The U.S. Marine Corps and Navy hosted a 10-day exercise in April for defense, commercial and academic organizations to showcase emerging technology platforms such as unmanned aerial, multi-utility tactical transport and autonomous assault amphibious vehicles.

The Defense Department said Wednesday that its civilian employees, contractors and  members of the Office of Naval Research and other research laboratories participated in the Ship-to-Shore Maneuver Exploration and Experimentation Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2017 that occurred at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California.

S2ME2 ANTX participants demonstrated technologies in five amphibious operational areas including ship-to-shore maneuver, weapons fire support and effects, command and control, clearing assault lanes and information warfare.

“The large scope of this exercise allows the Navy and Marine Corps to make informed decisions about future generations of technology for use by the warfighter,” said David Walker, ONR director of technology.

“This pairing of sailors and Marines with scientists and technologists will help move innovation at a faster pace.”

The event also showcased ONR- and Naval Research Laboratory-sponsored systems such as the Battlespace Exploitation of Mixed Reality Laboratory, Mine Warfare Rapid Assessment Capability quadcopter and the Coalition Tactical Awareness and Response system.

DoD noted that some of the technologies presented during S2ME2 ANTX might also be featured at the upcoming Bold Alligator, a multinational series of amphibious exercises co-hosted by the Marine Corps Forces Command and the U.S. Fleet Forces Command.

David Norquist, President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Defense Department comptroller post, has said the time is ripe for DoD to undergo an audit, Federal News Radio reported Wednesday.

Norquist told lawmakers Wednesday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that DoD has begun audit readiness efforts over the last seven years without initiating a “full-scope audit,” according to the station.

“Everything you have heard about the size and complexity of the department is true,” he said.

“But that is not a reason to delay the audit. That is a reason to begin.”

Norquist also cited the challenge associated with the Pentagon’s large number of accounting platforms.

“It’s not essential to get down to one, but getting down to a small number would be a step in the right direction.”

Norquist is a partner at Alexandria, Virginia-based certified public accounting firm Kearney & Co. and former chief financial officer of the Department of Homeland Security.

David Bray, chief information officer of the Federal Communications Commission, said that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has determined that its electronic comment filing system has been targeted by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

The FCC said Monday that external actors attempted to bombard the agency website’s comment system and that this prevented personnel from engaging with legitimate commenters.

“While the comment system remained up and running the entire time, these DDoS events tied up the servers and prevented them from responding to people attempting to submit comments,” said Bray.

“We have worked with our commercial partners to address this situation and will continue to monitor developments going forward.”

Evan Greer, campaign director for non-profit organization Fight for the Future, urged the FCC to release its logs to an independent security analyst that could help confirm the validity of the agency’s statements, USA Today reported Monday.

The report noted that the Sunday attacks on the agency’s website happened as the commission requested feedback on net neutrality issues.

FCC proposed to end the regulation of the internet as a public utility and asked for public comments regarding a plan that will restore “internet freedom” via the reinstatement of market-based policies and the removal of the internet conduct standard.

The U.S. Air Force plans to grant L3 Technologies authority to determine how to replace the military branch’s EC-130H Compass Call electronic attack aircraft, Defense One reported Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, military deputy to the Air Force’s assistant secretary for acquisition, told Defense One the branch looks to transfer 10 EC-130H electronic packages to new aircraft that could provide higher flight capacity.

BAE Systems built the aircraft’s prime mission equipment while L3 served as the aircraft integration and depot maintenance provider, according to the Air Force website.

Defense One reported L3 will transfer and reinstall the EC-130H electronics into 10 new commercial aircraft as lead systems integrator of the replacement program.

Acting Air Force Secretary Lisa Disbrow has said she believes that a lead systems integrator approach is an “efficient, expedient and cost-effective” way to re-host the Compass Call technology onto non-developmental commercial aircraft.

Boeing, Gulfstream Aerospace and Bombardier are the companies expected to bid on the EC-130H replacement program, the report stated.

Emily Grabowski, an Air Force spokeswoman, estimates the program will cost $2 billion over 10 years.