Archive for March, 2009
Mar 31, 2009, post by Marcin Frackiewicz
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
 Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
Contact: phone +48 22 630 70 70
www.ts2.pl
|
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
With last week’s announced escalation of the war in Afghanistan, including an Iraq-like “surge” replete with 4,000 more U.S. troops and a sizable increase in private contractors, President Barack Obama blew the lid off of any lingering perceptions that he somehow represents a significant change in how the U.S. conducts its foreign policy.
In the meantime, more reports have emerged that bolster suspicions that Obama’s Iraq policy is but a downsized version of Bush’s and that a total withdrawal of U.S. forces is not on the horizon.
In a dramatic understatement, the GAO notes that the U.S. “has an extensive basing footprint in Iraq. … Closing or handing over U.S. installations in Iraq will be time consuming and costly.” With no fewer than 283 such installations throughout Iraq — 51 large bases and 232 smaller bases — the Obama administration has not said how it will approach this formidable task.
This is no minor detail. “According to U.S. Army officials, experience has shown that it takes one to two months to close the smallest platoon — or company — size installations, which contain between 16 and 200 combat soldiers or Marines.”
However, the U.S. “has never closed large, complex installations — such as Balad Air Force Base, which contains about 24,000 inhabitants and has matured over five years. U.S. Army officials estimate it could take longer than 18 months to close a base of that size.” Obama should explain clearly how he intends to dismantle these bases or to what forces he is going to give control over them.
It is very hard to imagine that the U.S. will simply walk away from large bases it spent years building. So, will they be turned over to Iraq? If so, to whom? What guarantee is there that they would not be used as operating bases for death squads? Will some be destroyed? What about the environmental impact?
In addition to the bases, the GAO reveals that, as of of March 2008, “the United States had in place about 170,000 pieces of equipment worth about $16.5 billion that would need to be removed from Iraq.” Erik Leaver, a senior analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies, says,”An example of a tough question: What to do with MRAPs [Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles]?”
“The MRAPs are so heavy, transport back to the U.S., plus the rehab charges may make it cost-effective to actually destroy them,” says Leaver. “Plus, if you need to move 120,000 soldiers in a rapid time frame, do you even have the space to bring them back if you take the MRAPs?”
Then there are the facilities in Iraq currently being run by U.S. contractors. According to the GAO, Defense Contract Management Agency officials estimate “there is at least $3.5 billion worth of contractor-managed government-owned property in Iraq.”
Mar 28, 2009, post by Marcin Frackiewicz
Last week, we discovered that a bunch of military bases — especially Air Force bases — were blocking TroopTube, the Pentagon’s YouTube knock-off. Today, we learned that the digital blockades were part of a larger, Air Force-wide decision to cut off access to the military’s taxpayer-funded, security-scrubbed, low-bandwidth-optimized video sharing site.
“The Air Force must balance network security requirements with competing requests for wide-ranging access to a vast array of public internet services for our Airmen. Air Force-wide policy restricts access to categories of sites that are generally not mission related, and put adverse performance demands on our networks. As a result of this general policy, access to Troop Tube is blocked at Air Force bases,” service spokesman Major David Small e-mails Danger Room.
Some Air Force bases may still have access through different configurations and local commander approval. Additionally, Airmen operating on non-AF networks, like the Pentagon, may have access to Troop Tube. While there is some perceived inconvenience with this Air Force restriction, the general policy helps ensure our networks remain safe and perform optimally. We recognize, however, the importance and usefulness of the Troop Tube web site and are doing everything we can to ensure our Airmen have access. Currently, our Airmen can access Troop Tube through various base locations that provide access to the Internet, such as some Airmen and Family Readiness Centers, libraries, and other morale, welfare, and recreation facilities. Additionally, our Airmen can access this site from their home computers. Due to a recent request to access this site for mission needs, we are re-evaluating access to Troop Tube specifically. This evaluation will assess the site’s security posture and impact to the AF mission and network performance.
Mar 28, 2009, post by Marcin Frackiewicz
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
Contact: phone +48 22 630 70 70
www.ts2.pl
|
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
On the surface, Afghanistan’s nascent telecommunications sector could be considered a success: Four providers have invested more than US$1 billion in building a mobile phone network in one of the world’s poorest countries. It wasn’t so long ago that Afghans would have to travel to neighboring Pakistan to make an international call.
