New exemptions for controlled goods, program licensing, integration of performance based logistics contracting, and improving standards to better enable open systems architecture among international partners are among the key recommendations in a new report aimed at furthering integration of the defense industrial bases of the U.S., Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Another recommendation based on the information collected for the report is the need to strengthen the capabilities of the acquisition workforces of the partner nations so they are “in a place to implement these kinds of approaches well,” Andrew Hunter, director of the Defense Industrial Initiatives Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said at the outset of a panel discussion about the report March 9.

Hunter said common acquisition workforce training as well as side-by-side training among the international partners should be components of better integrating the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB).

Congress, in the FY ’17 National Defense Authorization Act, directed the Defense Department to develop a plan to lower the barriers to integrate the persons and organizations that are part of the NTIB. John “Jerry” McGinn, principal deputy director for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy at the Pentagon, said during the panel discussion the implementation plan has been completed and approved by Ellen Lord, under secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

The implementation plan will be made public in DoD’s annual industrial base capabilities report, McGinn said. The report is typically released in the spring timeframe.

In addition to McGinn, the panel also included government representatives from Australia, Canada and the U.K. Simon Gadd, counselor for Defence Acquisition and Technology on the British Defense Staff, pointed out that the industries of the respective countries “tend to integrate anyway,” adding that small changes over time should be made to further strengthen integration. Roger Grose, counselor for Defence Material with Australia’s DoD, mentioned the need to adhere to free trade principles.

Ultimately, according to the 72-page CSIS report, “Participants saw integration of the NTIP as an opportunity to maximize delivery of capability to the warfighter to protect against common threats. They also noted that no one nation has a monopoly on ideas, high technology, or STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) talent, and further integration will allow the NTIP to leverage a broader industrial capacity and to accrue economic gains for mutual benefit.”

Hunter pointed out that the U.S. and Canada have been partners on defense trade for 70 years, which provides a model for helping to further integrate Australia and the U.K. into the NTIB. The report points out that Canada already has exemptions to U.S. arms control regulations embodied in the International Traffic in Arms Regulations that could be adapted for Australia and the U.K.

In the area of open systems architecture, the report recommends first taking the time to develop a common understanding of what the term means before transitioning to more technical aspects. It also cautions against trying to make standards perfect at the expense of the good, suggesting that in the short-term the focus should be on standards “interoperability.”

Some of the barriers to further integration of the NTIB mentioned in the report include protectionist policies for certain areas of each country’s respective industrial base, small business set asides within each country, export controls, ineffective bilateral defense cooperation treaties, and challenges in the U.S. foreign military sales process.

Qatar has agreed to a new $3.7 billion contract to purchase 28 NH90 multi-role helicopters for its military and 16 H125 light single-engine helicopters for training with its Armed Forces Air Academy, according to Airbus officials.

The deal, announced March 14 and signed during Qatar’s DIMDEX defense conference, includes 16 tactical transport configurations and 12 naval configurations of the NH90.

“We are honored to support the Qatar Armed Forces through this strategic partnership,” Ben Bridge, Airbus’ executive vice president of global business, said in a statement. “The NH90 is a modern and combat-proven asset that will meet Qatar’s demanding operational requirements for decades to come, both in troop transport and naval missions. Our partnership on the new training academy will also strengthen the relationship between our countries by enabling the exchange of expertise and know-how in helicopter operations.”

The NH90 helicopter program is managed by NHIndustries, a consortium created to address NATO member nation military helicopter needs. The management group includes France’s Airbus, Italy’s Leonardo and the Netherlands’ Fokker Aerostructures.

Leonardo will act as the prime contractor for the program management end of the deal, as well as handle the assembly and delivery of the 12 naval configuration NH90s from its Venice, Italy facility.

Airbus is responsible for the 16 tactical transport configuration NH90s, which will be assembled at their Marignane, France facility.

Deliveries of the helicopters are expected to start in June 2022 and continue through 2025, according to Leonardo officials.

Lockheed Martin [LMT] successfully completed a site acceptance test for its new TPS-77 Multi-Role Radar (MRR) in Latvia while delivering the first of three of transportable radars for the country’s air force, the company said March 12.

Latvia ordered the three TPS-77 MRRs in 2015 to strengthen its airspace defense and low-level flight surveillance capabilities.

“Acquisition of the TPS-77 MRR is a huge investment in the strengthening of combat capabilities of the National Armed Forces, enabling the Latvian army to address current security challenges with appropriate response tools. Surveillance, especially low-level flight surveillance and identification is a vital part of Latvian airspace surveillance capabilities. New MRR technology is compatible with other types of radars used by other countries,” Raimonds Bergmanis, Latvia’s Minister of Defense, said in a statement.

