Diligent Consulting Inc. is to provide system administration, engineering and management support services for the U.S. Air Force under a NETCENTS-2 contract.

Services under the NETCENTS-2 Application Services Small Business contract vehicle are to be performed by Diligent -- and its teammate NCI Information Systems Inc. -- for the Air Force Network Cyber Integration Division, the Air Force Network Theater Deployable Communications, and the Gateway Integration and Test Facilities at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts.

The contract from the Air Force Network Support Branch, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, is worth $1.7 million.

"Diligent understands the criticality of the AFNet infrastructure as it provides the warfighter with full access to real-time command-and-control information for day-to-day operations and contingencies," said Rick Riney, Diligent's chief operating officer. "As a NETCENTS-2 prime contractor, Diligent is extremely proud to be supporting our warfighters in every environment and location that the AFNet system operates in."

The Air Force Network system is a portfolio of programs that ensures effective design, deployment, and maintenance of the service's high-speed, high-capacity digital communications infrastructure.

Decoy system passes tests
London (UPI) Apr 18, 2013 - New decoy technology for fast-moving military aircraft has successfully passed testing, paving the way for its production by Selex ES.

The system is named BriteCloud Expendable Active Decoy, a self-contained digital RF memory jammer for fast jet aircraft, providing an off-board capability to decoy RF-guided missiles and fire control radars.

"We had already done a huge amount of testing, including extensive computer modelling and ground-based sled trials, so we were confident in the performance of BriteCloud," said Pete Forrest, vice president of Marketing and Sales for Electronic Warfare at Selex ES. "That said, it's great to have put the decoy in a real-life scenario and seen it perform exactly as intended, which will reassure some potential customers who maybe didn't quite believe that this technology is as far ahead of our competition as we've just proven."

In the end-to-end tests, BriteCloud decoys were launched from a fighter aircraft that was being tracked by a ground-based fire-control radar. The decoys detected the threat radar and jammed the threats with their jammer.

BriteCloud is the same size and shape as a flare and dispensed from a standard 55mm flare cartridge. Aircraft manufacturer Saab of Sweden will offer the decoy system as an electronic warfare enhancement option for its Gripen fighters.