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NASA to Fund Concept Devt of Comet Sample Return Mission, Saturn Moon Exploration
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NASA to Fund Concept Devt of Comet Sample Return Mission, Saturn Moon Exploration


NASA to Fund Concept Devt of Comet Sample Return Mission, Saturn Moon ExplorationNASA has chosen two proposed space exploration concepts as finalists for a robotic mission scheduled to launch in the mid-2020s.

The space agency said Thursday it will fund the concept development of the finalists, which include a comet sample return mission and a rotorcraft that would seek potential landing sites on Saturn’s moon, Titan.

NASA selected the concepts following a competitive peer review of 12 proposals submitted in April through the agency’s New Frontiers program.

The Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return mission, or CAESAR, aims to collect a sample from the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet to help define its origin and history.

CAESAR is led by Steve Squyres of Cornell University and would be managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The second concept is the Dragonfly drone-like rotorcraft that would study the prebiotic chemistry and habitability of multiple sites on Saturn’s largest moon Titan.

Elizabeth Turtle of the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory will serve as lead investigator of Dragonfly and APL will provide project management for the mission.

NASA plans to fund the concept development of CAESAR and Dragonfly through the end of 2018, then select one mission in 2019 to move to the next program phases.

The winning concept will be the fourth mission under the New Frontiers program, which funds principal investigator-led planetary science explorations that cost only up to $850 million to develop.

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Air Force Completes Accuracy Tests on F-35 Weapon System
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Air Force Completes Accuracy Tests on F-35 Weapon System


Air Force Completes Accuracy Tests on F-35 Weapon SystemU.S. Air Force testers have completed weapons delivery accuracy flight tests on the F-35 Lightning II aircraft which evaluated the platform’s weapon system as well as the Block 3F software it uses to support lethal air-to-air and air-to-ground strike missions.

The service branch said Wednesday members of the 461st Flight Test Squadron and F-35 Integrated Test Force conducted the flight tests as part of the F-35 developmental test and evaluation effort.

Lt. Col. Tucker Hamilton, 461st FLTS commander and F-35 ITF director, said the F-35 platform performed how the service branch wanted it to and the aircraft completed various test missions throughout the WDA evaluation.

The ITF evaluated all three F-35 variants and integrated them with air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles such as the AIM-120, AIM-9X, Paveway IV laser-guided bomb, GBU-39 small diameter bomb, GBU-12, GBU-31 joint direct attack munition as well as the AGM-154 joint standoff weapon.

ITF conducts developmental flight tests on behalf of the Defense Department‘s F-35 Joint Program Office including mission effectiveness testing, enemy air defense suppression, maritime interdiction, offensive and defensive air-to-air combat testing activities.

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Report: DOE-Backed National Labs License 19 Cybersecurity Tools to Private Sector
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Report: DOE-Backed National Labs License 19 Cybersecurity Tools to Private Sector


Report: DOE-Backed National Labs License 19 Cybersecurity Tools to Private SectorEnergy Department-funded national laboratories have so far licensed 19 cybersecurity technology platforms through the Transition to Practice program managed by the  Department of Homeland Security, FCW reported Wednesday.

DHS established the TTP program in 2012 as part of efforts to help transfer innovations from a laboratory into the commercial marketplace.

The report said DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has licensed five technologies via the program to date and allows interested companies to determine if a PNNL-developed tool could be applied into their product or service offerings through an exploratory licensing agreement with the lab.

IP Group-based startup company Cynash obtained licensing rights for PNNL’s Digital Ants and MLSTONES  security platforms.

Cynash aims to incorporate both technologies into a portfolio of products and services intended to help public and private sector organizations defend against cyber threats.

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Jens Stoltenberg: NATO & EU Should Cooperate to Boost Collective Defense, Regional Stability
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Jens Stoltenberg: NATO & EU Should Cooperate to Boost Collective Defense, Regional Stability


Jens Stoltenberg: NATO & EU Should Cooperate to Boost Collective Defense, Regional Stability
Jens Stoltenberg

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said that the alliance should work with the European Union to optimize collective defense and achieve regional stability, DoD News reported Wednesday.

Stoltenberg told students at the Ecole Militaire military academy in Paris that NATO and EU are engaging in talks and the alliances have increased cooperation on cyber defense, maritime security, counterterrorism and countering hybrid warfare, among others.

“I am convinced a strong European defense is good for the European Union, it is good for Europe and it is good for NATO, as long as it respects three key principles,” Stoltenberg said.

The first principle is to increase spending on interoperable defense systems that can help member nations achieve cost savings.

The secretary general added that a stronger European defense requires cooperation with non-EU allies while “respecting the autonomy and integrity of the European Union.”

The third key principle is for EU to carry out defense efforts that complement, and not duplicate, NATO’s defense activities, according to Stoltenberg.

He noted that the two alliances should work together instead of competing since they share 22 member countries.

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House Eyes Another Stopgap Bill to Fund Govt Through Jan. 19
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House Eyes Another Stopgap Bill to Fund Govt Through Jan. 19


House Eyes Another Stopgap Bill to Fund Govt Through Jan. 19House lawmakers plan to pass another continuing resolution Thursday in an effort to avoid a government shutdown and fund federal agencies through Jan. 19, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Congress passed Dec. 7 a two-week CR that is set to expire Friday.

The four-week stopgap bill would include a provisional fix to the Children’s Health Insurance Program to address declining funds and extend through Jan. 19 a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that approaches expiration on Dec. 31.

Some lawmakers said they expect the House to vote on a proposed bill that would authorize $81 billion in hurricane and wildfire relief funds as a separate package.

The House Rules Committee is set to meet Thursday morning to prepare the short-term funding measure for a floor vote.

