Visit the website of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and you’ll be told that Special Operations Truth No. 1 is that “humans are more important than hardware.”
Undoubtedly true, but U.S. Navy Seals, the maritime unit of USSOCOM, didn’t pull off “Operation Neptune Spear,” the May 1 assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a walled compound in Pakistan, without relying on technology for the planning and execution.
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From the stealth equipment on the modified Black Hawk helicopters to the network that allowed a remote camera on a Seal’s helmet to transmit live footage of the raid to the White House, technology teamed with humans in the mission’s planning and execution.
Now BAE Systems will be part of the USSOCOM team. The British defense and security contractor has been awarded part of a $65 million Special Operations Forces Information Technology Enterprise Contract (SITEC) for IT services and technical support.
BAE Systems said in a statement that it will “work with USSOCOM’s IT management office in areas including applications maintenance and development, planning and engineering as well as management and information assurance,” as well as provide ongoing support through the life of the agreement.
The company isn’t detailing what technology it will deploy as part of its contract, but BAE sells customized enterprise architecture tools and support, information-sharing applications, virus-protection software and real-time network forensic services.
Through 2009, BAE was the No. 8 contractor to the U.S. government, with $7.5 billion in federal contracts that year.
While BAE will be working with USSOCOM’s IT management team, the special operations forces command’s overall technology ambitions are breathtaking. Among its goals are to develop self-forming mobile networks for its field forces, ground sensors capable of sensing human body heat and natural human electrical charges, and a time-travel machine.
OK, I made up the time-travel thing. But they’re pretty serious about the other two.
