Ryan McCarthy, secretary of the U.S. Army, said the service branch needs to implement 3D printing or additive manufacturing for cost reduction and capability boost purposes, Defense News reported Sunday.

He said at the Reagan National Defense Forum that the Army must adopt 3D printing for the production of spare parts for weapon systems.

“Parts, it’s why weapon systems have challenging operational readiness rates, its why weapon systems continue to get heavier over time as you incrementally upgrade the system,” he told reporters.

The defense industry, however, urges against the use of 3D printing due to the resulting reduction of parts orders. The military would face challenges regarding intellectual property and is trying to win the industry’s assistance on the matter, McCarthy noted.

Idaho National Laboratory has received delivery of a new supercomputer designed to generate modeling for the development of future nuclear applications. The $19.2 million Sawtooth computer would help INL researchers virtually test new designs for reactors and fuels via simulation, the laboratory said Wednesday.

Researchers will receive access to Sawtooth in early 2020, allowing for development with reduced physical resource costs. Sawtooth is currently INL’s fastest supercomputer. John Wagner, who serves as associate laboratory director of INL’s nuclear science and technology directorate, noted that the supercomputer will vitally contribute to development activities at the National Reactor Innovation Center.

“With advanced modeling and simulation and the computing power now available, we expect to be able to dramatically shorten the time it takes to test, manufacture and commercialize new nuclear technologies,” Wagner said.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy provided funds for Sawtooth.

U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett is calling on the Trump administration to declassify military space program information to help drive support from the public and intimidate adversaries, Defense News reported Sunday. Barrett told attendees at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California that “there is much more classified than what needs to be” but declassification must also ensure that certain information remains secret. 

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., added that the overclassification of information has led to challenges in getting support from Congress and the public to create a Space Force.

“It’s not going to happen until they understand the threat and the dependence we have,” he said. “And I don’t think that can happen until we see significant declassification of what we’re doing in space and what China and Russia are doing, and how space is in their day to day lives.”

Barrett noted that the push for declassification will be a priority for her office moving forward.

The U.S. Marine Corps has started the development of a naval force that will work to carry out expeditionary warfare missions in austere locations in line with the National Defense Strategy.

USMC said Friday it eyes to study design options through wargame efforts to build a naval force that will establish assured access and sea denial operations for joint and fleet missions.

The service branch plans to train the equip warfighters with naval expeditionary force capacities to allow operations in contested areas. The Marine Corps also noted that the creation of a expeditionary warfare unit may yield disruptive engagements with oppposing forces.

“We will continue to rigorously wargame — and at a much-accelerated pace to facilitate learning,” said Gen. David Berger, commandant at the Marine Corps.

Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Angus King, I-Maine, have issued a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Chinese firm Huawei Technologies’ threat to the U.S. energy infrastructure.

The letter, addressed to FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee, sought the commission’s help to secure the U.S. national critical infrastructure against Huawei-headed activities, Risch’s office said Friday.

The intelligence community has released warnings that Huawei has been working in connection with the Chinese Communist Party.

“Given FERC’s responsibility for overseeing the reliability of the electric grid, it is critical that your agency take steps to ensure that United States critical infrastructure and the electric grid remain protected from foreign intrusion,” the senators wrote in the letter.

The letter also discussed Huawei’s solar energy products that may still be operating with the U.S. energy grid and potential damages to the country’s electricity supply and energy security.

The following senators have also signed the letter:

• Ben Sasse, R-Neb.
• Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
• John Cornyn, R-Texas
• Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
• Mark Warner, D-Va.
• Richard Burr, R-N.C.
• Susan Collins, R-Maine
• Tom Cotton, R-Ark.