The Afghan government under former President Burhanuddin Rabbani focused on building a telecom network for the war-ravaged nation in the mid-1990s. “The situation in Afghanistan had become so bad,” says Ehsan Bayat, founder of Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC), the country’s first mobile phone provider, “that someone had sold the ’93′ country code to a porn company.” The nation was able to regain its country code, and the government installed a few hundred lines and small public calling shops.
While the Taliban’s takeover of the government in 1996 and ensuing U.S. sanctions halted Bayat’s plans of creating a mobile phone network, the idea was quickly revived after 9/11, following the ouster of the regime. But a major obstacle remained: finding companies willing to work in Afghanistan. “We had a design to build a GSM network, and companies like Ericsson and Siemens that were working in Pakistan just were not interested in Afghanistan,” Bayat says. Eventually, Bayat found a company from which to buy machinery. In 2002, AWCC was able to set up a satellite system with Worldcom in Guam.
Afghanistan’s mobile phone industry has since exploded from no users in 2002 to five million to date. When first introduced to the market, a SIM card and handset were priced at nearly US$300. Today, a SIM card goes for US$1 and handsets are available for as little as US$10. The number of users is expected to reach 10 million within the next two years. Users spend an average of US$12 a month.
Building a communications system in a country with battered infrastructure comes with heavy costs. Each of the four mobile phone operators that now hold government GSM licenses made initial investments of up to US$300 million. AWCC, majority-owned by the U.S.-based Telephone Systems International, received the first such license in 2002. The government took a 20% stake in AWCC and signed a 15-year contract with the company. In less than a year, AWCC had signed up 50,000 mobile phone users, surprising even its initial investors.
More on India Knowledge@Wharton
Mar 26, 2009, post by Artur Nowak
Autonomous Solutions announced that its Chaos small robot will be profiled in a series of exercises at Cobra Gold 2009 in Thailand. The Chaos unit that will be at Cobra Gold was built by ASI for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), which has made it available for the exercise.
The Chaos robot will be operated by Marines in a series of scenarios in which robotic assistance will be beneficial. Engineers from ASI will be on-hand to provide support and receive feedback on the Chaos platform from operators.
Examples of these scenarios include route security, cordon and search, casualty extraction and logistical supply.
The Chaos robotic platform is designed to remotely access hazardous areas previously accessible only by foot, thereby reducing risk to personnel.
It is able to navigate over extremely rough, steep, and loose terrain with four independent drive tracks that can continuously change orientation a full 360 degrees.
The unique ability to alter its pitch, roll and yaw enables the Chaos platform to navigate surfaces too uneven for other tracked platforms.
With a high payload capacity and an available manipulator arm with a fifty pound capacity at full reach (72 in), Chaos can perform a variety of functions. Its base weight is low enough that it can be lifted out of a vehicle and deployed by two people.
As a JAUS-compatible platform, the Chaos robot also allows easy addition of a wide variety of sensors and other robotic payloads. Its simple, modular design affords easy field service, maintenance, and repair.
Cobra Gold involves the United States, Thai, Singaporean, Japanese and Indonesian militaries and is meant to improve interoperability, enhance security relationships, and demonstrate U.S. support for humanitarian and security interests in the Pacific.
more > robodaily.com
Mar 26, 2009, post by Artur Nowak
Robots will be armies of the future in a case of science fact catching up to fiction, a researcher told an elite TED gathering on Wednesday.
Peter Singer, who has authored books on the military, warned that while using robots for battle saves lives of military personnel, the move has the potential to exacerbate warfare by having heartless machines do the dirty work.
“We are at a point of revolution in war, like the invention of the atomic bomb,” Singer said.
“What does it mean to go to war with US soldiers whose hardware is made in China and whose software is made in India?”
Singer predicts that US military units will be half machine, half human by 2015.
The US Army already recruits soldiers using a custom war videogame, and some real-world weapon controls copy designs of controllers for popular videogame consoles.
Attack drones and bomb-handling robots are already common in battle zones.
