The Army is seeking critical industry partnerships to help build its new strategic network in the face of more sophisticated adversarial threats in the cyber domain and while losing its position as the global leader in electronic warfare capabilities, according to Principal Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Army Lt. Gen. Paul Ostrowski.
Speaking at an Association of the United States Army (AUSA) event on Thursday, Ostrowski stressed that without the cyber and technology-related industry making clear their intentions to work with the Army, the building of the new network would fail.
“We put out a call to action to industry. If you want to be involved, I need to know that. We need your participation. If we fail to achieve the vision of that network, then we fail as a nation,” Ostrowski said in his keynote presentation. “I’ll tell you upfront that if you’re going to bring proprietary solutions to the table, don’t come. If you’re going to come to the table and bring ideas and ways of getting at this, then we invite your participation.”
The network is a sign the Army is seeking solutions to threats in the form of cyber attacks and denied environments, while seeking to change its culture from risk-averse to seeking new solutions, according to Ostrowski, who also serves as director of the Army Acquisition Corps.
Building the network has been among the Army’s top priorities and the second biggest driver in its investment portfolio, according to Ostrowski. The network is meant to support warfighters in combat, secure communications systems and be resilient in the face of growing cyber threats.
Industry representatives at the event were presented with the Army’s greatest challenges in the present moment and the capabilities they are seeking to address the issues needed to secure the network. With regards to the cyber domain, the Army’s greatest threats are Position, Navigation & Timing denial and spoofing, losing ground when it comes to electronic warfare capabilities, combating robust anti-access attacks. Ostrowski reached out to the room, specifically, for solutions in the areas of multi-function electronic warfare, assured position navigation & timing capabilities, and assured communications systems.
“Take a look at the electronic warfare spectrum. The enemy and the threat has watched us for a long period of time. They’ve learned how we do business,” said Ostrowski. “We’ve been able to operate in a domain where we owned the electromagnetic spectrum. We don’t own that anymore. By the way, our electronic warfare capabilities that we used to have in house within our Army and adhere to it, they’re gone. They’ve invested and we haven’t.”
The network the Army is building is intended to be simple and intuitive, with all soldiers able to install, maintain and operate its components. Over time, individual soldier attention would reduce the need for Field Service Representatives to actively monitor network systems on the battlefield, he said.
The technical requirements for the network include that it must have a minimized electromagnetic signature, has to be available to our allies, and needs low-probability of intercept and detection. The network must also incorporate ease of connectivity, so all levels of the Army can utilize it as they move from WiFi to cellular service no matter the location.
Ostrowski also detailed the broader baseline requirements for the network, such as its goal to be resilient and available in any domain, as well as needing to also play a role as a warfighting tool to be used by commanders to act faster on approaching threats.
An area of particular interest for the Army is integrating the network with innovative solutions in the areas of robotics and autonomous systems.
“We have made it very clear; no combat vehicle, no regular vehicle and no aerial vehicle going forward will be without the ability to go from manned to unmanned. As we see it, within 15 to 20 years we won’t have a need for piloted vehicles,” said Ostrowski.
The Army is currently in the process of testing components of the network, and has begun bringing in engineers to discern the critical pieces of technology needed for the different systems. The next step is continuing to integrate industry solutions.
“All of you have probably been told that we the Army have taken on a very long and arduous, but extremely important, self-assessment on where we stand with respect to the network,” said Ostrowski. “We’ve taken into account the threat and how the threat has evolved. What we’ve seen is that we can’t stand still and we’re going to need a lot of help as we go forward.”