Atlantic Organization for Security (AOS)

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1105 AOS May Brief

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31 May, 2011, AOS Brief is a service featuring some of the most interesting news and articles which highlight transatlantic commonalities in response to Homeland Defense and Security issues, for mutual benefits in sharing approaches, technologies and solutions

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UAV / UNMANNED

MISSILE DEFENSE

POLICY – STRATEGY

AIRSPACE MANAGMENT

CYBERSECURITY

Categories Acquisition – Air Defence – ATC/ATM – ATM – Border Control – Border Security – Comms – C4ISR – company balance – Contracts – Customs and Border
Protection – Cybersecurity – Export Control – Homeland Security – piracy / antipiracy – Policy – sensor – site protection – training – VTS / VTM –

Companies / Organizations BAE Systems – BOEING – EU – EDA – DHS – FINMECCANICA GROUP – GENERAL DYNAMICS – LOCKHEED MARTIN – RAYTHEON – SAAB – THALES GROUP – DHS – EUROPEAN UNION – FRANCE
– GERMANY – ITA MOD – NATO – TSA – UK – UK MOD – US COAST GUARD – US DOD – USA

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May, 2011 SHORT BRIEF

 

UAV / UNMANNED

Ongoing operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and to a limited extent Libya have particularly shown the usefulness of UAVs for military tasks like intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are viewed as the most exciting development in the erospace industry since powered flight began. Ongoing operations in
Afghanistan, Iraq and to a limited […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine has played a crucial role in responding to the severe flooding of the Red River in the upper Midwest. CBP unmanned aerial systems began providing imagery around the Red River Valley area to the National Weather Service beginning March 25. The aircraft, flown from the […]

MISSILE DEFENSE

NATO’s secretary-general on May 19 called for a “true, strategic partnership” between NATO and Russia after warnings from Moscow of a possible new Cold War should the two sides fail to agree on missile defense. “My objective is to develop a true strategic partnership between NATO and Russia,” Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters following talks […]

Russia said Monday it knew the proposed U.S. missile defense shield was not aimed at its territory but still needed legal assurances that this would remain the case in the future. Moscow formally demanded defense safeguards from Washington on May 3 after the United States reached an agreement to station anti-missile interceptors in Romania. (see […]

US missile interceptors would be deployed in southern Romania, a key link in Europe for a defence shield, prompting Moscow to ask for “safeguards” from Washington. (more on Missile Defence here) Romania and the United States have been negotiating for more than a year about the deployment of ballistic missile interceptors, which should be operational […]

POLICY – STRATEGY

U.S. and British leaders agreed to stand up a strategy board comprising national security, state and intelligence officials to address long-term defense and economic issues affecting each country. “The Board will help enable a more guided, coordinated approach to analyze the ‘over the horizon’ challenges we may face in the future and also how today’s […]

Broadening competition for US government contracts would save money – In most debates around the country’s looming fiscal crisis, “shared sacrifice” is the prevailing theme. But as policymakers consider the options on the table, not every potential budget cut must be painful or risk damaging the recovery. In fact, policymakers are currently overlooking an idea […]

EU foreign ministers meeting on May 23 identified research and technology, procurement, maintenance, logistics, education and training as potential areas for pooling and sharing initiatives. The EU’s Military Committee compiled the findings, which are based on individual EU member state analyses, as part of a mapping exercise across the EU. The ministers also stressed “the […]

Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano joined New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully to sign a joint statement on global supply chain security cooperation — further strengthening ongoing collaboration between the United States and New Zealand to promote economic prosperity and make the global supply chain system stronger, smarter and more resilient. (see also […]

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton signed a framework agreement on the participation of the U.S. in EU crisis management operations. This agreement provides a legal framework for U.S. civilians to participate in EU crisis management missions. The United States previously […]

Raytheon Professional Services LLC (RPS) has received a NATO contract to develop an electronic Individual Training and Education Program (e-ITEP). (see also here for other news on training) “This is a key milestone in the new NATO training landscape,” said Allied Command Transformation Deputy Chief of Staff Karlheinz Viereck. “e-ITEP will support the goal of […]

