The U.S. military continues to train local security forces in Syria as part of efforts to stop activities of the Islamic State militant organization, facilitate stabilization and meet campaign objectives in the region.

Syrian security forces are tasked to prevent members of the militant group from escaping the country, integrate local security in liberated areas, protect the population and eliminate potential threats to allies and partners, the Defense Department said Wednesday.

The U.S. and its global coalition allies continue to pursue a shared commitment to destroy the Islamic State militant group and re-stabilize Syrian territories.

DoD also acknowledged security concerns from NATO ally Turkey and assured the U.S. will be transparent about ongoing counterterrorism efforts in Syria.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Defense Department have kicked off a joint program to speed up the development and availability of emergency medical products for the U.S. military.

FDA said Tuesday the program’s framework was established through a bill, which authorized DoD to request the accelerated development and evaluation of medical products meant to diagnose, treat or prevent life-threatening conditions affecting U.S. service members.

“The FDA is fully committed to working closely with our federal partners in the DoD to expedite availability of medical products essential to the health of our military service members, particularly those products used to treat injuries in battlefield settings,” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb.

FDA will work with the office of the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs to gain a better understanding of deployed personnel’s medical needs and fast-track the review of DoD’s priority medical products.

The agency will also provide technical advice to DoD’s Health Affairs office to support the rapid production of medical goods for the military, as well as identify opportunities to accelerate the availability of products that are under development.

FDA and Health Affairs will host one or more workshops this year to discuss the scientific and clinical development of products that are crucial to servicemen’s health.

Findings from the workshop will help FDA create a guidance document for commercial product developers that seek to fulfill the urgent medical needs of the U.S. military.

The program’s first phase will be carried out by Health Affairs and FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and will address DoD’s high-priority need for biological products such as freeze-dried plasma, cold-stored platelets and cryopreserved platelets.

Heather Wilson, U.S. Air Force secretary, has told the congressional armed services committee the service branch aims to open a three-star vice commander of the Air Force Space Command position to help the U.S. Space Command oversee space-related operations, Space News reported Tuesday.

The move will support broader Air Force plans to meet requirements under a legislative mandate to prioritize space activities on the service branch’s agenda.

The selected candidate will be based in Washington, D.C. and tasked to help the Air Force Space Command equip, organize and train space forces.

Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the committee will observe how the Air Force implements National Defense Authorization Act provisions related to space management.

Congress nixed previous plans to establish a three-star deputy chief of staff for space operations post in the 2018 NDAA and members of the House Armed Services Committee’s strategic forces subcommittee pushed for space forces to have autonomy within the Air Force.

The U.S. Navy will modify the number of mission equipment that the service branch plans to buy for the Freedom– and Independence-class littoral combat ships in the fiscal year 2019 budget, Defense News reported Tuesday.

Capt. Ted Zobel, LCS mission module program manager, told reporters that the Navy will unveil changes to the planned acquisition of three LCS mission modules during the release of the FY 2019 budget request.

Zobel did not specify which mission modules would be increased or lessened, but stated that the changes resulted from the Navy’s decision to acquire 32 LCS instead of 55 and to install semi-permanent mission equipment instead of fielding interchangeable packages as originally planned.

The three mission modules are comprised of weapons, sensors and unmanned systems meant to support surface warfare, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare, the report noted.

Lockheed Martin leads work on the Freedom-class LCS, while an Austal USA-led team builds the Independence variant ships.

Teams from the U.S. Army have completed training for a new weapon system as part of the Atlantic Resolve effort that aims to rotate troops within the European theater to protect NATO allies within the region.

The Army said Tuesday the teams underwent 40 hours of training on using the Javelin system through a computer-based basic skills trainer that allows for virtual practice sessions without the use of actual munitions.

The trainer system also enabled soldiers to experience using the Javelin in simulated environments representing current locations in Europe.

The sessions included misfire and malfunction scenarios to evaluate the soldiers’ capacities to react and address such problems.

Jointly developed by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, the Javelin was designed as a shoulder-fired anti-armor weapon built with a self-guiding tracking system and the capacity to fire at ranges covering thousands of meters.

The weapon was made to be used against armored vehicles, tanks, caves and bunkers.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has said current efforts prioritize the strengthening of diplomatic affairs with North Korea; but the military prepared options for a potential attack, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Mattis talked to reporters about efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula while on his way to the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula in Canada.

“This meeting is designed to still make progress diplomatically, such as you’ve seen with three unanimous Security Council resolutions over these last months,” said Mattis.

He noted diplomatic programs have started to develop and North Korea has announced plans to send athletes and musicians who will participate at the Winter Olympics in South Korea.

The defense secretary also traveled to the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho to meet with members of the 366th Fighter Wing, a U.S. Air Force deployable fighter squadron dubbed as the Gunfighters.

The U.S. Africa Command has built a new tool that works to measure the command’s progress in increasing the participation of women in security cooperation and peacekeeping operations.

The WPS Security Force Assistance assessment tool is designed to inform AFRICOM on how African partner nations integrate women into its capacity-building initiatives, the Defense Department said Friday.

Congress passed the Women, Peace and Security Act of 2017 in October, directing AFRICOM to find new ways to incorporate women, peace and security into security cooperation activities.

AFRICOM worked to develop training opportunities for women from African militaries as well as co-host workshops and seminars on gender integration, women’s role in peacekeeping missions and ways to mitigate gender-based violence.

Cori Fleser, AFRICOM’s gender adviser and creator of the SFA assessment tool, said that she developed the platform to help her provide more tailored recommendations on the implementation of WPS integration plans.

She added that the analytic tool is intended to give the command a better understanding of how gender affects the security sector, as well as identify opportunities for collaboration with partner nations.

The SFA tool uses open source data from international organizations such as the United Nations, World Bank and World Health Organization as well as indicators from global indices, including the Fragile States Index and Women, Peace and Security Index.