Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) broke ground at Kirtland Air Force Base to mark the construction of a new 3,500-square-foot facility for space environment research. The $3.5 million Skywave Technology Laboratory will allow researchers to test large antennas and sensor systems outdoors before deployment, Kirtland AFB said Thursday.

“The Skywave Lab will provide the work space our team needs for space environment research, which involves developing and testing new instrumentation, preparing for field experiments around the globe, as well as collecting and processing data to support ionospheric and radio frequency research,” said Todd Parris, leader of AFRL's geospace environment impacts and applications branch at Kirtland AFB.

AFRL's team of field testers deploy technologies designed to forecast the ionosphere and how changes in space weather can affect space systems. These tests involve the use of optical and radio diagnostics to generate more data on the ionosphere.

The Department of Energy (DOE) intends to award a total of $34.5 million in funds to support research efforts on data science and computation-based approaches that could forecast harsh weather patterns, address scientific gaps and accelerate clean energy technology development. 

DOE said Friday it will provide up to $21 million across a three-year period to research projects that will explore the use of data science methods for chemical and material science matters such as chemical processes for energy storage.

The department also plans to award $13.5 million to projects that will focus on helping research facilities speed up scientific discovery through networking infrastructure and computer-based models.

DOE will obligate a cumulative sum of $11.5 million for the two funding opportunities within the current fiscal year.

Lt. Gen. B. Chance Sdaltzman, deputy chief of space operations at the U.S. Space Force, said the service branch must lead efforts to establish and promote regulations on orbital safety, SpaceNews reported Friday.

Saltzman said at a Brookings Institution event that the Space Force should have a central role in addressing space junk and debris that could impact international space operations in the long run.

He noted that the Space Force needs to drive the conversation on preventing interference between satellites in addition to “helping devise rules and tenets of responsible behavior in space”.

“It’s about working with partners to come up with what the right rules of the road are,” said Saltzman.

Lt. Gen. Duane Gamble, deputy chief of staff, G-4, at the U.S. Army, said the service branch is investing $800 million to update its arsenals, ammunition plants and depots, DOD News reported Friday.

Gamble said at a hearing with the House Appropriations Subcommittee that the Army must work with the organic industrial base to lead efforts to modernize manufacturing facilities.

He noted that the service has executed workforce rejuvenation efforts and is looking into establishing a nitric acid complex within the Holston Army Ammunition Plant in Tennessee.

Vice Adm. William Galinis, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, said at the hearing that the service is continuing efforts to execute its Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program and roll out its analytics-driven Naval Sustainment System-Shipyard effort.

Lt. Gen. Donald Kirkland, commander of the U.S. Air Force Sustainment Center, noted that the service has allocated over $2 billion over the past four fiscal years for depot modernization and is now looking to execute its 20-year OIB optimization plan.

Maj. Gen. Joseph Shrader, commanding general of the U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Command, testified that the service is working with the Department of Defense to leverage 5G for OIB modernization and supply-chain development.

AMERICAN SYSTEMS  announced Monday it was awarded ISO 27001:2013 and ISO 20000-1:2018 certificates from Intertek. The certifications confirm AMERICAN SYSTEMS  information security management system for business services and service management services adhere to internationally-recognized standards.

“As part of our continuous improvement and quality assurance initiatives, the impetus for AMERICAN SYSTEMS and its dedicated employee-owners to attain these certifications was to ensure consistency in the way we handle our data and deliver our services,” commented a previous Wash 100 Award recipient Peter Smith, AMERICAN SYSTEMS’ president and CEO.

The certifications were presented by Intertek, a total quality assurance provider for industries around the world. The ISO 27001:2013 certification proves AMERICAN’s information security management systems for business functions are highly efficient. The ISO 20000-1:2018 relates to the company’s service management services.

The two certifications coincided with AMERICAN’s quality management system’s recertification for selected programs and corporate managed processes under ISO 9001:2015 standard in December of 2020.

“We realize the growing importance of information security and top-notch service delivery, both of which are vital to our customers. To be certified under both standards virtually simultaneously is a landmark achievement that our employee-owners can take pride in accomplishing,” concluded Smith.

About AMERICAN SYSTEMS 

Founded in 1975, AMERICAN SYSTEMS is a government engineering and IT solutions provider and one of the top 100 employee-owned companies in the United States, with approximately 1,475 employees nationwide. Based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Chantilly, VA, the company provides Enterprise IT, Acquisition and Lifecycle Support, Engineering and Analysis, Test & Evaluation, and Training Solutions to DOD, Intel, and civilian government customers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the growth of the global defense industry as governments increase spending on efforts aimed at countering the public health and economic effects of the coronavirus, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Economic and logistical challenges due to the pandemic have disrupted defense sales, manufacturing and development, resulting in production irregularities and increasing costs for many defense contractors.

Some analysts say the contracting cycle’s multiyear nature appears to shield the defense industry from major volatility despite the challenges.

“Demand over the next two years is unlikely to be affected, since budgets for these projects had been allocated prior to the pandemic, and the projects are critical to national defense,” according to a Deloitte report.

Amid the slowdown, some U.S. companies continue to secure new defense contracts. The current administration cleared defense contracts in February, including an $85 million sale of Raytheon Technologies-made missiles to Chile and a $60 million transaction with Jordan for the procurement of Lockheed Martin-built F-16 jets.

The Pentagon increased its Defense Production Act spending from $64 million in 2019 to $135 million in 2020 to support U.S. contractors during the health crisis, according to the report.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued a draft special publication that seeks to demonstrate how organizations can use standards-based, commercially available products to help meet their privacy and security needs as they adopt the bring your own device practice.

The draft SP 1800-22 Mobile Device Security: Bring Your Own Device practice guide is intended to help organizations use industry best practices to improve mobile device security and privacy; enhance visibility into mobile device health; and improve the security of mobile devices and applications through the deployment of several technologies, NIST said Thursday.

“This practice guide provides an example solution demonstrating how to enhance security and privacy in Android and Apple smartphone BYOD deployments,” the notice reads.

The draft publication also describes several technologies that support the example platform’s security and privacy goals, including trusted execution environment, enterprise mobility management, virtual private network and mobile application vetting service.

NIST will accept feedback and comments on the draft practice guide through May 3rd.

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A group of bipartisan House lawmakers sent letters to heads of federal agencies requesting more information related to the SolarWinds cyberattack.

The lawmakers want agencies to submit written responses to eight questions by March 31st “to gain a fuller understanding of the scope of the attack and actions being taken to mitigate its effects,” according to a news release published Wednesday.

Agencies should explain the extent and nature of the compromise, detail the actions taken to investigate and respond to the attack and provide information on their schedule for mitigating the risks associated with the incident.

Lawmakers also want to know how agencies evaluate vendors for cybersecurity risks and whether they have a specific plan in place to reduce the risks of future supply chain attacks.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., the House panel’s ranking member, were among the signatories of the letter addressed to several agency chiefs, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

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