The U.S. Navy cleared more than 1,400 contracts for training platforms worth approximately $1 billion in fiscal year 2017 compared with approximately 1,200 contract actions executed in FY 2014, National Defense reported Thursday.

The Naval Air Warfare Center’s training systems division has begun to field more commercial-off-the-shelf training platforms, Capt. Erik Etz, division commanding officer, said at a panel discussion during the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Florida.

Etz noted that his division has started to develop a “baseline of systems” designed to help the service branch provide system configuration and common standards as it works with commercial partners to establish applications specific to an individual warfighter’s skills.

He also discussed the Navy’s efforts to integrate virtual, mixed and augmented reality technology platforms into its training tools as well as address interoperability issues facing its simulation systems.

Etz added that the service needs to ramp up training across maritime and aerial domains amid recent mishaps such as the collision incidents involving two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has called off a plan to stop the military use of certain cluster bombs by the end of 2018, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The policy change would permit the Defense Department to resume the procurement of cluster munitions.

“The Department of Defense has determined that cluster munitions remain a vital military capability in the tougher warfighting environment ahead of us, while still a relatively safe one,” said Tom Crosson, a spokesman for DoD.

Crosson noted that senior officials at the Pentagon determined that a ban on the use of cluster bombs would weaken deterrence and result in a capability gap for U.S. warfighters.

The Hill also reported that the new policy would overturn a 2008 ruling by former President George W. Bush that seeks to ban by Jan. 1, 2019 the use of cluster bombs that failed to meet the standard detonation failure rate of 1 percent or less.

Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan issued a memo Thursday saying cluster munitions are “legitimate weapons with clear military utility.”

“Although the department seeks to field a new generation of more highly reliable munitions, we cannot risk mission failure or accept the potential of increased military and civilian casualties by forfeiting the best available capabilities,” Shanahan wrote in the memo.

The Defense Department looks to establish new requirements for infrastructure contracts issued around the world in a push to mitigate vulnerability issues related to energy grid systems at military installations, Defense News reported Wednesday.

The report noted that challenges related to the grid infrastructure include external factors that impact the delivery of power and other resources at towns and cities where military installations are located including potential cyber and terrorist attacks.

Another challenge related to the power infrastructure involves the lack of redundancies at military installations which can potentially prevent the total shut down of operations at bases around the world.

“We’re here to find out what the most efficient and effective way we can get toward providing resilient power, [and] to provide redundant power to be able to allow us to continue to operate in case something happens to the grid,” said Lucian Niemeyer, assistant secretary of defense for energy, installations and environment.

“We’re exploring … what degree we can restructure [request for proposals] that would allow an entity to come in and provide a complete range of resources for us,” added Niemeyer.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency has announced that the U.S. posted $41.93 billion in total foreign military sales for fiscal year 2017.

DSCA said Tuesday the figure includes $32.02 billion in deals funded by partner countries; $6.04 billion in transactions funded the State Department’s foreign military funds; and $3.87 billion in FMS deals funded by agencies within the Defense Department.

“This positive sales trend isn’t surprising as the United States is the global provider of choice for security cooperation,” said Army Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, DSCA director.

Hooper, who became DSCA chief in August, added the FY 2017 sales seek to reflect the agency’s efforts to adopt a “total package approach” that aims to deliver maintenance, training and sustainment support to nation partners.

The Secretary of State oversees the FMS process through the Arms Export Control Act in an effort to help the U.S. government facilitate the sale of defense equipment, military training and other defense services to foreign countries and international organizations in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy goals.