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Government Technology/News
MDA Reports New Missile Defense Radar on Track for Initial Operational Capability
by Nichols Martin
Published on March 3, 2021
MDA Reports New Missile Defense Radar on Track for Initial Operational Capability

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has announced that a missile detection radar under development is progressing on schedule towards initial operational capability expected this fiscal year, Defense News reported Tuesday. 

The U.S. Air Force's Lockheed Martin-made Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) is now in the process of installation at Alaska-based Clear Air Force Station, despite pandemic-caused delays experienced last year.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) initially reported that USAF will not be able to fully procure the radar before fiscal year 2023, but MDA announced in late February that all critical production tasks have been completed.

LRDR is designed to detect whether an incoming missile carries a warhead or is only a decoy. The radar would generate precision metric data perform this function against ballistic missile threats. Lockheed also applied its open gallium nitride foundry model into the solid state GaN radar.

Government Technology/News/Press Releases
Matthew Graviss on State Department’s Data Initiatives
by Brenda Marie Rivers
Published on March 3, 2021
Matthew Graviss on State Department’s Data Initiatives

Matthew Graviss, chief data officer of the State Department, said he envisions data as a vital asset for both industry and government and that his department plans to establish a one-stop shop for dataset access.

Graviss said at an interview with Federal News Network aired Tuesday that the State Department is focusing on data management issues and that the Data.State initiative will enable the sharing of information across bureaus.

He noted that data management, along with culture and technology, will enable the department to benefit from analytics. According to Graviss, the State Department is working on enlisting more talent and developing the skills of current personnel for data-focused functions.

Speaking on the department’s partnerships with allied agencies like the intelligence community, Graviss said that data sharing is “really important within the federal government” and that it is a critical part of efforts under the department’s COVID-19 working group.

The group, which falls under Graviss’ management, is focused on sharing the right data to support pandemic response initiatives including vaccination, according to Graviss.

Government Technology/News
Gen. Mark Milley: Universal Data Standards Key to Joint Warfighting
by Brenda Marie Rivers
Published on March 3, 2021
Gen. Mark Milley: Universal Data Standards Key to Joint Warfighting

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that he plans to implement foundational data standards and pitch his concept for joint warfighting that leverages networked forces, Defense One reported Tuesday.

Milley told reporters he seeks to deliver his Joint Warfighting Concept 1.0 to Lloyd Austin, the secretary of the Department of Defense (DOD) and 2021 Wash100 Award winner, and Kathleen Hicks, the deputy defense secretary and a fellow 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, ahead of budget hearings with Congress.

A joint system that builds on common standards across the services branches must be in place by the end of the year, he said.

Milley’s comments come as the U.S. Northern Command continues experiments with other combatant commands to help inform the Joint All-Domain Command and Control program.

Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of USNORTHCOM, previously told reporters that the command’s Global Information Dominance Experiments are focused on showcasing the value of data. VanHerck also cited the command’s Pathfinder program focused on integrating radar-collated data with machine learning.

Government Technology/News/Wash100
Stacey Dixon: NGA Should Deliver at ‘Speed of Mission Need’
by Jane Edwards
Published on March 3, 2021
Stacey Dixon: NGA Should Deliver at ‘Speed of Mission Need’

Stacey Dixon, deputy director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, said NGA needs to come up with faster platforms and services as the U.S. edge in GEOINT is being challenged, SpaceNews reported Tuesday. 

“We’re asking for your help to help us reimagine the geoint enterprise,” Dixon said Tuesday at the virtual NGA Industry Strategy Summit 2021. “We need to be able to deliver at the speed of mission need.”

In 2020, NGA introduced an innovation strategy called “moonshot” to reflect the need for a concerted effort in order for the U.S. to win the GEOINT arms race. Dixon said this strategy could spur acquisitions and investments in the next few years.

“Moonshot for us is way more than a buzzword,” said Dixon. “It all started because of a need to focus on the reemergence of great power competition. We need to think big not only as an agency, but as this larger community, as an enterprise.”

Executive Moves/News
AVIAN Names Pete Sarrat as CGO; Kevin Switick Quoted
by Sarah Sybert
Published on March 3, 2021
AVIAN Names Pete Sarrat as CGO; Kevin Switick Quoted

AVIAN has appointed Pete Sarrat, the company’s vice president for Federal Solutions, as chief growth officer, AVIAN reported on Tuesday. 

