The Department of Defense (DoD) is on track with the final step to begin integrating Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements into contracts, FedScoop reported Friday.

DoD is now waiting for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)to clear a rule change to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulations in order for it to incorporate clauses in solicitations directing the inclusion of CMMC requirements into contracts.

“We are still tracking right along for the DFARs rule change,” Katie Arrington, chief information security officer at the office of assistant secretary of defense for acquisition and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said at a webinar. “That has not deviated.”

The full CMMC program will be implemented over a period of five years and the Pentagon said contractors should expect to see such requirements in a few contracts by the end of 2020.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. James McConville said the service considers long-range precision fires as its top priority for modernization and is examining options for basing such weapon systems in the Indo-Pacific region in support of its deterrence strategy, National Defense reported Friday.

“We're standing up a new organization, it’s called multi-domain task forces that provide the ability to do long-range precision effects," McConville said Friday at an online event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“As far as the exact positioning, we do have some capability in the extremely long-range precision fires to give us certain effects, but that capability as far as exact positioning is still being determined,” McConville added. 

He also offered updates on the service’s hypersonic weapon development and other modernization priorities.

Sandia National Laboratories and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a large quantum chip under an effort funded by Army Research Laboratory.

This development used diamond-based qubits and marks a milestone in an effort to produce scalable quantum processors, the U.S. Army said Thursday.

Fredrik Fatemi, co-manager of ARL's Center for Distributed Quantum Information, said the production of large-scale quantum devices will require high-quality qubits and corresponding transmission circuits.

“Here, the research team has demonstrated exceptional progress toward reliably manufacturing complex quantum chips with both critical elements," he said. 

The new chip's qubits function as artificial atoms that produce photons containing quantum information.

This hybrid process would require automation to accommodate the development of even larger quantum chips of the same kind, the effort's researchers noted.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has made contributions to COVID-19 response based on research conducted within the past two decades, National Defense Magazine reported Thursday.

Autonomous Diagnostics to Enable Prevention and Therapeutics (ADEPT), a DARPA-led study that concluded in 2013, offers information on pathogen identification with regard to vaccine development.

Peter Highnam, acting DARPA director, said ADEPT and other existing DARPA studies have supported efforts to address and treat COVID-19. He said at an event with George Washington University's Project for Media and National Security that ADEPT has informed the development of nucleic acid vaccines.

DARPA is also working on the Pathogen Prevention program that aims to protect fielded servicemen from unknown pathogens that are potentially present in operational environments.

The U.S. Navy has honored a team from Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane with the Naval Aviation Enterprise Award for the design, development, testing and rollout of a $13M fix for the P-8A Poseidon aircraft’s turret deployment unit issue.

The team addressed various gaps the TDU encountered in line with high vibration levels in the airstream, the Naval Sea Systems Command said Thursday.

David Kuhlman, division manager at NSWC Crane’s airborne electronic attack segment, said the TDU did not reach its 33-hour operating duration due to excessive vibration.

“This problem with the TDU also had the potential to cause additional damage to the aircraft upon landing as well as a safety issue for the crew.”

Kuhlman added the proposed approach sought to optimize the unit’s reliability.

The Eglin Air Force Base has started preparations for the F-15EX fighter aircraft's developmental and operational tests in 2021.

The Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force will handle planning and provisioning efforts for the tests, while the 40th Flight Test and 85th Test and Evaluation Squadrons will secure the aircraft units, the U.S. Air Force said Wednesday.

Representatives from the 96th Maintenance Group is slated to take transfer to hands-on training and familiarization classroom academics upon the aircraft's arrival. The group has began coordinating with F-15EX-affiliated organizations to address potential issues.

Eglin AFB will also receive an F-15EX simulator to expose pilots to the aircraft's design. The F-15EX will feature updated sensors, cockpit touch displays, digital flight controls and a new computer technology.