Deborah Lee James said Monday at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference that addressing workforce issues remains as her top priority as secretary of the U.S. Air Force.

The military branch said Monday James also reaffirmed her commitment to increase the presence of active-duty Airmen as well as prevent sexual assaults through victim care and investigative assets.

James told audience at the AFA event it is necessary to replace and modernize a fleet with an average aircraft age of 27 years old to help address challenges facing the Air Force’s readiness.

She said the service branch works to update its space enterprise culture in an effort to help secure assets in case conflicts on Earth extend to space.

The Air Force secretary forecasts the passage of a long-term continuing resolution would reduce overall Air Force funds by approximately $1.3 billion, limit airmen training and readiness and affect National Guard and Reserve drill weekends and flying hours.

James added a long-term CR would cap the production of KC-46A Pegasus, delay the development of B-21 Raider aircraft and postpone 50 major construction projects.

The Defense Department‘s strategic capabilities office has experimented with autonomous technologies that SCO aims to transition to the U.S. Air Force and the Marine Corps, Defense News reported Sunday.

Aaron Mehta writes SCO Director William Roper’s team is developing Perdix — an unmanned system designed to be hand-launched or deployed from fighter aircraft to connect with other Perdix units and create a swarm of small unmanned systems.

The report said Roper expects DoD to decide next year on whether to hand over Perdix to the Air Force.

SCO also funds the development of a kit that works to transform USMC supply vessels into coast surveillance vessels after Marines have gathered supplies, according to the publication.

Roper expects that the kit will be developed and tested for two more years before the program’s potential transition to the Marine Corps, Mehta wrote.

The Fort Benning Maneuver Center of Excellence, Program Manager for Close Combat Systems and the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center look to develop a new lethal hand grenade that works to deliver both fragmentation and blast overpressure explosions.

The Army said Monday the Enhanced Tactical Multi-Purpose hand grenade will utilize a soldier-centric design based on close-combat requirements in efforts to provide flexibility, ease of use and safety to warfighters in the field.

“Not only will ET-MP provide additional capabilities and lethality to the warfighter, it will also be the first Army Fuze Safety Review Board and Insensitive Munition-qualified lethal grenade in the Army’s portfolio,” said Jessica Perciballi, ARDEC project officer for ET-MP.

She noted ET-MP is designed for ambidextrous use and is multipurpose to enable soldiers to carry only one type of hand grenade for both fragmentation or concussive effects.

“With these upgrades in the ET-MP, not only is the fuze timing completely electronic, but the detonation train is also out-of-line,” said Matthew Hall, grenades tech base development lead.

He added the service branch plans to transition the new hand grenade to PM CCS in fiscal year 2020.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said automated systems, cyber technology and biological research efforts are necessary to keep the Defense Department moving forward, DoD News reported Monday.

Jim Garamone writes Carter told audience at a Hoover Institution event held Monday in Washington he believes the U.S. military can accomplish its goals through innovation.

“The goal… is to make sure we remain the finest fighting force in the world,” he said.

“It has always been our relationship with private industry that has been our channel through which we got the best technology.”

Carter led the establishment of Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental outposts in California, Massachusetts and Texas in efforts to help DoD connect with local technology companies and said he wants the department to open more DIUx units that will reach out to young people who aim to make a difference.

The U.S. Navy has named the T-AO 209 and T-AO 210 fleet replenishment oilers in honor of two American civil and human rights heroes during a ceremony held at the Boston Public Library.

T-AO 209 and T-AO 210 will respectively bear the names USNS Lucy Stone and USNS Sojourner Truth, the Navy said Monday.

“Both Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth fought relentlessly for all human rights,” said Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy.

“It is important to recognize and honor those who have strived to fulfill the promise laid out in our Constitution — to form a more perfect union.”

Stone was a 19th-century abolitionist, suffragist and women’s rights advocate who organized the first National Women’s Rights Convention and helped form the Woman’s National Loyal League and the American Women Suffrage Association.

Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree and was a civil rights and equality advocate as well as an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist who escaped from slavery in 1826.

The Military Sealift Command will operate the ships to help replenish the fuel of deployed Navy ships and carrier-based aircraft.

Construction of the USNS Lucy Stone is set to begin in 2021 to be followed by USNS Sojourner Truth in 2022, the Navy said.