hypersonic Agreement

The defense ministries of the three AUKUS allies announced a new agreement to share hypersonic testing facilities and information under the agreement’s Pillar II efforts.

The U.S. Defense Department, Australian Department of Defence and U.K. Ministry of Defense on Monday announced they signed an agreement to enter a Hypersonic Flight Test and Experimentation (HyFliTE) Project Arrangement (PA). This means they will “use each other’s testing facilities and share technical information to develop, test, and evaluate hypersonic systems,” the U.S. DoD said in a statement.

Hypersonic missile test at at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii in 2024. (Photo: U.S. Department of Defense)

The Department added this means current national efforts among the three allies will be “woven together” through the PA. This covers six trilateral flight test campaigns set to occur by 2028, with a funding pool of $252 million.

The agreement aims to increase the pace of testing and take advantage of combining all of their resources, test facilities and experience in this kind of work.

DoD also said HyFliTE will support integrated deterrence as well as trilateral requirements for the development and delivery of hypersonic weapon systems.

While AUKUS Pillar I focuses on helping Australia develop, build and field a fleet of nuclear-powered conventionally-armed attack submarines, Pillar II is aimed at sharing technology and development of other technologies, like hypersonic weapons.

“We are increasing our collective ability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies through a robust series of trilateral tests and experiments that will accelerate the development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies,” Heidi Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, said in a statement,

Shyu added that these collaborative efforts will accelerate development of underpinning technologies like high temperature materials, advanced propulsion systems and guidance and control.

Australia’s Chief Defence Scientists Tanya Monro agreed and boasted this will “accelerate Australia’s sovereign ability to develop and deliver offensive and defensive hypersonic technologies – through a robust testing and experimentation campaign under AUKUS Pillar II.”

She noted it will help the countries “deliver hypersonic capabilities at pace.”

The HyFliTE agreement follows the AUKUS defense minister’s meeting from September, where they announced increasing collectively abilities to develop and deliver hypersonic weapons and systems.

“This landmark arrangement with our U.S. and Australian partners demonstrates the commitment of AUKUS partners to staying at the forefront of battle-winning defense technology. By combining our expertise and resources with those of our closest allies, we are accelerating the development of crucial hypersonic capabilities,” U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey, added.

Sub Official Vows First Columbia Boat On Patrol By 2030

A Navy official last week promised the first Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine will deploy for patrol by 2030 despite a year of delays.

“How’s Columbia going today? In one word bad and two words not bad. We are going to have USS

District of Columbia (SSBN-826) on patrol in 2030. To builders out there, supply chain, major mechanical equipment out there, stakeholders out there, we’re going to have District of Columbia on patrol in 2030,”Matt Sermon, executive director of the Program Executive Office for SSBNs, said during the annual Naval Submarine League symposium on Nov. 14.

Sermon acknowledged the boat is currently running a year late for a 96-month construction timeline compared to the contracted 84-month schedule, but they are trying to shorten that timetable.

“We have a challenge to the schedule today. Talked about in the 45-day study. We are on an earnings and critical path track to hit 96 months versus our 84-month contract schedule. We are clawing back, every single day, those earnings and how we pave that critical path, we will not give up.”

In April, the Navy released Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro’s 45-day shipbuilding review that estimated the SSBN delays at 12 to 16 months behind schedule (Defense Daily, April 3).

Sermon asserted the Navy and shipbuilders General Dynamics Electric Boat (EB) [GD] and HII Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) [HII] have a path to reach the 2030 patrol, even if it will be difficult.

“It’s going to take focus, prioritize extraordinary effort. That’s exactly what we have to have, exactly what we’re up for, I’ve gained more and more confidence in this team.”

Sermon admitted there are several challenges for the Columbia-class submarine going forward, beyond the first hull, like an inexperienced workforce, material delivery problems and needing more experienced supervisors.

“We do have supply chain challenges, market sector capability and capacity as we move toward [one Columbia-class plus two Virginia-class attack submarines per year]. We’ve got the order to do oversight and deliver material on time. We’ve got to work extraordinarily hard to address what is a national green workforce and inexperienced supervisorship.”

He said in the next few months the Navy will roll out a manufacturing supervisor leadership course to help the workforce issues.

“Feels like a real simple thing, but I think it’s something that is long overdue…and we’re going to offer it across regions.”

