Marconi UK : we have stopped making SW transmitters and antennas, our reason
for being now ... shoddy naval software.

[Source: Article by Neil Mackay, Investigations Editor, *Sunday Herald*
(Scotland), 10 Oct 2004]

The Royal Navy's new, state-of-the-art destroyer has been fitted with combat
management software that can be hacked into, crashes easily and is
vulnerable to viruses, according to one of the system's designers who was
fired after raising his concerns.

Gerald Wilson, who has 25 years' experience designing naval software, worked
for Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS) in a joint venture with Bae Systems and the
Italian company Finmeccanica on the combat system for the Type 45 destroyer,
which will rely on Microsoft Windows 2000. System failure in action, he
says, would leave the ship blind, defenceless, and as good as sunk.

Dismissed after voicing his fears to the Ministry of Defence and the Defence
Procurement Agency (DPA), Wilson wants to give evidence to the parliamentary
defence select committee about the software.

Last night he told Channel 4 news that "the use of Windows For Warships puts
the ship and her crew at risk, and the defence of the realm".

There are also plans to install a similar Microsoft Windows-based
computerised command system on Britain's nuclear submarines.

Wilson said:
"It is inconceivable that we could allow the possible accidental release of
nuclear missiles. The people who survived such an exchange, if any, would
certainly regard such a thing as a crime against humanity. And I can't help
feeling that even planning to deploy such systems on Windows, with its
unreliability and lack of security, is itself some sort of crime in
international law."

Windows was chosen by AMS in order to cut costs, as the DPA has been
encouraging a switch to off-the-shelf systems. Wilson says the Navy should
stick to its current operating system, Unix, which is said to be more
reliable. Designers can also customise Unix, which would allow unnecessary
components to be removed to reduce risk.

A navy spokesman said: "Bae Systems, as the prime contractor for the Type
45, is responsible for ensuring that the warship meets the requirements
placed on it by the DPA. Using Microsoft Windows within combat management
systems was the subject of an independent review commissioned some while ago
by the DPA. "The review found a proper engineering approach had been taken,
both from a security perspective, as the system middleware isolated Windows
from the remainder of the mission-critical systems, and from a safety
perspective.

Comprehensive hardware mechanisms will be put in place where necessary to
avoid any potential Windows-derived compromises. "We are satisfied that the
solution recommended by the contractor will meet our requirements, as it has
been subject to an independent review. This review was conducted by a team
at the DPA who are independent of the Type 45 team."