Robots not only have no compassion or mercy, they insulate living soldiers from horrors that humans might be moved to avoid.
“The United States is ahead in military robots, but in technology there is no such thing as a permanent advantage,” Singer said. “You have Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran working on military robots.”
There is a “disturbing” cross between robotics and terrorism, according to Singer, who told of a website that lets visitors detonate improvised explosive devices from home computers.
“You don’t have to convince robots they are going to get 72 virgins when they die to get them to blow themselves up,” Singer said.
Robots also record everything they see with built-in cameras, generating digital video that routinely gets posted online at YouTube in graphic clips that soldiers refer to as “war porn,” according to Singer.
“It turns war into entertainment, sometimes set to music,” Singer said. “The ability to watch more but experience less.”
Robotics designer David Hanson offered hope when it comes to making robots a little more human.
Hanson builds robots that have synthetic flesh faces and read people’s expressions in order to copy expressions.
“The goal here is not just to achieve sentience, but empathy,” Hanson said.
“As machines are more capable of killing, implanting empathy could be the seeds of hope for our future.”
Hanson demonstrated a lifelike robotic bust of late genius Albert Einstein that makes eye contact and mimics people’s expressions.
“I smiled at that thing and jumped out of my skin when it smiled back,” TED curator Chris Anderson quipped. “It’s freaky.”
more > robodaily.com
Mar 26, 2009, post by Artur Nowak
The U.S. Air Force has awarded the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) Space Segment Team a $75-million, six-month extension to its Risk Reduction and System Definition (RR and SD) contract.
Over the next several weeks, the team will focus on delivering an Interim Design Review (IDR) in early April 2009 for the initial TSAT satellite constellation, known as Block 10. Under the restructured program, the initial increment of TSAT will consist of five Block 10 satellites and associated ground control systems with a first launch capability by 2019.
The IDR will verify the maturity of the updated space segment specification, demonstrate that the team’s design meets performance requirements and analyze other system acquisition and operations activities including life-cycle costs, plans to enter the production phase, and approaches to eliminating risks throughout the program’s life.
The review will detail plans for testing of various products, verification of system performance, and compliance with government requirements including overall security of the system.
In addition, the team will continue to mature the technologies demonstrated during earlier RR andSD milestones to verify their readiness for full-scale development, manufacturing, integration, and operations.
“Our team has met every risk reduction and system definition milestone on this contract, making TSAT ready to enter full-scale development,” said Mark Pasquale, Lockheed Martin vice president and program manager for TSAT.
“We look forward to executing a successful review with our customer and demonstrating our strengths for achieving operational excellence and mission success on this critical program.”
Some of the key technologies for TSAT are digital processing to include radiation-hardened Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Radio Frequency antennas and electronics, Hall Current Thrusters, Lithium-Ion Batteries, and deployable radiators.
Following the IDR, the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman TSAT space segment team, which includes Juniper Networks, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., ViaSat, Carlsbad, Calif., and Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, Gaithersburg, Md., will continue technology risk reduction and systems engineering in support of preliminary design activities. The RR andSD effort will culminate with a multi-billion dollar development contract scheduled to be awarded to a single contractor in 2010.
The restructured program defers some TSAT content such as high-speed lasercom inter-satellite links to future TSAT satellite blocks while preserving critical features such as protection against man-made and natural threats, defenses against cyber attack, backward compatibility with the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite constellation and terminals, native Internet Protocol packet routing, and communications-on-the-move.
TSAT provides significantly more capacity and connections than the Milstar and AEHF systems, improving availability of protected satellite communications for future military operations.
It will provide connectivity across the spectrum of mission areas, to include land, air and naval warfare; special operations; strategic nuclear operations; strategic defense; homeland security; theatre operations; and space operations and intelligence.
The Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing, located at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the TSAT contract manager and lead agency for ensuring the capabilities of this system are made available to the warfighter.
more > spacewar.com
Mar 26, 2009, post by Artur Nowak
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
Contact: phone +48 22 630 70 70
www.ts2.pl
|
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
Raytheon has delivered the fifth and final Sentinel R Mk 1 aircraft to U.K. Royal Air Force at RAF Waddington. With this hand over, Raytheon’s U.K.-based subsidiary Raytheon Systems Limited has now completed delivery of all Airborne Stand-Off Radar (ASTOR) equipment to the U.K. Ministry of Defence.
