Lt. Gen. James Slife, who leads Air Force Special Operations Command, said his group may push through with its planned purchase of a new intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in fiscal year 2022. 

The new Armed Overwatch aircraft would replace the existing U-28A Draco in FY 2022 if tests this 2021 go as planned, National Defense Magazine reported Tuesday.

The command initially wanted to commence purchases of Armed Overwatch in the current fiscal year, but pushed the plan to a later date as a result of the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act.

Slife said at a virtual event hosted by Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies that FY 2021 funds allow for the aircraft's continued research, development, test and evaluation, prior to the final procurement decision.

Tyto Athene has partnered with Tellabs, a leader in Passive Optical Network (PON) solutions, to launch Tyto Athene’s ACUITY LAN Solution. The company’s ACUITY Micro Data Center was created to provide mission-critical edge processing, analytics and unified communications in a turn-key solution. 

“We see a lot of potential for this secure, quickly deployable LAN solution. Whether it is being able to enable localized communication and running applications in DIL bandwidth environments, or empowering first responders to have maximum capabilities at their disposal, the ACUITY LAN is the right solution,” said Fabian Plath, VP of Sales and Business Development at Tyto Athene.

Under the partnership, Tyto Athene will add Tellabs’ Optical LAN (OLAN) to enable the ACUITY LAN Solution to scale its tactical transportable network. The ACUITY LAN is an edge solution that will utilize Tellabs OLAN to ensure network readiness in a two person carry form-factor. 

The solution will also enable remote powering of Optical Network Terminals (ONTs) and Power over Ethernet (PoE) in a reliable, secure, ruggedized system. ACUITY LAN includes Tellabs FlexSym Optical Line Terminal One (OLT1), Tellabs FlexSym Optical Network Terminal 248 (ONT248) and ONT Power/Splitter.

ACUITY LAN is ruggedized with harsh environment connectors and created in a custom Pelican transport case with backpack mounted fiber spool. The Tyto Athene-Tellabs partnership has ensured that ACUITY LAN can deliver compute, storage, security, communications, and networking power to support teams at the tactical edge. 

“Optical LAN has been deployed by all government agencies because it simplifies the network, eliminates security vulnerabilities and speeds IT productivity. Now through this partnership with Tyto Athene, we are excited to bring these same benefits into the tactical transportable networking,” said Tom Parisi, VP of Government Sales for Tellabs.

About Tyto Athene 

Tyto Athene, LLC is a full service systems integrator focused on helping clients accelerate their ability to make decisions by providing secure access to enterprise information throughout their operating environment. 

We use a wide range of technologies, innovative thinking, and proven processes to deliver successful outcomes for its clients worldwide, including a historically proven track record of success within the Federal marketplace providing turn-key voice, data, networking and UC systems. Tyto Athene is also the inventor and provider of the ACUITY® Micro Data Center product line.

NASA will host a media teleconference to discuss the hot fire test in the Green Run testing series for the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will launch the agency’s Artemis I mission, NASA reported on Wednesday. 

The test will occur at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. For the test, engineers will power up all the core stage systems, load more than 700 thousand gallons of cryogenic propellant into the tanks, and fire all four engines at the same time to simulate the rocket’s core stage operation during launch.

In Jan. 2021, NASA conducted the first hot fire of the Artemis I core stage. NASA conducted a hot fire of the core stage for the agency’s SLS rocket. The test plan called for the rocket’s four RS-25 engines to fire for a little more than eight minutes.

"Saturday’s test was an important step forward to ensure that the core stage of the SLS rocket is ready for the Artemis I mission, and to carry crew on future missions,” said former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, who attended the test. 

The team successfully completed the countdown and ignited the engines, but the engines shut down a little more than one minute into the hot fire. Teams have worked to assess the data to determine what caused the early shutdown to determine a path forward.

In the first test, the agency ignited all four RS-25 engines successfully. NASA will leverage the data from the first test and the seven prior Green Run tests, to prepare for the final hot fire test. 

The core stage lead contractor, Boeing, and NASA  determined that a second, longer hot fire test would provide greater data to help certify the core stage for flight and pose minimal risk to the Artemis I core stage. 

The core stage includes the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank, four RS-25 engines, plumbing, and the computers, electronics, and avionics that serve as the “brains” of the rocket. Artemis I will test the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft as an integrated system ahead of crewed flights to the Moon.