AT&T announced on Thursday that it has secured four task orders from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to modernize and transform DHS’s telecommunications infrastructure with IP-based networking services. The awards have a combined value of $306 million over 12 years if all options are exercised.

The task orders require AT&T to work for networking services supporting the DHS’ Headquarters, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Science and Technology Directorate.

“We’re honored DHS selected us to modernize its communications capabilities with an IP-based infrastructure. We expect the networking transformation to power the many missions of DHS agencies into the future,” commented Stacy Schwartz, AT&T vice president of FirstNet and Public Safety.

The DHS aims to benefit from AT&T’s innovative and advanced communications technology that includes highly secure, reliable networking capabilities that will broadly support critical missions of public safety users across DHS agencies.

AT&T will assist the DHS in virtualizing its networking capabilities on the company’s platform. It will also deliver advanced technologies to DHS such as its IP software-based networking capabilities, SD-WAN, cybersecurity protections that reduce the number of internet connections for improved monitoring and zero-trust networking.

The DHS employs over  240,000 personnel in a wide variety of jobs. In order to successfully achieve its mission, the Department requires a technologically advanced communications platform that offers fast connectivity and data transport in a highly secure manner that AT&T can provide.

The task orders also provide DHS with access to AT&T’s FirstNet, the only network built with public safety for public safety to deliver reliable, always-on priority communications to its first responders and public safety personnel. AT&T is currently working to execute the task orders.

Alion Science and Technology has received a potential five-year, $64 million task order under the  Department of Defense Information Analysis Center’s (DoD IAC) multiple-award contract (MAC) vehicle to perform for the C-5M Super Galaxy Reliability, Integrity, Maintainability, and Engineering for the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC)/WLS.

“Alion’s team of leading C-5 Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will continue to provide innovative solutions to platform and sustainment engineering challenges,” said Terri Walker-Spoonhour, Alion’s senior vice president of Operations and Acting general manager of the Cyber and Electronic Warfare Group.

C-5M Super Galaxy Division (WLS) of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), a sub-unit of the Air Force Materiel Command (AFMC), is located at Robins Air Force Base (AFB), GA and has worldwide management and engineering responsibility for the C-5M Super Galaxy (C-5M) fleet.

“We have years of experience across the C-5 platform, including support of Aircraft Wiring and Avionics Integrity Program (AVIP), Landing Gear Integrity Program (LGIP) parts obsolescence, DMSMS resolution and high maintenance driver investigations ultimately identifying proposed solutions and risk mitigation strategies which improve aircraft availability.”

WLS is responsible for scheduled maintenance requirements management, fleet management, Configuration Management (CM), and technical and logistical support of the C-5M fleet of 52 aircraft. These DoD IAC MAC task orders are awarded by the U.S. Air Force’s 774th Enterprise Sourcing Squadron.

The Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate has selected 25 U.S. small businesses to develop homeland security technologies with $4.2 million of total funding. 

DHS said Wednesday it awarded a total of 29 contracts to the winners, under phase one of the department's Small Business Innovation Research program. Each project will receive a maximum of $150,000 in SBIR funds for five months of concept feasibility research.

“Investing in private sector innovation is a key factor in helping DHS keep pace with emerging threats and security challenges facing our nation,” said Kathryn Coulter Mitchell, who serves as the department's undersecretary for S&T on an acting basis.

Tackled research topics include virus detection, 5G connectivity, vehicle infectious diseases protection, luggage screening sensors and amphibious ice rescue vehicles.

Qualifying entrants will be able to apply for SBIR's second phase, where participants will develop prototypes of their concepts.

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has met all three goals of a flight test that aimed to demonstrate networked, collaborative and autonomous weapons. 

Two F-16 aircraft deployed Collaborative Small Diameter Bombs (CSDB) on Tuesday at White Sands Missile Range, under the service branch's Golden Horde program, AFRL said Wednesday. 

CSDB is a modified version of the Boeing-made Small Diameter Bomb I. The test demonstrated that L3Harris Technologies' Banshee 2 radio network can expand its nodes to meet mission requirements.

The demonstration also exhibited how a ground station would transmit an in-flight target update to flying weapons upon the appearance of a new, higher-priority threat. Lastly, two SDB units synchronized to strike a single target together.

Golden Horde supports the military's larger Joint All-Domain Command and Control approach, which seeks to establish a network of situational awareness sensors on the battlefield.

Moving forward, AFRL will work with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and Eglin Air Force Base’s 96th Test Wing to further develop NCA weapon systems via digital engineering, unmanned aircraft testing and other approaches.

Rep. Darren Soto, D-Fla., introduced a bill to establish an office to manage the federal government’s non-defense blockchain efforts, Nextgov reported Wednesday.

The Blockchain Technology Coordination Act of 2021 would create the National Blockchain Technology Coordination Office, which would operate from the Department of Commerce.

The office would coordinate all blockchain-related efforts pursued by federal agencies, except those led by the military. The secretary of commerce would appoint a director-level executive who would lead the office. Gina Raimondo has been the country's commerce secretary since March 3rd.