“For many years as a small business owner I learned how to wear multiple ‘hats’ for various roles in the company,” said Kevin Switick, chief executive officer at AVIAN. “The hope was that AVIAN would grow and one day I could transfer the hats to others in the organization that would lead the way. It brings me great joy to transfer the growth strategy hat to Pete, who I know will take AVIAN to the next level and beyond.”

As AVIAN’s new chief growth officer, Sarrat will lead strategic planning to accelerate growth as the company enters new markets. He will also collaborate with leaders in the organization to execute the corporate vision, developed by Switick. 

Sarrat has more than two decades of experience in business development. Prior to his tenure with AVIAN, Sarrat served as a vice president for Business Development for Whitney, Bradley and Brown (WBB). Before that, Sarrat was the vice president for Business Development at Constellation Software Engineering.

“While growing AVIAN is a team effort for our employee-owners, I am incredibly excited to have Pete provide the guidance and direction for the future,” Switick added. Sarrat has prior military service in the U.S. Navy and a bachelor of science degree in finance from Georgetown University.

"The opportunities available for AVIAN's growth are limitless," Sarrat said. "I am excited to be in the position to lead growth efforts at AVIAN in support of our strategic business plan."

Government Technology/News/Wash100
Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, Joint Staff CIO, Recommends Areas to Improve JADC2
by Sarah Sybert
Published on March 3, 2021
Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, Joint Staff CIO, Recommends Areas to Improve JADC2

Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, chief information officer (CIO) of the Joint Staff and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, recently addressed how the military’s future network-of-networks operational construct, Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2), can increase innovation and agility by leveraging big data, FedScoop reported on Wednesday.

Crall said the solutions he is looking for range from data management and tagging to identity, credential, and access management (ICAM). “Everything we do from this point forward, it really is all about the data,” he said.

He added that one way to improve JADC2 solutions is to move away from data standards, because the military data from sensors in battle will be presented in a variety of formats, measurements and readability. 

“There is going to be diversity; you have got to embrace the diversity,” he said. Crall added that the Joint Staff is looking to incorporate “light” and “nimble” interfaces across a data lake that can help sift through and sort incoming information. 

Crall added that, in order to send, share and collaborate with data securely as part of JADC2, there must be solutions to verify the identities of users and data sources on a network. He said it’s one of the core building blocks for the military’s use of artificial intelligence (AI). 

Last year, Crall further discussed JADC2’s strategy and how his unit will work to advance the network, as well as technology solutions. 

In Nov. 2020, Crall said that the JADC2 Strategy will formulate objectives for JADC2 around three areas, including collecting data from every platform on the battlefield and accelerating the transmission of data to warfighters for use in decision-making. 

“We’re looking at things that really are open, easy to see, easy to adjust, easy to manipulate, and truthfully work well with other things,” Crall said. He added that the Department of Defense (DoD) does not want to rely excessively on proprietary technology platforms for JADC2 and is not interested in vendor lock-in arrangement. 

“And industry has asked us, ‘Would DoD please lead and tell us what those standards, attributes, interfaces and architectures are?’ And that’s precisely what we’re building in the annexes that go with the strategy document for JADC2. So that will soon be revealed — exactly what these inputs and outputs look like from a mission engineering perspective,” Crall stated.

Executive Moves/News/Wash100
Dr. Will Roper, Former USAF Executive, Joins Volansi Board of Directors
by Sarah Sybert
Published on March 3, 2021
Dr. Will Roper, Former USAF Executive, Joins Volansi Board of Directors

Volansi has appointed Dr. Will Roper, the former assistant secretary of the U.S. Air Force and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, to its Board of Directors, where he will help drive the company’s strategy, operations and growth in defense markets, Volansi reported on Wednesday.

“Dr. Will Roper joins Volansi’s board with a reputation as a transformative, forward-looking leader,” said Volansi CEO and co-Founder Hannan Parvizian. “His deep expertise in emerging technologies and the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in logistics operations will be instrumental in aiding Volansi’s mission to change the future of supply chain.

With the U.S. Air Force, Roper was the assistant secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, where he supervised an annual budget of $60 billion. In the role, he was responsible for all research and development, test, production, modernization and logistics efforts for the Air Force and Space Force. He also helped accelerate acquisition processes and develop disruptive innovative culture inside of government.

Roper spearheaded open defense market opportunities to commercial companies and private investors. He launched innovative initiatives, such as AFWERX and Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) reform.

