The U.S. Army has begun to develop an open architecture system that would use plug-and-play sensors to facilitate navigation for soldiers deployed to GPS-limited areas, C4ISRNET reported Monday.

The Scorpion positioning, navigation and timing system is designed to employ modular hardware and software through a tactical computer and has only been tested on commercial platforms.

“It will be a sensor fusion filter that will allow us to hook up any sensor to the filter; and the filter will understand what the sensor is, what the data is and how to integrate that into a single PNT solution,” said Adam Schofield, chief at the emerging technologies branch at the Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.

The Army is working with the Air Force Institute of Technology on the project, which falls under the Defense Department‘s Initiative for Open Systems Architecture for PNT.

Ryan McCarthy, acting secretary of the U.S. Army, has said the military service will establish a command of cross-functional teams by summer 2018 to support modernization efforts across the branch.

Each CFT under the “modernization command” will aim to increase the quality and process of fielding materials and equipment to warfighters, the branch said Friday.

The group will report to the Army undersecretary and vice chief of staff.

McCarthy noted that CFTs will also seek input from commercial and academic organizations on how to accelerate the technology development process.

The Army aims to modernize its operations through “centralized planning” and “decentralized execution” strategies that are based on doctrine, metrics, research, warfighter tests and feedback, leader insight and acquisition process.

The U.S. Air Force will conduct a series of tests to evaluate if the conventional takeoff-and-landing variant of Lockheed Martin-built F-35 aircraft can withstand harsh weather conditions in Alaska.

The service branch said Friday it aims to demonstrate the F35A‘s capacity to land at a runway condition reading scale of 7 and validate a Norwegian drag-chute as part of cold weather tests at Eielson AF Base.

“The 354th Civil Engineer Squadron and 354th Operations Support Squadron try to keep our runway at an RCR of 12 or better during the harsh winters, but often are below that,” said Capt. Daniel Campbell, director of mission support for the 354th Fighter Wing F-35 Program Integration Office.

“We need the lower RCR certification to ensure the F-35A can operate throughout our winters,” Campbell added.

The Air Force awarded contracts to multiple companies to support projects such as construction of a propulsion maintenance hangar and maintenance field training detachment facilities in preparation for the arrival of F-35A units at Eielson.

A pair of F-35As along with nearly 3,500 airmen, contractor personnel and their families are scheduled to arrive at the military base by 2020.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said President Donald Trump will decertify Iran under a 2015 U.S. law that directs the president to certify that the Middle Eastern country is in compliance with the Iran nuclear deal every 90 days, Defense News reported Friday.

“The intent is that we will stay in [the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] – but the president is going to decertify under [the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act],” Tillerson said in a conference call.

JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, is a multinational agreement signed in July 2015 that allows the country to advance its nuclear energy initiative provided that it is used solely for peaceful purposes.

Tillerson noted that Trump expressed dissatisfaction with JCPOA’s sanctions relief terms despite his previous move to certify Iran’s technical compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.

Defense One also reported that the White House’s plan to decertify Iran under INARA would result in a 60-day review of that law by lawmakers and possible reimposition of lifted sanctions on Iran under JCPOA.

“Our posture on compliance is completely different than the previous administration’s,” Tillerson told reporters during the conference call Thursday.

The White House, for instance, seeks to direct Iran to provide inspectors with the International Atomic Energy Agency immediate access to any nuclear site in the country, the report added.