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VA Transitions Medical Centers to New Research Platform; Molly Klote Quoted
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VA Transitions Medical Centers to New Research Platform; Molly Klote Quoted

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is implementing a new platform designed to streamline research activities and standardize the regulatory review of VA research operations across the nation. VA said Monday its Office of Research and Development (ORD) has transitioned 105 research-active medical centers and the Central Institutional Review Board (IRBNet) to the new IRBNet platform.

IRBNet consolidates all research operations into a single platform and provides ORD a nationwide research overview in the form of a unified, authoritative dataset.

VA also expects IRBNet to support policy implementation, mitigate regulatory risks, boost research transparency and reduce the workload of research offices.

“This enterprise approach will decrease the need for national data calls and will enable the Office of Research and Development to have an ‘air traffic control board’ to see where studies, by topic, are happening across the system,” said Molly Klote, director at VA's Office of Research Protections, Policy and Education.

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Amentum Receives $90M Research and Development Contract to Support Maritime Electronic Warfare, Above-Water Sensors; Jill Bruning Quoted
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Amentum Receives $90M Research and Development Contract to Support Maritime Electronic Warfare, Above-Water Sensors; Jill Bruning Quoted

Amentum announced on Wednesday that the company has secured a potential five-year, $90 million contract to support the Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) Above Water Sensors and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane) with systems engineering services. 

“Amentum has been a long-term strategic partner to the U.S. Navy, and we’re pleased to have this opportunity to provide research and development support to help meet its sensor integration and electronic warfare requirements,” said Jill Bruning, president of Amentum’s Intelligence, Systems Engineering, Security, Services and Solutions (IS4) strategic business unit. 

Under the contract, the company will leverage its recently established Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) laboratory and digital engineering toolsets to conduct research, development, test and evaluation of emerging technologies to improve the functionality of existing and future above-water sensor systems. 

Amentum’s logistics and systems engineering capabilities will also work to achieve the performance objectives needed by product managers to carry out their missions across the globe. 

“We are a market leader in systems engineering, known for providing engineering at the cutting edge. We look forward to bringing our innovative approaches to PEO IWS 2.0 and expand our support at NSWC Crane,” Bruning added. 

Amentum received the contract under the Department of Defense Information Analysis Center’s (DoD IAC) multiple-award contract (MAC) vehicle.

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Airgility Selected for the AFWERX Revolutionizing USAF Flight Line Operations Challenge
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Airgility Selected for the AFWERX Revolutionizing USAF Flight Line Operations Challenge

Pramod Raheja, chief executive officer and co-founder of Airgility, announced on LinkedIn that the company has been selected to attend the AFWERX Revolutionizing USAF Flight Line Operations Challenge. 

Airgility was selected to attend under the Flightline Security Subtopic, where the company will be showcasing its MS-1 Kampe™, which features on-board autonomy & artificial intelligence.

The Flightline Security Challenge aims to improve flightline security for both permanent and temporary bases as each possesses unique challenges and distinct needs regarding flightline protection and location-specific threats.

Airgility emerged as one of only 34 companies that were selected for the pitch and showcase out of the 208 companies that submitted technologies to solve Air Force flight line security problems.

The AFWERX Revolutionizing USAF Flightline Operations initiative is made up of three challenges targeted at leveraging the best technology and services to create an integrated flightline while maintaining security, being resilient and increasing agility.

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NNSA Seeks to Connect With Nuclear Tech Industry via New Website
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NNSA Seeks to Connect With Nuclear Tech Industry via New Website

The National Nuclear Security Administration has launched a new web portal that contains guidance for commercial nuclear industry, information about U.S. export control regulations for civilian nuclear technology, and other features that support nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

The U.S. Nuclear Nexus also provides training, tools and recommendations from NNSA and the Department of Energy’s National Laboratory to promote understanding of understand export control compliance, nonproliferation and security standards, DOE said Tuesday.

In addition to supporting NNSA’s nuclear nonproliferation efforts, the platform is designed to help boost U.S. nuclear technology competitiveness within the global market.

Nexus will also include material and resources for academics working in nuclear technology, according to future plans. Argonne National Laboratory maintains Nexus in collaboration with NNSA.

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NASA OKs IMAP Mission’s Transition to Implementation Phase
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NASA OKs IMAP Mission’s Transition to Implementation Phase

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Princeton University and their partner institutions have received approval from NASA to start implementing a mission meant to help analyze the flow of particles from the sun and understand the interactions between the solar wind and the interstellar medium.

The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission is scheduled to launch in February 2025 and will involve a solar-powered spacecraft that will be located at the first Lagrange point or about 1 million miles away from Earth to monitor how the solar wind interacts with the interstellar medium, APL said Tuesday.

The IMAP mission will carry 10 scientific instruments to help researchers further study the heliosphere’s boundary and how this magnetic barrier filters cosmic rays.

The IMAP team conducted a preliminary design review of mission requirements, spacecraft design, science plans, costs and schedule in May and received NASA confirmation on July 12th to advance the program to the next development phase that includes final mission and spacecraft design efforts.

NASA announced in July that the mission achieved Key Decision Point C, marking IMAP’s transition from formulation to the implementation phase. In September 2020, SpaceX secured a potential $109.4 million contract to provide launch services for the IMAP mission.

