Pilots from Tyndall Air Force Base have flown F-22 Raptors to train with combat air forces from across the Defense Department as part of the Red Flag 17-3 joint, full-spectrum readiness exercise.

DoD said Thursday that 10 F-22 units from the 95th Fighter Squadron performed operations alongside F-35A and F-35B fighter aircraft from the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps during the event.

The report noted that B-1 Lancer, B-2 Spirit, F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters and E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft will join the exercises and support operations in the exercise theater at Nellis Air Force Base.

“This Red Flag alone gives us our singular largest fifth-generation footprint, which allows us to learn as we continue to build new ideas,” said Lt. Col. Mark Sadler, 414th Combat Training Squadron commander.

Red Flag was designed to teach participants on how to collaborate in the field when faced with actual threats as well as maximize combat readiness and survivability of the participants.

DoD officials added that the exercise also offers a training environment for the combat air forces along with pre- and post-flight training forums wherein participants can exchange ideas.

The U.S. Navy will commission the lead aircraft carrier of the military branch’s Gerald Ford class during a ceremony that will be held Saturday at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.

President Donald Trump will deliver the principal address at the USS Gerald R. Ford  commissioning event, the Navy said Thursday.

Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, said the carrier is equipped with new technologies and warfighting systems designed to help transform naval warfare.

“The increased combat power will enable new ways to combine information, ships, aircraft and undersea forces, changing how we operate and fight,” added Richardson, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017.

Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ Newport News Shipbuilding division delivered USS Gerald R. Ford to the service branch in June following completion of acceptance trials.

CVN 78 was named after the 38th U.S. president and pays homage to his service in the Navy, government and the country.

Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former President Ford, is the ship’s sponsor.

The Navy estimates the service branch will spend up to $43 billion on the construction of the first three Ford-class vessels to replace Nimitz-class carriers.

Gerald R. Ford carriers are designed with reactor and electric plants, electromagnetic aircraft launch systems, advanced arresting gears, machinery control and integrated warfare systems.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency plans to issue grants worth up to $65 million in total over the next four years to seven university teams that will study and develop gene editing tools.

DARPA said Wednesday the teams will perform work under the Safe Genes program, which aims to explore how gene editing technologies work; develop ways to use the technology safely; and address potential health and security threats posed by misuse.

Awardees include teams from The Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University; Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; North Carolina State University; University of California, Berkeley; and University of California, Riverside.

DARPA noted that gene editing technologies can be used to protect warfighters against infectious disease; mitigate threats posed by biological weapons; and create new resources with unique properties such as novel chemicals, materials and coatings.

“Part of our challenge and commitment under Safe Genes is to make sense of the ethical implications of gene editing technologies, understanding people’s concerns and directing our research to proactively address them so that stakeholders are equipped with data to inform future choices,” said Renee Wegrzyn, DARPA program manager for Safe Genes.

Each team will focus on one or more of three technical objectives, including the development of genetic constructs to help control genome editors in living organisms; drug-based countermeasures to regulate genome editing in organisms; and a tool that can remove unwanted engineered genes from systems.

The university researchers will coordinate with potential stakeholders, including government regulators, to support scientific development and address questions and concerns on experiments.

The teams will also work to incorporate stakeholder feedback in the future when developers must decide whether to use the gene editing tools and how to apply them.

President Donald Trump has announced plans to nominate Mark Esper, vice president of government relations at Raytheon, as U.S. Army secretary, Inside Defense reported Wednesday.

Esper is the administration’s third pick for the post following the decision of Vincent Viola, founder of digital stock trading firm Virtu Financial, and Tennessee Sen. Mark Green to withdraw their names from consideration.

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a July 12 hearing to vet Ryan McCarthy, an executive at Lockheed Martin and the White House’s pick for the service branch’s undersecretary post.

Esper joined Raytheon in 2010 after serving as VP of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and executive VP of the Global Intellectual Property Center as well as the Aerospace Industries Association.

He previously served as director for national security affairs for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist between 2004 and 2006 and policy director within the House Armed Services Committee.

The retired Army officer also worked at the Defense Department as deputy assistant secretary.