The AAR Corporation announced on Monday that the company has completed its first planned overhaul, age exploration and planned inspection of its first Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft.

“Delivering a mission-ready aircraft means executing a successful maintenance-repair plan. Many thanks to the AAR team for a job well done,” said Capt. Tony Rossi, Program Manager for NAVAIR’s Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Program (PMA-290). “As expected, there have been no significant aircraft condition findings.”

As part of a seven-year, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract signed in 2018 with the Navy, AAR is providing heavy depot airframe maintenance, as well as year-round field support, for the U.S. fleet. The P-8A aircraft arrived at AAR for its first Age Exploration Plan Depot (AEPD) visit, which is part of a systematic, scheduled maintenance requirement.

In addition to the P-8A program, AAR has also performed service on the U.S. Navy’s C-40, Clipper, Harrier Jet Sustainment, C-9 Nightingale and H60R fleets. All of the maintenance for the P-8A Program is performed at AAR’s Indianapolis facility, which has serviced over 2,000 B737 aircraft both for commercial and government customers

“Our team is honored to perform maintenance on the P-8A Poseidon for the U.S. Navy and ensure its operational-readiness for the warfighter,” said William Patton, AAR P-8A Program Manager and 20-year U.S. Navy veteran. “With our vast experience in B737s and long standing working relationship with military programs, AAR’s P-8A Program has excelled in meeting strict government compliance standards and maintaining the quality of the aircraft.”

About AAR

AAR is a global aerospace and defense aftermarket solutions company that employs more than 6,000 people in over 20 countries. Headquartered in the Chicago area, AAR supports commercial and government customers through two operating segments: Aviation Services and Expeditionary Services. AAR’s Aviation Services include parts supply; OEM solutions; integrated solutions; maintenance, repair, overhaul; and engineering. AAR’s Expeditionary Services include mobility systems and composite manufacturing operations.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology tested a miniature atomic clock designed to tick at optical frequencies. The experimental clock consists of rubidium atoms placed in a vapor cell and two frequency combs that function to link the ticks to low microwave frequencies, NIST said Friday.

The device operates at 275 milliwatts and is built to work at a handheld form factor. According to NIST, it can also potentially succeed traditional oscillators and assist in telecommunications and navigation applications.

“Ultimately, we expect this work to lead to small, low-power clocks that are exceptionally stable and will bring a new generation of accurate timing to portable, battery-operated devices,” said John Kitching, a fellow at NIST.

The clock was developed in partnership with Stanford University, Charles Stark Draper Laboratories and the California Institute of Technology. NIST plans to decrease the device’s size and integrate low-noise laser technologies in future updates.

The Air Force Research Laboratory unveiled an electronic system working to accommodate collaborative research and development initiatives for autonomous platforms. The Autonomy Research Collaboration Network is designed to rapidly carry out technology transition processes to further autonomous studies through the use of communication and speed functions, the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base said Friday.

AFRL developed ARCNet through a $196 million agreement with the SPG Institute and is eligible for usage by Department of Defense organizations. The laboratory also plans to use the platform to support the U.S. Air Force’s 2030 Science and Technology Strategy.

“The consortium platform allows for a deeper dialogue between the government and potential performers on research projects, allowing the potential performers to participate in defining the requirements and execution strategy for a project,” said Corey Schumacher, chief technology officer of ARCNet project at AFRL.

According to AFRL, the system has several scheduled research projects planned for release to the network’s members.

Adam Drake, CEO and chief data officer of data consultancy firm Atazzo, is working on modernizing U.S. Marine Corps logistics operations as part of his role as a 2019 Presidential Innovation Fellow, GCN reported Friday. 

Drake is collaborating with the service branch’s deputy commandant for installations and logistics on “a series of projects” to support the Marine Corps and Department of Defense in all logistics-related matters. He intends to deploy his experience in machine learning and artificial intelligence while partnering with the DoD’s Joint AI Center on broader initiatives managed by the department’s AI community.

“The success of almost any enterprise, especially a logistics enterprise, hinges on its ability to ingest, process, disseminate and act on timely data,” he said.

Other efforts that Drake highlighted include fortifying the DoD’s security posture as it transitions workloads into a cloud environment.

Government and private sector leaders cited hacking and spoofing as potential threats to the nation’s GPS systems during the 2019 Satellite conference in Washington, D.C., C4ISRnet reported Saturday. James Miller, executive director of the National Space-Based positioning, navigation and timing advisory board, said during a panel discussion that while jamming is a pervasive threat in 2019, spoofing is a more complicated form of hacking that can manipulate and misguide GPS platforms. 

Jonathon Caldwell, GPS III program manager and vice president for navigation systems at Lockheed Martin, added that GPS technology has “become an economic powerhouse” with significant impact on sectors such as agriculture. 

The Department of Homeland Security announced in April that PNT is one of its national critical functions, or operations that need to be protected to sustain the nation’s economic, security and public health in the event of an attack.

The General Services Administration has partnered with the Office of Personnel Management to help OPM update its information technology systems and address structural issues through the Centers of Excellence program. GSA said Monday it will provide technical and consulting assistance in support of OPM’s IT and future modernization initiatives through a discovery sprint.

“We are excited to begin the CoE discovery phase with OPM and leverage the expertise of our GSA IT team as we work with OPM to modernize their IT capabilities,” said GSA Administrator and 2019 Wash100 winner Emily Murphy. 

OPM serves as the third federal agency GSA has teamed with as part of the CoE initiative, which aims to advance IT modernization through the use of government services and private sector innovation. GSA also partnered with the departments of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development through the CoE program.

The partnership will focus on IT workforce planning, IT planning and government, retirement services technology portfolio and mainframe and disaster recovery planning areas. The partnership came a day after the White House introduced a legislative proposal to authorize OPM’s move to GSA as part of reorganization.