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ARC Develops AI/ML Maintenance Platform for U.S. Marine Corps Under SBIR Phase III Contract
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ARC Develops AI/ML Maintenance Platform for U.S. Marine Corps Under SBIR Phase III Contract

Armaments Research Company (ARC) will develop a predictive maintenance platform for crew-served weapons for the U.S. Marine Corps under the company’s recently awarded five-year, $60 million SBIR Phase III contract.

The SBIR Phase III contract with the Department of Defense and General Services Administration allows ARC to develop systems in support of the military’s Joint All-Domain Command and Controlw (JADC2) project portfolio, which aims to connect military service sensors into an integrated, centralized network.

ARC will embed its adapted Internet of Things sensor into crew-served weapons platforms to collect, synthesize and communicate diagnostics which will enable predictive maintenance and optimize unit readiness by allowing units to better assess overall platform health, the company said Thursday.

“Supporting the Marines’ leap forward from time- to conditions-based maintenance for their medium-caliber weapons creates an extraordinary potential for efficiencies,” said ARC’s CEO Michael Canty. 

Canty added that non-age-related equipment issues typically comprise about 80 percent of total failures, and ARC’s work on the project will help the Marine Corps to understand, predict and prevent these issues.

Throughout this project, ARC will continue to develop its artificial intelligence and machine learning-powered weapons sensor, ARC-Response, scaling the sensor from small- to medium-caliber weapons platforms. 

Data collected by the improved sensors will be used to develop machine learning algorithms to identify parts in need of repair and detect potential parts failures before they occur, ensuring operational safety.

Last month, ARC introduced two task orders under the contract, which focus on fusing data from ARC’s AI-enabled edge computing sensors with other data sources to utilize mobile and extended reality platforms to transmit information to tactical forces more quickly.

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RedTail LiDAR Systems to Enhance EOD 3D Mapping Missions; Brad DeRoos Quoted
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RedTail LiDAR Systems to Enhance EOD 3D Mapping Missions; Brad DeRoos Quoted

RedTail LiDAR Systems has delivered six LiDAR systems to the 707th Ordnance Company at Joint Base Lewis-McChord to provide an opportunity for its Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians to assess how LiDAR systems may be used to enhance operations.

Leveraging a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) mirror-based design licensed from the Army Research Laboratory, the LiDAR technology will be used to improve the EOD Company’s 3D mapping, crater volume calculation, unmanned ground vehicle route planning, mission planning and surveillance capabilities, the company said Tuesday.

"Delivering these six LiDAR systems to EOD technicians for test and evaluation is a significant step forward in using MEMS mirror-based LiDAR technology to address a broad range of Department of Defense 3D mapping needs,” said RedTail LiDAR Systems President and CEO, Brad DeRoos. 

Additionally, DeRoos applauded the company’s success in transitioning this technology from the laboratory to military operations in the field.

The LiDAR Systems RTL-450 was integrated onto the Teledyne FLIR SkyRaider Unmanned Aerial System and will be utilized to enhance 3D imagery, especially in applications that deploy artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to detect and classify targets.

The systems’ rotation and zoom capabilities within the viewer software will allow operating areas to be viewed from multiple perspectives. This, coupled with the systems’ real-time 3D area mapping and scanning capabilities, will enable operators to accelerate critical mission planning and analysis.

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DHS Issues, Updates Tools to Support GPS Security; Brannan Villee Quoted
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DHS Issues, Updates Tools to Support GPS Security; Brannan Villee Quoted

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate has released two documents to guide the development of secure GPS receivers and prevent the spoofing of PNT systems.

DHS said Thursday its GPS Whitelist Development Guide addresses vulnerabilities and discusses data-related requirements in the directorate's existing Resilient PNT Conformance Framework.

The department also released a new version of the PNT Integrity Library, which features methods to verify the legitimacy of GPS data received by a system.

