Author Archive

David Perera

David Perera is a special contributor to Defense Systems.
Defense Systems

Sounding the cyber alarm

An April cyberspace symposium provided a forum for military and private-sector cybersecurity experts to discuss the challenges of cyber deterrence and raise awareness about the severity of threats to military networks.

Defense Systems

Cyber deterrence dialog raises many questions

A conference hosted in April by the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association International in Omaha, Neb., provided a forum for military and private-sector cybersecurity experts to discuss the challenges of cyber deterrence.

Defense Systems

Justice touts open source for the Army

Army Maj. Gen. Nickolas Justice presides over a diverse group of Command, Control and Communications-Tactical programs. He talks with Defense Systems about his portfolio and about open-source technology, for which he has been a proponent.

Defense Systems

Energy conservation for battlefield operations

New approaches to regulating energy demand at forward operating bases hold considerable promise.

Defense Systems

WIN-T ushers in new dawn for battlefield communications

Army Col. William Hoppe oversees the WIN-T program, which was established to provide high-bandwidth, mobile, two-way satellite communications and ad hoc mesh radio connectivity to battlefield commanders.

Defense Systems

Panel: Allies need cybersecurity coordination

Cooperation among the United States and ally nations on cybersecurity is ad hoc and erratic, according to members of a panel of U.S. and international military officials.

Defense Systems

Central control of DOD networks remains elusive

Defense Department information technology networks might be too large for them to be centrally managed by one authority, according to a panel of experts.

Defense Systems

Chilton: Network users must take cybersecurity role seriously

Some of the military's vulnerability to cyberattacks is because users don't think the rules apply to them, according to Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, commander of the Strategic Command.

Defense Systems

Radio connectivity on the fly

The Soldier Radio Waveform, and its reputation for agility, is a big part of what makes the Rifleman and other Joint Tactical Radio System radios so advanced.

Defense Systems

March to consolidation

A decade of Army IT backroom network consolidation comes to fruition in the Global Network Enterprise Construct.

Defense Systems

Rifleman Radio offers combat lifeline

The first Rifleman Radios are scheduled to roll off the assembly line this July in a low rate of initial production, General Dynamics officials said.

Defense Systems

Air Force launches new GPS satellite

The seventh of eight enhanced second-generation global positioning satellites lifted into space early on March 24 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

Defense Systems

Space radar plans stay in flux

Interest in next-generation space radar remains high even if the method for obtaining new capabilities remains uncertain.

Defense Systems

CANES to consolidate shipboard networks

As the Navy prepares to rework its ashore networks with the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN), a parallel effort is under way to streamline the networks on Navy ships.

Defense Systems

Biometrics Task Force awards 12 contracts

The Biometrics Task Force will contract with 12 companies for a variety of biometric products and services.

Defense Systems

Air Force works to refine IP routers for satellites

Military satellites using on-board IP routers to direct data traffic remain largely a dream even as the technology to send routers into space is more advanced than ever before.

Defense Systems

Army retrofits Shadow UAVs with laser targeting

The retrofit kits for the Shadow UAS will add weapons targeting capabilities to its existing electro-optic and infrared surveillance capabilities.

Defense Systems

Army brings real-time weather to artillery targeting

The Meteorological Measuring Set Profiler will give Army artillerymen a 'nowcast' of weather at target locations by integrating data from multiple sources.

Defense Systems

GAO criticizes DOD plans for business reform czar

In a new report, the GAO finds that the DOD's planned deputy chief management officer position lacks the authority to affect real change.