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MDA Anticipates Next Generation Interceptor Contract Award This Month
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MDA Anticipates Next Generation Interceptor Contract Award This Month

The Pentagon is keeping the Next Generation Interceptor (NGI) program on track by allowing the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to push ahead with its plans to award potential five-year design and development contracts to two defense contractors this month. 

NGI replaces the Redesigned Kill Vehicle program and seeks to modernize the ground-based missile defense platform to protect the U.S. from incoming missile threats. RKV was canceled in August 2019 due to technical issues. 

Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin are leading three industry teams that are competing for the two contracts. Northrop is collaborating with Raytheon Technologies, while Boeing is working with General Atomics’ electromagnetic systems. Lockheed has partnered with Aerojet Rocketdyne.

MDA “continues to adhere to established source selection processes as they evaluate each of the proposals and anticipates being ready for contract award this month,” Jessica Maxwell, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense, said in an email. She added that DOD’s independent cost analysis unit should conclude its program estimate prior to the award.

MDA issued a solicitation for the NGI program in April 2020.

Biden Vows Commitment to NATO Alliance, Collaboration to Address Security Threats
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Biden Vows Commitment to NATO Alliance, Collaboration to Address Security Threats

President Biden said the U.S. remains committed to the transatlantic alliance and will work closely with partners in the European Union to address the shared security threats and other challenges, Military Times reported Friday.

“The transatlantic alliance is back. And we are not looking backward; we are looking forward, together,” Biden said Friday in a speech during the virtual Munich Security Conference. “The United States is fully committed to our NATO Alliance, and I welcome Europe’s growing investment in the military capabilities that enable our shared defense.”

He cited the role of the alliance in countering the Islamic State militant organization and the U.S. commitment to consulting with NATO allies when it comes to military missions in Afghanistan.

“We remain committed to ensuring that Afghanistan never again provides a base for terrorist attacks against the United States and our partners and our interests,” he added.

Biden said he has ordered to halt the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Germany and lift the cap on the number of U.S. forces that should be deployed to the European country.

In his speech, Biden highlighted the need to defend and strengthen democracy and the importance of transatlantic cooperation to address the threats posed by Russia, China and Iran.

He also cited the need to collaborate to address climate change by accelerating commitments to reduce emissions and strengthen global health systems to fight the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide and the resurgence of Ebola in Africa.

“We have to work together to strengthen and reform the World Health Organization. We need a U.N. system focused on biological threats that can move quickly to trigger action,” Biden added.

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US, Mexico Intend to Collaborate on Connectivity, Spectrum Management; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted
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US, Mexico Intend to Collaborate on Connectivity, Spectrum Management; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted

Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, met with Adolfo Cuevas, interim chairman of Mexico's telecommunications agency at a virtual event to discuss potential collaborative initiatives to address connectivity challenges facing both countries.

“It was a pleasure to meet with Interim Chairman Cuevas this afternoon and discuss the ways our two countries can best collaborate on the technology and connectivity challenges facing our respective citizens," said Rosenworcel. 

They also talked about how their respective agencies could manage the spectrum utilization along the border at various radio frequency bands and mitigate interferences, FCC said Friday.

During their meeting, the two telecom regulatory leaders also shared lessons learned from telecom and broadcasting system modernization efforts.

"I welcome the opportunity to strengthen relationships with our international partners to build a brighter, more digitally connected world,” Rosenworcel said.

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Nonprofit Exec John Boerstler Joins VA as Chief Veteran Experience Officer
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Nonprofit Exec John Boerstler Joins VA as Chief Veteran Experience Officer

John Boerstler, most recently CEO of the nonprofit Combined Arms, has been appointed to lead a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) office responsible for collecting customer experience data to transform service delivery to former military personnel.

VA named Boerstler as chief veterans experience officer in a series of leadership appointments announced Thursday.

He has led efforts at the Houston-based Combined Arms organization to assist veterans with transitioning into civilian life and helped establish the Lone Star Veterans Association, a nonprofit that provides assistance to post-9/11 service members.

Boerstler served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999 to 2007 and supported missions in Djibouti, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait and Syria. He also participated in a combat tour during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a non-commissioned officer.

The Houston Business Journal recognized him in the publication's list of most admired CEOs for 2020.

