Feral Jundi

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

PMC 2.0: Cyber Bodyguards Set Up In Switzerland

Filed under: Executive Protection,PMC 2.0,Switzerland,Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:10 AM

   I put this up as a PMC 2.0, because I believe we will see more of this type of thing, but at larger and possibly more dangerous scales.  Think in terms of a PMC or PSC that can offer to protect (both electronically and physically) a country’s cyber affairs?  Someone has to protect the cell towers, the server farms, the cables, and the online presence of that country.

   Not to mention all of that country’s infrastructure or finance that is tied into computers and the internet.  Countries like Georgia were attacked by Russia, physically and online. Cyber warfare is a huge topic in the U.S. right now, and it scares the crap out of today’s planners.  For smaller countries, a PMC or PSC that could offer full spectrum services like what I am talking about, could be essential for their survival and future stability. –Matt

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Cyber Bodyguards Set Up in Switzerland

Michael Cheek

Monday, April 5, 2010

In an effort to meet the growing needs of business people, the Electronic Bodyguards Group has formed in Switzerland to help protect business people from privacy and security threats in the electronic sphere. The group, formed by Peter Houppermans, a security consultant who helped build the UK’s Government Secure Intranet, brings together a variety of experts to address the threats.

The group markets its offerings to companies but also to senior executives and VIPs and is centered on the top end of the spectrum.

“VIPs typically walk into a less secure setup as soon as they leave their office,” Houppermans said. “Bodyguards only look at perimeter, but the guy in the carpark with a laptop can pose a threat as can a lost BlackBerry that cannot be remotely killed.”

(more…)

Friday, March 26, 2010

Afghanistan: Protecting Telecom Should Be A Priority, And How Private Industry Can Help

Filed under: Afghanistan,PMC 2.0,Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:43 AM

   I have read both of these stories below and I am in absolute disbelief that we are allowing this to happen?  Protecting cell towers and telecommunications in Afghanistan should be a wartime priority.  For COIN or counter-terrorism operations, this is your connection to the people, and to not protect that connection is just stupid.  Who the hell is in charge, and why are they allowing the Taliban to do this?

   So with that said, if today’s military strategists and war planners cannot do the job of protecting this stuff, then my suggestion is to contract it out.  Private industry could totally protect each and every cell tower, and entire contract vehicles could be set up to do such a thing. You could actually set it up for world-wide telecommunications protection services (WTPS), just because cell towers and phones will be vital to the war effort in those places as well. Both the troops and civilian contractors use cell phones for operations, as well as the civilian populations for their commerce and day to day rebuilding activities of their towns and cities.  To allow the Taliban or anyone to shut that down or mess with it, is just dumb.

     I can’t stress enough on how important this stuff is, and I am floored that it is not a priority in the war.  It’s right up there with logistics.  Because more than likely, the tips that will come in and lead to the capture of high value terrorists (like Bin Laden), will come via a cellphone call or text message from a pissed off villager.  You allow that to shut down and you have just effectively shot yourself in the foot.

   Anyway, private industry will step up if the military doesn’t want to take this on. Hell, DoS or DoD could take charge of this…… that’s if anyone cares. –Matt

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Afghan Cell Carriers Follow Taliban Rules

by Alex Sundby

March 26, 2010

Afghanistan’s cell phone companies and the Taliban have formed a kind of detente in the southern and eastern parts of the wartorn country. The phone companies shut down their cell towers at night, preventing local residents from discreetly calling coalition military tip lines. In exchange, Taliban militants don’t target the costly cell towers with explosives.

It’s a part of day-to-day life The Wall Street Journal explores at length. The deal between the phone companies and the Taliban isn’t a secret to the Afghan government with the country’s communications minister telling the newspaper, “We understand that in some areas, unfortunately, there is no other way … We don’t have security to protect the towers.”

(more…)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Aviation: Resupply By Robot? UAV Competition Heats Up

Filed under: Afghanistan,Aviation,Logistics,Technology — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 2:29 PM

     This is cool.  When I was fighting forest fires back in the day, I worked on a couple fires where they used the K-max. It’s a funky helicopter, and that would be very interesting to see that aircraft as a UAV for resupply.