With the five Sentinel aircraft, Raytheon delivered six tactical ground station units, two operational level ground station units, support vehicles, and an extensive and sophisticated support infrastructure.
A 10-year contractor logistics support program sees RSL directly supporting the front line on operations and in training and logistics, including what is known as “Contractor Support to Deployed Operations.”
The ASTOR system provides wide-area ground surveillance using a dual mode radar system that incorporates a synthetic aperture radar and a moving target indicator.
The data from the state-of-the-art radar system is exploited and disseminated by an extensive and sophisticated communications suite including wide- and narrow-band data links, tactical data links, secure VHF and UHF radios and satellite communications, all controlled through a central mission system operated by crews in the air and ground segments.
U.K. Minister for Defence Equipment and Support Quentin Davies said: “This hugely sophisticated system has already demonstrated what it can do to support operations in Afghanistan. In a trial of the system last year, the Sentinel aircraft and its associated ground stations proved they can feed information about the movements of enemy forces to ground commanders in near real time.
“The Airborne Stand-Off Radar system is a key element of the modern network-enabled battlefield, through which our forces can learn about the movement of enemy forces and react to prevent those threats.”
Raytheon Systems Limited Chief Executive and Managing Director Brian McKeon said: “The delivery of the final Sentinel represents the culmination of a major effort across the whole of ‘Team ASTOR.’
The U.K. armed forces now have in their inventory the most advanced air-to-ground surveillance system in the world. Raytheon is proud to have been able to supply this cutting edge capability and stands ready to support all future operations and training.”
Tim Carey, Raytheon Company vice president of Intelligence, Reconnaissance and Surveillance Systems, said: “ASTOR protects the men and women who are responsible for delivering the U.K.’s peacekeeping, warfighting and homeland security missions. I am extremely proud of what the ASTOR team has achieved collectively to bring this state-of-the-art air-ground surveillance system to operational fruition.”
more > spacewar.com
Mar 25, 2009, post by Artur Nowak
Boeing has demonstrated for the first time the ability to deliver streaming video over a mobile, ad hoc tactical network from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to a Chinook helicopter and ground troops.
The demonstration conducted in Brisabane, Australia proved that the high-bandwidth connection could deliver beyond line-of-sight video thereby allowing increasing situational awareness to warfighters equipped to receive video.
Boeing Rotorcraft Systems architect and technical fellow for avionics and software, Tom DuBois said that the network was ahead of its time in many ways.
“The network’s open architecture means it can operate simultaneously with other transformational communication systems, while also supporting UAV sensor visualisation, white board, chat and network-based situational awareness displays,” DuBois said.
Vice president and general manager of Boeing Network and Space Systems Australia said that the network solution would be available from today.
“Tactically networked aircraft and ground units will be able to respond quicker due to the ability to instantly and effortlessly communicate data to and coordinate with troops on land, in aircraft or at sea,” said Parker.
more > army-technology.com
Mar 24, 2009, post by Marcin Frackiewicz
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
Contact: phone +48 22 630 70 70
www.ts2.pl
|
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
Intelsat General Corp., an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Intelsat Ltd., has been awarded a multiyear contract under which Intelsat will reposition one of the company’s satellites halfway around the globe to serve military units in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Following an urgent call from the Pentagon’s Joint staff on February 6, Intelsat responded with a solution to reposition one of its domestic U.S. satellites, Galaxy 26, to a new orbital location in the Indian Ocean region. Intelsat began moving Galaxy 26 from its orbital slot at 93 W to its new position on February 20, once the existing commercial traffic assigned to the spacecraft had been shifted to another Intelsat satellite, Galaxy 25. Intelsat was able to begin drifting the Galaxy 26 satellite into its new orbital position only two weeks after the Department of Defense (DoD) request, a demonstration of how quickly the commercial industry can respond to solving critical warfighter requirements.
