McHale Report – December 2017
December 2017

The McHale Report, by mil-embedded.com Editorial Director John McHale, covers technology and procurement trends in the defense electronics community.


View our archive of recent and past issues of the McHale Report e-mail newsletter.



2017 Most Read Articles

Most read military electronics stories of 2017
Most read military electronics stories of 2017

The most read stories on Mil-Embedded.com throughout 2017 covered subjects such as cognitive electronic warfare, synthetic vision, GaN technology, counterfeit mitigation, and more. Check them out.


Top military embedded blogs & columns of 2017
Top military embedded blogs & columns of 2017

Our most popular columns, blogs, and guest blogs on Mil-Embedded.co from 2017 were penned by guest bloggers from VITA, Per Vices Corp., Themis Computer, Ten Tech LLC, and by our editorial staff on subjects such as potential wars with the F-35, drone landings on moving targets, the counter-UAV market, 3D printing and SBCs, and more.


GHz Portable Signal Scanning Recorder

The RTR 2613 allows SIGINT engineers to scan the 3 GHz spectrum for signals of interest and monitor or record instantaneous bandwidths up to 40 MHz once detected. It combines Pentek's intelligent signal scanning software with real-time recording in a lightweight, portable and rugged package.


Top Stories

Artificial intelligence & machine learning techniques to be explored in DARPA Causal Exploration program
Artificial intelligence & machine learning techniques to be explored in DARPA Causal Exploration program

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials tapped Raytheon BBN Technologies - a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Co. - to explore artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to develop tools that may enable military planners to understand how cultural and other factors combine to cause conflicts. The work Agency's Causal Exploration of Complex Operational Environments program.


Moving toward superconducting supercomputing for intel community
Moving toward superconducting supercomputing for intel community

A team led by Raytheon BBN Technologies -- under the auspices of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) Cryogenic Computing Complexity program -- is working to develop prototype cryogenic memory arrays and a scalable control architecture that is aimed at use in a new generation of energy-efficient superconducting supercomputers.


Air Force Research Lab opens AgilePod data to commercial community
Air Force Research Lab opens AgilePod data to commercial community

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has opened up the technical data package for its AgilePod to the wider intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) community in an attempt to further the development of compatible sensor products.


DARPA's SDR Hackfest tackles UAVs, electromagnetic spectrum, and communications challenges
DARPA's SDR Hackfest tackles UAVs, electromagnetic spectrum, and communications challenges

The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Bay Area Software Defined Radio (SDR) Hackfest concluded last month displaying innovative ideas on the challenging communications issues that stem from the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum along with the propagation of wireless-enabled devices.


Australian navy to install Raytheon's anti-air warfare defense technology
Australian navy to install Raytheon's anti-air warfare defense technology

Engineers at Raytheon completed the design, development, and testing of the company's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system, which will be installed onboard the Royal Australian navy's HMAS Hobart expanding the ship's battlespace awareness.


MQ-9 UAS successfully used in antisubmarine demonstration
MQ-9 UAS successfully used in antisubmarine demonstration

During a recent U.S. naval exercise, an MQ-9 Predator B remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) successfully detected and tracked remotely submerged contacts; the MQ-9's contractor, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), participated in the demo of the RPA's new maritime patrol capabilities.


Blogs & Columns

Fire and finish: The middle of the kill chain
Fire and finish: The middle of the kill chain

As stated in previous articles, we need to reduce the complete kill chain down to 10 minutes or less, according to General John Jumper. So, all new systems and weapons must fit inside the kill chain somewhere (find, fix, fire, finish, feedback). And, they must speed things up significantly. We also established that the latest radar, sonar, SIGINT, IMINT, and other sensor systems fit in the find and fix phases. Now, it's time to take a look at some of the latest developments going into the fire and finish phases.


Securing embedded systems based on Open System Architectures
Securing embedded systems based on Open System Architectures

Many of the standards developed by VITA working groups are for defining modules that are part of Open System Architectures (OSA) - whether they are VME, VPX, PMC, FMC or one of many other standards. These modules are used to build critical embedded systems that are deployed in a variety of application platforms. Today these platforms are typically connected via a network, a network that is often susceptible to cyberattacks. This article introduces you to high level concerns and challenges facing designers using Open System Architecture (OSA) modules.


