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OSTP Launches New Website, Report on Quantum Info Science; Michael Kratsios Quoted
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OSTP Launches New Website, Report on Quantum Info Science; Michael Kratsios Quoted

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has unveiled a new website and a report that identifies priority areas that require continued research to advance quantum information science.

“With the launch of Quantum.gov, the White House has created an online home for the National Quantum Coordination Office (NQCO) and a new digital hub for the growing quantum community to connect with wide-ranging activities underway across the Federal Government,” Michael Kratsios, U.S. chief technology officer and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said in a statement published Wednesday.

“The newly published Quantum Frontiers Report lays out critical research questions for the entire U.S. innovation ecosystem to tackle in the years ahead, and will serve as an important roadmap for researchers around the country,” Kratsios added.

The Quantum Frontiers Report was based on insights from federal, academic and industry leaders and determines areas for continued QIS research, including materials science and quantum information technology for precision measurements.

The official NQCO website will include news on QIS efforts across the federal government as well as reports, documents and information on agency programs.

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Marine Corps Conduct Cyber Electronic Warfare Training; Capt. Neal McGaughey
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Marine Corps Conduct Cyber Electronic Warfare Training; Capt. Neal McGaughey

Service members from the U.S. Marine Corps' I Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group and 1st Force Reconnaissance Company participated in a two-week training on tactical cyber electronic warfare reconnaissance and survey operations.

The training program sought to hone the participants' capacity to map out digital terrain and equip them with information-related skills, USMC said Tuesday.

The course also discussed the development of future approaches that can employ internet of things technology in the battlefield.

"We need to educate and train to the constant changes and advancements to our communication infrastructure in today’s world; the enemy is developing new strategies to achieve dominance in the information environment," said Capt. Neal McGaughey, a cyberspace warfare development officer at Marine Corps Cyberspace Command.

The U.S. Cyber Command awarded MarkPoint Technologies a two-year contract to deliver training on wireless cyber-software products and services in support of the Department of Defense.

"The Marine Corps has proven our adaptability to always remain the most effective and lethal force in the world; this applies to the information domain," McGaughey added.

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Air Force, Wichita State University to Develop Digital Twin for B-1 Aircraft Maintenance; Joseph Lay Quoted
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Air Force, Wichita State University to Develop Digital Twin for B-1 Aircraft Maintenance; Joseph Lay Quoted

Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has partnered with Wichita State University to create a virtual twin or a digital representation of the B-1B Lancer aircraft for maintenance purposes.

The U.S. Air Force said Tuesday it would use the digital twin to forecast maintenance issues that may occur in B-1B units. The university's National Institute of Aviation Research is now inspecting every part of the Lancer aircraft to develop the virtual twin.

"We have been scanning the wings, and the wing scans have been helping us understand how to build new repairs for some of the cracks that we have seen in the wings themselves,” said Lt. Col. Joseph Lay, material leader of the B-1 Program Office's engineering branch.

Lay said the virtual twin would provide B-1 maintainers a ready-to-use repair approach, eliminating the need to develop repairs for every time a damaged area is spotted.

“Then we will be able to apply data from aircraft in the field to help us predict areas that are more likely to have structural issues. This living virtual model of the B-1’s structure will be superimposed with layers of maintenance data, test/inspection results, and analysis tools, which can be integrated over the aircraft’s life cycle,” Lay said.

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DHS Continues Efforts to Integrate AI Into Contractor Performance Assessment System
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DHS Continues Efforts to Integrate AI Into Contractor Performance Assessment System

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is continuing a prototyping effort focused on using artificial intelligence to help improve a system designed for managing data on contractors’ past performance.

The DHS Procurement Innovation Lab will work with 10 agencies to assess seven AI technologies intended to modernize the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) and simplify its data management operations, FedScoop reported Tuesday.

DHS will allocate $50,000 for phase 2 awards which will cover further development of the selected AI tools to meet requirements for software-as-a-service (SaaS) and security accreditation.

Matthew Blum, associate administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP), told attendees at a recent ACT-IAC event that the effort seeks to reduce time allocated for navigating CPARS and obtaining relevant information.

“So if we can use AI to shorten that timeframe and get this information much more rapidly, it saves the workforce a tremendous amount of time, but you still get all the value," he noted. 

