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USAF Completes Airworthiness Report for Joby Aviation Aircraft
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USAF Completes Airworthiness Report for Joby Aviation Aircraft

The U.S. Air Force has wrapped up the airworthiness evaluation for the design of Joby Aviation's S4 aircraft as part of the Agility Prime effort. USAF may carry out flight tests for the aircraft once it completes all phases of the airworthiness process, the service branch said Wednesday.

The service branch will use the flight tests to yield data that may support S4's Federal Aviation Administration certification as well as evaluate the aircraft's utility in various operations such as medical evacuation and disaster response activities.

Joby and BETA Technologies joined Agility Prime in February as its initial partner companies.

The Air Force has announced its intent to explore other uses cases and deploy organic resupply buses in 2023. The military service will also launch the Space Prime at an undisclosed date.

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Will Roper: Next-Gen Aircraft to Utilize AI for Pilot Support
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Will Roper: Next-Gen Aircraft to Utilize AI for Pilot Support

Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics and three-time Wash100 Award winner, said the service branch's future sixth-generation aircraft will feature an artificial intelligence co-pilot, Breaking Defense reported Friday. 

The Next-Generation Air Dominance program will apply AI as a support platform for human pilots aboard the future aircraft. Roper said the service will have to determine how to certify the AI platforms for this envisioned human-AI teaming approach.

“We have a process to train and equip people today, and determine that they are ready to go into operations, and now we need to do that for AI,” he said.

The U.S. Air Force is also working on the Skyborg program that aims to develop low-cost, attritable, autonomously flying drones.

Independent Expert Panel Issues Report on Social Security Administration’s IT Modernization Progress
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Independent Expert Panel Issues Report on Social Security Administration’s IT Modernization Progress

The Social Security Administration's (SSA) advisory board has released a report from an independent panel that details progress and areas of improvement for SSA’s information technology modernization plan.

The Social Security Advisory Board said Friday that the IT Systems Expert Panel’s report details recommendations encompassing areas such as IT modernization strategy, governance infrastructure, operating model and customer experience.

The report states that while SSA’s efforts to update its IT infrastructure is commendable, the agency must align its operating model with its strategic vision to put focus on critical business lines and customer-driven interactions.

SSA must also establish a “well-defined governance infrastructure” and clearly define program management procedures for accommodating agile development, according to the report.

In addition, SSA must include metrics in its goal-setting approach for the IT modernization plan and consider governance issues with cross-agency stakeholders in the planning process, the report states.

Other recommendations include strengthening the use of emerging technologies, creating a stakeholder engagement blueprint and assigning agency components for organization-wide customer experience improvement. SSAB will hold a webinar to discuss audit results on Jan. 29, 2021.

Created in August 2019, the IT Systems Expert Panel is headed by Alan Balutis who currently serves as senior director for North American public sector at Cisco’s business solutions group.

SSAB works to provide advisory support to the president, Commissioner of Social Security and Congress on SSA and supplemental security income programs.

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CISA Report: ICT Supply Chain Task Force Helped Create Supplier Info Sharing Standards
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CISA Report: ICT Supply Chain Task Force Helped Create Supplier Info Sharing Standards

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has released a report stating the progress of its task force on protecting the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) supply chain over the past two years. 

CISA said in the report that the ICT Supply Chain Risk Management Task Force was able to develop reference material for information sharing across the industrial base and create a working group focused on assessing COVID-19 impacts on the ICT supply chain.

The task force also updated its Threat Evaluation Report for identifying and mitigating threats to suppliers, established SCRM compliance assessment templates and reached out to supply-chain programs suitable for task-force coordination.

Other SCRM developments include helping build the foundation for vendor assurance mechanisms such as lists for qualified manufacturers and bidders. CISA noted in the report that it seeks to strengthen partnerships with the government, industry and other relevant entities in ICT security moving forward.

“[ICTs] are integral for the daily operations of the American economy and national security,” the report states. 

“Vulnerabilities in the ICT supply chain, composed of hardware, software, and services from third-party vendors, suppliers, service providers, and contractors, could affect all users of that technology. ICT components are also the foundational building blocks of a broad range of critical infrastructure systems.”

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USSF Chief Gen. John Raymond Joins Joint Chief of Staff
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USSF Chief Gen. John Raymond Joins Joint Chief of Staff

Gen. John Raymond, chief of space operations and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, has been inducted into the Department of Defense's (DoD) Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), DOD News reported Friday. 

