Past Performance

Customer: HQ Air Force Communications Agency
Type of Service: OPTN and NOSC/NCC Simulator & Exercise Support

Overview: This contract supported the Air Force Black Demon Force Development exercise to include exercise planning and execution, scenario and tactics development, control cell support, after-action reports, simulator design, architecture and engineering support, and sustainment. It also supported implementation, configuration and training across eight participating MAJCOM's. Additional support for database development, testing, and configuration management of AF Information Assurance tools was included in this contract.

EADS NA Defense Security and Systems Solutions, Inc. was key lead on all life-cycle support, the development of capabilities roadmaps and planning documents for these simulators. We developed a process that ensured software upgrade interoperability with range equipment. Our personnel were instrumental in standardizing range networks and were singularly responsible for developing the security configurations for all range firewalls and security tools, and the repair of network services and direct support of numerous exercise locations.

Direct support to the other geographically separated range networks helped resolve network and firewall problems and included real-time exercise status feeds from the AF Network Operations Center and the AF Computer Emergency Response Team to the Exercise Control Center (ECC) during exercises.

EADS NA Defense Security and Systems Solutions, Inc. was instrumental in assisting the AF in the overall design and direction of this exercise. Our team was able to design, implement, install and configure simulators for use by NOSC/NCC crews during the exercise. These simulators were interconnected over the Wide Area Network, which included dozens of routers, switches, and servers running a variety of Operating Systems, a full compliment of network services, and Air Force standard security and network management tools. The simulators gave the crew force the same "look and feel" as a real NOSC/NCC, complete with base traffic, bottlenecks, outages and network attacks. EADS NA Defense Security and Systems Solutions, Inc. also developed the capability to "reset" the simulator quickly to a baseline configuration for a new scenario or the load of a new tool suite for testing and evaluation. We helped develop and implement the secure Virtual Private Network used to connect each of the simulators over the NIPRNET and configured and outfitted the Enterprise Control Center used during the exercise.

During non-exercise times, these simulators were used by crews for crew force training and testing/simulation. These same simulators were used to test new IA tools and configurations, and to provide a location for crew force training.

EADS NA Defense Security and Systems Solutions, Inc.'s expansive knowledge of AF networks and its extensive background working with NOSC and NCC personnel and the CITS NMS/BIP suite were key to making a significant difference in the reliability, scalability, sustainability, and realism of this important AF exercise.