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Energy Department Launches Three-Part Competition to Boost Local Solar Industry
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Energy Department Launches Three-Part Competition to Boost Local Solar Industry


Energy Department Launches Three-Part Competition to Boost Local Solar IndustryThe Energy Department has initiated a three-part competition that seeks to boost the production of solar systems in the U.S.

DOE said Thursday participants of the American-Made Solar Prize contest will be required to provide systems that can address critical challenges related to American solar innovation, develop a proof of concept and assess a prototype with a chosen partner.

The department will award $50,000 to selected participants that will present ideas addressing a critical need in the U.S solar industry, $200,000 for advanced proofs of concept and $500,000 for the development and assessment of prototypes.

“The Administration is fully committed to strengthening America’s manufacturing competitiveness,” said Energy Secretary Rick Perry.

Perry added the Solar Prize will leverage research resources, entrepreneurial support systems and competitive American innovation to develop solar innovations for private investment.

DOE will accept applications through Oct. 5, 2018.

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will jointly facilitate the competition with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

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Senate Committee Proposes Additional $110M to Accelerate Blackjack LEO Satellite Program
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Senate Committee Proposes Additional $110M to Accelerate Blackjack LEO Satellite Program


Senate Committee Proposes Additional $110M to Accelerate Blackjack LEO Satellite Program

The Senate Armed Services Committee has proposed adding $110 million to the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act in a push to accelerate a satellite development program under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, SpaceNews reported Thursday.

The Blackjack program aims to develop a constellation of small military satellites in low-earth orbit, which, according to a report by the SASC, “would have profound implications for the resiliency and survivability of critical space missions.”

The same SASC report instructs DARPA, the U.S. Air Force and the Missile Defense Agency to determine if the Blackjack satellite network can meet the MDA’s requirement for a space-based ballistic missile detection system.

The Pentagon originally requested $15 million for Blackjack but the recommended additional funding raises the program’s total allocation to $125 million.

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Marine Corps to Employ New SATCOM System for On-The-Move Communications
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Marine Corps to Employ New SATCOM System for On-The-Move Communications


Marine Corps to Employ New SATCOM System for On-The-Move CommunicationsThe U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command seeks to use a new narrowband satellite communication system that builds on commercial cellphone technology to provide increased mobile communication access for marines.

USMC said Tuesday it will be the first service branch to widely employ the Mobile User Objective System, which works to operate with AN/PRC-117G radios used by marines for the past six years.

The system is mainly intended to provide on-the-move communications access for warfighters. It consists of space-based and ground-based components and a software-controlled radio terminal geared to operate on the MUOS-unique waveform.

The radios will receive new antenna kits for three different operational configurations and firmware updates to accommodate the MUOS waveform.

The three additional antenna kits will include a directional antenna with emphasis on data performance at halt; a dismounted antenna designed to provide voice and data access for moving users; and a vehicular kit that augments the radios to accommodate MUOS.

MUOS will enter its initial fielding stage in the final quarter of 2018 and is expected to achieve operational status in early 2019.

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House Panel Unveils $674.6B Defense Appropriations Bill for Fiscal 2019
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House Panel Unveils $674.6B Defense Appropriations Bill for Fiscal 2019


House Panel Unveils $674.6B Defense Appropriations Bill for Fiscal 2019The House Appropriations Committee has introduced a bill that would authorize $606.5 billion in base discretionary funds for the Defense Department and $68.1 billion in overseas contingency operations funds for fiscal year 2019.

The committee said Wednesday the FY 2019 defense policy bill reflects a $17.1 billion increase from the enacted FY 2018 discretionary funding.

The proposed measure would allocate a total budget of $145.7 billion to procure new weapons systems and other equipment to support military readiness efforts.

The proposed equipment procurement budget includes $22.7 billion in funds for the acquisition of 12 ships for the U.S. Navy; $9.4 billion for 93 F-35 fighter jets; $2.3 billion for 15 KC-46 tanker planes; $1.9 billion for 24 F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft; $1.7 billion for five space launch services; and $1.5 billion to support upgrade work on 85 Abrams tanks.

The committee’s proposed legislation also includes the following appropriations:

  • $144 billion for military personnel and salary
  • $245.9 billion for operation and maintenance
  • $92.4 billion for research and development
  • $34.4 billion for military family and defense health programs

The defense subcommittee is scheduled to consider the bill Thursday.

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NATO Defense Ministers to Discuss New Alliance Initiatives
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NATO Defense Ministers to Discuss New Alliance Initiatives


NATO Defense Ministers to Discuss New Alliance InitiativesNATO defense ministers will gather at a summit in Brussels in July to discuss new initiatives meant to increase force readiness of alliance members, DoD News reported Wednesday.

One of the initiatives include establishing two joint force commands in Norfolk, Va., for transatlantic operations and Ulm, Germany, for European logistics efforts.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the formation of two new commands would help increase the alliance’s command structure by about 1,200.

Defense ministers also plan to discuss defense spending and burden-sharing, NATO’s responsibilities in war against violent extremism, the support capacity of the alliance for Jordan and Tunisia and plans to expand the partnership between NATO and the European Union.

