Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has said he met with Ellen Lord, top acquisition chief at the Defense Department; and Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency; to determine ways on how to accelerate the foreign military sales process, Defense News reported Friday.

Shanahan told reporters in a Dec. 21 interview that DoD considers the Middle East, Japan and South Korea as the three focus areas to expedite the FMS process.

Lord, meanwhile, introduced six pilot Procurement Action Lead Time programs in an effort to award a contract within 210 days of the solicitation’s release.

Tom Crosson, a spokesman for DSCA, wrote in an email that Hooper aims to expand partnerships with industry in 2018.

“The agency is now coordinating with industry partners to conduct more in-depth briefings to allow the director to better understand the partner’s short-term objectives, long range strategies and how these are related to DSCA’s role in building partner capacity,” Crosson noted.

Defense Secretary James Mattis has said the Defense Department will modify how it conducts operations to defeat the Islamic State militant group in 2018, DoD News reported Friday.

Mattis told reporters Friday that coalition forces will work to hunt down the remaining members of the militant group and work with the Iraqi government to equip troops and police who will help locate and eliminate potential threats to the country.

He added U.S. troops will also shift from a terrain-seizing approach in Iraq and Syria to stabilization efforts such as establishment of water and electrical systems, reopening of schools and sweeping of improvised explosive devices, he added.

Communications between coalition forces and Russia have continued to aid operations in the region and coalition forces work to disrupt the terror group’s physical caliphate, according to Mattis.

The defense secretary also noted that the destruction of the physical caliphate will help diminish the potential recruitment of more people who plan to support the terror group as well as minimize the appeal of life under the organization’s rule.

The U.S. Army has begun to develop two suites of new tools intended for mapping safer routes in missions that may involve enemy mines and traps.

Researchers from the Army Research Laboratory and Army Corps of Engineers aim to produce inland mapping and littoral mapping tools in an effort to counter enemy-employed anti-access, area-denial methods, the Army said Thursday.

A2AD methods involve the use of mines at places near shore and concealed inland threats.

The new inland mapping tool employs a three-dimensional terrain visualization technology designed to assist soldiers in identifying the safest route to pass through.

The platform also makes use of Light Detection and Ranging and video sensors to collect data for the visualization system’s 3D map.

Damon Conover, an electronics engineer at the ARL, said the inland system’s sensors can be integrated on a small unmanned aerial vehicle.

The littoral mapping tool seeks to help soldiers and marines navigate through shores in consideration of potential hindrances such as sand bars and strong currents.

USACE’s Engineer Research and Development Center designed the littoral system to function in stormy conditions and detect threats hidden underwater and other obstacles near or within shore.

The system is built to collect data through UAVs equipped with sensors and radar.

The two systems were unveiled during the 2017 Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Association of the U.S. Army.

The Defense Information Systems Agency has announced that Sannadean Sims will retire as DISA’s chief financial officer, comptroller and resource management center director.

DISA said Wednesday it will host a retirement ceremony for Sims on Jan. 3 at the agency’s headquarters at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland.

She began her government service in 1987 after she spent 10 years at Exxon Mobil, where she managed budget, contracting and computing offices during her career there.

Sims previously held a position at the U.S. Army Europe’s 60th Ordnance Group in Germany and helped organize the service branch’s first information technology convention in Zweibruecken and directed resource management efforts for the military community in the German town.

She also worked in staff and leadership roles at the Executive Office of President, Office of Management and Budget, the White House Military Office and DISA.