A researcher from the Air Force Research Laboratory collaborated with the 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron in Afghanistan to help train airmen on how to operate and respond to unmanned aircraft systems on the battlefield.

The U.S. Air Force said Friday the move is part of Defense Department efforts to test new strategies on how to address potential threats related to the use of UAS platforms.

Ryan Wilkerson, a researcher at the 455th ESFS, said that the program will also help troops evaluate counter-UAS systems that arrive at the Bagram Air Field.

Troops from the 455th ESFS operated drones to practice piloting and study how potential adversaries may use the UAS systems.

Wilkerson noted that the troops deployed the drones to help prepare and train airmen on how to commence real-world operations that will involve UAS platforms.

The U.S. Navy‘s 63rd Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS John Finn, has joined the service branch’s operational fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, DVIDS reported Saturday.

Adm. Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said at the commissioning ceremony that USS John Finn will support U.S. power projection efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.

Cmdr. Micheal Wagner will lead the destroyer’s crew of 300 officers and enlisted personnel, the report stated.

USS John Finn is the first ship to be built from the keel up with the Aegis Baseline 9 weapon system, which is designed to provide air warfare and ballistic missile defense support, DoD News reported.

Harris noted that the ship reflects the U.S. government’s commitment to its allies in the region and to homeland defense.

The destroyer is named after former Navy chief petty officer John Finn who received the first Medal of Honor of World War II for his heroic actions during the attacks on Pearl Harbor.

Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas) has said the National Space Council should work to determine the scope of the U.S. Air Force‘s role in the delivery of weather data to the U.S. government, Breaking Defense reported Friday.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on June 30 to re-establish the National Space Council that last operated in 1993.

Babin said at a forum hosted by the Aerospace Corp. and George Washington University that the council should also tackle the delayed launch of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite.

Raytheon designed and built the space-based weather sensor as a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman on the now-defunct National Polar-orbiting Operational Environment Satellite System program.

“After the cancellation of NPOESS because of bureaucratic failures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took on the responsibility of providing weather data in the afternoon orbit, European partners were to provide data in the mid-morning orbit, and the [Defense Department] was to provide weather data from the early morning orbit,” said Babin.

He added that DoD should launch VIIRS and hold up its end of the agreement.

The U.S. Marine Corps has increased its use of three-dimensional printing technology as part of efforts to boost equipment readiness, combat effectiveness and reduce maintenance costs for aircraft, vehicles, weapons and other systems.

USMC said Friday that a 3D printer works to help Marines create drones and replacement parts for buildings, equipment, weapons and vessels such as assault amphibious vehicles.

Capt. Matthew Friedell, 3D printing project officer in the Marine Corps Systems Command’s systems engineering and acquisition logistics division, said he believes the technology can help change the way the service branch applies logistics in warfare.

“Not only can we now fix weapons and vehicles faster, we can adapt in real time to meet new requirements,” Friedell added.

MCSC is tasked to evaluate the quality of 3-D printed components and certify the produced parts’ compliance with equipment and system requirements for fielded technologies.

The command partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to produce and install a 3D printed steel yoke shifter onto an AAV at an engineering maintenance test site in Virginia.

The Defense Department’s inspector general estimates DoD will save $33.6 billion if it implements 58 out of 1,298 open recommendations issued to the department’s 46 components as of March 31.

The Pentagon agreed to carry out corrective measures on 1,251 open recommendations, DoD IG said in the redacted version of a report released Thursday.

The report also showed that DoD components and the inspector general’s office have not reached an agreement on a corrective action for 47 remaining open recommendations.

The summary of 288 audit and evaluation reports about DoD’s operations and programs also found 30 open recommendations that need utmost attention and would help the department reduce costs and build up the effectiveness of its operations once implemented.

The Government Accountability Office has urged the U.S. Navy to revise its ship delivery policy to keep defective and incomplete ships from entering the service branch’s operational fleet.

GAO said in a report published Monday it evaluated six Navy ships and found that the vessels were incomplete or showed quality problems when they were turned over to the fleet.

Shipbuilders routinely deliver ships to the Navy with multiple defects and some problems remain after the post-delivery period, GAO noted.

Auditors added that the Navy aims to conduct more work and tests during the post-delivery period of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and the USS Zumwalt guided missile destroyer, which could put the ships at a higher risk of incomplete construction and quality issues.

Navy program offices establish their own standards for ship quality and completeness since the service branch’s ship delivery policy does not include detailed instructions on how to correct defects, GAO said.

The congressional watchdog also revealed that the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey cannot meet a policy requirement to validate ships’ operational readiness because it does not inspect ships at the end of the post-delivery period.

The Navy’s progress reports to Congress show an inconsistent use of definitions for program milestones such as  Initial Operational Capability, according to the GAO report.

GAO added that the Navy regularly declares IOC on new ship classes even if the service has not demonstrated the ships’ capacity to perform mission operations, as required by Defense Department guidelines.