The contract, awarded through Artel Inc. as part of a DoD contract known as the DSTS-G (Defense Information Systems Network Satellite Transmission Services – Global), will fill a military bandwidth void supporting UAV surveillance operations. The repositioned Intelsat satellite will support launch and flight operations of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) deployed in the war zones, as well as other U.S. and NATO military operations in an area reaching from Germany to Southeast Asia.
“One of the key advantages of the Intelsat fleet is its scale and flexibility,” said Kay Sears, President of Intelsat General. “This is the third time we have been able to reposition one of our satellites into a new orbital location to support critical operations on the ground in these two vital regions. Moving this satellite to the Indian Ocean region will prevent the disruption of a range of important military activities in that area.”
The contract calls for up to 432 MHz of bandwidth using 12 Ku-band transponders operating on the Galaxy 26 satellite, which had most recently been serving North America. The satellite, using wide-beam capability, can support up to 40 UAV sorties simultaneously.
“This move is of particular importance, since we did not want any service interruptions to the DoD missions and there was no other capacity available to fulfill these requirements without this bold move by Intelsat,” said Abbas Yazdani, President and CEO of ARTEL.
The demands for bandwidth created by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan previously prompted Intelsat to twice move satellites in support of Intelsat General’s military customers.
Mar 24, 2009, post by Marcin Frackiewicz
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
Since 2003, we provide satellite Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan globally enabling Iraqi and Afghan citizens, businesses and remotely deployed personnel to have broadband Internet access, enterprise connectivity, VoIP and videoconferencing services at affordable costs.
Contact: phone +48 22 630 70 70
www.ts2.pl
|
| *** ads by SatPRnews *** |
10,000 military and civilian staff of the UK Ministry of Defence will for the first time gain online access to MOD information services such as human resources systems, following the completion of a major project led jointly by Capgemini and Microsoft.
Users in locations around the world – including Britain’s troops in Iraq and Afghanistan – will be able to use credit-card style chip-and-pin authentication via the Government Gateway to obtain secure ‘self-service’ access to MOD HR systems for a variety of purposes, including filing their expenses, updating their personal details and booking themselves on training courses.
The new procedures follow the successful completion of the 18-month Internet Access to Shared Services (IASS) project carried out in collaboration with Capgemini, Microsoft, several units within the MOD and specialist IT vendors. As a result of new security processes developed as part of the IASS project, secure access to MOD shared services is expected to be available to MOD personnel from any PC, laptop or mobile phone with an Internet connection on an ‘any place, any time’ basis.
Following successful trials with defence units in several parts of the world, the new system will be rolled out in 2009 to some 10,000 MOD staff, mostly in overseas locations, who will now for the first time have easy and secure access to MOD internal information systems.
David Longhurst, the MOD’s project leader for IASS, said: “We have been modernizing our internal administrative processes by changing from paper-based systems to an electronic service. While this has worked well internally, we were left with around 10,000 staff unable to access to our internal systems online from their place of work. We wanted to give all of them secure access to the appropriate MOD systems from any Internet-connected PC.”
The MOD says that the new IASS solution is also expected to save several millions of pounds over the next ten years by cutting paperwork and administrative chores and putting some 20 routine HR processes onto an online self-service basis via an employee portal.
Security within the IASS solution is based on a ‘defence in depth’ strategy, and great care has been taken to put in place a good level of protection of sensitive personal data whilst providing staff with the services they need . In addition to the mandatory use of chip-and-pin smartcards, there are extensive security features based on Capgemini’s Identity and Access Management Services and Microsoft’s Intelligent Application Gateway. The IASS solution is hosted on the MOD’s DECS (Defence Electronics Commerce Service), which is provided by Capgemini as a managed service running on hardware at one of the company’s secure data centres in the UK.
David Longhurst added: “Capgemini and Microsoft have done a great job in working with our own teams to deliver one of the most complex and secure systems ever installed at the MOD.”
The MOD says that if the rollout of IASS to the 10,000 staff this year is successful, the system could be made available in the longer term to all or most of its 320,000 military and civilian personnel.
Cliff Evans, Vice President of Defence and Identity Management for Capgemini, said: “IASS is a very good example of how we work collaboratively with the MOD and with its other partners, particularly Microsoft, to deliver innovative technology solutions that can realize significant back office benefits, releasing money for use in the front line.”
