Stacy Cummings, who is performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment at the Department of Defense (DOD) and a 2021 Wash100 Award winner, said at a virtual conference that software acquisition changes are turning up positive initial results, FedScoop reported Wednesday.

The Adaptive Acquisition Pathway, an update to DOD's traditional acquisition approach, aims to streamline acquisition of software and is implemented into several defense programs for its pilot run.

“Early trends look really good,” said Cummings during a National Defense Industry Association-hosted event. She added that the pilot is still under evaluation.

More programs are being lined up to implement the new purchasing policy, according to the DOD procurement lead. The move to the software acquisition pathway was recommended by a 2019 software acquisition report from the Defense Innovation Board.

Ball Aerospace, teaming with Microsoft, has completed a series of successful demonstrations to showcase the viability of using commercial cloud computing to process and securely deliver actionable information, Ball Aerospace reported on Wednesday. 

"Our tests showed that the cloud is, in fact, a viable solution for data processing, exploitation and dissemination of data that is not only fast but also flexible, secure, scalable and resilient," said Steve Smith, vice president and general manager, Systems Engineering Solutions, Ball Aerospace.

"For years, the military has envisioned an agile and connected force structure. During the demonstration, the CASINO team proved that we are ready to field low-latency links today, which moves this vision much closer to reality," Smith added.

For the demonstrations, simulated data from Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) was pushed to Microsoft's AZURE cloud where it was processed using Ball-developed event-driven architecture and then disseminated to multiple endpoints. 

"Direct satellite-to-cloud communication and accelerated ground data processing allows the Department of Defense to gain advanced analytics capabilities enabling predictive modeling and new actionable insights capable of reshaping the future as they advance their mission," said Tom Keane, corporate vice president of Azure Global for Microsoft.

Smartronix announced on Tuesday its acquisition of C2S Consulting Group (C2SCG). C2SCG is a full spectrum cloud solution provider specializing in the transformation of government customers in data-intensive environments through innovation, automation and adoption of hybrid and multi-cloud solutions. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed

“Joining the Smartronix team ensures a great career trajectory for our employees, access to a broader range of innovative solutions for our clients, and the ability to better leverage our automation and hybrid and multi-cloud solutions with an entirely new set of clients,” commented Brandee Daly C2SCG CEO and founder.

C2SCG will join Smartronix’s Cloud Solutions business unit under president John Sankovich. The company will utilize its deep technical expertise and cutting-edge solutions to strengthen Smartronix’s position as a cloud sector leader.

The acquisition will add over 50 highly skilled technical staff members to Smartronix’s workforce. C2SCG will expand Smartronix’s client base into the U.S. intelligence community and the Department of Homeland Security and strengthen its base within the Department of Defense (DOD) and federal civilian agencies.

Brandee Daly will join the Smartronix executive leadership team as executive vice president, and he will report directly to CEO Peter LaMontagne and will develop strategic client and cloud growth initiatives.

“C2SCG’s strong presence in the U.S. Intelligence Community and impressive technical depth significantly enhance our leadership position in the cloud solutions market,” s Peter LaMontagne, Smartonix’s CEO.

C2SCG’s exclusive financial advisor was Baird and its legal counsel was Miles & Stockbridge. Smartonix’s legal counsel was Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

“The acquisition of C2SCG strengthens our unique market position as a leader in multi-cloud solutions and digital transformation,” stated John Sankovich.

“The addition of top talent from C2SCG and that of recently acquired Datastrong, combined with our in-house expertise, truly advances our vision to empower clients with innovative cloud solutions and data intelligence to realize the maximum return on their strategic investments,” Sankovich added.

U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) has planned investments in a range of emerging technologies to address the challenges of future warfare, C4ISRnet reported Tuesday.

These technologies include secure data sharing, edge computing and others that can improve USSOCOM's performance in information and electronic warfare.

“We have to develop and make sure we really look at what SOF [special operations forces] can do in competition and what SOF can do in high-end conflict,” Gen. Richard Clarke, USSOCOM commander, said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Special Operations Forces Industry Conference.

USSOCOM's Hyper-Enabled Operator effort helps the command's operations personnel make information-aided decisions. This effort had a budget of $16 million in fiscal year 2020.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been housing larger amounts of data as it continues to employ artificial intelligence to inform weather forecasts, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Jamese Sims, NOAA's senior science adviser for AI, said the agency uses the technology to set physical parameters for prediction models and analyze associated errors.

