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Army Brigade Combat Team Receives New Electronic Warfare Tech
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Army Brigade Combat Team Receives New Electronic Warfare Tech


Army Brigade Combat Team Receives New Electronic Warfare TechThe U.S. Army has provided an electronic warfare system prototype to the 1st Brigade Combat Team’s 1st Infantry Division as part of efforts to equip and train brigades to counter near-peer adversaries.

The team became the first military unit within continental U.S. to receive the technology after the service branch completed a fielding effort in February to select Europe-based units, the Army said June 28.

The system consists of mounted, dismounted and command and control tools designed to help users manage electronic sensing and jamming functions.

The brigade’s EW officers were trained to use the platform as an opposing force at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin in California.

The Army’s Rapid Capabilities Office and Project Manager for EW and Cyber constructed and delivered the EW equipment in a move to address operational needs of U.S. Army Europe.

Europe-based 2nd Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade and 2nd Armored Brigade have already used the system in operational exercises.

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Gen. Vincent Brooks Hosts Opening Ceremony for New U.S. Forces Korea HQ
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Gen. Vincent Brooks Hosts Opening Ceremony for New U.S. Forces Korea HQ


Gen. Vincent Brooks Hosts Opening Ceremony for New U.S. Forces Korea HQ
Vincent Brooks

Army Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea and United Nations Command, led the opening of a new USFK/UNC headquarters Friday at Camp Humphreys in South Korea, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Both commands’ relocation from Seoul to Camp Humphreys is part of a $10.7 billion investment, the report noted.

Army Garrison Yongsan has served as USFK and UNC’s homebase since the end of Korean War hostilities.

South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo joined Gen. Brooks and Sgt. Maj. Steven Payton during the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new HQ building.

Representatives from UNC’s 17 sending states attended the event that also honored Army Gen. John William Vessey Jr., the first commander of the Combined Forces Command.

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USAF Aims to Create Satellite Protection Tactics via Simulation Exercise
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USAF Aims to Create Satellite Protection Tactics via Simulation Exercise


USAF Aims to Create Satellite Protection Tactics via Simulation ExerciseThe U.S. Air Force will conduct a simulation exercise in August as part of efforts to train airmen on how to defend U.S. and allied satellites from potential adversarial threats,  Aerospace America reported Tuesday.

The report said Space Flag will involve a “blue team” comprised of USAF service members who will work to defend virtual satellites from civilian aggressors that compose a “red team.”

Col. Stuart Pettis, Space Flag’s organizer, told the publication the service branch aims to create strategies to protect the country’s satellites in low- and medium-Earth and geosynchronous orbits through the upcoming event.

The game is based on exercises that were created in 1975 and focused on air combat tactics, according to the report.

USAF has broadened the scope of scenarios for the wargame to include space and cybersecurity domains.

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SecAF Heather Wilson Discusses Tech Development During Military Facility Tour
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SecAF Heather Wilson Discusses Tech Development During Military Facility Tour


SecAF Heather Wilson Discusses Tech Development During Military Facility Tour
Heather Wilson

U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, commented on the service branch’s need for technological development as she toured the service’s facilities in Texas on June 27 through 29.

Wilson visited the AFWERX and the Pilot Training Next programs in Austin and the Randolph and Lackland sites of Joint Base San Antonio, the Air Force said Monday.

The Air Force can tap the talents of technology companies to support innovation, entrepreneurship, community and university partnerships and the cooperation of local governments, Wilson said during her visit at AFWERX-Austin, which is designed as a collaboration hub for the service branch and external communities.

“We recognize that the bureaucracy doesn’t always allow innovation to happen, and that’s one of the reasons for creating things like AFWERX,” Wilson said.

During her tour of the Pilot Training Next facility at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, she noted the Air Force’s partnership with the industry and the academia to integrate modern technologies into pilots’ training environments.

“Technology has changed quite a bit, but the syllabus for pilot training had not significantly changed in about 20 years,” she said.

The Pilot Training Next program is meant to investigate and possibly prototype an immersive technology for pilot exercises.

Wilson discussed with the 12th Flying Training Wing at JBSA-Randolph fighter fundamentals, training for pilot instructors and weapons systems officer and exercises for operators of sensors and remotely piloted aircraft.

Her tour ended with a review of the Basic Military Training graduation parade of 628 new Air Force members when she visited JBSA-Lackland.

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GSA Audit Reveals FAS Mobilized Contractor Workers Despite Lack of Security Clearance
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GSA Audit Reveals FAS Mobilized Contractor Workers Despite Lack of Security Clearance


GSA Audit Reveals FAS Mobilized Contractor Workers Despite Lack of Security ClearanceAn ongoing audit being conducted by the Office of Audits under the Office of Inspector General at the General Services Administration has revealed that the Federal Acquisition Service failed to ensure that all employees working under a federal task order had received requisite security clearance prior to being mobilized.

Sonya Panzo, associate deputy assistant inspector general for auditing at the Acquisition and Information Technology Audit Office, said in a memo dated June 29 that the FAS provided several employees under the Transition Ordering Assistance task order access to sensitive government information and equipment, and paid them a total of more than $675,000 for services rendered, even though the Office of Personnel Management had not given them a favorable background investigation determination.

The Transition Ordering Assistance task order was designed to help federal employees shift to new information technology and communication infrastructure.

Panzo expressed concern that the FAS had relied exclusively on assurances from the task order contractor about their employees’ security clearances instead of verifying these claims independently.

Panzo recommended that, moving forward, the FAS “enhance management controls” to ensure that security protocols are adhered to, and FAS and client agencies are not exposed to unnecessary risk.