DHS first announced plans to test nine AI systems for the CPARS effort in January 2021.

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NAVSEA Reassigns Components of Former Warfighting Capability Directorate; Vice Adm. William Galinis Quoted
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NAVSEA Reassigns Components of Former Warfighting Capability Directorate; Vice Adm. William Galinis Quoted

Naval Sea Systems Command has dissolved NAVSEA 06, also known as the Warfighting Capability and Enterprise Readiness Directorate, and will reassign components to specific programs and priorities.

Components of the now-defunct NAVSEA 06 have reformed to support Program Executive Office for Unmanned Small Combatants and other offices within NAVSEA, the command said Tuesday.

"This re-alignment will help us better leverage other parts of the NAVSEA team to support the important work being done by the SEA 06 team,” said Vice Adm. William Galinis, NAVSEA commander. Program offices originally assigned to naval special warfare and expeditionary missions will join PEO USC.

Logistics components of the old directorate will move to SEA 05R and SEA 03R, partly in a move to support Naval Information Warfare Systems Command's (NAVWAR) PEO for Manpower Logistics and Business Solutions.

SEA 06 components focusing on program management competency, national shipbuilding and supplier product quality will also transfer to other existing directorates.

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Lt. Gen. David Thompson Assumes Vice Chief Role at Space Force
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Lt. Gen. David Thompson Assumes Vice Chief Role at Space Force

Lt. Gen. David Thompson has taken up his new role as the U.S. Space Force’s vice chief of space operations, giving him the responsibility of supporting USSF’s operational readiness.

Thompson, formerly vice commander of Air Force Space Command, will focus on establishing USSF’s Pentagon headquarters and a new Space Warfighting Integration Center (SWIC) alongside Gen. John Raymond, the service’s chief of space operations and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, USSF said Sunday.

USSF is organizationally ready to move its headquarters out from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado, and perform HQ activities at the Pentagon, Thompson noted.

The SWIC will function as the Space Force’s field operating agency for modern technology integration, similar in fashion to the U.S. Army’s Futures Command.

Raymond led the ceremony through which Thompson assumed his new role and officially became a member of Space Force leadership. A more formal ceremony to commemorate Thompson’s promotion will take place at a later time with the attendance of his loved ones.

Thompson’s move to USSF ends a nearly four-decade tenure of service with the U.S. Air Force.

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Mark Esper: US Must Expand Fleet by 2045 to Retain Naval Dominance
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Mark Esper: US Must Expand Fleet by 2045 to Retain Naval Dominance

Mark Esper, secretary of the Department of Defense (DoD) and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, has said the U.S. Navy must launch fleet expansion efforts to ensure American military dominance against China.

Esper told attendees at a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments event that the U.S. needs to expand its fleet to over 355 ships by the mid-2030s and 500 ships by 2045, Defense News reported Tuesday.

He noted that the Navy needs to prioritize deploying 70 to 80 attack submarines and modify its aircraft carrier programs to cover repurposing efforts for amphibious assault ships.

Esper envisions up to 240 unmanned and optionally manned subsurface and surface vehicles as well as additional units of small surface combatants, amphibious warfare ships and combat logistics force ships.

According to the defense secretary, the proposed fleet represents a “more balanced naval force” capable of executing fires across the land, air and sea domains.

“I agreed to provide additional funding from across the [DoD] enterprise, funding that was harvested from ongoing reform efforts such as combatant command reviews, ‘fourth estate’ reforms and other initiatives,” said Esper. “Together, these additional funding streams will increase the shipbuilding account to 13 percent.”

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Bruce Jette, James Geurts, Will Roper Talk Post-Pandemic Changes in Military Ops
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Bruce Jette, James Geurts, Will Roper Talk Post-Pandemic Changes in Military Ops

Leaders from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force have said that their respective service branches need to implement changes in force operations, supply chain management and workforce settings following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bruce Jette, assistant Army secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology and a 2020 Wash100 Award recipient, told National Defense Magazine in an interview that the service “re-looked at how we think about safety and health” and is planning to renew its focus on biological warfare, the publication reported Tuesday.

Jette noted that the Army is also looking into alternative supply sources and advanced manufacturing techniques to protect its supply chain against future pandemic disruptions.

