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USAF Uses Alpha Jets to Support Chase Plane Test Missions
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USAF Uses Alpha Jets to Support Chase Plane Test Missions


USAF Uses Alpha Jets to Support Chase Plane Test MissionsThe U.S. Air Force 412th Operations Group is using Alpha Jets as test support units for chase planes.

The move comes in an effort to augment the service branch’s chase plane fleet that delivers visual feedback and documentation to provide safety support, Edwards Air Force Base said Monday.

Modern Technology Solutions and Gauntlet Aerospace provided the Alpha Jets used at Edwards AFB for test sorties.

Christopher Klug, 412th Operations Group technical director, said that the Alpha Jets address the mission’s needs that do not require the F-16, which serves as the primary test support aircraft.

He added that the Alpha Jets are suited for shorter-length test support missions done within a 30,000 feet coverage and under 0.8 Mach speed or around 613 miles per hour.

The jets have so far participated in tests with F-16, F-15, F-22, B-1 and F-35 aircraft, the director said.

Officials will analyze gathered test data to determine the future use of Alpha jets.

Treasury Invites Agency CFOs to Enact Proposed Financial Mgmt Initiatives
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Treasury Invites Agency CFOs to Enact Proposed Financial Mgmt Initiatives


Treasury Invites Agency CFOs to Enact Proposed Financial Mgmt InitiativesThe Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service has invited chief financial officers at federal agencies to translate into action any of the 10 initiatives outlined in a publication describing the Bureau’s vision for financial management.

BFS Commissioner Kim McCoy wrote in her 2018 fiscal service letter to CFOs that she was sharing the publication “to promote teamwork and more clearly communicate Fiscal Service’s future direction for central financial services.”

The initiatives encompass four overarching objectives, namely: optimizing disbursements, improving collections, enhancing reporting and expanding administrative services.

Examples of these initiatives include promoting the use of G-Invoicing to automate inter-agency transactions, as well as the Invoice Processing Platform to allow vendors to submit electronic invoices using a single system — efforts that would allow CFOs to “have more time to focus on performance management and achieve that overall vision that the American citizen has in how they should receive services,” McCoy told Federal News Radio in an interview published Thursday.

In the fiscal service letter, McCoy went on to say that her office will contact CFOs and their staff in the upcoming year “to discuss how we can work together to achieve these goals” and “shape the future of federal financial management.”

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Report: Data Center Infrastructure Mgmt System Offers Path to Address Gov’t IT Efficiency Goals
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Report: Data Center Infrastructure Mgmt System Offers Path to Address Gov’t IT Efficiency Goals


Report: Data Center Infrastructure Mgmt System Offers Path to Address Gov't IT Efficiency GoalsThe Data Center Infrastructure Management strategy could help information technology leaders at federal agencies comply with the Data Center Optimization Initiative as part of the implementation of the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, FedTech Magazine reported Wednesday.

The report said DCIM covers an array of platforms that could help IT leaders evaluate the data storage, power consumption and other capabilities of their IT systems.

DCOI directs agencies to report on their plans to consolidate data centers and build up infrastructure security and efficiency in an effort to realize $2.7 billion in savings.

“You’re putting tools in the right place to get an end-to-end view of your data center,” Gary Hix, director of engineering at Hitachi Vantara’s federal business, said of DCIM.

The report said DCIM works to help agencies assess each application’s energy and space requirements and evaluate their cloud migration strategies.

Steve Septoff, vice president of infrastructure solutions for Dell EMC’s federal business, said cloud is an operating model and that agencies should analyze their workloads and applications before moving to the cloud.

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Trump to Sign $717B Defense Policy Bill at Fort Drum
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Trump to Sign $717B Defense Policy Bill at Fort Drum


Trump to Sign $717B Defense Policy Bill at Fort DrumPresident Trump will sign the Congress-approved $717 billion defense policy bill for 2019 at Fort Drum in New York, Washington Examiner reported Wednesday.

Last week, House and Senate lawmakers finalized the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which includes provisions to prohibit the government from using technologies from Chinese telecommunication firms and boost the authority of the Committee of Foreign Investment in the U.S.

The legislation allocates $616.9 billion in base budget for the Defense Department, $69 billion for the Pentagon’s overseas contingency operations and $21.9 billion for the Energy Department’s nuclear weapons programs.

The bill would additionally increase the salaries of U.S. troops by 2.6 percent, as well as support the U.S. Navy’s modernization program.

Fort Drum serves as the base of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division.

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GAO Urges DHS to Modify Development Process for Acquisition Requirements
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GAO Urges DHS to Modify Development Process for Acquisition Requirements


GAO Urges DHS to Modify Development Process for Acquisition RequirementsThe Government Accountability Office has recommended to the Department of Homeland Security to implement different approaches to clarify operational requirements for the acquisition programs of the department’s agencies.

GAO said Wednesday the heads of DHS agencies should finalize and promote their respective draft policies for requirements development and establish or update their independent standards for employee welfare.

The agencies are also recommended to develop component specific training for requirements development, which the Joint Requirements Council will participate in.

The council will be asked to establish training and certification standards for DHS and the agencies’ requirements development workforces to promote consistency.

GAO previously discovered in a study that DHS agencies conducted acquisition initiatives that failed to meet requirements, some of which were unclear.

