The Department of the Air Force proposed a $173.7 billion budget for fiscal year 2022 to help deliver joint lethality and build up the future force. The FY 2022 budget request includes $17.4 billion in funds for the U.S. Space Force and $156.3 billion for the U.S. Air Force, USSF said Friday.

The proposed budget seeks to fund the department’s key modernization efforts including the Advanced Battle Management System, Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, Next-Generation Air Dominance and Next-Gen Overhead Persistent Infrared missile warning system.

The Air Force’s procurement budget for the coming fiscal year is $22.9 billion to help it acquire F-35, F-15EX Eagle II, MC-130J and KC-46 Pegasus aircraft. The Space Force would see a $456 million increase in its FY 2022 procurement budget to support its acquisition of National Security Space Launch Vehicles and GPS III Follow-On spacecraft. 

The department would earmark $11.3 billion for the service’s research, development, testing and evaluation efforts, reflecting a $725 million rise from the current fiscal year. The department requested $66.6 billion for operation and maintenance programs to sustain readiness and fund daily operations.

“This budget starts us on the path necessary to organize, train, and equip the Air and Space Forces to deter and, if necessary, defeat the challenges we anticipate in 2030 and beyond,” said John Roth, acting secretary of the Air Force 

“It not only funds the capabilities required today but also where the Department of the Air Force needs to make trade-offs to invest in the capabilities required for future competition,” Roth added.

If you're interested in the Department of Defense's space tech acquisition efforts, then check out GovCon Wire's Space Acquisition Forum coming up on Sept. 14th. 

Featuring Shawn Barnes, Acting Assistant Secretary Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration as keynote speaker. He will address the value of an integrated space architecture and the importance of synchronization and integration for space capabilities. 

To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the GCW Events page.

The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are warning that a cyberthreat actor launched a spearphishing attack against government agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGO) and intergovernmental organizations (IGO).

The threat actor used a compromised user account from email marketing software company Constant Contact to transmit phishing emails that seemed to originate from a U.S. government agency to over 7,000 accounts across about 350 agencies, NGOs and IGOs, the agencies said Friday.

“The emails contained a legitimate Constant Contact link that redirected to a malicious URL, from which a malicious ISO file was dropped onto the victim’s machine,” the advisory reads.

The ISO file contained the malicious Cobalt Strike Beacon implant “that calls back to attacker-controlled infrastructure and checks for additional commands to execute on the compromised system,” the document states.

CISA and the bureau called on critical infrastructure owners and operators to implement multifactor authentication, update all software, field endpoint and detection response tools, apply centralized log management for host monitoring and deploy signatures to block or detect inbound connection from Cobalt Strike servers and other post-exploitation tools, among other mitigation measures.

If you want to know more about the latest updates about the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC), then check out Potomac Officers Club's (POC) CMMC Forum coming up on June 16th. 

CMMC Accreditation Body Chairman Karlton Johnson will serve as the keynote speaker for the Forum to provide his overview and vision of the CMMC Rollout as well as the top priorities for the board and how industry feedback will help to improve the vision behind how the organization develops for the first 100 days.

To register for this virtual forum and view other upcoming events, visit the POC Events page.

Two U.S. Navy organizations and the Pennsylvania State University’s research arm have teamed up to modernize undersea sensors that help provide situational awareness to the military branch’s ships and submarines.

Penn State Applied Research Laboratory will work with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division as the service looks to address acoustic technology requirements, Naval Sea Systems Command said Thursday.

David Bartlett, NSWC Crane’s chief engineer for undersea sensors, pointed out that commercial advancements do not exactly fit the Navy’s demands given that the military service’s needs are larger in scale than any other commercial market and the sound energy it uses is greater than what any other industry member operates with.

He noted the branch seeks to build on science and technology developments funded through the Future Naval Capabilities program and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The Department of Defense unveiled in December 2020 a tri-service maritime strategy, called Advantage at Sea, that envisions an all-domain naval power through the integration of complementary systems across the Navy, Marine Corps and the Coast Guard.

Bartlett said the Navy needs sonar technology to stay ahead of foreign adversaries who are working on hard-to-detect platforms.

The branch is testing the TR-343 transducer, a component of a larger sonar system that supports the AN/SQQ-89(V) undersea warfare combat platform for surface ships.

Penn State ARL provides national security research and development services to the Navy under a 10-year, $2.1 billion contract awarded in 2018.

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) plans to use launch services outside of its usual National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program when needed to launch missions on tight schedules or deploy lower-cost research payloads, SpaceNews reported Friday. 

The NRO develops and operates the U.S. government’s spy satellites and typically uses the U.S. Space Force run NSSL program to get satellites into orbit. Although the NRO will use commercial contracts for some missions, it will also help fund technical support and mission assurance activities for NSSL. 

Some congressional lawmakers have raised concerns that procuring launch services outside the NSSL program with commercial contracts makes the NSSL program more expensive. Regardless, the NRO has launched satellites on SpaceX and Rocket Lab rockets under such commercial contracts. 

The Space Force awarded five-year contracts to United Launch Alliance and SpaceX to launch Department of Defense and intelligence agency satellites last year. The companies compete for single missions on a yearly basis. If launch providers secure commercial contracts outside of the NSSL, they often offer more competitive prices for NSSL missions.

Although the government benefits if providers offer lower prices, fewer missions might make the NSSL program less efficient. However, the number of non-NSSL launches the NRO has used are unlikely to have a consequential effect. 

An NRO spokesman stated that the agency is a partner of the Space Force in the NSSL program but gave several factors as to why alternative launch options will be considered in the future. Such factors include satellite risk tolerance, required launch dates, available launch vehicles and cost. 

Col. Robert Bongiovi, head of the Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center launch enterprise, said NSSL Phase 2 was “constructed to provide affordable and innovative access to space.”As to why agencies pursue other options to launch their satellites, “you have to talk to those two agencies on why they chose different approaches,” Bongiovi started in November during a Mitchell Institute event.

Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) selected 12 academic and commercial entities to conduct cost-shared research and development on smart medical technology, with a total project value of $20.4 million. 

AFRL said Thursday its Nano-Bio Materials Consortium (NBMC) issued the awards on Feb. 15th, with the goal of developing medical technologies that benefit both the public and the military.

The awardees contribute $10.7 million in cost-shared funds to the projects, which AFRL also supports with additional funding. AFRL researchers may work together with industry teams under projects supported by NBMC.

“This is a new way for AFRL researchers to participate as project performers responsible for contributing to project milestones and deliverables, in addition to providing program management oversight that AFRL has employed for past NBMC projects,” said Jeremy Ward, who is part of AFRL's Entrepreneurial Opportunity Program.