Politico also reported that some Republican members of the House Armed Services Committee expressed objections to the proposed CR without full-year funding for the Defense Department at a closed-door conference meeting.

Some members said they voted for the two-week CR after House leaders said they would advance a yearlong spending measure for DoD before the Friday deadline.

Republican leaders told the conference that they do not have 217 votes to clear the original DoD spending plan under the two-week stopgap bill.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) said at the conference that Defense Secretary James Mattis had given his consent to the proposed CR, the report added.

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GAO: DoD’s Contract Awards to Minority-, Women-Owned Businesses Hit $230B in FY 2010-2016
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GAO: DoD’s Contract Awards to Minority-, Women-Owned Businesses Hit $230B in FY 2010-2016


GAO: DoD’s Contract Awards to Minority-, Women-Owned Businesses Hit $230B in FY 2010-2016The Government Accountability Office has found that the Defense Department awarded approximately 444,500 contracts valued at more than $230 billion to women- and minority-owned businesses between fiscal years 2010 and 2016.

GAO said in a report published Monday fixed-price contracts for goods and services represented at least 80 percent, or approximately $184 billion, of the total obligated funds over the six-year period.

The study showed that DoD’s spending on contracts awarded to such businesses dropped by 12 percent from FY 2010 to FY 2016.

The Pentagon awarded approximately $14 billion in technical and professional engineering contracts and over $3 billion worth of software contracts to minority- and women-owned companies during the period, according to the report.

GAO used data from the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation platform to examine the department’s acquisition trends in compliance with a provision of the fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

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Report: Army Seeks Non-GPS PNT Tech for Ground Vehicles
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Report: Army Seeks Non-GPS PNT Tech for Ground Vehicles


Report: Army Seeks Non-GPS PNT Tech for Ground VehiclesThe U.S. Army is looking for new technologies that can help ground vehicles relay coordinates in any weather and terrain without the need for a global positioning system link, C4ISRNET reported Tuesday.

The service branch released a request for information in December to collect public input on available non-GPS systems that can offer positioning, navigation and timing capacities for Army ground vehicles.

The Army Rapid Capabilities Office and the Special Operations Command look to conduct a demonstration of the emerging industry-built PNT systems that can help meet requirements for the service branch’s ground vehicles in March.

“For industry, this is one of our opportunities to allow them to demonstrate their wares and then allow it to potentially lead to additional demonstration of prototyping and, ultimately … may lead to some limited production opportunities,” said Doug Wiltsie, director of the Rapid Capabilities Office.

“The technologies will be used to go over long distances, multiple environments … so that we can get an understanding of their capabilities and their limitations.”

The service branch will evaluate the technologies’ capacities under various weather conditions during an exhibition at Camp Atterbury-Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations in Indiana.

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DOE to Fund Eight New Predictive Modeling Projects for Solar Generation
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DOE to Fund Eight New Predictive Modeling Projects for Solar Generation


DOE to Fund Eight New Predictive Modeling Projects for Solar GenerationThe Department of Energy has announced it will obligate $12 million to fund eight new projects that seek to generate new findings on predictive modeling for solar generation.

The Solar Forecasting 2 effort brings together government labs, industry and academe in aims to increase solar generation forecast accuracy and improve the management and reliability of the solar energy grid, the DOE said Tuesday.

Four of the projects will focus on solar generation prediction, while three others will go over the integration of grid planning technologies and operating systems for advanced forecasting.

Another project will test a framework designed to guide the evaluation of model performance through the use of standards and metrics.

The three integration projects will be conducted in partnership with the California Independent System Operator, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas; while the framework study project will be executed at the University of Arizona.

Funds in the amount of $2.6 million from the private sector will be added to the DOE’s contribution, totaling to an amount of more than $14.6 million.

The full list of awarding under the effort can be found here.

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DoD to Launch New Military Retirement System on Jan. 1
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DoD to Launch New Military Retirement System on Jan. 1


DoD to Launch New Military Retirement System on Jan. 1The Defense Department will implement a new military retirement system on Jan. 1 in an effort to boost its capacity to recruit and retain service members.

DoD said Tuesday the new retirement program called Uniformed Services Blended Retirement System will combine aspects of the traditional pension system with a new process that will automatically allocate matching contributions through the Thrift Savings Plan.

Current service members may choose to remain in the legacy retirement system or move to BRS from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018.

DoD offers training and informational tools to help service members make their decision, including the BRS Opt-In Course, BRS Comparison Calculator and other online materials.

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Army Continues Push to Consolidate Mission Command Software into Unitary Baseline
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Army Continues Push to Consolidate Mission Command Software into Unitary Baseline


Army Continues Push to Consolidate Mission Command Software into Unitary BaselineThe U.S. Army has initiated mission command network development efforts in a push to comply with a service branch-wide directive to consolidate mission command software of more than 400 tactical units into a unitary baseline.

The service branch said Tuesday the Army operations, plans and training unit’s directive aims to consolidate mission command network software and hardware throughout the military branch as well as provide the National Guard with updated equipment to support the software fielding mission.

The Program Executive Office Command, Control and Communications-Tactical also began to mobilize in an effort to help field 290 units throughout the remainder of the Army’s next fiscal year.

Rodney Malone, a fielding manager with the Army Project Manager Mission Command, said the service branch has committed to ensure mission training centers receive the most recent software baseline for future operator and sustainment training missions.

The service branch noted a universal baseline will support the release of new software, promote interoperability within the Army as well as lay the foundations for the future Command Post Computing Environment slated to be released in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019.

The Army added it also urged proper representatives from each of the tactical units to attend information briefs, synchronization conferences and in-process review calls to help prepare for commence scheduling, fielding and training activities.

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