Just like almost everything else, military organizations increasingly depend on software, and they are turning to an array of open source cloud tools like Kubernetes and Istio to get the job done…
There were, of course, lots of challenges along the way. Kubernetes was not designed for the disconnected environments that the military must use in many situations involving data that should not ever reach the internet, Chaillan said. He hinted that DoD will have a lot of suggestions for Kubernetes maintainers as they address this portion of the project, which could help pave the way for Kubernetes to be used in other sensitive operating environments.
“We’re very used to updating using the internet, and having connectivity to the internet, getting the updates directly from the internet. For us, we have to bring the entire stack with us” on jets or weapons systems that are disconnected from the internet by design, he said.
That was from the News Stack article, “How the U.S. Air Force Deployed Kubernetes and Istio on an F-16 in 45 days.” Here is a brief bit about kubernetes itself:
As applications grow to span multiple containers deployed across multiple servers, operating them becomes more complex. To manage this complexity, Kubernetes provides an open source API that controls how and where those containers will run.
It’s not just kubernetes that has challenges in a disconnected environment. Even the F-35 ALIS system needs to be plugged back in to a Lockheed terminal, though I’ve heard it can operate for about a month without doing so. Still, connection to the internet is a bigger challenge considering cybersecurity concerns.
As David Deptula told me, he’s in favor of the “combat cloud,” but it is likely more effective to use that in concert with edge computing because much of the information collected will not be of use for centralized analysis, as well as the latency/connection issues associated with cloud.
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