The TPS-77 MRRs are designed for enhanced early warning capabilities and improved situational awareness. The radar’s multi-role scan technology provides operators the ability to select from multiple missions at a single time.

This latest TPS-77 uses considerably less power than previous versions, and incorporates 360-degree scans to toggle between missions, according to Lockheed Martin officials.

Lockheed Martin designed the new MRR version of the TPS-77 to be easily transportable, with the ability to be truck-mounted for potential use in remote sites.

Under its program with Latvia, Lockheed Martin will partner with defense industry partners in the country to support future TPS-77 MRR logistics, maintenance and procurement needs.

“The Latvian industry has been an important partner during the development and production of the Lockheed Martin TPS-77 MRRs. This support will help strengthen Latvia’s industrial capability,” said Rick Cordaro, program director for Lockheed Martin’s ground based radar division, in a statement.

The governor of Mississippi welcomed increased cooperation between U.S. and Israeli homeland security and defense companies on March 13.

“I believe what we can learn from the real world experience, unfortunately, of having someone that is on your border in a threatening manner, can be very beneficial here to the United States of America,” Gov. Phil Bryant (R) said here during a press availability at the International Homeland Defense and Security Summit.

The governor highlighted Israel’s real-world experience with its many miles of high tech border fences and how that can be used for U.S. purposes. He said Israel has shown you can secure a border with advanced technologies.

An Israeli official agreed and highlighted how Israeli companies can partner with local Mississippi companies.

“I think Mississippi presents an amazing opportunity for the Israeli companies,” Lior Haiat, Consul-General of Israel to Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Puerto Rico, said at the press conference.

At the local political level, he said, “the door is not only open, there is a welcome sign for Israeli companies to come and partner with local companies.”

Haiat noted small and medium Israeli companies particularly “can really benefit from those connections with local companies in order to offer another market for them in the U.S.”

Separately, the governor lightly supported President Trump’s decision to place tariff on aluminum and steel imports.

When asked if the tariffs would have an impact on the state’s defense and aerospace industry Byant said, “I think time will tell. Obviously, there could be some additional cost for steel and aluminum but I think it will be temporary.”

Trump announced the 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent charge on aluminum the week of March 4.

Defense industry associations responded negatively but specific companies, like Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII], which has its Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., said they are assessing the exact impact to them.

“But we are willing, I think the president is willing, to take some of that responsibility to have a better playing field with businesses around the world,” Bryant said. 

The Russian government is behind an ongoing and deliberate cyber hacking campaign against the energy sector in the U.S. but so far attempts to access critical network systems have failed, senior national security officials said on March 15.

The Trump administration’s attribution the cyber-attacks against the energy grid were part of a larger announcement by the Treasury Department about new sanctions on organizations and individuals in Russia.

The new sanctions are just some of the “means” the U.S. is using to “fight back,” but it’s “not the end of our ongoing campaign to instruct Mr. Putin to change his behavior,” another senior national security official said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putting. The officials spoke with reporters during a teleconferenced background call to discuss the sanctions and the hacking of the energy grid.

The second official said that “Russia’s behavior, or lack thereof, on the world stage is continuing to trouble us and we are continuing to press back in meaningful ways.”

The administration officials, and the Treasury Department, cited a number of activities by Russia that triggered the additional sanctions being imposed on government organizations and individuals. In February, the White House blamed the Russian military for the NotPetya cyber-attack in summer 2017 that infected computers worldwide, and one administration official said on the background call that the new sanctions are in part a response to that event.

“This cyber-attack was the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history,” the Treasury Department said.

The department also said it is keeping pressure on Russia due to its occupation of Crimea, interference in elections, including in the U.S., ongoing corruption, and the recent nerve-agent attack in London in an attempt to murder two British citizens.

Regarding the threats to the U.S. energy grid, a senior national security official said in cases where victims and targets of the Russian hacking were identified, “We were able to identify where they were located within those business systems and remove them from those systems.”

The Department of Homeland Security and FBI on March 15 issued a joint Technical Alert about the Russian government hacking efforts. The alert says that Russia is targeting “U.S. Government entities as well as organizations in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors.”

In addition to showing the tactics, techniques and procedures of the Russian government hackers, a senior official said the alert is aimed at further sharing information about the ongoing hacking to help identify other potential targets and victims.

The joint technical alert was published on the website of the DHS U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, the department’s arm that helps protect federal civilian networks from cyber-attacks, responds to cyber incidents, and shares actionable information with the federal, state, local, tribal and territorial governments, the private sector, owners and operators of critical infrastructure, and international partners.

