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Peraton Receives $188M in Contracts to Support Systems Development, Mission Capability Integration; Mike King Quoted
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Peraton Receives $188M in Contracts to Support Systems Development, Mission Capability Integration; Mike King Quoted

Peraton has been awarded new and expanded multiple contracts worth a combined $188 million to support U.S. government customers leading high-consequence national missions spanning multiple warfighting domains, the company announced on Wednesday. 

"By fusing our passion for national security with our depth of experience, Peraton regularly contributes to outcomes that meet and exceed our customers' current and future mission requirements," said Mike King, Peraton's chief growth officer. 

"We are honored to support a comprehensive array of nationally-critical efforts. Our work goes beyond providing technology and solutions; we are deeply committed to the success and long-term sustainability of our customers' missions."

Peraton emphasizes emergent warfighting domains in space, cyber, and intelligence by building mission capability solutions to deliver mission success, not just tools or infrastructure. 

About Peraton

As a trusted provider of highly differentiated space, intelligence, cyber, defense, homeland security, and communications capabilities, Peraton is a critical partner to the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense (DoD), and select federal agencies and commercial entities. Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, the company employs 3,500 people across the U.S. and Canada.

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Gen. David Goldfein on Air Force’s Joint All-Domain C2, Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent Programs
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Gen. David Goldfein on Air Force’s Joint All-Domain C2, Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent Programs

Gen. David Goldfein, chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, told the National Defense magazine in an interview published Tuesday that he's pleased that industry partners believe that the service’s Joint All-Domain Command and Control program has "staying power."

"As part of my transition out, I did some out-calls with a number of CEOs … and one of the things they share with me is that they are doing the work now on finding ways to make JADC2 profitable for industry," Gen. Goldfein said. "That's a rather significant sea change, because what that means to me is they've come to the belief that this is not a short-term idea, but this idea has roots in the institution, the organization."

When asked about the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) program, Gen. Goldfein said he wants the service to develop GBSD in a way that will allow the requirements to evolve with technology.

"I'd like it to get to a point where we're able to do a little bit of development ops, even in the nuclear business, so that as we achieve technological advances they can be brought into the GBSD without having us go through a two-year-long requirements review process. … We've got to become more agile than that," he said.

Gen. Goldfein also shared his insights on the nuclear enterprise, Next-Generation Air Dominance concept, B-21 bomber program, the creation of the U.S. Space Force and Gen. Charles "C.Q." Brown, the service branch’s next chief of staff. 

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CISA Reframing Cyber Hiring Approach; Christopher Krebs Quoted
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CISA Reframing Cyber Hiring Approach; Christopher Krebs Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is reassessing its cyber recruitment approach by prioritizing an applicant’s skills over professional experience, Federal News Network reported Tuesday.

Christopher Krebs, director of CISA and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, said the agency is focusing on younger applicants with hands-on cybersecurity experience, including college graduates and those undergoing post-graduate programs.

“I’m getting 17 [and] 18 year-olds that apply for jobs that have six years of practical, operational experience in security research because they’ve been online white-hat hackers since they could turn on a computer,” Krebs said. “What we’ve got to do is reconfigure the way that we think about hiring talent pool and maximize those approaches.”

Krebs noted that hiring managers should consider graduates from vocational and trade schools as part of efforts to overhaul the federal cyber hiring process.

This news comes almost two months following an executive order from President Trump to modify the federal government’s hiring practices so that a job applicants’ skills will be given priority over a college degree, ExecutiveGov reported on June 26th. 

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Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper: US Offers Options to Foreign Arms Clients Facing Economic Challenges
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Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper: US Offers Options to Foreign Arms Clients Facing Economic Challenges

Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, most recently director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) and a previous Wash100 Award winner, said the U.S. government is offering options to foreign allies to keep them from dropping planned arms procurements as they deal with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Hooper told the publication during an interview options include changing payment schedules and allowing foreign nations to fund weapons systems procurement through U.S. bank loans.

“The bottom line here is, we are willing to work with our allies and partners, when they raise the challenges that they have, to find ways for them to continue to buy American and to ensure that they can pay for the equipment along a payment schedule that reflects their own economic conditions,” he added.

Hooper retired as head of DSCA on Monday, Aug. 3th, and was succeeded by Heidi Grant, former director of the Defense Technology Security Administration.

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New DARPA Program Aims to Safely, Easily Update Legacy Software
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New DARPA Program Aims to Safely, Easily Update Legacy Software

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched an effort to help developers safely update old software without the need to rewrite the code entirely.