Raymond, as mandated by law, joins the chief of naval operations, the U.S. Marine Corps commandant and the U.S. Army's and U.S. Air Force's corresponding chiefs of staff in the joint organization.

The Joints Chiefs of Staff consist of the most senior military officers and function to advise the secretary of defense and the U.S. president on military matters. The U.S. military held a ceremony on Dec. 11th to commemorate Raymond's induction.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and fellow four-time Wash100 Award winner, said the organization recognizes space as a warfighting domain and the U.S. needs to maintain technologies in space for continued peacekeeping.

Rep. Doug Lamborn: USSPACECOM Headquarters Must Remain in Colorado to Optimize Taxpayer Dollars
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Rep. Doug Lamborn: USSPACECOM Headquarters Must Remain in Colorado to Optimize Taxpayer Dollars

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado, has said that retaining the U.S. Space Command’s headquarters location in Colorado Springs is crucial to national security and fiscal interests as taxpayers have already invested billions into the USSPACECOM complex.

Lamborn wrote in an opinion piece published Saturday on Defense News that the Department of Defense has funneled approximately $350 million in taxpayer dollars to USSPACECOM infrastructure in Colorado over the past 15 years. This is separate from the DOD’s additional investment of taxpayer money to support space operations at the location, he noted.

USSPACECOM must “eliminate stifling bureaucracy” at the command headquarters that also houses satellite and GPS functions on which global financial procedures primarily depend on, said Lamborn.

“Our nation simply does not have time to fiddle around with moving USSPACECOM,” he noted. “There is no strategic value in moving it when it is working superbly now.” 

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IBM Wins DoD OTA to Advance Microelectronics; Jay Bellissimo Quoted
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IBM Wins DoD OTA to Advance Microelectronics; Jay Bellissimo Quoted

IBM has secured a Phase 1 Other Transactions Agreement (OTA) under the Rapid Assured Microelectronics Prototypes (RAMP) Advanced Commercial Capabilities Project, the company reported on Monday. IBM received the award through the Strategic and Spectrum Missions Advanced Resilient Trusted Systems (S²MARTS) Other Transaction Agreement (OTA).

“The semiconductor industry is critical for our nation’s security, technology leadership and economic growth,” said Jay Bellissimo, IBM’s general manager, U.S. Public and Federal Market. “IBM is proud to be one of Department of Defense’s (DoD) suppliers in this critically important mission and put our cutting-edge technologies and expertise in service of the defense community.”

Under the OTA, IBM will advance microelectronics technology. RAMP will leverage industry’s expertise and demonstrate secure microelectronics technologies, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Systems on a Chip (SoC). IBM’s Research and Services teams, along with its partners, will support the integration and development of the capabilities.

IBM will provide an integrated approach to help and mitigate threats. The company’s support will enable measurably secure microelectronics with lower power consumption, improved performance, reduced physical size and enhanced reliability.

The company will also deliver a verifiable end-to-end quantifiable assurance approach to implement a microelectronics supply chain and operational security standards, as well as a multi-foundry SOTA product pipeline that will deliver secured access to multiple SOTA fabrication on-shore foundries to DoD.

The project is administered by the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division within the DoD and is funded by the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD) via the Trusted & Assured Microelectronics Program.

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Avaya Names Tony Alfano SVP of Global Services
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Avaya Names Tony Alfano SVP of Global Services

Avaya has appointed Tony Alfano to the newly created role of senior vice president of Global Services to drive optimal business outcomes for its customers, the company reported on Monday. Alfano will report to executive vice president and chief revenue officer, Stephen Spears. 

“He has a strong track record in delivering consistent revenue and profit growth in a services-based organization, and will be a tremendous asset for our customers who rely on Avaya as their trusted partner to deliver work-from-anywhere workstream collaboration and communications solutions,” said Spears.

Alfano will bring more than three decades of experience within service delivery and management, across a variety of technology companies.

In his new role, Alfano will be responsible for selling and delivering services to drive customer success. He will provide a seamless experience for Avaya’s global customer base to gain access to innovative service offerings. Alfano will also bolster Avaya’s service capabilities to address the increased customer demand for digital transformation initiatives.

Prior to joining Avaya, Alfano served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at NTT. In his position, he assisted the company transform its reseller model to deliver high-value services. 

During his more than 20 year career with SAP, before joining NTT, Alfano served in multiple senior-level leadership positions, and was most recently global head of Operations and Strategy for SAP’s ERP Cloud solution.