Lockheed Martin has been selected to help the U.S. Navy develop technologies that will accelerate the ability of military, government, and civilian agencies to respond more effectively to natural and man-made disasters. The Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division awarded Lockheed Martin a contract to support U.S. Marine Corps, Pacific, in developing […]

The Italian Customs Guards Corps “Guardia di Finanza” Air-Naval Operational Command and Finmeccanica SELEX Galileo are celebrating ten years of operations of the ATOS aerial surveillance system on board ATR 42 MP aircraft produced by Alenia Aeronautica, currently used by the Maritime Exploration Squadron (GEA). The Maritime Exploration Squadron, the Customs Guards Corps airborne division, […]

AIRSPACE MANAGMENT

Raytheon Company was awarded a $7 million contract to serve as a Mission Systems Integrator for Phase I of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Persistent Close Air Support project. Raytheon’s proposed PCAS solution will develop technologies that significantly reduce the timeline for close air support through improved coordination among Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs), […]

A new ship intended to carry a billion-dollar ballistic missile tracking radar failed its acceptance trials earlier this month and will need repairs before it can enter service, the U.S. Navy said. The Howard O. Lorenzen (T-AGM 25), built by VT Halter Marine at Moss Point, Miss., is a 12,000-ton, 534-foot-long ship intended to carry […]

LM, Selex SI and Cobham, Raytheon and Serco are teaming for the 1.7 Billion Euro Program – UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has called for expressions of interest (EOI) for a service provider for Project Marshall, a public-private partnership programme to be in place by late 2013. The winning contractor will provide support for UK […]

Sticker Shock Hits Washington as Pentagon Estimates Lifetime Cost of F-35s – A new Pentagon forecast showing the total cost of owning and operating a fleet of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters topping $1 trillion over more than 50 years has caused a case of sticker shock in Washington. And that price tag doesn’t even include […]

A delay in fielding Dutch F-35 Joint Strike Fighters would drive up costs to keep the country‘s F-16 fleet flying. Fielding the F-16 replacement in 2019 rather than 2016 would cost around €300 million ($420 million), the defense ministry tells parliament. If the fleet has to be sustained much longer, the costs ―will rise significantly,‖ […]

After more than a decade of pursuing the 35 Joint Strike Fighter program, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee are indicating that the Pentagon’s biggest weapon program might need an understudy. “It seems to me [prudent that] we at least begin considering alternatives,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said during a hearing May 19, after […]

The U.S. Army is acquiring and sustaining Russian-built Mi-17 helicopters for Iraqi and Afghan forces so they can further stand up their respective militaries and enable more U.S. forces to return home, service officials said. “We’re buying those systems because our (servicemembers) don’t get to come home until (Iraqi and Afghan militaries)
take over the […]

 

CYBERSECURITY

Lockheed Martin said May 29 it was investigating the source of a major cyber-attack one week ago against its information network, the company said. (see also here about the incident) “Lockheed Martin detected a significant and tenacious attack on its information systems network,” the company said in a news statement released late May 28. The […]

Lockheed Martin Corp said on Saturday it had thwarted “a significant and tenacious attack” on its information systems network a week ago but was still working to restore employee access. The Department of Homeland Security, said together with the Defense Department had offered to help curb the risk from the incident. The Defense Department said […]

Dr. Csaba Hende On May 2 the Ministry of Defence organized an EU Presidency conference on cyberspace security in Stefánia Palace, Budapest, where participants discussed how the international community can respond to the cyberspace having become an independent theatre of war. The keynote address was delivered by Defence Minister Dr. Csaba Hende. Modern societies depend […]

The U.S. Navy is turning to the wisdom of the crowd to forge military strategy, inviting the public to join an online game in which Somali pirates have hijacked commercial ships. The Office of Naval Research plans this month to launch the U.S. military’s first online war game to draw on the ideas of thousands […]

Over the next four years it is envisaged that whole new career structures in Defence will be developed to support this work, and to recognise the growing importance of cyberspace to the future of defence and national security. As part of last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) the Prime Minister announced that our […]