DARPA said Thursday it will use novel concepts to allow for incremental updates in legacy software under the Verified Security and Performance Enhancement of Large Legacy Software or V-SPELLS program. The agency will leverage V-SPELLS to address the compatibility problem between legacy infrastructure and newer software components.

V-SPELLS aims to study the software components of large legacy codebases, develop tools that can safely and fully augment legacy software and create standard methods to address related technical issues. The effort will also explore concepts in domain-specific computer languages.

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DHS, DOT Pick University-Led Consortium for 911 Interoperability Test Framework
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DHS, DOT Pick University-Led Consortium for 911 Interoperability Test Framework

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Transportation (DoT) have tapped a consortium led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to build a set of processes for Next Generation 911 interoperability and compatibility tests.

The Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute will secure end-user feedback on testing standards and validate an approach that may define a formal procedure to assess interoperability, DHS said Monday.

The project aims to drive engagement with the Department of Defense, DHS, DOT, public safety agencies, industry and academia to determine test approach and requirements.

NG911 platforms are updated emergency response systems designed to allow text, voice and video communications through the use of internet protocol.

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Tinker AFB Unveils 3D Printing Project for Aircraft Engine Component
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Tinker AFB Unveils 3D Printing Project for Aircraft Engine Component

The Tinker Air Force Base's Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex manufactured a 3D-printed anti-ice gasket meant to work with the TF33-P103 aircraft engine.

The Reverse Engineering and Critical Tooling Lab digitally engineered and printed 3D anti-ice gaskets, while the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group conducted engine acceptance tests for the components, the U.S. Air Force said Monday.

USAF noted the manufacturing process lowered administrative lead time from a range of 120 to 136 days to a period of 14 to 21 days. OC-ALC aims to address the shortage of anti-ice gaskets through the additive printing project.

The TF33-P103 engine is designed to power E-3 Airborne Warning and Control Systems, B-52 Stratofortress aircraft units and E-8 Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar Systems.

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NASA Confirms Integration Schedule of Lucy Asteroid Probe Mission
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NASA Confirms Integration Schedule of Lucy Asteroid Probe Mission

NASA has concluded the systems integration review of a space probe mission that will explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, verifying the spacecraft's components for integration.

The review evaluated the integration schedule of the Lucy spacecraft's subsystems, electrical components, scientific instruments, navigation systems and communications, NASA said Monday.

The assessment confirmed the availability of plans, personnel and facilities required for the on-schedule integration of these components. The review ran from July 27 to 30.

NASA had to delay some of Lucy's production activities due to COVID-19 restrictions and made a new schedule that still accommodates the planned October 2021 launch date. The space agency can proceed to Lucy's assembly and test activities with Lockheed Martin next month.

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Gen. John Raymond: Commercial Partners, Resilient Industrial Base Key to Driving Space Efforts
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Gen. John Raymond: Commercial Partners, Resilient Industrial Base Key to Driving Space Efforts

Gen. John Raymond, chief of Space Operations and a 2020 Wash100 Award winner, has said the U.S. must leverage the space industrial base’s commercial expansion to retain the nation’s global leadership, DoD News reported Monday.

According to Raymond, the recently released report on the state of the U.S. space industry offers valuable input on how the nation can drive commercial space efforts through actions such as increasing the resilience of the space supply chain and accelerating the development of human spaceflight technologies.

''By working with commercial partners, we will harness the best of both civil and government technology to further accelerate capabilities and expand the overall space economy,'' he noted.

The report, titled ''State of the Space Industrial Base 2020: A Time for Action to Sustain U.S. Economic and Military Leadership in Space”, includes feedback from stakeholders during this year’s State of the Space Industrial Base Workshop held in May.

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DSCA’s Charles Hooper: FMS Procedures Progressed Since FY 2017
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DSCA’s Charles Hooper: FMS Procedures Progressed Since FY 2017

Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) and a former Wash100 Award recipient, has said that U.S. foreign arms sales increased and acquisition procedures improved since fiscal year 2017.

In a Defense News interview published Monday, Hooper said the Department of Defense (DoD) seeks to improve its technology acquisition and development approach to ensure rapid response to constantly evolving threats. He added that interoperability between systems is “the key to success” and the DoD aims to prevent delays when introducing new technologies.

According to Hooper, actions such as the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the National Defense Strategy and revisions in government arms transfer policies helped DSCA “strengthen alliances and attract new partners.” He also cited efforts like the establishment of the Defense Security Cooperation University to train a new workforce of foreign military sales personnel.

“Defense exports are driven by a rapidly evolving security environment and emerging threats," said Hooper. "And so we can’t really predict this system or that system, or this category of systems. In the past, there was a lag between when the United States would introduce a system and when our allies and partners would ask for us to export it, and those days are behind us.”

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