Blockchain technology stores information across a distributed ledger of multiple computers for applications such as cryptocurrency.

Cobham Mission Systems announced on Thursday the company has signed a long-term agreement to provide air separation modules (ASM) for a major U.S. airline operating Boeing 737s (B737). An aircraft’s ASM prevents the build-up of explosive conditions in fuel tanks by generating nitrogen-enriched air to help lower the amount of oxygen in the fuel tank. 

Cobham has delivered 885 B737 ASM model NC1211 units, which have achieved over 5,000,000 flight hours with no failures since 2015. The units have supplied airline partners with substantial savings in ownership and maintenance costs.

“Cobham Mission Systems is delighted to partner with another major US airline,” Our air separation modules are the most reliable in the world, with 2,100 delivered and more than 17,600,000 flight hours on commercial aircraft worldwide,” commented Jason Apelquist, senior VP of business development and strategy. 

“We are proud to contribute to our airline customers’ aircraft operation and maintenance cost reduction efforts through the outstanding performance, reliability and life on-wing Cobham ASMs provide,” added Apelquist. 

Cobham is exceptionally experienced in gas separation and has been developing and delivering fuel tank inerting systems and subsystems for three decades. The company has worked on 6,700 systems on commercial flights, including B737, A320, A321, B787 and military aircraft with a total of over 52,000,000 flight hours.

Cobham possesses a unique technical ability to design an optimally sized and configured fuel tank inerting system using Hollow Fiber Membrane technology. The company’s fuel tank inerting systems are designed for both military and commercial applications.

About Cobham Mission Systems

Cobham Mission Systems helps customers increase the safety and mission capabilities of personnel and equipment in extreme environments. Proven and trusted solutions include air-to-air refueling, fuel tank inerting, life support, space propulsion, weapons carriage and missile actuation that enable customers to achieve mission success.

Thomas Kenney, chief data officer of U.S. Special Operations Command, said military branches should develop standards to manage system interoperability and data access as the Department of Defense works to complete its joint all domain command and control strategy.

“If we’re going to democratize the data and democratize our systems, having a common way to secure that data, where systems talk in like ways to each other, will really accelerate our ability to have interoperability,” Kenney told C4ISRNET during a webcast.

The Pentagon’s JADC2 concept envisions a single network linking military sensors and processing information meant to help commanders make decisions in a cloud-like platform. Kenney said DOD should also explore tools to manage digital identities and credentials across the military.

SOCOM aims to incorporate application programming interfaces into a data fabric to help special operations forces communicate with personnel from another military service.

Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, chief information officer of the Joint Staff and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, indicated at a virtual conference in April that the JADC2 strategy was nearing completion.

A Congressional Research Service report noted that DOD is managing different communications platforms that use various radio frequencies and standards, posing a threat to the interoperability under the JADC2 plan.

An analysis from Censeo Consulting Group says an increase in the minimum wage for federal contract workers as directed by an executive order will have a minor impact on government contract spending but will likely result in agencies reviewing and modifying 30,520 contracts.

“We project that analyzing and modifying these contracts will add 450,000 additional hours to the workload of contracting offices, which is the equivalent of over 240 additional full-time roles,” the Censeo report states.

In late April, President Biden signed an executive order that will require government contractors to raise the minimum wage of employees working on federal contracts from $10.95 to $15 per hour by 2022.

The departments of Defense (DOD), Veterans Affairs (VA), Agriculture (USDA) and State are among the agencies that will be the most impacted by the executive order.

The report estimates the new policy’s impact on federal spending to be between $1 billion and $2 billion and recommends that agencies take several measures to prepare for the EO, including segmenting contract portfolio by delivery location and spend category to determine contracts most likely to be impacted, developing a policy and process for addressing such contracts and analyzing vendor price structures to identify contracts that will need modifications.

The University of Maryland and the U.S. Army have signed a five-year cooperative agreement that will focus on exploring artificial intelligence systems and approaches to implement autonomy across different operating domains.

Academic research teams at University of Maryland campuses in College Park and Baltimore County will participate in 18 initial projects with the Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory to help the service branch develop AI and autonomous technology platforms, ARL said Wednesday.

Researchers will work to build common development and testing infrastructure that features a virtual environment to demonstrate collaborative autonomy.

They also aim to formulate methods for human-machine coordination in battlegrounds and to advance self-driving vehicles that apply computer vision, remote sensing and modern robotics tools for terrain navigation. 

“No matter how autonomous we think a system is, a human operator will interface with it at some level," said Derek Paley, a UMD professor and director of the Maryland Robotics Center. 

"The goal is to migrate the dangerous, dirty, and dull work to the autonomous platform,” added Paley, who serves as lead researcher on the agreement.

Under the agreement, the Army will give collaborators access to the service branch's Robotics Research Collaborative Campus located near Middle River, Maryland, to conduct demonstrations.

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