     I really think this concept is one that could revolutionize the way we do business out there in the war. I could see a unit’s drone archers using these things to transport people and gear into strategic positions in the mountains, as well as using these things to transport wounded off of the battlefield. Having an on call aircraft that a unit could control to do all sorts of crazy cool things, would be an extremely valuable tool on the battlefield.  My only advice to the developers is to think ‘Ak 47’ of the sky, when it comes to making it durable and dependable.  The feeds to control the thing must be dependable and encrypted as well, because I would hate for these machines to be captured by the enemy.

   The other point I wanted to make with this craft is that it should always fly with support drones.  That way, the main supply drone could keep flying, and the support ‘killer drones’ could work on enemy emplacements.  Swarms of these things could instantly focus on whatever needs attention, all to support the mother craft so it can reach it’s destination.  Of course everything should have a human interface, and have an elephant chisel in order to kill it.  Mechanisms must be in place to insure there will be no blue on blue incidents, once we get into the business of resupply by UAV. –Matt

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K-Max being controlled by a drone archer.

Resupply by Robot? UAV Competition Heats Up

By Jack Mann

March 3rd, 2010

Resupplying combat troops in Afghanistan is a dangerous, slow and increasingly expensive undertaking.  Moving a truck filled with supplies 50 miles could require as many as 100 Marines, most of them to provide security, and take about 24 hours, according to DefenseNews.

Of course, it’s a lot faster to deliver supplies by helicopter, but that costs almost $10,000 per hour and puts airmen and helicopters at risk.  Airdrops by fixed-wing aircraft are safer, but much less accurate and just as expensive.

What’s a soldier to do? Employ UAVs, say Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Sikorsky.

(more…)

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Aviation: Drone Operators Climb On Winds Of Change In The Air Force

Filed under: Aviation,Technology — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:15 PM

     Like with contractors, drones have been the ‘new thing’ that the military has been trying figure out. Now a kid who is really good at video games, could essentially fly these drones.  Hell, I think drone piloting will only become easier and more user friendly in the future.  We will also see drones that are more intuitive, that will actually help out the drone archer in their missions.  Of course we will also see autonomous drones come on to the scene, but I believe the military will still want some kind of human interface to be that ‘elephant chisel’ for that drone.

     I don’t think human flight will go away in the Air Force per se. It’s just now commanders have the choice between risking the life of a pilot for a mission versus using a UAV. So human powered missions will more than likely be the stuff that requires the utmost in human discretion.  Humans can also feel out a situation and provide more random strategies in the air, that machines would have a hard time deriving patterns from.

     But yet again, a human in a small box in Nevada, could apply the same strategies with a highly maneuverable UAV.  There are no physical limitations for the drone archer either.  They can go to the bathroom, eat, work in shifts, and the G Forces or altitude of the aircraft will not impact the mission.  Most importantly, there is no fog of war for the pilot.

     That leaves another question.  For some pilots, physically being in the battle, is a good thing.  It empowers them by heightening their senses and really pushing their strategies and desire to kill the enemy.  In other words, there are high stakes involved with human piloting, and that causes a person to really perform. The drone archer in the box, just looks at it like a video game. There might be a strategic edge to a pilot that is ‘more connected’ to the battlefield.  Who knows, and this stuff is a little out of my lane.  Either way, drones are here to stay, and they are causing a significant shift in military aviation mindset. I wonder what Col. John Boyd would have to say about drones? –Matt

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Combat Generation: Drone operators climb on winds of change in the Air Force

By Greg JaffeSunday, February 28, 2010

The question, scrawled on a Pentagon whiteboard last fall, captured the strange and difficult moment facing the Air Force.

“Why does the country need an independent Air Force?” the senior civilian assistant to Gen. Norton A. Schwartz, the service’s chief of staff, had written. For the first time in the 62-year history of the Air Force, the answer isn’t entirely clear.

The Air Force’s identity crisis is one of many ways that a decade of intense and unrelenting combat is reshaping the U.S. military and redefining the American way of war. The battle against insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq has created an insatiable demand for the once-lowly drone, elevating the importance of the officers who fly them.

These new earthbound aviators are redefining what it means to be a modern air warrior and forcing an emotional debate within the Air Force over the very meaning of valor in combat.

(more…)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

PMC 2.0: Security Threats For Smart Phone Users

Filed under: PMC 2.0,Technology — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:32 PM

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