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NNSA, USAF Complete Gravity Bomb Qualification Tests; Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton Comments
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NNSA, USAF Complete Gravity Bomb Qualification Tests; Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton Comments


NNSA, USAF Complete Gravity Bomb Qualification Tests; Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton Comments
Michael Lutton

The U.S. Air Force and the Energy Department‘s National Nuclear Security Administration have concluded flight tests needed to qualify the B61-12 gravity bomb’s non-nuclear functions.

A B-2A Spirit Bomber aircraft released the bomb’s non-nuclear test assembly during the two tests that took place June 9 at Tonopah Test Range, Nev., DOE said Friday.

The assembly consisted of an NNSA-designed bomb component and a USAF-procured tail-kit developed by Boeing.

The tests are part of the B61-12 Life Extension Program, which aims to bolster the bomb’s safety, security and reliability capacities, as well as extend the weapon’s service life.

The Sandia National Laboratories and the Los Alamos National Laboratory designed hardware used in the tests, while the Nuclear Security Enterprise plants manufactured the equipment.

“These qualification flight tests demonstrate the B61-12 design meets system requirements and illustrate the continued progress of the B61-12 life extension program to meet national security requirements” said Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton, NNSA’s principal assistant deputy administrator for military application.

The government intends to replace all existing B61 bomb variants with the B61-12, whose first production unit is expected to be completed in fiscal 2020.

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McConnell AF Base Hosts 5th KC-46 Maintenance Training Summit
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McConnell AF Base Hosts 5th KC-46 Maintenance Training Summit


McConnell AF Base Hosts 5th KC-46 Maintenance Training SummitMcConnell Air Force Base held the fifth KC-46 Pegasus Maintenance Training Summit to inform the aircraft’s maintainers, crews and other involved personnel on expected training schedules and requirements.

The summit generally aimed to address the KC-46’s training requirements in preparation for the aerial refueling aircraft’s expected arrival in October, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

The event also provided a discussion on the service branch’s approach to cross-train maintainers of the KC-135 Stratotanker to the newer KC-46.

Master Sgt. Ian Evans, 22nd MXG KC-46 transition team superintendent, said the 22nd Maintenance Group developed the KC-46’s training timeline that the Air Mobility Command will progressively adopt.

“After we implement the aircraft and go through the initial phases of training, we’re going to readjust our training and technical school curriculum,” he added.

The summit will reconvene to revisit and refine the KC-46 master training plan, two months after the aircraft’s delivery.

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IARPA Seeks Automated Event Forecasting Tech via ‘Mercury Challenge’
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IARPA Seeks Automated Event Forecasting Tech via ‘Mercury Challenge’


IARPA Seeks Automated Event Forecasting Tech via ‘Mercury Challenge’The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity has launched a new competition that seeks to develop systems designed to predict events in North Africa and the Middle East by processing data from publicly available sources.

IARPA said the Mercury Challenge aims to encourage machine learning engineers, data scientists and technologists from industry and academia to develop new automated platforms that will forecast military activity, infectious diseases and non-violent civil unrest in the two regions.

IARPA will evaluate participants through three scoring periods based on event-type matching; data accuracy; location accuracy; and forecast lead time and will award cash prizes of up to $100,000 to developers of winning forecasting systems.

The agency will officially launch the contest on Aug. 1 and close the first scoring period on Oct. 31.

The second and third scoring terms will respectively end on Jan. 31, 2019 and April 30, 2019.

IARPA will announce the winners by spring 2019.

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SEC to Require Machine-Readable Financial Reports for Companies
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SEC to Require Machine-Readable Financial Reports for Companies


SEC to Require Machine-Readable Financial Reports for CompaniesThe Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday voted to adopt amendments to its reporting standards for operating companies and funds.

Operating companies submitting financial statement information and funds filing risk/return summaries will soon have to use the Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language format in their disclosure reports, the SEC announced in a statement.

The use of iXBRL involves embedding XBRL metadata in HTML documents, making the resulting file readable for both humans and machines.

A fact sheet accompanying the SEC statement says that the adoption of iXBRL could bring about several benefits including the faster preparation of XBRL reports and the lower likelihood of inconsistency between XBRL and HTML filings.

The rollout of the new standard will happen in phases, beginning with large accelerated filers in 2019.

SEC Chairman Jay Clayton called the amendments “part of the Commission’s continued efforts to modernize reporting and to improve the accessibility and usefulness of disclosures to investors.”

Clayton added that the amendments are reflective of the SEC’s effort “to use developments in structured disclosure technology to lower costs borne by filers and investors.”

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Commerce Dept’s IG Audits FirstNet’s National Public Safety Broadband Network Contract With AT&T
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Commerce Dept’s IG Audits FirstNet’s National Public Safety Broadband Network Contract With AT&T


Commerce Dept’s IG Audits FirstNet’s National Public Safety Broadband Network Contract With AT&TThe Commerce Department’s inspector general has commenced a year-long audit to assess how the First Responder Network Authority oversees the development of a national public safety broadband network through a contract awarded to AT&T, Reuters reported Friday.

AT&T secured a potential $6.5 billion contract in March 2017 to build and operate the national network designed to free up bandwidth for emergency responders through pre-emptive and priority access to network.

Carol Rice, assistant inspector general for audit and evaluation, said in a May 3 memo the audit seeks to evaluate if FirstNet “properly administered” a task order for the network’s implementation, maintenance and operation.

AT&T officials and the government told Reuters the audit was a routine procedure and that the FirstNet’s core is now operational in all U.S. states.

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