WASHINGTON, Nov 10 (Reuters) – The U.S. Navy said Thursday it was penalizing shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc for management lapses on a destroyer program.

The Naval Sea Systems Command said 5 percent of progress payments were being withheld on a $697.6 million contract awarded in September for a new Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The Navy did not specify the sum being held back. It cited deficiencies in the company’s “Earned Value Management System,” said Christopher Johnson, a command spokesman, referring to a federal contracting performance yardstick.

The penalty amounted to millions of dollars under new Defense Department rules aimed at boosting contractors’ performance, said Inside the Pentagon, a trade publication that was the first to report the sanction.

The Defense Contract Management Agency found deficiencies representing “systemic and material internal control weaknesses” under 19 of the 32 “guidelines,” Jacqueline Noble, an agency spokeswoman, told Reuters.

The agency uses the yardstick to obtain auditable data on contract status. The problems at Huntington Ingalls crossed each of the five overall areas at issue — Organization; Planning, Scheduling, and Budgeting; Accounting Considerations; Analysis and Management Reports; and Revisions and Data Maintenance, Noble said in an emailed reply.

Huntington Ingalls does not anticipate that this issue will impact its financial outlook, said Jerri Dickseski, a company spokeswoman.

, Nov 7 (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s advanced research arm said on Monday it is boosting efforts to build offensive cyber arms for possible keyboard-launched U.S. military attacks against enemy targets.

The military needs “more and better options” to meet cyber threats to a growing range of industrial and other systems controlled by computers vulnerable to penetration, including cars, Regina Dugan, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, told a first-of-its kind conference.

“Modern warfare will demand the effective use of cyber, kinetic and combined cyber and kinetic means,” she said. Kinetic is military parlance for traditional ways of fighting such as dropping bombs, firing missiles and rolling tanks in.

Dugan’s agency, known as DARPA, opened the session to what it called “visionary hackers” as well as academics and others in an effort to “change the dynamic of cyber defense” amid mounting U.S. concern over vulnerabilities of networks and computer-controlled hardware.

The Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, a U.S. government body, said in a report to Congress last week that China and Russia are using cyber espionage to steal U.S. trade and technology secrets to bolster their fortunes at U.S. expense.

DARPA officials told the session that a recent in-house analysis had found that layered U.S. defenses alone, as currently configured, were a losing proposition because of a cyber attacker’s lopsided advantage.

The cost of creating software security packages, some now involving up to 10 million lines of code, has soared in the past 20 years, the agency’s survey found, while malicious software still requires only 125 lines on average.

, Nov 7 (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s advanced research arm, which played a key role in developing the Internet 40 years ago, said on Monday it will boost efforts to build offensive cyber arms for possible keyboard-launched attacks against enemy targets.

The U.S. military needs “more and better options” to deal with a growing threat to industrial and other systems controlled by computers vulnerable to penetration, Regina Dugan, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, told a symposium.

“Modern warfare will demand the effective use of cyber, kinetic and combined cyber and kinetic means,” she said. Kinetic is military parlance for such things as bombs, bullets and troops.

The cyber colloquium was the first of its kind hosted by the agency, known as DARPA, to discuss securing U.S. infrastructure and trying to ensure the military can rely on its digitally networked systems in future conflicts for everything from targetting to intelligence gathering to logistics.

DARPA opened the session to what it called “visionary hackers” as well as academics and professionals in an effort to “change the dynamic of cyber defense.” It said a recent in-house analysis had found that defense alone was a losing proposition because of a cyber attacker’s lopsided advantage.

The effort and cost of creating information security software packages, some now involving up to 10 million lines of code, has soared in the past 20 years, the survey found, while malicious software still requires only 125 lines on average.

“This is not to suggest that we stop doing what we are doing in cyber security,” Dugan told an audience of about 700 in a hotel ballroom outside Washington. “But if we continue only down the current path, we will not converge with the threat,” meaning deal effectively with it.

ARLINGTON, Virginia (Reuters) – The Pentagon’s advanced research arm, which played a key role in developing the Internet 40 years ago, said on Monday it will boost efforts to build offensive cyber arms for possible use against enemy targets by the U.S. military.