The alert cites a Sept. 2017 report by the software security firm Symantec [SYMC] on the Dragonfly cyber espionage group that has targeted the energy sector in Europe and North America, beginning in December 2015 and picking up in 2017 with a second iteration of their malware. For the government’s analysis of the Russian cyber intrusions, the alert says the DHS used a cyber kill chain model developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT].

The alert also says the hacking tactics included spearphishing emails, watering-hole domains, credential gathering, open-source and network reconnaissance, host-based exploitation, and the targeting of industrial control systems.

One official outlined two important aspects to the alert. The first is “that the cyber actors are using a multi-stage attack campaign with staging and intended targets involved and the campaign is long-term and ongoing. Second, after obtaining access, these actors conducted network reconnaissance, moved laterally and collected information pertaining to industrial control systems, the systems that run our factories and our grid.”

Another official said the government’s response to the hacking of the energy sector has been strong.

“The FBI has worked with DHS to respond in a robust and coordinated way to these threats,” the official said. “The efforts to respond to the threat represent one of the largest government cyber responses to this cyber threat that we’ve seen to date.”

The Trump administration has been developing a strategy for deterring cyber-attacks but the White House has yet to publish a specific deterrence doctrine. Tom Bossert, the assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, in 2017 said that deterrence will likely focus on traditional means rather than the use of offensive cyber capabilities.

Traditional means would include sanctions. The new sanctions block property and related interests that are “subject to U.S. jurisdiction” and prohibit U.S. persons from engaging with the affected entities and individuals.

The entities being sanctioned include the Russia-based Internet Research Agency LLC, which interfered with the U.S. presidential election in 2016, Russia’s Federal Security Service intelligence organization, and the country’s Main Intelligence Directorate, which is a military intelligence organization. The two intelligence organizations and some individuals have previously been sanctioned.

Rep. James Langevin (D-R.I.), who maintains a strong focus on cyber security issues in Congress, said in a statement that the new sanctions will be ineffective.

“Relisting Russian intelligence agencies already sanctioned under different authority will not deter them,” Langevin said.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, release a statement lauding the new sanctions, but said “more must be done.” He said the committee will continue to push to “counter Russian aggression.”

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] has received approval from the State Department to market its Mako High Performance Jet Tactical Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) to select countries in Europe and Asia Pacific region, the company said March 13.

The countries, which Kratos did not name, have previous programs with the company, including contracts for its High Performance Unmanned Aerial Target Drone.

“This approval represents another important step in our roadmap of being the global leader of high performance jet unmanned aerial drone systems.  These U.S. ally and partner nations represent a key part of our existing, new, and evolving customer base and are a critical element in enabling Kratos to maintain its economy of scale related cost advantage for the Tactical UAS that we routinely achieve with our unmanned aerial target systems,” Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ unmanned systems division, said in a statement.

The Mako UAS is designed to be highly maneuverable and is capable of operating advanced sensor systems.

“Kratos Mako provides fighter-like performance and is designed to function as a wingman to manned aircraft as a force multiplier in contested airspace, or be deployed independently or in groups of UAS,” company officials said in a statement.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to the president on March 15 urging him to fully resource and staff the agency tasked with countering foreign disinformation campaigns, including officially allocating up to $60 million in funds.

Top leadership from the House Armed Services Committee are asking the president to follow through on authorities included in both the 2018 National Security Strategy and FY ’17 National Defense Authorization Act to properly enable the State Department’s Global Engagement Center’s (GEC) mission to expose nation-state adversaries’ information warfare efforts.

“We write to urge you to enable and fully resource the GEC to effectively execute its roles and responsibilities in leading the United States effort to counter the exploitation of the information environment by state and non-state actors aimed at undermining U.S. national security interests,” Reps. Marc Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the committee’s chairman and ranking member, respectively, wrote.

A January 2017 intelligence community assessment confirmed Russia’s attempt to influence in the 2016 presidential election with disinformation and social media campaigns.

The GEC was created in the FY ’17 NDAA as a forum to facilitate State Department and Department of Defense resources in the effort to counter and expose nation-state actors attempts at information operations and propaganda efforts.  

The latest National Security Strategy cited the current response to information warfare as below par and fragmented.

The NDAA also gave DoD the authority to transfer up to $60 million of its own funds to support the GEC.

Previous reports have confirmed the State Department has yet to spend allocated funds meant to thwart election interference. The administration also has yet to appoint a director to lead GEC, according to the letter.

“We are therefore disappointed that to date your administration has not provided adequate resources, including funding and personnel, to the GEC to carry out its mission and, furthermore, that you have not yet appointed a director to lead the agency in this endeavor,” the lawmakers wrote. “We can no longer afford to assume the risk exploitation incurs to our citizens and our democratic institutions and values.”

Chairwoman and ranking member of the Emerging Threats & Capabilities Subcommittee, Reps Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) and Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), also signed the letter.