General Dynamics Electric Boat conducted a keel laying ceremony for the first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, USS District of Columbia (SSBN-826) at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, June 4, 2022. (Photo: U.S. Navy) — General Dynamics Electric Boat conducted a keel laying ceremony for the first *Columbia*-class ballistic missile submarine, USS *District* of *Columbia* (SSBN-826) at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, June 4, 2022. (Photo: U.S. Navy)

Under the Columbia-class shipbuilding teaming agreement, HII build the bow and stern sections of the SSBN, then sends them to EB at Groton, Conn., to connect them with the middle of the hull built there. However, one major problem is that HII has been delivering sections late, which delays production and the sequencing for work at EB’s shipyard.

Last month during a quarterly earnings call, GD’s Chairwoman and CEO Phebe Novakovic said the company is still “severely impacted by late deliveries from major component suppliers, which has delayed schedule and is continuing to impact costs. Our out of sequence work on modules weighing thousands of tons is time consuming and, therefore, expensive, sometimes up to eight times the cost of in sequence work.”

She said given the challenging supplier problems, even with productivity improves, GD needs to align its production cadence to the supply chain.

“There is no point hurrying portions of the boat only to have to stop and wait increasingly extended periods of time for major components to arrive. It is neither good for the boat over time nor cost. Given the recent projections from the supply chain on deliveries, we need to get our cadence in sync with the supply chain and take costs out of the business if we are to hope to see incremental margin growth,” Novakovic said.

“Put another way, the supply chain is not getting better at a fast enough rate as we had hoped. Through our internal efficiency, we have now outpaced them. This is the reality of the post-COVID environment for many of our most important suppliers,” she added.

A September Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the Columbia-class program warned SSBN-826 has cost overruns five to six times higher than both the Navy and GDs estimates and that schedule delays and cost growth will probably worsen when the shipbuilders work to finish complex tasks during final assembly and test (Defense Daily, Oct. 2).

Navy Looks Into More Low Cost Unmanned Vessel Prototypes

A recent Navy notice said it plans to soon issue a Request For Solutions (RFS) for two sizes of low cost unmanned maritime vessel prototypes.

The notice described this as tied to the need for Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division to support the maritime domain portfolio of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for prototyping and experimentation (P&E).

A MARTAC T-38 Devil Ray unmanned surface vehicle, equipped with a Lethal Miniature Aerial Missile System, operates in the Arabian Gulf, Oct. 26, 2023 during U.S. Naval Forces Central Command Exercise Digital Talon. (Photo: U.S. Navy by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jacob Vernier)

This translates into the office looking into solutions for multi-mission operability and survivability requirements “while also being capable of prescribed communication and detection methods.”

Under this effort, the Navy will request two separate low cost unmanned vessel prototypes at 0-20 feet and 20-85 feet lengths and intends to ultimately award an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) contract to build them.

The notice said procurement of the prototypes will allow the Navy to evaluate experimental performance of this Low Cost Unmanned Maritime Solution “to determine viability for future military use and provide development support for innovative technology prototypes, from concept definition through a phased approach to potential full rate production.”

It also said results from experimenting with the selected prototypes will be used to develop performance specifications, develop the technical data package and integrated payload capabilities, and collect a set of information to inform requirements for future acquisition decisions.

Interested vendors must be members of the Expeditionary Missions Consortium – Crane (EMC2) consortium, but the non-members can still join it.

NSWC Crane Division plans to release the RFS for EMC2 members around Nov. 20.

ONCD Works to Operationalize Cyber Guidance for Space Systems

RESTON, Va. — The cybersecurity of space systems in terms of on orbit assets, ground systems, and data links is a critical issue for U.S. national security, and the federal government is working to provide operational requirements for the space industry to secure these systems.

“The cyber threat to our satellites, space systems, and the data and functions they provide is clear, and it demands the full attention of the government and the space community,” Brian Scott, deputy assistant national cyber director for Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity Policy within the Office of the National Cyber Director, said while opening the CyberSat conference in Reston, Va., on Nov. 18.

The Trump administration provided high-level guidance for cybersecurity principles for space systems in Space Policy Directive-5 in 2020. The Biden administration has worked to operationalize the directive. Scott said the principles of SPD-5 are sound, but there is a need for additional direction to implement and operationalize these principles.

“SPD-5 for all of its merits as a positive step forward, lacks the specificity and implementation guidance that’s needed,” Scott said. “It included no specific accountability for who’s responsible for doing what. Great principles. But how do we now operationalize them?”

With the presidential transition underway, Scott believes the second Trump administration will continue the Biden administration’s work to operationalize this directive.

