automation

Automation software tools are being under-utilized, especially in the U.S. Defense Department. While the department has purchased and used automated scanning tools for security and compliance, it has been slow to adopt automation for many other tasks that would benefit from the capability, such as easing software deployment and standardization and, once developed, increasing the speed of overall automation.

GBL Systems Corp.,* Camarillo, California, is awarded a $7,425,890 modification (P00022) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee order N68335-18-F-0004 under basic ordering agreement N68335-15-G-0026. Work will be performed in Camarillo, California, and exercises the option to continue research in support of the integration of critical technologies developed under Small Business Innovation Research Topic N04-174 entitled, "Intelligent Software Agents for Automating EA-18 Combat Functions." This effort will reduce risk by improving user interaction with mission data file development, test, and evaluation tools at Joint Reprogramming Enterprise facilities in support of Navy and various Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers.

Raytheon BBN Technologies Corp., Cambridge, Massachusetts, is awarded a $9,321,564 performance based, cost-plus-fixed-fee, completion contract (N65236-20-C-8009). This contract is for research logistics and supply chain automated reasoning and information fusion, real-time demand forecasting and system resilience assessment. Work will be performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts (67%); Menlo Park, California (13%); Minneapolis, Minnesota (12%); Potsdam, New York (4%); and Tucson, Arizona (4%).  Work is expected to be complete by September 2021.

In the federal government space, the machines have risen, but they’re not here to threaten us. Instead, agencies are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to bolster the U.S.’s cybersecurity posture.

There are many reasons for this emergent interest. Agencies are dealing with enormous amounts of data and network traffic from many different sources, including on premises and from hosted infrastructures—and sometimes a combination of both. It’s impossible for humans to sift through this massive amount of information, which makes managing security a task that cannot be exclusively handled manually.

The cannonade of small satellites hovering above the Earth is creating a dilemma for government and industry alike: how to process enormous amounts of data sent to the ground. 

Collecting information isn’t the hard part, nor is transmitting it, experts say. What vexes intelligence analysts the most is not being able to make heads or tails of petabyte upon petabyte of data. But the government seeks help from the commercial world to make that happen.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Mission Systems and Training, Orlando, Florida, is being awarded a $21,905,303 ceiling-priced, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for performance-based logistics maintenance and support services for up to 400 Consolidated Automated Support System (CASS) stations and 150 reconfigurable transportable CASS stations. Work will be performed in Orlando, Florida (39 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (24.9 percent); Roseville, California (14.3 percent); North Reading, Massachusetts (11.8 percent); and various locations within the U.S.

As the Defense Department continues to forge closer relations with Silicon Valley, its leaders say they need more tools to improve automation of cyber basics, the department’s chief information officer (CIO) said. “At a certain point, I want to have some cyber defenses completely automated, where certain conditions occur and the system takes its own response,” said CIO Terry Halvorsen. “I think that is the only way we will keep up.” Automation would free up military and civilian cyber staff to concentrate on higher-level work.

The Department of Defense (DOD) plans to leverage open source solutions and services to meet mission requirements, no matter where the tactical edge lies. Providing connectivity that enables high-performance, assured networking is critical, and is why defense and civilian agencies closely examine software-defined networking (SDN) as a solution. 

SDN quickly is becoming the preferred method for organizations to achieve greater network situational awareness, a centralized point of control and the ability to roll out new applications and services—all while lowering operational costs.