10Meters News Service

April 12, 2002 – The U.S. Air Force is offering a five-year, $24 million contract for "techniques and technology" to protect military radar against the same threat plaguing the Internet – electronic "spoofing."

The Air Force, which considers spoofing an Electronic Combat (EC) attack, is so concerned that the hacking technology poses a viable and present danger, it plans to award the anti-spoofing contract as early as September of this year.

Deadline for proposals is May 28, 2002.

Spoofing is a technique that allows an intruder to gain unauthorized access to computers by pirating a legitimate IP address that would normally identify the message as coming from a trusted host.

The contract, announced April 8 by the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is part of the Electronic Protection Initiatives (EPI) program and consists of a wide-range of Electronic Combat technologies needed for protecting defense-communication systems.

According to the Air Force, the "Electronic Combat threat environment is constantly evolving and providing new challenges for current and projected airborne and space-based radar systems."

The Air Force specifically notes that electronic enemy systems are becoming "readily available and technologically advanced."

The electronic-protection equipment sought by the Air Force would be installed aboard aircraft or satellites, as well as on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)s.

The Air Force says defense contractors for the five-year program must provide, among other elements, research on advanced electronic protection techniques, preliminary designs and evaluations, including digital models, and field and flight tests.

Importantly, the contractor or contractors selected for the program must be able to simulate the electronic attack to represent the emerging threat.

Contractors must also provide a secret facility for research and development.

No foreign participation will be allowed.