Collaboration equals innovation
Collaboration equals innovation

What continues to make PICMG successful as a standards body is our community of members and your collaboration in pursuit of innovation. The standard development process within PICMG is flexible – members can prepare pre-work of a potential standard before coming to PICMG (CompactPCI was introduced this way) or develop them within open committees under the aegis of PICMG. It's all about collaboration. The value of open standards adoption is that it helps the industry by enabling interoperability, multivendor solutions, flexibility, and reduced time to market for end users. My column reviews the great progress we have made in 2017 and some of the exciting new initiatives underway.


Truly rugged and proven reliable: VITA 47 and beyond
Truly rugged and proven reliable: VITA 47 and beyond

All vendors of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware intended for use in harsh defense and aerospace environments insist that their products are reliable as well as rugged. But without a consistent baseline for comparison, it's almost impossible for system integrators to objectively confirm whether one COTS product is more reliable than another. The VITA 47 standard gives system integrators just such a baseline as it is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard.



Counter-drone tech, multicore processors, Trump defense spending, open architectures impact 2017 defense electronics market
Counter-drone tech, multicore processors, Trump defense spending, open architectures impact 2017 defense electronics market

This month we discuss the technology game changers of 2017, the military commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) market, the Trump administration's military technology funding, and predictions for next year and beyond.



Markets & Business Deals

Mercury Systems agrees to acquire Themis Computer></a></td>
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Mercury Systems agrees to acquire Themis Computer

Mercury Systems -- developer and builder of processing subsystems used in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR); radar; electronic warfare (EW); storage; and guidance defense applications -- has agreed to acquire Themis Computer, based in Fremont, California. Themis designs, manufactures, and integrates commercial size/weight/power-optimized rugged servers, computers, and storage systems for U.S. and international defense programs.





Hack the Air Force 2.0 kicks off with live-hacking event></a></td>
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Hack the Air Force 2.0 kicks off with live-hacking event

Members of the Defense Media Activity (DMA) and Defense Digital Service (DDS) joined forces to hack the U.S. Air Force in a live-hacking event in New York City as a kickoff to Hack the Air Force 2.0.


Strategic readiness review released by Navy officials></a></td>
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Strategic readiness review released by Navy officials

Navy officials released the Strategic Readiness Review (SRR) noting an emphasis on readiness as the primary enabler of warfighting capability and capacity must be re-energized, embedded, and continuously monitored throughout the Naval enterprise.


DARPA promulgates vision of sensor-based "Ocean of Things"></a></td>
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DARPA promulgates vision of sensor-based "Ocean of Things"

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has announced its "Ocean of Things" program, which the agency says seeks to enable persistent maritime situational awareness over large ocean areas by deploying thousands of small, low-cost floats that would form a distributed sensor network.


Fiscal 2018 defense bill authorizes an increase in pay and troops></a></td>
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Fiscal 2018 defense bill authorizes an increase in pay and troops

The Fiscal 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizes an estimated $700 billion for the Defense Department, Military.com's Amy Bushatz reports. The bill includes $634 billion for the base budget and $66 billion for the war budget. President Donald Trump formally signed the 2018 defense bill earlier this week and Congress still needs to pass the accompanying appropriations bill to keep the government up and running.


VNX standard is ratified by VITA organization></a></td>
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VNX standard is ratified by VITA organization

VITA officials announced that ANSI/VITA 74.0-2017 – "Compliant System Small Form Factor Module Base Standard," commonly known as VNX, reached American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recognition. This standard has completed the VITA and ANSI processes reaching full recognition under guidance of the VITA Standards Organization (VSO).


Companies partner to provide AESA radar to Spain, international navies></a></td>
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Companies partner to provide AESA radar to Spain, international navies

Lockheed Martin and technology company Indra (Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain) recently signed an agreement that extends the companies' exclusive relationship to develop of a state-of-the-art S-band active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the Spanish Navy's F-110 program; the pact also establishes a framework to move ahead with commercialization of this solid-state radar for other anti-air-warfare opportunities worldwide.


GSA signs contracts for up to $50 billion on governmentwide mission-related IT systems and support></a></td>
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GSA signs contracts for up to $50 billion on governmentwide mission-related IT systems and support

The General Services Administration (GSA) -- the independent agency that manages and supports the basic functioning of U.S. federal agencies -- recently announced its long-awaited awards on the Alliant 2 governmentwide acquisition contract (GWAC) for IT services and service-based solutions.


Air Force, Boeing complete first review of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program></a></td>
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Air Force, Boeing complete first review of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program

U.S Air Force and Boeing engineers completed the firs review of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program, which validated program technical requirements prior to the design and development phase of the next intercontinental ballistic missile system.




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