Did Chinese Espionage Lead to F-35 Delays?

Defensetech.org ^ | 7 Feb 2012

[spetznaz]

Did Chinese cyber spying cause the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s cost spikes and production delays? That’s the question Pentagon budget officials are asking according to Aviation Week.

Chinese spies apparently hacked into secure conference calls and listened to meetings discussing the classified technologies aboard the jets. In particular, China may have stolen info about the F-35’s secure communications and antenna systems; leading to costly software rewrites and other redesigns to compromised parts of the plane.

The worst part, this problem isn’t just limited to the F-35, though the program’s size and the fact that it’s information systems were apparently designed without any concern for cyber espionage made it an easy target.

Anyone who has been following U.S.-China military relations and cyber warfare knows that China has been hacking into the networks of U.S. defense contractors and the Pentagon and rolling out brand new weapons like the J-20 stealth fighter.

[spetznaz]

Here’s the latest from Av Week:

Before the intrusions were discovered nearly three years ago, Chinese hackers actually sat in on what were supposed to have been secure, online program-progress conferences, the officials say.

The full extent of the connection is still being assessed, but there is consensus that escalating costs, reduced annual purchases and production stretch-outs are a reflection to some degree of the need for redesign of critical equipment. Examples include specialized communications and antenna arrays for stealth aircraft, as well as significant rewriting of software to protect systems vulnerable to hacking.

It is only recently that U.S. officials have started talking openly about how data losses are driving up the cost of military programs and creating operational vulnerabilities, although claims of a large impact on the Lockheed Martin JSF are drawing mixed responses from senior leaders. All the same, no one is saying there has been no impact.

While claiming ignorance of details about effects on the stealth strike aircraft program, James Clapper, director of national intelligence, says that Internet technology has “led to egregious pilfering of intellectual capital and property. The F-35 was clearly a target,” he confirms. “Clearly the attacks … whether from individuals or nation-states are a serious challenge and we need to do something about it.”

The F-35 issue was ducked as well by David Shedd, deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, but not the impact of cybertheft on defense spending and operational security.

“I am not going to talk about the F-35, Shedd says. “I’d be sitting with the secretary having a counseling session. The answer is absolutely yes. The leaks have hurt our efforts in that it gives the adversary an advantage in having insights into what we’re doing. It should be clear that whether there are leaks on the technology side or that affect preemptive decision-making, they are very damaging to the intelligence community.”

Those closer to the program are less equivocal about the damage that cyberintrusions are causing the JSF program.

“You are on to something,” says a veteran combat pilot with insight into both the F-35 and the intelligence communities “There are both operational and schedule problems with the program related to the cyber data thefts. In addition, there are the costs of redressing weaknesses in the original system design and lots of software fixes.”

[spetznaz]

If true this sure is interesting. A totally different angle.

[MichaelP]

How could they have been so naive to start with? These efforts should have been anticipated! Don't we have a COIN Program?

Mike

[Broker]

Simply put; we don’t know what we don’t know.

[FreeAtlanta]

To clean up security in our military and government, we have to start by banning all leftist. That is nearly anyone associated with the Democrat party.

Democrats, the party of treason and suicide.

[reed13k]

What ge heck has happened to COMSEC - when discussing classified information assume your tapped if you aren’t on an encrypted circuit - criminey.

[mcshot]

Absolutely essential and correct.

[Strategerist]

You mean CI (Counterintelligence)?

We have a variety of CI programs. We just got a briefing from a DSS (Defense Security Service) guy a couple weeks ago at our company (we have no involvement in the F-35, just FYI).

It’s really challenging to implement strong CI procedures for contractors. You either end up having huge vulnerabilities, or you make security so onerous no one can ever get or share information they need. Any big project requires incessant, long phone or video conferences, and it’s almost impossible to have all of them on secure networks.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

How’s that “free trade” thingy working out so far, America?

[Strategerist]

"What ge heck has happened to COMSEC - when discussing classified information assume your tapped if you aren’t on an encrypted circuit - criminey."

Defense Tech added the word "Classified" when it doesn't appear in the Aviation Week article.

This was probably unclassified but sensitive information, which is by far the biggest COMSEC challenge.

[Strategerist]

This has nothing to do with “free trade” unless your suggestion is to try to cut the US off from the Internet completely.

[C19fan]

I guess hot Australian hackers in China are better than the ones in the US. (Reference to 1st Transformers movie)