About 200 of NOAA's projects use AI across research and operational activities. NOAA currently uses supercomputers to store the corresponding workload but considers turning to cloud technology in anticipation of AI's further development.

The agency's National Centers for Environmental Information stores 37 petabytes of data on geophysical, oceanographic and coastal observation.

“We need to better understand what data is actually needed, as we talk about using AI more across the agency,” Sims said.

Lockheed Martin has opened a new production line for Block 70/72 of the F-16 aircraft to address the jet's growing demand from foreign military sales customers.

The new production line will operate in partnership with the U.S. Air Force from Lockheed's existing site in Greenville, South Carolina, the service branch said Tuesday.

The line's opening took place three years after Lockheed concluded F-16 production activities at a facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Lockheed holds a $14 billion contract with USAF to produce 128 units of the F-16 up to the year 2026. The contract supports five FMS customers in negotiation with USAF.

“The line helps us meet the global demand that a number of nations have for [F-16] aircraft and gives us the additional capability to provide the aircraft to countries interested in purchasing it for the first time," said Col. Brian Pearson, integrated product team lead for F-16 FMS within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center’s Fighters and Advanced Aircraft Directorate.

The directorate also plans to update the radar and other systems of 405 existing F-16s through the V-Configuration.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (NASDAQ: CMTL), a world leader in secure wireless communications technologies, announced today, that during its third quarter of fiscal 2021, its Government Solutions segment was awarded an order worth approximately $2.0 million to provide the U.S. Marine Corps with command and control modules for Program Manager Light Armored Vehicles (“PM LAV”).

“This order places our rugged baseband products with the U.S. Marine Corps soldiers that need them,” said Fred Kornberg, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Comtech Telecommunications Corp.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. is a leader in the global communications market headquartered in Melville, New York. With a passion for customer success, Comtech designs, produces and markets advanced secure wireless solutions to more than 1,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

A NASA Pathways Internship Program participant has designed software that uses artificial intelligence algorithms to potentially diagnose physical faults of spacecraft and spaceflight systems in a more speedy manner.

The space agency said Tuesday Evana Gizzi developed the Research in Artificial Intelligence for Spacecraft Resilience (RAISR) software in an effort to reduce spacecraft down-time and enhance mission efficiency through real-time issue diagnosis.

Gizzi, who works at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, explained that RAISR uses machine learning-based approaches to sift through large amount of diverse data to identify faults that have already been encountered in the past.

She added that the software employs classical AI techniques to inform decisions in more complicated situations that may not provide enough data because the faults have never been experienced.

Conrad Schiff, an assistant chief for technology in the software engineering division at Goddard, said RAISR could decrease needed resources for system maintenance, enabling better data collection and observation.

“It’s an autonomous system that attempts to reveal how it arrived at the ‘whodunit.’ It understands these associations. It helps us understand its reasoning in arriving at its conclusion," said Schiff.

According to Gizzi, the next steps for RAISR include a small satellite mission demonstration.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) worked with the General Services Administration (GSA) in March 2020 to come up with a cloud infrastructure for its Innovation Lab through GSA’s Centers of Excellence initiative and Tim Persons, chief scientist at GAO, said the congressional watchdog intends to ramp up its cloud capabilities through the lab to help increase its return on investment, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

“We’re trying to leverage with the power of these tools – the data analytics, the artificial intelligence, robotic process automation, whatever it is – we want to really jack that up even higher. It would be great to think about, ‘What if we got $1,000 for every dollar put in GAO,’” Persons said Tuesday at a summit. “If we are successful, we might be able to make the $100 for every dollar look small.”

According to a report, GAO documented $77.6 billion in financial benefits for the government in fiscal year 2020, representing a return of approximately $114 for every dollar invested in the agency.

In 2019, GAO established the Innovation Lab to advance the use of analytics and other emerging technologies to help improve audits of federal programs and save taxpayer dollars.

Through the lab, GAO came up with a dashboard within weeks to monitor COVID-19 vaccine development work through the Operation Warp Speed program. Persons said the agency considers applying Agile methodology to its oversight work.

“In this space, you need to think agile and iterative and be willing to take calculated risks and then be able to back away, and adjust and adapt. It’s all about speed and agility, and there’s a lot of room for the government to grow,” he said.