Additionally, Roper led Air Force-wide technology transformations for software development, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital engineering. He also initiated high tech programs for hypersonic weapons, autonomous drones and a militarized internet of things (IoT).

“Commercial technology companies like Volansi are leading a wave of disruptive innovation for defense missions,” said Dr. Roper. “Bringing speed and agility historically absent in government procurement, many vendors have early revenue-generating opportunities in national security as a path to commercial success,” Roper said.

Volansi has developed deep relationships with the Air Force and Department of Defense (DoD). The company has been awarded a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) through the Department of the Air Force Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) Center of Excellence innovation program.

“Volansi is uniquely positioned in the commercial UAV market because of their focus on cargo and logistics, both huge components of modern militaries. I am excited to help them think through opportunities to bring on-demand, life-saving capabilities to men and women in uniform,” Roper added.

Government Technology/News/Press Releases
NIST Develops Interactive Tool for Military Fire Extinguisher Agent Calculations
by Matthew Nelson
Published on March 3, 2021
NIST Develops Interactive Tool for Military Fire Extinguisher Agent Calculations

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has created an interactive spreadsheet to help military personnel calculate the amount of chemicals needed to suppress ground and aerial vehicle fires. 

NIST said Tuesday that the application is an updated version of the PROperties of FIre Suppressant SYstems (PROFISSY) tool, a Microsoft DOS-based computer program that works to determine how much fire-extinguishing agents can be combined with nitrogen to prevent unintended explosions.

The spreadsheet includes a link that will direct the user to NIST's Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties Database containing information about fire suppressants, environment-friendly halon alternatives and chemical and mixture properties.

Jiann Yang, deputy chief of NIST's fire research division, said he believes many U.S. military and commercial aircraft manufacturing companies have used PROFISSY to design and produce fire suppression systems.

“We've been using PROFISSY for many years to facilitate design of fire extinguishers for test and evaluation, especially with non-halon and low-GWP fire suppression agents where off-the-shelf products are not available,” said Steven Hodges, a member of the U.S. Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center Fire Protection Team. 

Hodges added the branch is exploring the use of low global warming potential chemicals to put out fire.

Government Technology/News
DHS S&T Partners With Law Enforcement Community to Study Police-Citizen Interactions
by Nichols Martin
Published on March 3, 2021
DHS S&T Partners With Law Enforcement Community to Study Police-Citizen Interactions

The Science and Technology Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS S&T) has partnered with Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) and Dallas Police Department to study how interactions between officers and citizens affect conflict management.

DHS said Tuesday its study aims to develop conflict resolution strategies that prevent personal interactions from escalating into damaging events. Researchers will classify behaviors and identify engagement patterns based on video footage of police encounters.

S&T and FLETC will build on previous assessments conducted in April 2017 for the centers' conflict management training course. FLETC’s Behavioral Science Division and Innovation Operations Branch worked together to develop a conflict management and de-escalation strategy.

FLETC is also working with the DHS Center of Excellence at the Center for Accelerating Operational Efficiency within the Arizona State University to explore the potential of developing conflict management models based on police behaviors. They plan to publish the results of video coding and analysis by the middle of summer, with the help of ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Now, the S&T-FLETC team will evaluate the feasibility of an automated coding system designed to help law enforcement officers and researchers study personal officer-citizen interactions. Jim Grove, FLETC portfolio manager at S&T, said they hope to convert manual coding into an algorithm for automation.

“We want to learn what helps to keep a situation from escalating or what helps to de-escalate a situation,” said Laura Zimmerman, a senior researcher at FLETC.

Government Technology/News
FAA to Test UAS Security Systems at Five U.S. Airports
by Nichols Martin
Published on March 3, 2021
FAA to Test UAS Security Systems at Five U.S. Airports

The Federal Aviation Administration has named five host airports that will test new security systems designed to boost security against drone threats.

FAA said Tuesday its Airport Unmanned Aircraft Systems Detection and Mitigation Research Program will use the gathered input to implement new standards and technologies for airport protection against unauthorized UAS.

The program's researchers will run tests on 10 or more technologies in New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Alabama and Washington, through 2023. Tests will commence later this year.

The selected airports are:

  • Atlantic City International Airport in Atlantic City, New Jersey
  • Huntsville International Airport in Huntsville, Alabama
  • Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio
  • Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington
  • Syracuse Hancock International Airport in Syracuse, New York

The facilities meet the testing requirements of the agency and demonstrate operating conditions of airports across the U.S.

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