“Modern warfare will demand the effective use of cyber, kinetic, cyber and combined cyber and kinetic means,” Regina Dugan, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), told a symposium.

Kinetic is military parlance for such things as bombs, bullets and troops.

The United States needs “more and better options” to deal with what she described as the growing threat to industrial and other physical systems controlled by computers that may be penetrated by foes, Dugan told the session.

The cyber colloquium was the first of its kind hosted by DARPA to discuss securing U.S. infrastructure and assuring the military’s ability to use its networked systems in future conflicts.

DARPA opened the symposium to what it called “visionary hackers” as well as academics and professionals in an effort to “change the dynamic of cyber defense.”

A recent DARPA assessment found that U.S. capabilities to deal with fast-evolving threats from malicious software code are limited, “both offensively and defensively,” Dugan said. “We need to fix that.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The transfer of U.S. arms to Taiwan, the chief bar to better U.S.-China ties, is moving at a snail’s pace, at least for several major weapons systems, a draft report to the U.S. Congress showed.

The 2011 annual report, under review by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said only four of 60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, for instance, were on order as of mid-October, even though the Obama administration notified lawmakers of their planned sale to Taipei in January 2010.

Moreover, it said Taiwan had “obligated,’ or committed to, only 9 percent of a projected $2.5 billion price tag for 30 Apache attack helicopters, a deal that former President George W. Bush presented to Congress in October 2008.

The lag between the formal notification of a proposed U.S. arms sale, a step required by law, and contracting for and delivery of hardware may raise questions about the possible lack of urgency on the U.S. or Taiwan side, despite what both describe as China’s growing military edge over Taiwan.

China deems Taiwan a rogue province subject to unification by force if necessary.

The report shines light on the normally murky matter of an arms sale’s status after a statutory 30-day congressional review period. A copy of the draft was obtained by Reuters before the scheduled November 16 delivery of a final version to Congress. The 12-member bipartisan commission was created by Congress in 2000 to study the national security implications of U.S.-China trade.

The draft does not blame either the United States or Taiwan for any failures to act as quickly as possible on requests for U.S. arms, which are meant to deter Beijing. The process is complex, often held up by U.S. efforts to bundle purchases for cheaper prices through economies of scale.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The transfer of U.S. arms to Taiwan, the chief bar to better U.S.-China ties, is moving at a snail’s pace, at least for several major weapons systems, a draft report to the U.S. Congress showed.

The 2011 annual report, under review by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said only four of 60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, for instance, were on order as of mid-October, even though the Obama administration notified lawmakers of their planned sale to Taipei in January 2010.

Moreover, it said Taiwan had “obligated,’ or committed to, only 9 percent of a projected $2.5 billion price tag for 30 Apache attack helicopters, a deal that former President George W. Bush presented to Congress in October 2008.

The lag between the formal notification of a proposed U.S. arms sale, a step required by law, and contracting for and delivery of hardware may raise questions about the possible lack of urgency on the U.S. or Taiwan side, despite what both describe as China’s growing military edge over Taiwan.

China deems Taiwan a rogue province subject to unification by force if necessary.

The report shines light on the normally murky matter of an arms sale’s status after a statutory 30-day congressional review period. A copy of the draft was obtained by Reuters before the scheduled November 16 delivery of a final version to Congress. The 12-member bipartisan commission was created by Congress in 2000 to study the national security implications of U.S.-China trade.

The draft does not blame either the United States or Taiwan for any failures to act as quickly as possible on requests for U.S. arms, which are meant to deter Beijing. The process is complex, often held up by U.S. efforts to bundle purchases for cheaper prices through economies of scale.

WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The transfer of U.S. arms to Taiwan, the chief bar to better U.S.-China ties, is moving at a snail’s pace, at least for several major weapons systems, a draft report to the U.S. Congress showed.

The 2011 annual report, under review by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, said only four of 60 Black Hawk utility helicopters, for instance, were on order as of mid-October, even though the Obama administration notified lawmakers of their planned sale to Taipei in January 2010.

Moreover, it said Taiwan had “obligated,’ or committed to, only 9 percent of a projected $2.5 billion price tag for 30 Apache attack helicopters, a deal that former President George W. Bush presented to Congress in October 2008.

