Pentagon Signs $5 Million Deal for Cyber Battleground

The Pentagon is paying $5 million for virtual battlefield technology to practice and launch offensive cyberattacks, according to government business documents. National security firm Apogee Research was awarded the contract on June 24, Defense Department officials announced on Tuesday. 

The project is part of Plan X, an initiative launched last year under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to rehearse and manage what officials call "cyberwarfare in real-time, large-scale, and dynamic network environments." This is one of a series of deals federal officials began signing in late May. 

The "cyber battle space" will contain a network map, operational units and a set of capabilities, according to the documents. Apogee’s system will use an open platform architecture that can sync with government and industry technologies. "Red OCRE," the company’s proposal, will supply the open "cyber runtime environment" and a special operating system, officials stated. The tools will follow the "stochastic optimal control" theory to deal with uncertainties in cyberspace, they added.

The first companies to earn Plan X business were Data Tactics, which is collecting $25.8 million to deliver a "real-time extensible infrastructure and framework" for cyberwar maneuvers, and Raytheon, which will receive $9.8 million for "mission execution software." 

(Image via Flickr user mjbaird)