Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, plans to propose the creation of a new fund to fight Chinese activities in the Indio-Pacific region, Defense News reported Thursday. Thornberry intends to request $6.09 billion in fiscal 2021 funds to establish an Indo-Pacific Deterrence Initiative.

“The Indo-Pacific has been called our highest priority theater and I believe that is true. It is time to put our money where our mouth is,” Thornberry told the publication.

“This effort consolidates and funds the policies, infrastructure, and platforms needed to reassure our allies and partners while we deter China. It also serves as a benchmark against which we can judge our efforts in the region. We may not be able to get this all done this year, but it is vital that we make a start.”

The lawmaker’s proposal includes $1 billion for increased presence and joint force lethality; $1.5 billion for prepositioning and logistics; $2.1 billion for improved infrastructure; $1 billion training and exercises; and $350 million in funds to strengthen allies and partners.

The U.S. Air Force continues to test a new electronic warfare system with the F-15E aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The Eagle Passive/Active Warning and Survivability System operates as part of the aircraft’s integrated avionics to deter EW threats, Edwards AFB said Tuesday.

Tests specifically took place at Edwards AFB’s Benefield Anechoic Facility, a chamber that simulates how EW and avionics systems perform airborne. The facility features tools that emulate and simulate signal types present in EW situations.

“The Air Force is modernizing its F-15 fleet with the EPAWSS, which is capable of detecting, identifying, denying, degrading, disrupting and defeating modern and emerging threat systems in contested environments,” said Jon Danner, test manager of the F-15 division at Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.

“Additionally, tests must establish and provide verification of the interoperability and RF (radio frequency) compatibility among the EPAWSS, the AN/APG-82 radar and various existing avionics at the installed system level on the aircraft, as it would fly versus in a system lab,” said  Ed Sabat, project development lead and civilian director of operations of the 772nd Test Squadron.

Boeing and BAE Systems supported the test as contractors with USAF. The service branch plans to continue testing EPAWSS.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr has issued a guidance to the Department of Justice on the authorization of counter-unmanned aerial system activities under the 2018 Preventing Emerging Threats Act.

DOJ said Monday the guidance covers procedures related to the certification of C-UAS assets and facilities as well as limitations on the use of data obtained from C-UAS operations. Other activities covered by the guidance include acquisition, training and testing.

According to the DOJ, department components must coordinate with the Federal Aviation Administration and the transportation secretary in efforts to assess airspace and safety risks that may result from C-UAS activities.

Barr noted that the guidance serves as the result of “extensive collaboration” between the DOJ, FAA and Department of Transportation.

“The number of unmanned aircraft is increasing rapidly, as is their importance to the economy,” added Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. “By further enabling the Department’s efforts to mitigate threats posed by errant or malicious UAS, the Guidance helps to bring us closer to the larger objective of ensuring all forms of air traffic in the National Airspace System operate lawfully and safely.”

Babel Street, Inc., the world’s data-to-knowledge company, today announced a free tier of Babel Channels to provide support to the COVID-19 relief efforts, the company announced on Wednesday.

Under the new initiative, Babel Channels will provide streaming content of publicly available information (PAI) from curated, hyper-local sources from around the globe. With the solution, organizations can subscribe to up to five channels related to the coronavirus free of cost through June 30, 2020.

The automated solution will enable users to receive information related to COVID-19 in more than 200 languages as it is impacting the world, based on qualified locally-based sources. The solution will use hyper-local voices in more than 350 countries, states, territories and cities around the world.

Babel Channels’ customers will be better equipped to respond to the impacts related to the spread of the virus, misinformation campaigns, supply chain disruptions and counterfeit products. The PAI in Babel Channels includes data pulled from hyper-local news, police and emergency services, health care officials, transportation infrastructure, public utilities, government agencies and elected officials.

The tool will enable users to quickly understand the ground truth related to the coronavirus in a specific region and to gain more control of the situation as it impacts their organization and its people. Babel Channels users can also use Find X, Babel Street’s proprietary search engine that employs its multilingual and text analytics technology.

Current Babel Street customers are able to add seats to their subscription at no cost to keep their full teams up to speed on the global and local impact of the disease.

“Our world is facing unprecedented times with the coronavirus,” said Jeff Chapman, founder and CEO of Babel Street. “We are committed to doing our part in this battle by giving organizations our Babel Channels tool to easily understand ground truth and gain additional knowledge on the local impacts of the pandemic, from the safety of their homes.”

About Babel Street

Babel Street is the world’s data-to-knowledge company. The technology enables clients to identify, organize and analyze data, regardless of its location or language. Babel Street products streamline the process of turning data into knowledge by automatically converting client-selected data from over 200 languages to their native language. All publicly available or private data sources can be rapidly deciphered by Babel Street software and utilized to maximize the effectiveness of clients’ decision-making processes.

With the aid of Babel Street tools, analysts are able to easily filter information to be used in an endless number of ways; everything from deriving large consumer and social trends to identifying threats to a public location or a singular person’s life. The company provides organizations with the ability to activate relevant data and act on it faster than ever before. Babel Street is privately held and is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area, with offices in London and Canberra.