The lag between the formal notification of a proposed U.S. arms sale, a step required by law, and contracting for and delivery of hardware may raise questions about the possible lack of urgency on the U.S. or Taiwan side, despite what both describe as China’s growing military edge over Taiwan.

China deems Taiwan a rogue province subject to unification by force if necessary.

The report shines light on the normally murky matter of an arms sale’s status after a statutory 30-day congressional review period. A copy of the draft was obtained by Reuters before the scheduled Nov. 16 delivery of a final version to Congress. The 12-member bipartisan commission was created by Congress in 2000 to study the national security implications of U.S.-China trade.

The draft does not blame either the United States or Taiwan for any failures to act as quickly as possible on requests for U.S. arms, which are meant to deter Beijing. The process is complex, often held up by U.S. efforts to bundle purchases for cheaper prices through economies of scale.

WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) – The Obama administration formally notified the U.S. Congress on Friday of an unusual proposal to take three AH-1W “SuperCobra” attack helicopters from the U.S. Marine Corps inventory and sell them to Turkey.

The deal, valued at up to $111 million, would boost Turkey’s self-defense as well as regional security and its ability to operate with U.S. forces and other NATO members, a Pentagon notice to lawmakers said.

Ankara has been seeking the helicopters to replace those lost in its long struggle against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Turkey last week launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, vowing to exact “great revenge” after 24 Turkish troops were killed on Oct. 19 in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in years.

Under the administration’s plan, the Marines would get two new, late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z SuperCobras in exchange for the three, twin-engine AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara, a congressional official told Reuters.

The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said the sale’s effect on U.S. Marine Corps “readiness” would be mitigated by using the proceeds for the Corps’ SuperCobra upgrades program.

Such sales from the U.S. military’s current inventory are extremely rare. The United States and Turkey have a long tradition of military cooperation, both bilaterally and inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – At least two U.S. government civilian satellites were interfered with four or more times in 2007 and 2008 via a ground station in Norway, and China’s military is a prime suspect, a draft of a report to Congress said.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which reported the interference, said it was “consistent with PLA doctrine,” Larry Wortzel, one of the 12 commissioners, told Reuters on Friday. PLA is short for China’s People’s Liberation Army.

Wortzel, a retired U.S. Army colonel and former military attache in China, cautioned that commissioners cannot be sure that the activity in question can be linked to China.

But he said Beijing had conducted numerous tests on space warfare systems in 2007 and 2008.

“I don’t think it is a wild analytical leap to suggest that these hacks could have been part of that matrix of testing,” Wortzel said in an email.

Pinpointing responsibility for a cyberattack can be extremely difficult. Hackers typically mask their tracks by routing intrusions through computers on multiple continents and may make an attack appear to come from a third country.

The commission’s account is based largely on a May 12 U.S. Air Force briefing for the commission, which was set up by Congress in 2000 to report on the national security implications of U.S.-China trade. Its final 2011 report is due to be sent to lawmakers on November 16.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is consulting Congress on an unusual proposal to transfer U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopters to Turkey, U.S. officials said on Thursday, as Ankara tries to exact revenge for a major attack by Kurdish separatists.

Turkey, a NATO ally, has been seeking AH-1 SuperCobra helicopters to replace those lost in its long struggle against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK.

Under the administration’s plan, the Marines would get two new, late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z SuperCobras in exchange for the three AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara from current inventory, a congressional official said.

The officials declined to be identified because of the matter’s sensitivity and because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The idea to take weapons from the U.S. arsenal was rare, they said.

The proposal has been held up amid lawmakers’ questions about increasingly distant relations between Muslim-majority Turkey and Israel, a key U.S. ally, among other matters.

The AH-1W has sold previously for about $10 million. Turkey bought 10 of them in the 1990s. The larger, twin-engine AH-IZ may sell for about $30 million, according to industry sources.

Under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, the executive branch must provide 15 days’ formal notice to Congress before going ahead with significant arms transfers to a NATO partner. It was not immediately clear when such notice might take place, with informal congressional consultations continuing.