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Vanessa Wyche Named NASA Johnson Space Center Deputy Director
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Vanessa Wyche Named NASA Johnson Space Center Deputy Director


Vanessa Wyche Named NASA Johnson Space Center Deputy Director
Vanessa Wyche

Vanessa Wyche, former director of the exploration integration and science directorate at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, has been appointed as deputy director of the installation.

NASA said Wednesday Wyche will assist JSC Director Mark Geyer in managing the center, which is responsible for 10,000 civil service and contractor employees and various human spaceflight operations.

“[She] has built agency-wide relationships throughout her nearly three-decade career and will serve JSC well as we continue to lead human space exploration in Houston,” Geyer stated.

As EISD director, Wyche led several human and robotic efforts to explore deep space.

She also previously held other leadership roles within NASA such as acting deputy director of JSC, flight manager in the Space Shuttle program and acting director for the agency’s human exploration development support directorate.

The NASA veteran also worked at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington, D.C., prior to joining JSC in 1989.

Wyche holds a bachelor’s degree in materials engineering and a master of science degree in bioengineering from Clemson University.

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GSA, OPM Reduce Contract Access Fee for Human Capital & Training Solutions Program
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GSA, OPM Reduce Contract Access Fee for Human Capital & Training Solutions Program


GSA, OPM Reduce Contract Access Fee for Human Capital & Training Solutions ProgramThe General Services Administration and the Office of Personnel Management have reduced the contract access fee of the Human Capital and Training Solutions initiative by at least 60 percent.

GSA Administrator Emily Murphy said in a statement published Wednesday the move to lower CAF from 2 percent to 0.75 percent aims to make the HCaTS program more competitive and deliver additional value to client agencies through the administration’s government reform efforts.

Federal agencies can acquire customized human capital strategy support, organizational performance improvement and training and development services through the HCaTS program.

HCaTS is part of GSA’s category management initiative and has been considered a “best-in-class” platform since fiscal 2017.

“The HCaTS contracts were envisioned to support agencies in meeting complex people management challenges, including agency restructuring and reshaping,” said OPM Director Jeff Pon.

Pon added that the reduced CAF aims to eliminate a cost barrier for the HCaTS contracts that work to help agencies gain access to GSA’s acquisition expertise, OPM’s human capital experience and industry partners.

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NOAA to Implement ‘Tiered’ Approach for Commercial Sensing Data Protection Review
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NOAA to Implement ‘Tiered’ Approach for Commercial Sensing Data Protection Review


NOAA to Implement 'Tiered' Approach for Commercial Sensing Data Protection ReviewThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will adopt a three-tier approach to assess data protection plans from commercial entities seeking license to operate remote sensing satellite systems, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

A NOAA advisory panel composed of government, academic and industry professionals recommended the tiered approach that the agency intends to begin using this fall.

Tahara Dawkins, director of commercial remote sensing regulatory affairs at NOAA, told SpaceNews in an email the first category will cover systems that do not risk the loss of sensitive data and only pose a minimal impact of space vehicle control loss.

She added the second category will focus on sensor-equipped systems that generate distributable data considered as superior to foreign sources.

The third category will cover systems that store very sensitive data that may pose national security and foreign policy risks if disseminated improperly, according to Dawkins.

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Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves Talks MDA’s Space-Based Sensor Layer Concept for Missile Defense at Symposium
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Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves Talks MDA’s Space-Based Sensor Layer Concept for Missile Defense at Symposium


Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves Talks MDA’s Space-Based Sensor Layer Concept for Missile Defense at Symposium
Samuel Greaves

Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the Missile Defense Agency, has described MDA’s concept of a possible space-based sensor layer intended for missile defense efforts at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium, Defense News reported Wednesday.

Greaves said MDA looks to use the U.S. Air Force’s Overhead Persistent Infrared OPIR Global Scanning system for its spaced-based missile defense sensor platform to help detect space activities and provide alerts.

A sensor layer would have a regional capability to detect and track hypersonic threats and other “dimmer” targets; a sensor that would cover a missile threat’s midcourse phase and provide fire-control capabilities; and another sensor that would track an intercept against a missile target, he said at the event.

Greaves, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, added that MDA plans to consider the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackjack initiative and its potential use in the development of the sensor layer.

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Small Rockets, New Launch Companies to Help Preserve US Space Resiliency
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Small Rockets, New Launch Companies to Help Preserve US Space Resiliency


Small Rockets, New Launch Companies to Help Preserve US Space ResiliencyA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency official recently said that small launch vehicles like Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus or Rocket Lab’s Electron could contribute to the survivability of U.S. military assets in space, Space News reported Tuesday.

Todd Master, a program adviser at the Tactical Technology Office within DARPA, said during last month’s Small Payload Rideshare Symposium that the growing availability of small rockets and dedicated launches could allow the military to bring about “a massive proliferation of satellites in low Earth orbit.”

Master described this as a resilience strategy that he and his agency “are very interested in.”

Meanwhile, Steve Nixon, vice president for strategic development at aerospace firm Stratolaunch, said that his company and others like it could help strengthen U.S. launch infrastructure.

Nixon pointed out that the country has only two main launch sites: Vandenberg Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Should these facilities be rendered inoperable, launch companies could offer government agencies alternative means to access space, he said.

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