Defense Operations

President Joe Biden announced an expansion of U.S. forces and cyber capabilities to Europe in support of NATO.

"NATO is strong, united, and the steps we're taking during this summit are going to further augment our collective strength," Biden said during the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday.

A new cyber cooperation action plan is also expected from this summit, covering political, military and technical levels.

The three-year-old Space Development Agency, which was charged with rapidly developing a successful National Defense Space Architecture, is on track for providing increased global tactical connectivity to the warfighter through the widespread, legacy Link-16 radio capability.

U.S. warfighters at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. recently achieved operation of true on-the-move command and control, or C2, capabilities during the Black Flag 22-1 exercise at the base’s Nevada Test and Training Range, reported Senior Airman Zachary Rufus, USAF, from the 57th Wing Public Affairs Office. Airmen from the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron, or TES, leveraged existing commercial and governmental components and integrated the technology into a commercial sport utility vehicle, or SUV, essentially creating the first-ever mobile tactical C2 vehicle, Rufus noted.

The U.S. Army is seeing a successful integration of cyber operations and electronic warfare operations but could more effectively add information operations to the mix, according to Lt. Gen. Maria Barrett, USA, commander, Army Cyber Command.

In her first public speaking engagement since taking charge at Army Cyber Command, Gen. Barrett offered the morning keynote speech at the AFCEA Cyber Education, Research and Training Symposium (CERTS) on May 11 in Augusta, Georgia.

The U.S. Space Force’s Space Delta 2 has been working over the last year or so to revamp itself in preparation for providing enhanced space domain awareness. The Delta, which is headquartered at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, with space domain awareness functions at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California; Eglin Air Force Base, Florida; Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; Maui, Hawaii; Huntsville, Alabama; and the Naval Support Facility in Dahlgren, Virginia; is now comprised of four squadrons, up from two.

The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) is delivering the first application under its fledgling cloud computing program known as Stratus.

Stratus is a hybrid, on-premise cloud computing program in the prototypical stages. It is intended to replace milCloud 2.0, which got the ax after DISA Director Lt. Gen. Robert Skinner, USAF, initiated a strategic assessment of programs. Officials looked for best value capabilities and wanted to be introspective and “really honest about how we deliver the best value capabilities to the warfighter,” Sharon Woods, director of DISA’s Digital Hosting and Computing Center, told reporters during a media roundtable discussion at the AFCEA TechNet conference in Baltimore April 26-28.

As with the U.S. industrial base, commercial market and defense sector, the cyber threats to U.S. Army networks are increasingly complex and persistent. The service’s chief information officer, Raj Iyer, along with its key communication and network leaders, are positioning the Army’s information technology infrastructure and strategically aligning its cyber posture to protect against future attacks.

Issued a year ago, the President’s Executive Order 14028, Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity, required federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, to enhance their cybersecurity and software supply chain integrity. This order has helped propel digital security, Iyer noted.

Chief technology officers, especially those across the military or government, have a complicated task of pursuing technology modernization necessary to improve cybersecurity, user experiences and mission capabilities. To have digital modernization efforts that are repeatable and scalable, however, requires a holistic understanding of an organization’s information technology landscape as well as the business and people processes, advised Danielle Metz, chief information technology (IT) strategist, Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), Department of Defense, speaking at AFCEA’s TechNet Cyber conference on April 27.

A panel of artificial intelligence (AI) experts from industry discussed some of the technology’s promise and perils and predicted its future during an AFCEA TechNet Cyber Conference panel April 26 in Baltimore.

The panelists were all members of AFCEA’s Emerging Leaders Committee who have achieved expertise in their given fields before the age of 40. The group discussed AI in the cyber realm.

The U.S. Air Force is seeking to overcome the networking issues all the services face though the development of a new architecture that would create an all-encompassing information environment, a program expert said. This network would provide for all the warfighter’s data needs while ensuring security through redundancy and complexity.

The world’s largest ocean, surrounded by dozens of countries, faces threats that ultimately will be resolved by land forces. And these land forces face considerable challenges in which solutions may be defined by technology.

With a more diverse set of missions looming in its ongoing transformation, the U.S. Marine Corps is looking at a broad range of technologies to empower individual Marines in a host of capabilities. These can range from kinetic warfighting to sensor data management, including security operations.