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USAF’s Operation Flamethrower to Abandon Outdated Legacy Networks
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USAF’s Operation Flamethrower to Abandon Outdated Legacy Networks

The U.S. Air Force’s Operation Flamethrower will work to get rid of outdated IT policies that challenge network modernization. The initiative has worked to modernize IT policy, and will shift its force to discard policies burdens the Air Force’s move to an enterprise IT-as-a-service model, FedScoop reported on Friday. 

“Operation Flamethrower is all about creating offsets,” said Brig. Gen. Chad Raduege. Flamethrower will leverage offsets to create policy changes that would reduce the network operations stress with automation and secure endpoint weaknesses.

The Air Force have driven a multi-year network transformation journey. The service branch has driven the enterprise IT-as-a-service model to replace outdated legacy systems that are less secure and limit connectivity. 

Operation Flamethrower is also looking to reduce the redundancies created in the transition. “We are trying to figure out how to get from the legacy network where we are today into the future,” Raduege said.

Lauren Knausenberger, deputy chief information officer with the U.S. Air Force and 2021 Wash100 Award recipient, recently discussed how the service branch has leveraged new tactics to increase cybersecurity, modernize its IT framework and launch new platforms that support emerging technologies during GovConWire’s Air Force: IT Plans and Priorities Forum. 

If you missed the Air Force: IT Plans and Priorities Forum, you can still access the OnDemand recording by visiting GovConWire’s Event Archive. 

The Air Force has adopted four main pillars to drive the service branch’s strategy: Digital Foundation, User Experience for Warfighter Effect, Enabling Digital Talent and Attack on Outdated Policy and Redundant IT. 

“From the network layer, zero trust, cloud and DevSecOps, we want to drive new ways of IT and advance our cyber landscape. The threats are more persistent and advanced, so we want to rapidly adopt emerging technologies to protect ourselves,” Knausenberger added. 

In regards to removing and replacing redundant IT, Knausenberger discussed Operation Flamethrower. Led by Raduege and Knausenberger, the project was developed to abandon legacy network-related policies, processes or equipment that are not working. 

In Nov. 2020, Raduege said, “We are going to rapidly identify legacy network things that have run aground. It could either be policy limitations or redundant capabilities, any tools that are providing us with the things we don’t need, we are going to burn to the ground with a flamethrower.”

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Space Force Projects New Anti-Jamming Capability by 2022; Steve Hayden Quoted
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Space Force Projects New Anti-Jamming Capability by 2022; Steve Hayden Quoted

The Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has completed three tests of a new anti-jamming capability for satellite communications at the end of 2020, C4ISRNet reported on Friday. 

The Mitigation and Anti-Jam Enhancement (MAJE) Program will provide advanced anti-jamming support for Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), which provides satellite communications to warfighters. SMC expects to complete the transition of the anti-jamming system to the U.S. Army for operational use in spring 2022.

Once integrated the capability will enable the WGS constellation to pinpoint and mitigate attempts to jam its signal. “The MAJE system will double the anti-jam capabilities for 16,000+ users,” Maj. Shawna Matthys, WGS-11+ program manager, said in a statement.

The system will provide software and hardware upgrades to the Army’s Global SATCOM Configuration Control Element. The ground system will be leveraged to detect, identify, locate and mitigate interference with WGS satellites.

The three tests were conducted virtually with support from prime contractor Boeing. SMC said that the tests “verified system design and MAJE’s ability to provide telemetry and successfully locate signals interfering with WGS satellites.”

The three tests conducted were the maintenance engineering evaluation, the payload application software formal qualification testing, and first article test (FAT) increment 4. 

The last in that list is the test that demonstrated the system’s ability to geolocate signals interfering with WGS. A fifth increment will complete multi-capability and end-to-end testing, which will enable the system to begin interface verification with U.S. Army subsystems.

“The teamwork and transparency between Boeing and the combined government teams to get these capabilities verified in a virtual environment was truly impressive. It shows how dedicated we are to getting these capabilities out to the war fighter despite an ongoing pandemic,” WGS chief engineer Steve Hayden said.

Space Force Projects New Anti-Jamming Capability by 2022; Steve Hayden Quoted

During Potomac Officers Club’s 2021 SDA Forum, notable public and private sector leaders will unite to address the latest initiatives, efficiencies and challenges facing the nation, as we compete to maintain space superiority.

