The U.S. Navy operated its ships alongside Australia’s frigates to test an amphibious warfighting concept dubbed Upgunned Expeditionary Strike Group during the Exercise Talisman Saber 2017 joint U.S.-Australia military exercise, USNI News reported Monday.

Rear Adm. Marc Dalton, commander of the Navy’s Expeditionary Strike Group 7, told USNI News that the Upgunned ESG test included ships of the Bonhomme Richard ESG — USS Bonhomme Richard, USS Green Bay, USS Ashland and USS Sterett — as well as Australian vessels including the HMAS Darwin guided-missile frigate.

“The concept is to take the capabilities that the amphibious ships with the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter bring, combine that with the offensive capabilities of surface ships,” said Dalton.

Talisman Saber gave an opportunity to perform Upgunned ESG operations in a complex warfighting environment ahead of the deployment of the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter aircraft, which is expected to operate alongside the Navy’s cruisers and destroyers, the report noted.

Dalton added that the Upgunned ESG concept is currently under development, and that Talisman Saber helped validate the idea and familiarize Dalton’s staff with the Unmanned ESG command and control setup.

The Defense Department‘s office of inspector general has urged DoD to address management and reporting issues facing a program that authorizes the U.S. military to help boost foreign security forces’ capacity to perform counterterrorism and stability operations.

The OIG said in a report published Friday it assessed the results and execution of the department’s Global Train and Equip Program, which was created through Section 1206/2282 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006.

DoD has yet to fully develop the program; establish a strategy with specific objectives and an execution plan; and allocate necessary personnel and resources to manage the program, according to the OIG.

The office also found that the project proposal guidance was not adequately instructive or implemented and that project proposals did not consistently include data or analysis to support prioritization based on projected costs, benefits, and risks.

DoD’s performance measurement approach did not sufficiently show progress with respect to program goals, and Section 1206 reports to Congress, DoD and State Department leaders did not contain enough information to describe the program’s impact on U.S. counterterrorism and stability efforts.

The OIG offered 15 recommendations, including the assignment of a lead manager that can plan and execute the program’s mission as well as produce a comprehensive implementation plan.

Congress has established a 12-member advisory committee that will be responsible for the assessment of the country’s defense strategy that covers force structure, missions, risks and force posture, Defense News reported Friday.

The House and Senate armed services panels formed the Commission on the National Defense Strategy for the U.S. in compliance with the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act.

The commission will oversee review of military readiness, strategic environment, resource allocation and national security threats and submit a report to the president, defense secretary and Congress about threats facing the U.S. and measures to address such threats.

The advisory panel’s members include:

• Andrew Krepinevich, head of the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments
• Anne Patterson, former assistant secretary of state for near-eastern affairs
• Christine Fox, former acting deputy defense secretary
• Eric Edelman, former ambassador to Turkey and Finland
• Gary Roughead, retired U.S. Navy admiral and former Chief of Naval Operations
• Jack Keane, a retired U.S. Army general and the service branch’s former vice chief of staff
• Jon Kyl, an adviser with Covington & Burling
• Kathleen Hicks, director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
• Michael Morell, former CIA deputy director
• Mike McCord, former Defense Department comptroller
• Roger Zakheim, a partner at law firm Covington & Burling
• Thomas Mahnken, president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments

HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Texas); Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), HASC ranking member; SASC Chairman John McCain (R-Arizona); Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island), SASC ranking member; each named three members to the panel.

Lt. Col. Steven Power, product manager of soldier weapons within the U.S. Army, has said that the service branch will field new Sig Sauer-built modular handgun systems in November.

The service branch said Friday that the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell in Kentucky will field the first batch of 2,000 new XM17 handguns which feature interchangeable grips designed to offer comfort for the users along with external safety and self-illuminating sights for use in low-light conditions.

Soldiers at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland tested modular handgun systems including the XM17 and XM18 in the spring then provided feedback that deemed the weapon as step up from current M9 pistols.

“The specific performance improvements from MHS over the M9 are in the area of accuracy, dispersion (and) ergonomics,” said Power.

XM17 and XM18, the Army’s versions of the Sig Sauer-developed P320 weapon, use different ammunition requirements from commercial 320 pistols.

The Army plans to distribute the MHS to all units of the service branch throughout a 10-year period.

The U.S. Air Force has unveiled a new program that would allow universities, small businesses and entrepreneurs to pitch “emerging” technology ideas and innovations to the service branch.

The first “storefront” that will connect potential proposers to the Air Force under the AFwerX program will be launched in early 2018 near the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the Air Force said Friday.

Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told Las Vegas Review-Journal in a report posted Friday that the service branch expects to spend $7 million during the first three years of AFwerX, including $2 million on the first year.

Wilson said the flagship location will be opened at UNLV’s Center for Entrepreneurship and the Air Force plans to add at least two more storefronts later this year.

AFwerX is based on the U.S. Special Operations Command‘s SOFWERX initiative, which was launched in Tampa, Florida in partnership with the Doolittle Institute to help solve problems facing USSOCOM.

Senior leaders from the U.S. Air Force and European nations have discussed ways to integrate and operate the Lockheed Martin-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in the European theater during a two-day forum.

The F-35 leadership forum at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany aimed to give future F-35 users a common vision on force projection, theater integration and interoperability, the Air Force said Friday.

Lockheed also provided a program update for forum attendees, which included officials from Denmark, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and U.K.

Bob Dulaney, a Lockheed aeronautics representative, said Lockheed plans to bring down the cost of F-35 aircraft to $85 million per copy in 2019, Stars and Stripes reported.

The report said the U.S. government will spend approximately $400 billion to acquire about 2,443 F-35s.

The Air Force plans to hold a multilateral symposium in October to continue discussions on F-35 interoperability, including operations, maintenance, logistics and intelligence.