The library, which was first released in March via GitHub, now includes guidance on how to build a testing toolkit via commercially available hardware. The update also features a compliance check on Interface Control Document IS-GPS-200, a method to formally establish communications between GPS and other systems.

“Application of these tools will provide increased security against GPS disruptions," said Brannan Villee, project manager at S&T.

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NASA Announces Winners of Autonomous Tracking Contest
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NASA Announces Winners of Autonomous Tracking Contest

The Bronco Space Club, Orion Labs and Texas A&M SEAK Lab have won a NASA competition that sought technologies designed autonomously to track small spacecraft and observe events happening on Earth.

The teams will initially each receive $200,000 for winning Autonomous Observation Challenge No. 1 of the TechLeap Prize competition.

The cash prizes will fund the winners' payloads, which will undergo suborbital flight testing later on. Winners will work on their payloads over an eight-month period.

“The ability to select and fly technologies this quickly can help us change the pace of space for everyone,” said Christopher Baker, program executive for NASA’s Flight Opportunities and Small Spacecraft Technology programs.

The teams will compete for $200,000 more in awards and have the chance to receive $100,000 during the payload's construction. NASA tasked a panel to evaluate entries based on key technology requirements.

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Federal Agencies Unveil Climate Adaptation Plans; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Quoted
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Federal Agencies Unveil Climate Adaptation Plans; Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Quoted

More than 20 federal agencies unveiled their climate adaptation and resiliency plans that detail each agency’s approaches in addressing climate change and managing risks to reduce the disruptions in federal operations. 

The plans are in line with the procurements intended to advance innovation, boost the supply chains’ resilience and carry out the administration’s commitment to forward climate and clean energy dollars, the White House said Thursday. 

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Council on Environmental Quality are requesting public comments on the climate adaptation plans of the agencies until Nov. 6th. 

Among the major themes of the plans include the effective utilization of federal investments using taxpayer money by identifying programs and missions that will most likely be affected by climate change. 

​​The agencies selected senior leaders to ensure that there are accountability measures in place and “adaptation and resilience is led from the top.”

The supply chain policies and operations are also undergoing reconstructions to make a climate-resilient system. NASA, for example, will seek to redesign a tool that the agency uses in screening supplies and services for the identification of those at risk because of weather changes. 

Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, said the climate adaptation plan will be used as the agency’s guide in accommodating warfighting needs under the increasingly changing environmental conditions.  

“This plan will help the Department of Defense integrate climate considerations into our operations, our planning, and our business and decision-making processes,” he said.

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VA Taps Nonprofit Corporation for EHR Program Cost Determination Work
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VA Taps Nonprofit Corporation for EHR Program Cost Determination Work

Paul Brubaker, deputy chief information officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), said that VA has enlisted the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) to help calculate the potential life cycle cost of VA's program to implement a new electronic health records (EHR) system, FedScoop reported Thursday.

Brubaker informed House Veterans Affairs Committee members about IDA's upcoming work for the department Thursday at a congressional hearing and he expects the process will take 12 months to complete.

The independent review of VA's EHR modernization spending comes after its Office of the Inspector General (OIG) raised concerns over the accuracy of initial cost estimates for information technology infrastructure updates associated with the program.

VA awarded health technology maker Cerner a 10-year, $10 billion contract in May 2018 to help implement a new commercial platform for processing and sharing medical records.

The department projected total program cost would reach $16.1 billion, but the OIG audit found that it did not meet estimate reliability standards for the IT-related upgrade work.

Brubaker told lawmakers that the VA will establish processes to better manage IT investments and increase accountability and transparency.

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GSA Unveils Containerization Readiness Guide for Agencies
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GSA Unveils Containerization Readiness Guide for Agencies

The General Services Administration (GSA) has developed a guide to provide information on container technologies and help agencies facilitate container adoption.

The Containerization Readiness Guide developed by GSA’s data center and cloud optimization initiative program management office provides tools to guide agencies as they consider containerizing applications, the agency said Thursday.

