As budgets continue to decline, the Defense Department’s acquisition community is just starting to understand the value of embedded cyber systems, said Northrop Grumman officials during a panel discussion on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. “This is one of those ideas that the acquisition community is just coming to terms with now,” said Mike Papay, chief information security officer at Northrop Grumman Information Systems. He added, “It’s a tough transition of building that capability. . . . A lot of people want to focus on the capabilities of the system and not necessarily on security.” Northrop Grumman is already working with the Air Force on a number of embedded systems, including the AN/APG-81 radar for the F-35 strike fighter, said the officials. “We are working with the US Air Force on next-generation radar, electronic warfare, communications [point-to-point and satellite comms], and secure and open signal processors that have to work in this complex future electromagnetic and cyber environment,” said Pat Antkowiak, general manager of the company’s electronic systems sector. In addition, the company is working with the Air Force Research Lab on software designed for Global Positioning System satellites and their navigation sensors, said Antkowiak.
The Air Force and Boeing agreed to a nearly $2.4 billion contract for a new lot of KC-46 aerial tankers on Nov. 21. The deal, announced by the Pentagon, is for 15 new aircraft in Lot 11 at a cost of $2.389 billion—some $159 million per tail.