The U.S. Army‘s research organization and the U.K. defense ministry have formed an alliance on distributed analytics and information science as part of efforts to increase situational awareness during military coalition operations.

The DAIS International Technology Alliance aims to implement fundamental research efforts in order to facilitate dynamic analytics for coalition activities through public-private collaboration, the Army Research Laboratory said Thursday.

The alliance’s industry partners are IBM, BAE Systems, Raytheon‘s BBN Technologies subsidiary, Airbus Group while academic participants include the University of California at Los Angeles, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Stanford University, Yale University, Cardiff University, Imperial College London, University of Southampton and University College London.

“The research will generate the foundational, enabling technology and insights to enhance future coalition information superiority and operations,” said Greg Cirincione, U.S. collaborative alliance manager for the DAIS ITA.

“Future coalitions will operate increasingly in complex and dynamic environments, with a broad range of entities and actors,” Cirincione added.

The alliance consists of three components, namely the Basic Research Component tasked with fundamental research and two Technology Transition Components for the U.S. and UK efforts.

NATO wants to send E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft to the Middle East in October to aid the US-led coalition’s counterterrorism efforts against the Islamic State militant group, Defense News reported Monday.

Valerie Insinna writes NATO Deputy General Alexander Vershbow told reporters the alliance’s fleet of 16 E-3 AWACS planes can help coalition members conduct intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance activities.

He added that NATO will hold a defense ministers meeting at the end of October and the alliance hopes that the E-3 mission will be underway by that time, according to the report.

E-3 AWACS, designed and manufactured by Boeing, works to detect, identify and display hostile and friendly aircraft at a range of more than 200 miles.

The Defense Department plans to retain 240 submarine-launched ballistic missiles, 400 intercontinental ballistic missiles and 60 heavy bombers as part DoD’s New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia.

The Government Accountability Office said Thursday DoD considered nuclear force reductions as part of reviews after the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review such as the 2013 Strategic Choices Management Review and DoD’s 2014 plan to implement New START.

GAO assessed DoD’s analysis that supports the latter’s decision to retain all legs of the nuclear triad.

DoD identified that the nuclear triad’s sea-based leg will support survivability; the ground-based ICBM’s will aid stability; and the bombers’ will contribute its capacity to forward deploy.

Pentagon officials told GAO that the administration considered different options for the U.S. nuclear force structure such as the elimination of one leg of the triad.

The U.S. Marine Corps has loaded an F-35B Lightning II aircraft with Guided Bomb Units-12 aerial laser-guided bombs while the pilot was onboard and engines were running in a process called hot loading.

USMC said Saturday the Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One cadre conducted the hot load exercise as part of the Weapons and Tactics Instructor 1-17 seven-week training event at Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Arizona.

Capt. John Valdez, MAWTS-1 ordnance officer, said hot loading techniques could decrease the F-35B’s rearm time from an estimated 40 minutes to 20 minutes since the process eliminates the need to power down, cool off and restart the aircraft.

Valdez added having to power up only once a day can help reduce maintenance time since malfunctions are most likely to occur during aircraft’s initial power up.

The F-35B hot load process requires personnel on the ground to stay at least six feet away from the intake as a safety measure to address concerns, Valdez noted.

Hot load procedures will be published and distributed throughout the Marine Corps once the process is validated, the service branch noted.

Valdez aims to offer three days of cold load training and a day of hot load training ahead of future WTIs and he hopes personnel outside of MCAS-Yuma will take part in the activity.