Military leaders appeared before lawmakers during a House Armed Services Readiness subcommittee hearing on Friday to discuss about their installation preparedness efforts in the event of a natural or man-made disaster, DOD News reported Monday.

Brig. Gen. John Allen, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, said the service has developed a risk assessment playbook to carry out initial evaluation of exposure in severe weather and climate conditions at major installations and then use the results to come up with resilience complaint plans for inclusion in installation development plans.

Allen added that the Air Force has finalized installation energy plans for 24 facilities with plans to complete another 20 by the end of fiscal year 2021.

Maj. Gen. Edward Banta, commander of Marine Corps Installations Command, said the service branch is initiating measures to address kinetic- and non-kinetic threats and environmental factors facing its facilities, including integrating climate change’s effects into installation master plans and building up investments in smart grids and microgrid technologies.

"Installation resiliency is fundamental to enabling the operational readiness and warfighting capability of our force," Banta said during the House subcommittee hearing.

Lt. Gen. Douglas Gabram, commanding general of Army Installation Management Command, and Navy Vice Adm. Yancy Lindsey, commander of Navy Installations Command, joined Allen and Banta during the congressional hearing on installation resiliency.

President Biden has moved to extend a 2015 executive order that declared a national emergency to deal with the threat posed by “significant malicious cyber-enabled activities” by persons located outside the U.S.

Executive Order 13694 signed during the Obama administration will continue in effect past April 1, the president said in a Monday letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Vice President Kamala Harris, who also serves as Senate president.

“Significant malicious cyber-enabled activities originating from, or directed by persons located, in whole or in substantial part, outside the United States continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Biden said in the letter.

“Therefore, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13694 with respect to significant malicious cyber-enabled activities,” he added.

The order blocks U.S.-based property of any individual determined by the Department of the Treasury (DoT) to be responsible or have engaged in cyber-enabled activities originating from outside the U.S., including attacks to computer networks and critical infrastructure.

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The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued draft guidelines meant to help election officials protect election systems from cyber attacks. The Draft Cybersecurity Framework Election Infrastructure Profile applies the NIST Cybersecurity Framework’s principles to election platforms, including voting machines, voter registration databases and related networks, NIST said Monday.

Gema Howell, one of the guide’s authors from NIST, said the draft publication is structured in a way that can help with any election system.

“We start by helping you think about the election objectives you want to accomplish,” Howell said. “Then we help you think through how to prioritize your cybersecurity needs based on those objectives. Once you’re there, we provide informative resources to mitigate your cybersecurity risks.”

NIST worked with industry and government experts to develop the guide, including the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), voting system manufacturers and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Comments on the draft guidelines are due May 14.

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Researchers from the U.S. Army and the University of Central Florida have been collaboratively working to enhance the 3D printing of a magnesium alloy in an effort to develop lighter components for warfighters.

The efforts of the Army researchers and their academic partners are aligned with a military modernization strategy that partly aims to improve combat effectiveness of dismounted units by reducing their physical load, the service branch said Monday.

"In this work, we optimized the process to achieve higher density than previously reported and used that to produce and characterize lattice structures made up of WE43," said Brandon McWilliams, lead researcher for 3D printing metals at Army Combat Capabilities Development Command.

The Army has cited an online publication for the materials science community that reported Magnesium Elektron WE43 as a high strength casting alloy that can withstand a maximum of 300°C temperature.

According to the military, advanced additive manufacturing could cut short "lengthy logistic chains" and enable delivery of components at the point of need.

The Army plans to test the 3D-printed material's high strain rate and ballistic properties and identify which components it can be applied to.

Alion Science and Technology announced on Monday that the company had been ranked in Washington Business Journal’s List of Largest Government Technology Contractors for 2021. The list ranks companies involved in government contracting (GovCon) that are headquartered in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

“Alion is proud to be included in this industry ranking and for being recognized as a top government technology provider. Alion has seen tremendous growth over the past few years and market demands have accelerated for our cutting-edge technology in live, virtual and constructive solutions; electronic warfare; artificial intelligence; ISR; and leading cyber capabilities,” commented Steve Schorer, chairman and CEO of Alion Science and Technology as well as a 2021 Wash100 Award recipient.

The ranking followed a strong business year for Alion. In 2020 and under Schorer’s leadership, Alion secured many contract awards that expanded its technical portfolio and driven growth. For example, Alion was awarded a five-year $142 million prime task order to support the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and Ground Vehicle Systems Center.

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The U.S. Army will establish facilities for data sharing to help the military integrate multiple weapon systems for all-domain operations, FedScoop reported Friday. The service branch aims for the All-Domain Operation Centers to boost the precision, range and deployment speeds of weapon systems.

“The nascent ADOCs…will provide combatant commanders the ability to make decisions faster from the onset,” Col. Jason Charland, military deputy for the Department of the Army‘s Management Office-Strategy, Plans and Policy, told reporters on Friday.

These centers will operate from the Army's Multi-Domain Task Forces, which implement new technologies and associated operational concepts. Joint Base Lewis-McChord houses the task forces through which the ADOCs will operate.

The U.S. Navy has virtually augmented the anti-submarine warfare of the USS William P. Lawrence or DDG 110 destroyer over two days, a rate faster than usual.

The virtual update took place in Feb. 2021 under the leadership of the Navy's Program Executive Office (PEO) for Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS), with the help of Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Naval Sea Systems Command said Friday.

The ship virtually features the ACB-19 software, an update to the previous ACB-13, allowing for modern and improved ASW performance.

Capt. Jill Cesari, a program manager at PEO IWS, said the milestone demonstrated reduced costs, a shortened timeline and minimized hardware changes required for ship updates. 

The demonstrated approach may shorten what would take nine months to just weeks, according to Cesari. The program manager said her team will need to address some software bugs before further applying the approach.

“We will continue to challenge the status quo of how to design, produce and deliver capability to the fleet in order to get the best ASW capability to sea faster and for less cost," Cesari said.

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Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM), said that it is crucial that Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) integration efforts also cover space operations, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

Shaw said at a National Security Space Association event that while JADC2 focuses on terrestrial activities, it is also important to coordinate operations with those under Gen. James Dickinson, who serves as USSPACECOM’s commander.

He noted that it is crucial for weapon systems to communicate with each other to prevent threats such as directed-energy platforms, anti-satellite technology and electronic warfare systems.

“In its most basic essence, JADC2 is about making sure that all operations and all domains can rapidly share information with one another; be part of some sort of common picture,” said Shaw.

Lt. Gen. Salty Saltzman, deputy chief for operations, cyber and nuclear at the U.S. Space Force, noted at a Brookings Insittution event that it is vital to integrate space capabilities and decision-making into all-domain operations.

“Think about cloud-based data structures, think about common standards and interfaces,” he noted.