“Military mobility could become a flagship for our cooperation, and we are working together to eliminate obstacles–whether legal, customs or infrastructure–to ensure our forces can move across Europe when necessary,” Stoltenberg added.

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Trump Approves VA Mission Act; Peter O’Rourke Comments
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Trump Approves VA Mission Act; Peter O’Rourke Comments


Trump Approves VA Mission Act; Peter O’Rourke CommentsPresident Donald Trump has approved a bill that will allow veterans to seek healthcare services from the private sector if a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital fails to accommodate to their needs, the Washington Examiner reported Wednesday.

The VA Mission Act extends the VA’s caregiver program to all veterans as it initially only catered to former warfighters recognized after the 9/11 incident.

The new law also aims to support the renovation of VA facilities, as well as an initiative that intends to monitor controlled substance prescriptions of VA providers to avoid opioid addiction among veterans.

Acting VA Secretary Peter O’Rourke said in a statement that the department will work to implement the new law to modernize its services and further meet the healthcare needs of veterans.

O’Rourke also commended Trump, the chairmen and members of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee and other entities responsible for the passage of the bill.

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‘Army Vision’ for 2028 Calls for Force Modernization Through Robotics, AI Development
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‘Army Vision’ for 2028 Calls for Force Modernization Through Robotics, AI Development

‘Army Vision’ for 2028 Calls for Force Modernization Through Robotics, AI DevelopmentThe U.S. Army has issued a new vision statement for 2028 that details how the service intends to fight against Russia, China and other near-peer competitors in a joint multi-domain conflict.

The Army Vision calls for the use of weapons, sustainment systems, aircraft, manned and unmanned combat vehicles, arms formations and tactics to counter potential adversaries across all domains and cites several measures that should be implemented to achieve that vision.

The service branch should ramp up training efforts among military personnel through the expanded use of simulations systems and synthetic training environments and advance force modernization through acquisition reforms.

“This modernization includes experimenting with and developing autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and robotics to make our soldiers more effective and our units less logistically dependent,” according to the statement.

The Army needs to grow its force to at least 500,000 service personnel with related growth in the Army Reserve and National Guard through recruitment and retention efforts and should have the capability to perform electronic warfare, ground and air intelligence and cyber operations, the document noted.

Gen. Mark Milley, Army chief of staff, co-wrote the vision statement with Army Secretary Mark Esper, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.

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Jim Bridenstine: NASA Needs Industry Support to Address Exploration, Science Goals
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Jim Bridenstine: NASA Needs Industry Support to Address Exploration, Science Goals


Jim Bridenstine: NASA Needs Industry Support to Address Exploration, Science Goals
Jim Bridenstine

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said the agency should leverage industry capabilities to achieve its science and exploration goals and an example of that is the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

“We want to get robots and landers on the surface of the moon — aggressively, 2019… Definitely by 2020,” Bridenstine told reporters during a roundtable Wednesday.

NASA released a draft solicitation for the program in April and Bridenstine said the agency is assessing industry comments before it can issue the final request for proposals.

He said he believes the agency’s four Earth science missions will continue despite the administration’s plan to terminate those programs in the president’s budget request for fiscal 2019.

Those missions include the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3, CLARREO Pathfinder and PACE.

Bridenstine also cited NASA’s commitment to the James Webb Space Telescope and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope projects in support of its astrophysics missions.

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GSA Expects Alliant 2 Unrestricted GWAC to Take Effect in July
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GSA Expects Alliant 2 Unrestricted GWAC to Take Effect in July


GSA Expects Alliant 2 Unrestricted GWAC to Take Effect in JulyThe General Services Administration now expects the unrestricted track of a potential 10-year, $50 billion governmentwide acquisition contract for information technology products and services to take effect on July 1 after GSA won in protests that reached the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.

GSA said Tuesday the Alliant 2 unrestricted GWAC has a base term of five years that will now run through June 30, 2023 and a five-year option term that will extend through June 30, 2028.

The agency noted the court’s decisions seek to support the validity of its procurement processes and can be viewed on its website within a day.

GSA in November 2017 awarded 61 companies spots on the unrestricted portion of Alliant 2 that covers cloud, cybersecurity, big data, agile development, software development and other IT support services.

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GSA’s 18F Integrates ‘Agile’ Methods Into IT Security Certification Process
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GSA’s 18F Integrates ‘Agile’ Methods Into IT Security Certification Process


GSA’s 18F Integrates ‘Agile’ Methods Into IT Security Certification ProcessThe General Services Administration’s 18F organization has developed a security certification process for government information technology systems through the use of agile development methods, Nextgov reported Tuesday.

18F’s agile-based authority-to-operate process aims to apply an iterative approach to IT security authorizations and place security work at the start of a project.

“What we try to do is at the very beginning of the project, the first few weeks, we get an ATO,” Michael Torres, director of product at 18F, told Nextgov.

“And then every piece after that, we increment that ATO so it covers more and more of the system,” he added.

Torres noted about 18F’s efforts to further develop the iterative ATO process with security personnel at federal agencies.

“What we’re advocating is to help them and help the program team just focus on this small piece that we’re releasing so that we can make sure that that’s secure and also put in processes and maybe some infrastructure to make sure the next time we release there’s a process for an iterative ATO that doesn’t take as much time and is not as daunting,” he added.

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