IMAP is the fifth mission in the space agency’s Solar Terrestrial Probes program, which is managed by the heliophysics program office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

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U.S., UK Defense Labs Host ‘Capture the Flag’ Competition for Autonomous AI Agents; Mick Hitchcock Quoted
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U.S., UK Defense Labs Host ‘Capture the Flag’ Competition for Autonomous AI Agents; Mick Hitchcock Quoted

The U.S. Air Force's research organization and the U.K.'s defense science and technology laboratory are set to conduct the final round of a collaborative challenge that features autonomous artificial intelligence agents designed to control small drone swarms and compete against each other in a simulated game of capture the flag.

The 2021 Swarm and Search AI Challenge kicked off in early May and is scheduled to culminate with a single-elimination event among five teams on Friday, the Air Force Research Laboratory said Tuesday.

For the showcase event, finalists will present technical approaches they used to win the head-to-head matches using AI algorithms.

“The goal of this annual challenge is to attract the best and brightest minds to solve autonomy and AI problems and to spark innovation," said Mick Hitchcock, AFRL’s program manager for the Swarm and Search Capture the Flag Challenge.

Hitchcock noted that the event seeks to highlight collaboration among AFRL, DstL, Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and participants from the small business community.

“It’s all about the power of these groups coming together on a common problem and generating innovative ideas that can yield real-world solutions.”

GTRI built a multiagent simulation platform for the competition, while developers trained AI agents on speed, stealth, attack and defense strategies.

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DOD’s Lloyd Austin, Canadian Counterpart Issue Joint Statement on NORAD Modernization
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DOD’s Lloyd Austin, Canadian Counterpart Issue Joint Statement on NORAD Modernization

Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, and Harjit Sajjan, Canada’s defense minister, have released a joint statement to guide collaborative efforts to advance the modernization of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) as part of a push to strengthen the defense and security of the U.S. and Canada against aerospace and maritime threats.

The joint statement cites situational awareness, modernized command and control systems and capabilities to deter and counter evolving aerospace threats to North America as priority areas for investments to advance NORAD modernization, DOD said Tuesday.

The U.S. and Canada recognize the need to deploy new capabilities, including next-generation radar systems, to complement or replace the North Warning System, to enhance persistent surveillance of North American airspace.

“Ensuring effective awareness ultimately requires a system-of-systems approach including a network of Canadian and U.S. sensors from the seafloor to outer space,” the statement reads.

DOD and its Canadian counterpart also highlighted the need to advance collaboration on research and development efforts to address the threats facing North American defense and security.

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Shawn Skelly on Pentagon’s Move to Strategic Readiness
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Shawn Skelly on Pentagon’s Move to Strategic Readiness

Shawn Skelly, assistant secretary for readiness and force management at the Department of Defense, said DOD is shifting its focus from near-term priorities to strategic readiness to help maintain its competitive edge against near-peer competitors, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

“The department recognizes that they need to broaden its aperture to a more strategic view of readiness. Yet organizational incentives and processes are currently optimized to focus operationally,” Skelly said at an event Tuesday.

“The focus on fight tonight or operational readiness permeates beyond simply how we prepare forces and influences how we measure them. That introduces risk and we may lose sight of the future challenge we’re charged to be prepared for,” she added.

Skelly said focusing on data use is also part of DOD’s transition to strategic readiness.

“We are using data to balance the readiness of today with requirements to develop and field forces and capabilities for the challenges of tomorrow. That will enable better decision-making with a clearer understanding of the risk acceptance being undertaken,” she said.

Skelly’s team is working on a Readiness Decision Impact Model, a tool that will use data to determine the impacts of operations decisions and policy resources.

“We envision it will allow us to trace how a particular senior-level decision about a deployment could impact the unit, the service combatant commands and our ability to modernize other capabilities,” she said of the tool.

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Ligado Names Former NASA Head Charles Bolden as Board Member
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Ligado Names Former NASA Head Charles Bolden as Board Member

Charles Bolden Jr., a former administrator of NASA, has been named a board member at Reston, Virginia-based satellite communications company Ligado Networks.

The retired Marine Corps major general said in a statement Tuesday that he is “committed to helping Ligado leverage its technology and spectrum resources for the benefit of all Americans and the enterprises that serve them.”

Bolden led NASA through its establishment of a space technology mission directorate, expansion of the agency's Earth observation satellite network and its planetary exploration missions with the Curiosity Rover and Juno probe.

He became the second astronaut to serve as head of the space agency when former President Obama appointed him to the position in 2009.

The highly decorated naval aviator supported more than 100 combat missions during the Vietnam War and he also worked as a test pilot for the Naval Air Test Center’s Systems Engineering and Strike Aircraft Test Directorates.

Prior to his retirement from the military, Bolden was commanding general of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, California.

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DHS S&T Conducts Market Study for Laser-Protective Eyewear
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DHS S&T Conducts Market Study for Laser-Protective Eyewear

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DNS S&T) Directorate seeks market information on eyewear that can protect law enforcement personnel and emergency responders from laser pointer attacks.

DHS S&T said Friday it is conducting a market survey for laser protective goggles, glasses, films and face shields that may protect the wearer from lasers across violet, blue, red, green and near-infrared spectrums.

Laser-protective eyewear can shield personnel from laser pointers during protests and civil unrest situations. The directorate's National Urban Security Technology Laboratory (NUSTL) handles the market survey, which will remain open for responses through Sept. 10th.

NUSTL will post the survey's results online as part of the System Assessment and Validation for Emergency Responders or SAVER program. Federal, state and local agencies may use the results to inform future procurement decisions.

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