“Cybersecurity work is pretty much a bipartisan, non-partisan issue. I think folks recognize the threat environment and recognize the importance of cybersecurity specifically relative to space assets, Scott said. “We need to keep moving forward and be ready when the next administration comes in to provide them with the best transition possible so that they can pick it up and run with it.”

Over the past 20 months, the White House convened a series of discussions with space industry leadership and technical experts, engaging more than 300 stakeholders, 125 companies, including international industry and governments.

These discussions were focused on space systems that are cyber secure by design, and threat-informed operational practices to mitigate cyber risks, with the goal of identifying gaps that require White House and federal government agency action. Feedback from these sessions is being leveraged to develop actions to implement SPD-5.

Scott said feedback from the industry included dealing with a highly fragmented landscape of cybersecurity requirements for government and commercial contracts. Each individual government customer has its own cyber requirements that are not necessarily outlined in contracting language.

Industry also said that threats are over-classified, and voluntary guidelines like in SPD-5 are not enough to motivate companies to invest in cybersecurity.

At the December 2023 National Space Council meeting, Vice President Kamala Harris tasked the interagency team with developing minimum cybersecurity standards for space systems.

Scott said the new minimum standards are intended to articulate a common baseline that all U.S. government systems must meet, bringing together disparate and fragmented guidance and addressing the gaps.

He recognizes that not all space systems are the same and certain systems perform more critical functions than others, and that brings a challenge.

“Cybersecurity requirements for various types of tiers of systems is a challenge, but it is a challenge that can be met,” he said. “Tiers could be defined by level of risk — the highest risk for national security systems and the most critical systems, moderate risk for general service lifetimes and the lowest risk for systems with lower liability needs and short surface lifetime.”

He made a bold statement that cybersecurity for space systems on orbit, on the ground, and data links is a critical issue for national security.

“Space Systems, although not formally designated as a standalone critical infrastructure sector, are in and of themselves critical infrastructure and they are a key enabler to critical infrastructure and virtually every sector. Our modern day transportation, energy, farming and agriculture, financial services, communications and other critical infrastructure sectors are and will continue to be increasingly reliant on satellites and space systems.”

The U.S. government will not be able to close the capability gap in space cyber without the innovation of the private sector and government working together.

“Our goal is to narrow and operationalize the principles outlined in SPD-5,” Scott said. “As we work to develop cybersecurity requirements and systems, we need to work with allies and like-minded countries to craft an approach that will advance needed cybersecurity measures, but do so in a way that will not unduly inhibit innovation and rapid development of space systems.”

This story was first published by Via Satellite

DIU Awards Vannevar Labs Contract To Transition Data Analysis Solution Into Production

Following successful prototype uses of a tool that allows U.S. and allied forces to sense and exploit open-source digital data of adversaries, the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) on Monday said it has awarded Vannevar Labs a potential $99 million other transaction award to transition the technology into production.

The initial award is for $16 million and will allow the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company to continue scaling its solution across the Defense Department, Vannevar said in a separate announcement. A DIU spokesperson told Defense Daily the initial order cover nine separate user groups within the military services and combatant commands.

“For all of these deployments, Vannevar Labs will collect hard-to-access digital information globally, and build cutting edge software and hardware solutions using that data to support mission objectives across the spectrum of conflict,” the spokesperson said. “Vannevar’s key objective is to give commanders the information they need to understand how potential adversaries interpret US activities, make decisions to achieve strategic objectives in competition, manage escalation in crisis, and if called upon, prevail in conflict.”

Vannevar’s solution has been used by 14 organizations, including Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, the military services, intelligence communities, and the Five Eyes partners, DIU said, adding that DoD analysts are getting “mission-relevant information” in hours instead of days.

RIE was used during a congressional delegation visit to Taiwan in August 2022, DIU said.

“Their data and analytical tools delivered unique, otherwise unavailable insights into the interplay between China’s diplomatic signals and People’s Liberation Army activities, empowering military commanders with a deeper understanding of the operational context and enabling more informed decision-making,” DIU Director Doug Beck said in a statement.

Vannevar said that under the Real-Time Information and Effects (RIE) program, its solution provides “exquisite sensing capabilities that enable DoD teams to identify adversary activity, manage their forces’ signature, deliver effects, and assess the impact of those effects in strategic competition.”

DIU said, “The RIE program operationalizes commercially and publicly available information, including foreign language content from both physical and digital media, to deliver real-time analyses in important areas of responsibility.” The RIE has identified trends, patterns, and relationships to support follow-on operations.

The contract has a three-year performance period that began in September. The award has an option to extend work two more years and increase the ceiling value based on usage and performance.