Gen. Mike Holmes, head of Air Combat Command, said the U.S. Air Force is considering if the T-X trainer aircraft can be acquired to meet the service’s other requirements like performing light-attack missions or serving as an “aggressor” plane, Defense News reported Thursday.

“You could imagine a version of the airframe that could be equipped as a light fighter. You can imagine a version that is equipped as an adversary air-training platform,” Holmes told reporters at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium Thursday. He said whether those considerations will transition to a formal procurement program depends on several factors, including the budget.

In September, the service awarded Boeing a potential $9.2 billion contract to develop up to 475 T-X trainer jets and 120 ground-based training platforms.
 

Naomi Lefkovitz, senior privacy policy adviser at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, offered updates on a proposed framework to help organizations address issues related to data privacy at RSA Conference 2019, Threatpost reported Thursday.

Lefkovitz told the audience that privacy should be considered as part of organizations’ “broader enterprise risk management activity.” She explained the Privacy Framework’s identify, protect, control, inform and respond functions. When it comes to protection, she discussed an overlap with data security and that NIST considers including privacy engineering, information lifecycle and cryptographic techniques in the protection concept.

“We are trying to provide concepts to act as a foundation for more clearly defined relationships between privacy and security,” Lefkovitz said. “Privacy risk is more than data risk – companies also process data, over the entire lifecycle, from collection through disposal. And they need to process that data to achieve business or data objectives – but there can be unintended consequences and privacy issues can arise for individuals.”

Kevin Stine, chief of NIST’s applied cybersecurity division, joined Lefkovitz to discuss the Privacy Framework, which is expected to be completed by October. The report said NIST is looking for comments on the framework and will host a live webinar on March 14 and a workshop in May.

Top officials from the U.S. Maritime Administration and the Transportation Command want to proceed with the proposed acquisition of used vessels to replace the country’s aging fleet of reserve merchant ships, USNI News reported Thursday. The proposal intends to address the increasing cost of the maintenance and repair of existing ships in the Ready Reserve Fleet. The average age of reserve fleet is 44 years old. 

“There will be a knee in the curve where it no longer makes sense to spend more money trying to repair these older vessels,” Retired Rear Adm. Mark Buzby, administrator of MARAD, said during a meeting with House Armed Services subcommittees.

He added that as the ships age, the military would see more expensive maintenance and repair efforts. Other maritime officials said they hope to buy used vessels that are at least ten years younger than the current Ready Reserve Fleet.

Army Gen. Steve Lyons, commander of TRANSCOM, told lawmakers that the proposed replacement program seeks affordability and focus on speed of delivery.

“I want to accelerate the used [ship] buy,” he said. “We’ve got to put some actual dollars to that.”

Lyons said the Navy has started a business case analysis to determine how to modernize the reserve fleet.

Steve Volz, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Satellite and Information Office, said in an email to employees that dedication and professionalism helped NOAA overcome risks in its satellite programs, Nextgov reported Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office issued a report Wednesday stating that the effort to mitigate gaps in weather satellite data was removed from the watchdog’s annual High-Risk List of federal programs and operations vulnerable to mismanagement.

NOAA efforts to replace its aging weather satellites this year include operating the GOES-17 geostationary satellite and designating NOAA-20 as its primary polar-orbiting satellite. NOAA-20 is part of the Joint Polar Satellite System that monitors land, atmosphere and aquatic data 24/7.

The agency expects the two satellite systems to generate over 30 times more data than predecessor satellites. According to Volz, data from the satellites will help improve accuracy and timeliness in weather forecasts.

“We have maintained our commitment to continuity, today and into the future, and earned our position as the trusted source of environmental data,” he said.