James Geurts, assistant Navy secretary for research, development and acquisition and fellow 2020 Wash100 awardee, said the service also needs to modify its operational activities to prevent “friction in systems and processes”. The shift to telework settings resulted in challenges for the service “for the first couple of weeks,” he added.

Will Roper, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics and also a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said the service was able to adjust its workforce to nontraditional operations in response to the pandemic.

He added that 93 percent of the Air Force is teleworking with “very little loss in productivity” because of commercial collaboration tools.

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NASA Appoints Barry “Butch” Wilmore as Commander of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner; Leanne Caret Quoted
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NASA Appoints Barry “Butch” Wilmore as Commander of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner; Leanne Caret Quoted

NASA has appointed Barry “Butch” Wilmore to serve as commander of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner for the Crew Flight Test, succeeding Chris Ferguson, Boeing reported on Wednesday. Wilmore previously served as a backup crew member Starliner flight, and will join Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke for this first crewed mission of the Starliner spacecraft.

“My personal thank you to Chris for his leadership; he is putting his family first, which Boeing fully supports,” said Leanne Caret, president and CEO, Boeing Defense, Space & Security and 2020 Wash100 Award recipient. “We are fortunate he will continue to take an active role on the Starliner program and bring his depth and breadth of experience in human spaceflight to the program.”

Ferguson will transition to the role of director of Mission Integration and Operations. He will work to ensure the Starliner spacecraft and training systems support NASA’s astronauts, training and mission. Ferguson has been a member of the Starliner program since 2011.

“I have full confidence in the Starliner vehicle, the men and women building and testing it, and the NASA astronauts who will ultimately fly it,” Ferguson said. “The Boeing team has taken all lessons from our first uncrewed Orbital Flight Test to heart, and is making Starliner one of the safest new crewed spacecraft ever fielded. I will be here on the ground supporting Butch, Nicole and Mike while they prove it.”

Wilmore will begin training with his crewmates immediately in preparation for the 2021 flight to the International Space Station (ISS). Boeing will focus on delivering safe, reliable and cost-effective solutions for crew transportation services to and from the ISS. 

“I’m grateful to Chris for his exceptional leadership and insight into this very complex and most capable vehicle,” Wilmore said. “Having had the chance to train alongside and view this outstanding crew as backup has been instrumental in my preparation to assume this position.”

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Accenture Acquires Myrtle Consulting to Advance Digital Manufacturing; Nigel Stacey, Edwin Bosso Quoted
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Accenture Acquires Myrtle Consulting to Advance Digital Manufacturing; Nigel Stacey, Edwin Bosso Quoted

Accenture has entered an agreement to acquire Myrtle Consulting Group, an industrial operations consulting firm, to expand Accenture’s manufacturing and supply chain capabilities, Accenture reported on Tuesday. 

“Manufacturing and operations leaders… need to free untapped value across production sites and distribution centers, so they can invest in resilient and responsible operating models for manufacturing and supply chains that are future-proof and digital-enabled. This is what the combined skills of Accenture and Myrtle will help them achieve,” Nigel Stacey, global lead of Accenture Industry X, said. 

Myrtle has partnered with companies across consumer products, life sciences, chemicals, mining and heavy manufacturing industries to deliver products efficiently and sustainably. Accenture’s acquisition will expand the company’s ability to transform manufacturing for clients.

Accenture’s purchase will also expand initial value assessments, operating model strategies, new business processes and technology solutions. Myrtle’s team will merge with Accenture Industry X to improve how clients operate factories and plants.

Myrtle has focused on optimizing clients’ sourcing, production, supply chain operations and execution. The company also has experience in change management methodology, organization design and implementation, leadership development and frontline coaching. 

Edwin Bosso, CEO and founder of Myrtle, will join Accenture as managing director.  “Becoming part of Accenture Industry X will allow us to pair our frontline operational expertise with Accenture’s global reach and digital capabilities to bring solutions to clients that will transform their operations from the ground up,” Bosso said. 

Completion of the acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services in strategy and consulting, interactive, technology and operations, with digital capabilities across all of these services. We combine unmatched experience and specialized capabilities across more than 40 industries — powered by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Operations centers. With 506,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture brings continuous innovation to help clients improve their performance and create lasting value across their enterprises. 

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