Before SAP, Alfano served with Sterling Commerce, where he held the role of senior vice president. With the organization, Alfano was responsible for building trusted advisor relationships to increase clients' success. 

“Providing high-value services and delivering tremendous customer value is a key differentiator for Avaya, and I am very excited to join the company at this important time in its growth and to lead a global team that is a real competitive differentiator not just for Avaya, but for the customers that consume our services,” said Alfano.

About Avaya

Businesses are built by the experiences they provide, and everyday millions of those experiences are delivered by Avaya Holdings Corp. (NYSE: AVYA). Avaya is shaping what's next for the future of work, with innovation and partnerships that deliver game-changing business benefits. 

Our cloud communications solutions and multi-cloud application ecosystem power personalized, intelligent, and effortless customer and employee experiences to help achieve strategic ambitions and desired outcomes. Together, we are committed to help grow your business by delivering Experiences that Matter.

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NRO Completes Final Launch on SpaceX Falcon 9; Troy Meink Quoted
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NRO Completes Final Launch on SpaceX Falcon 9; Troy Meink Quoted

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has successfully completed its final launch of 2020, NROL-108, C4ISRNet reported on Monday. During the launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NRO used a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to transport NROL-108.

“We are excited to partner with SpaceX again,” NRO principal deputy director Troy Meink said. “The successful launch of NROL-108 by SpaceX just days after the launch of NROL-44 by United Launch Alliance, underscores NRO’s commitment to a robust launch schedule supported by a growing number of partners and locations.”

This was NRO’s second dedicated launch with SpaceX, with the first taking place with NROL-76 in May 2017. NRO did not disclose details of the payload’s mission or capabilities.

“Data collected by NRO’s national security systems are used to provide intelligence to United States’ senior policy makers, the intelligence community and Department of Defense, as well as U.S. allied partners,” the agency stated. “Additionally, information collected by NRO systems can be used to assist emergency and disaster relief efforts in the U.S. and around the world.”

Throughout the year, NRO has partnered with four different launch providers and five different types of rocket to launch its payloads into orbit. During the agency’s first launch, NRO used an Electron rocket from Rocket Lab. The company also launched the second payload for NRO in June 2020.

In July, NRO partnered with Northrop Grumman, using the Minotaur IV rocket for a mission. More recently, NRO partnered with United Launch Alliance (ULA) for two missions: first in Nov. 2020 with an Atlas V rocket, and then again in Dec. 2020 with a Delta IV rocket.

“Despite the challenges of 2020, NRO this year has successfully launched six missions from two countries. We are dedicated to delivering reconnaissance capabilities that keep this nation and our allies safe, while prioritizing the security and health of our launch teams,” said Meink.

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NuWave Acquires ProModel Government Services; GovCon Expert Reggie Brothers Quoted
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NuWave Acquires ProModel Government Services; GovCon Expert Reggie Brothers Quoted

NuWave Solutions has acquired ProModel Government Services, provider of mission critical predictive and prescriptive analytic software solutions for federal agencies, from the ProModel Corporation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“ProModel Government Services is uniquely qualified to help federal government agencies with their decision making, and help ensure that their processes are more efficient and resources are better managed,” said Dr. Reggie Brothers, CEO of NuWave and GovCon Expert.

ProModel Government Services has specialized in innovative and adaptable custom model-based software solutions. These offerings have helped visualize data, synchronize operational needs, mitigate risk and optimize resources to support decision making for the Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal government agencies. 

ProModel Government Services’ solutions offer near real-time situational awareness of the current environment and a predictive view of the future, enabling government organizations to make rapid, informed decisions that impact defense readiness.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for our team to join NuWave,” said Carl Napoletano, SVP and general manager of ProModel Government Services. “Being part of NuWave will provide us with greater support and additional solution offerings, which will benefit both our customers and employees alike.”

The purchase ProModel Government Services marks the second NuWave acquisition since it was acquired by AE Industrial Partners (AEI) in June 2020. Earlier this month, NuWave acquired BigBear to expand its expertise across data computing and analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, geospatial information systems, data mining and systems engineering.

BigBear has combined comprehensive technology solutions with its BigBear Platform to create secure cloud environments that support big data computing, machine learning and improved decision-making to better manage risk.

“BigBear’s data and analytics solutions bolster our existing capabilities to address the entire spectrum of information superiority,” said Brothers in regards to the acquisition of BigBear.

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