The U.S. Air Force has earmarked $38M to integrate modernized avionics systems into its C-21 transport jets in 2020, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The service branch currently operates 19 of the twin turbofan-engine aircraft and plans to install an updated avionics suite including a flight management system, weather radar and an air traffic control system like ADS-B that meets Federal Aviation Administration standards.

Modernization efforts may also cover the refurbishment of the cockpit into a digital version and the installation of other features that will allow flight at higher altitudes and various landing options.

According to Maj. Kirk Schlueter, chief of standards and evaluations at the 375th Operations Group, 11 of the C-21s have begun modernization activities while eight remain slated for refurbishment by July 2020.

“Our airplane is small and nimble and can go into contested environments — degraded GPS, for example,” noted  Lt. Col. Brooke Matson, commander of the 458th Airlift Squadron. “We have equipment on our aircraft that the average commercial airplane does not have, like military GPS.”

The White House has asked the U.S. Navy to propose the inclusion of unmanned surface vessels and unmanned underwater vehicles in its planned 355-ship Battle Force fleet, the War Zone reported Friday.

An Office of Management and Budget memo calls for a “legislative proposal to redefine a battleforce [sic] ship to include unmanned ships” with “clearly defined capability and performance thresholds.”

Thomas Modly, acting secretary of the Navy, said in a Dec. 6 memo that one of his top five immediate goals is coming up with an integrated plan to have 355 or more ships within 10 years for “greater global naval power.” That goal includes USVs and UUVs.

The White House’s call reflects that the Navy is looking at UUVs and USVs as a way to broaden its force structure, according to the report. The service has approximately 290 ships in its fleet and expects the number to increase to 301 by the end of fiscal 2020.

The Department of the Navy is prohibiting its members from using the TikTok video app on government-provided mobile devices due to the app’s potential to threaten cybersecurity, Reuters reported Saturday.

The U.S. Navy said in social media that it would block devices containing TikTok from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet that provides DON information technology services.

Commercial apps are generally eligible for use in government-issued devices, but DON would sometimes consider blocking apps that pose threats to cybersecurity, said a Navy spokesperson.

The ban follows a previous case where the U.S. Army directed cadets to not use TikTok due to a concern on the app’s use in the service’s recruiting activities, the report noted.

China-based firm ByteDance owns and operates TikTok, an entertainment mobile app that allows users to create short-form videos.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released the draft of an updated internet security guide that was shaped with respect to the progression of technology.

The new Trusted Internet Connections 3.0 draft takes cloud computing, mobile device and encryption standards into consideration, Matt Hartman, director of network resilience at CISA, said in a blog post published Friday.

The draft features five different parts: program guidebook, reference architecture, security capabilities handbook, use case handbook and service provider overlay handbook.

The first section describes the TIC program’s modernized form and the second section provides guidance on internet security implementation.

The third highlights TIC-related security applications and the fourth lists down technical requirements for different use cases. The final part correlates different service provider functions with TIC applications.

Interested parties may submit comments on the draft to CISA or GitHub from Dec. 23 through Jan. 31. CISA will also host webinars to inform interested parties during this period.

The U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy held a three-day joint exercise to demonstrate the capabilities of a suite of tools designed to augment situational awareness capabilities.

The service branches employed the Advanced Battle Management System and the Joint All-Domain Command and Control approach in response to a cruise missile attack simulated by a QF-16 Full Scale Aerial Target, USAF said Friday.

The JADC2 approach will enable the U.S. military and its allies to conduct missions within land, air, space and cyber domains. The Air Force noted a tool within ABMS will simultaneously receive, incorporate and manage large volumes of data to help achieve the approach.

“In order to develop the right capability that the operator needs at speed, we partner with combatant commanders every four months to ensure that what we are building addresses the array of challenges presented by the National Defense Strategy across the globe,” said Preston Dunlap, chief architect at the Air Force.

USAF eyes to conduct joint exercises every four months to address the results of each demonstration.