These tools include a decision flow chart to help agencies assess their viability and readiness, a journey map showing the stages of container adoption maturity and a matrix of recommended models for container delivery.

Containers consist of applications, software libraries, configuration files and all required dependencies operating in a runtime environment.

GSA said containers could help agencies speed up application development, rapidly scale applications and optimize compute resources.

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Army Conducts AI-Enabled Target Identification Exercise Under Scarlet Dragon Program; Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla Quoted
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Army Conducts AI-Enabled Target Identification Exercise Under Scarlet Dragon Program; Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla Quoted

The U.S. Army used artificial intelligence to identify and destroy targets as part of the fourth test fire for a program that uses existing platforms and networks for machine-to-machine learning, Army Times reported Thursday.

The Army’s XVIII Airborne Corp worked with the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps for the Scarlet Dragon program, which used nearly 20 units and platforms and scanned 7,000 kilometers of satellite imagery across four states on the mid-Atlantic seaboard using software derived from the Department of Defense’s Project Maven.

“The Scarlet Dragon series is designed to increase our joint warfighting capability and how AI-augmented decision making significantly increases the scale, speed and accuracy of our targeting process,” Lt. Gen. Erik Kurilla, XVIII Airborne Corps commander, told the publication.

The recent live-fire exercise involved the use of large volumes of data from an intelligence agency and enabled the Corp to work through joint all-domain operations.

“It’s about seeking ways to achieve decision advantage in large-scale combat operations,” Kurilla said. “It’s about learning, as an organization, how to employ data as a strategic asset in the joint fight.”

The Scarlet Dragon program’s first exercise occurred in December 2020, while the second exercise held in March focused on tasks related to multidomain operations. The Corp tested the Combined Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2) interoperability in June for the program’s third exercise.

The Army is expected to integrate Scarlet Dragon-related work into its Project Convergence initiative that will link all sensors, shooters and joint systems for an integrated battlefield management platform.

Army officials said Scarlet Dragon’s next live fire will focus on data-centric warfare and is set to occur in early 2022.

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Senate OKs Bill to Raise U.S. Borrowing Limit
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Senate OKs Bill to Raise U.S. Borrowing Limit

The Senate on Thursday voted 50-48 to pass a bill that would increase the U.S. debt limit by $480 billion, which the Department of the Treasury said could help the country pay its bills through Dec. 3rd, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The measure is now headed to the lower chamber. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said lawmakers are expected to vote on the bill on Oct. 12th.

The White House said President Biden would sign the measure. It also called on Congress to address the borrowing limit beyond December. The U.S. government currently operates under a continuing resolution, which is also set to expire on Dec. 3. 

Defense Secretary and 2021 Wash100 Award winner Lloyd Austin issued a statement Wednesday citing the potential impacts on federal contractors and benefits of veterans and survivors, among others, if the country defaults on its obligations.

“If the United States defaults, it would undermine the economic strength on which our national security rests,” Austin noted.

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UK Implements Climate Commitment Policy for Government Contract Bidding
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UK Implements Climate Commitment Policy for Government Contract Bidding

The U.K. has implemented a requirement for companies pursuing domestic government contracts to develop carbon reduction plans as the country seeks to attain net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 

Vendors that bid for at least $6.8 million in annual contracts with Britain's central departments, executive agencies and non-departmental public entities must demonstrate their environmental commitments, the British cabinet office said.

The government is requiring potential suppliers to report some activities that contribute to a company's carbon footprint, such as employee commuting and business travel.

This policy took effect ahead of the COP26 global climate conference that is scheduled to kick off later this month in Glasgow, Scotland.

Some of the global aerospace and defense industry's government suppliers are headquartered in the U.K. including BAE Systems, Cobham and QinetiQ.

Boeing and Lockheed Martin are among the U.S.-based contractors with a presence in the British public sector.

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