Most of these new technologies will come from the commercial sector, as it is advancing the state of the art in information systems faster than government. However, military concerns will be taken into account to ensure fidelity for Corps systems.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has interrupted the meeting of the governing bodies that oversee coordination in the Arctic region, leaving discourse at a standstill, leaders from Arctic nations report. The unfortunate effect of global warming that has increased the polar ice melt is also making the Arctic region more navigable, and as such, the region is growing in geopolitical importance. To ensure open access and safe operations, several entities help govern the region but are not able to do so during the war.

The Commonwealth of Australia, the sixth largest country in the world, is seeing the geopolitical environment shift in its Indo-Pacific region. As a result, it is bolstering its military and technological capabilities. It is building sovereign capabilities as well as leveraging emerging solutions through its important partnerships, explains Arthur Sinodinos AO, Australia’s ambassador to the United States.

As U.S. and global telecommunication carriers deploy more and more fifth-generation wireless network infrastructure, or 5G, in America and around the world, U.S. defense officials are examining the use cases for military applications of 5G such as autonomous vehicles; support of deployed warfighters; smart bases, warehouses and logistics; and cloud-related applications.

One feature that may be ideal for Defense Department use is network slicing, experts say. The ability to separate or “slice” a 5G network into subnetworks for designated users at specific security levels could prove to be versatile, explained Neal Ziring, technical director, National Security Agency (NSA), speaking at AFCEA DC’s recent 5G Luncheon.

Top leaders responsible for defending the United States told Congress yesterday that the current and expected future global threat environment demands an all-encompassing strategy, one that involves strategic nuclear deterrence capabilities through a modernized nuclear triad, but also through an integrated cyber, information warfare and kinetic defense.

Information operations is one of the critical elements to the U.S. strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, Adm. Samuel Paparo, USN, commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, told the audience at the WEST 2022 conference and exposition hosted by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute in San Diego February 16-18.

A WEST conference and exhibition panel discussion designed deliberately to be provocative questioned whether the U.S. Navy’s strategy permits the kind of innovation necessary to vie with peer competitors such as China.

Vice Adm. Ann Rondeau, USN (Ret.), president, Naval Postgraduate School, moderated the discussion. The panel also included Adm. James Winnefeld Jr., USN (Ret.), former vice chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff; Bran Ferren, co-founder and chief creative officer, Applied Minds LLC; and Steve Blank, adjunct professor, Stanford University and senior fellow for innovation, Columbia University.

The sea services face tight funding, limited assets and broader missions as they re-tool for growing and more diverse challenges around the world. Not only must they allocate their resources carefully, they also must establish new procedures with greater efficiencies so they can fulfill a larger mission set.

Having embraced information warfare, the U.S. Navy is incorporating it into more platforms and operations as the sea service expects it to play a major role in future combat. Both technology and expertise are increasing their presence, and training is adjusting accordingly.

The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard are looking at different but sometimes complementary needs as they gird to meet new challenges. Success may rely on abandoning old ways of operation along with incorporating new technologies, said leaders from the three services.

The Navy is using and oozing information in nearly every aspect of its operations as it strives to maintain dominance in an ever-challenging environment, according to its information warfare and intelligence leader. Vice Adm. Jeffrey E. Trussler, USN, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare and director of naval intelligence N2/N6, described an info-centric world in which the Navy dominates and is dominated by data used to prevail over increasingly capable adversaries.

The young U.S. Space Force is determined to be a military service that is based on a digital culture. Leaders are requiring all guardians—including the officers themselves—to have digital aptitude. The service put itself on a path to have a digital headquarters, with a vision of cutting-edge tools, analytics and low bureaucratic burdens. The lofty goal of digital operations centers driving joint all-domain solutions that support the military in, from and to space, is to gain advantage through an interconnected infrastructure, explained Gen. David Thompson, USSF, vice chief, Space Operations, Space Force.

The U.S. Marine Corps is focusing its activities to support more expeditionary warfare to guard against near-peer adversaries, such as China and Russia. The service’s work is all part of a greater force construction effort, which includes a new infantry battalion construct that leaders are developing to be capable of operating in a more globally distributed fashion in a contested maritime environment. One particular warfighting group that the service is creating is the so-called Marine Littoral Regiment.