Since its inception in 2019, the Space Development Agency (SDA) has continually worked to develop and modernize architecture concepts, systems designs, innovative technologies and emerging capabilities to enable leaders across the space domain to leverage next-generation space capabilities that increase warfighters’ lethality, maneuverability and survivability.

To register for the 2021 SDA Forum, as well as view upcoming opportunities, visit Potomac Officers Club’s Event Page.

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GSA Offers Identity Proofing Support for Federally Funded Programs Under State, Local Govt’s
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GSA Offers Identity Proofing Support for Federally Funded Programs Under State, Local Govt’s

The General Services Administration’s (GSA) Technology Transformation Services (TTS) is seeking state and local government participants to leverage the login.gov portal’s authentication services for the execution of programs funded by the federal government.

GSA said Thursday it seeks to partner with state and local authorities seeking to administer federally-funded initiatives through login.gov’s identity proofing features.

The agency noted that its engineering, product, security and user experience experts under TTS will work with program participants to ensure the secure operation of their respective projects.

TTS oversees the login.gov portal, which offers multifactor authentication in line with standards such as the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act. The access portal has supported identity authentication requirements for federal websites since 2017.

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CDO Council’s Ted Kaouk on Data-Sharing Initiatives, Interagency Collaboration
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CDO Council’s Ted Kaouk on Data-Sharing Initiatives, Interagency Collaboration

Ted Kaouk, chairman of the Chief Data Officers Council, has said that the council’s recently created data sharing working group is assessing needs to balance security and governmentwide data sharing, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Kaouk, who also serves as chief data officer of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), said at an Alteryx-hosted event that the CDO Council is looking at ways to “blend data across agencies” to leverage key information.

The council’s COVID-19 working group has also collaborated with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the State Department to help visualize pandemic-related data, according to the publication.

Collaborative efforts are also in place between the CDO Council, the Interagency Committee on Standards Policy (ICSP) and the Chief Evaluation Officers Council to drive the discussion of potential areas of joint development.

“At the federal level, we want to model those opportunities to collaborate on the broader goals and objective that we have, and then at individual agencies partnering in the same way with those officials to ensure that we’re delivering on the promise of the Evidence Act,” said Kaouk.

Kaouk's comments come after the CDO Council submitted its first report to Congress.

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Tyto Athene’s Robert Mohr to Join IAB at UMass Dartmouth
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Tyto Athene’s Robert Mohr to Join IAB at UMass Dartmouth

Robert Mohr, director of Business Development and director of ACUITY Micro Data Center product line, has been appointed as a member of the Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMass Dartmouth), Tyto Athene reported last week. 

With his appointment, this marks Mohr’s 16th year as a member of the IAB at UMass Dartmouth. The board features a group of engineering leaders from the electrical and computer engineering industry. Mohr is joined on the IAB by other engineering and subject matter experts from organizations such as Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) and Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

Members of the IAB at UMass Dartmouth are appointed by the ECE chairperson who is an ex-officio member of the IAB. The IAB meets to discuss current issues, review outcomes and examine objectives of the university’s undergraduate and graduate programs. The IAB helps the ECE department assess the technical content and performance of its programs in Electrical Engineering and in Computer Engineering.

Mohr joined Tyto Athene in 2016 as the director of Business Development. In his role, he is responsible for leading Tyto Athene’s global business development and capture. Most recently, Mohr was appointed as the director of ACUITY by Tyto Athene. Before joining Tyto Athene, Mohr served for more than three decades at General Dynamics. 

About Tyto Athene, LLC

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 unified communications systems. Tyto Athene is also the inventor and provider of the ACUITY® Micro Data Center product line.

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Digital Transformation Expert Sultan Meghji Joins FDIC as Chief Innovation Officer
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Digital Transformation Expert Sultan Meghji Joins FDIC as Chief Innovation Officer

Sultan Meghji, who helped multiple African banks pursue digital transformation, has been named chief innovation officer of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC). He will oversee FDIC’s pursuit to integrate new technologies into the U.S. financial services sector, the federal insurance agency said Tuesday.

Meghji supported digital transformation at banks in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. He also supported the development of peer-to-peer banking system for underserved African and Central Asian communities.

“My personal mission is to engage both public and private sector partners to ensure the financial system of the future is innovative, resilient and equitable,” Meghji said.

The financial technology expert engages in cybersecurity, quantum computing and artificial intelligence research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also a co-founder of financial technology company Neocova, which offers AI and cloud products for digital banking.

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