The U.S. Marine Corps is seeking advanced analytics, visualization, models and simulation technologies to build a new virtual environment where the service can conduct large and complex wargames, Marine Corps Times reported Tuesday.

The service wants to develop a platform that will enable senior leaders and forces to test operational plans, develop concepts of operations and collect information to prioritize resources.

To further discuss the program, the Marine Corps will hold an industry day on Dec. 20, where the service will also seek industry input to identify technical concepts and requirements, according to a FedBizOpps noticed posted Monday.  

In 2017, the service branch announced a three- to five-year plan to establish a wargaming simulation center at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. 

The service hopes to use the facility to conduct 20 wargames a year, including two large-scale, 250-participant exercises. 

Interested parties can submit white papers for the new program through July 2019.

A newly-established U.S. Army unit started deploying commercial-off-the-shelf equipment providing tactical network communications supporting both small and large units even in contested environments. The new Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced unit employed the communications tool for the first time at a recent live training mission at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the Army said Monday.  

The equipment is designed to be scalable and fully interoperable with other systems to enable troops of any size to coordinate from initial entry to full scale operations.

“The ESB-E’s new equipment allows us to be a lot more flexible and expeditionary in nature,” said Lt. Col. David Short, commander of the 1st Battalion, 7th Regiment, 108th ADA Brigade. “We can tailor defense design, and our network nodes can go wherever we need to go.” 

The ESB-E equipment includes tactical network transport technologies providing signal pathway diversity and expanded data exchange, including: 

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• Small, medium and large triband satellite dishes and network baseband equipment packages
• The transit case-based Terrestrial Line of Sight Radio
• Wi-Fi
• A Network Operations package
• The Army’s Global Agile Integrated Transport network architecture

The Department of Energy announced $37M available in funding to support small business innovation research and small business technology transfer efforts. This is the second SBIR/STTR funding opportunity announced for fiscal 2019 that finances multiple small business-led research and development efforts in support of nine DOE offices, the department said.

The fund program’s first phase covers 6 to 12 months with up to $200K in awards. Entrants able to complete proceed to develop prototypes in fiscal year 2020 under the second phase with up to $1.6M in grants for each depending on research needs.

“U.S. small businesses are a crucial aspect in driving innovation and creating jobs in our economy,” said Rick Perry, secretary of energy.

DOE components to receive support from the SBIR/STTR projects include:

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• Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response
• Office Of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
• Office of Electricity  
• Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• Office of Environmental Management
• Office of Fossil Energy
• Office of Fusion Energy Sciences
• Office of High Energy Physics
• Office of Nuclear Energy

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Homeland Security help federal agencies build up their capabilities to detect and prevent intrusions and other cyber threats.

Inspectors general at 23 civilian agencies covered under the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 assessed the data security programs of their organizations using performance measures related to five security functions and reported that 17 of those agencies did not effectively implement those programs, GAO said Tuesday.

Those five core security functions are identity, detect, protect, respond and recover.

Of the 23 civilian CFO Act agencies, GAO found that 17 agencies showed internal control-related deficiencies for financial reporting and 10 organizations were at risk for cyber incidents.

Twenty-one of 23 civilian agencies failed to “sufficiently” improve their email protection measures via the implementation of DHS’ email security directive, according to the GAO report.
 

President Donald Trump issued Tuesday a memorandum that orders the establishment of a unified combatant command that would focus on space.

Trump directs Defense Secretary James Mattis to nominate commander and deputy chiefs for U.S. Space Command, according to a White House memo published Tuesday.

Space Command will assume space-related responsibilities previously designated to the head of U.S. Strategic Command, Joint Force Provider and Joint Force Trainer for Space Operations Forces. 

The document noted that a detailed list of the new command’s responsibilities and authorities will be mentioned in the next unified command plan.

Vice President Mike Pence said Space Command will serve as the 11^th combatant command and oversee all military space activities.

The new command “will develop the space doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures that will enable our warfighters to defend our nation in this new era,” he said Tuesday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Pence noted the Trump administration has begun to work with Congress to establish the U.S. Space Force before the end of calendar year 2020.