C4ISR & Networks: Army to Test Software System for Cyber Threat Responses
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C4ISR & Networks: Army to Test Software System for Cyber Threat Responses


data ServersThe U.S. Army will test a new software system designed to help field commanders handle issues such as centralized control over security in battlefield applications, C4ISR & Networks reported Tuesday.

Adam Stone writes the Program Executive Office Command Control Communications Tactical-developed Assured Compliance Assessment Solution Reporting Toolkit will provide “up-to-date” information for use in defense strategies to commanders and program managers.

James Ebeler, Army Network Enterprise Technology Command’s chief warrant officer, told the publication the unit looks to remove the human element from the security status assessment and reporting process to address time and consistency issues as well as the number of errors.

NETCOM expects to deploy ART to tactical units by 2017 and launch a pilot of the system at the Fort Huachuca regional cyber center, the report said.

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Courtney Smith Named Naval Training Security Assistance Field Activity Chief; Don Quinn Comments
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Courtney Smith Named Naval Training Security Assistance Field Activity Chief; Don Quinn Comments


U.S. NavyCapt. Courtney Smith, formerly executive assistant to the commander of the Naval Education and Training Command in Florida, has been named commanding officer of the Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity.

Smith succeeds Capt. Douglas Heady, who retired after his three-decade military service, the U.S. Navy said Monday.

Rear Adm. (ret.) Don Quinn, former commander of NETC, commended Heady during the change-of-command ceremony Thursday at the National Museum of Naval Aviation at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

“Capt. Courtney Smith is a proven leader who will help take NETSAFA to the next level,” he added.

Smith received her naval flight officer designation in February 1990 and took her first assignment with the Flashbacks of Electronic Attack Squadron 34 in Point Mugu, California.

She has completed 3,200 total flight hours with 10 different aircraft, including the T-39 Saberliner, S-3B Viking and EA-6B Prowler.

The Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity handles international training programs for the Navy.

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Ashton Carter: US, Vietnam Eye Closer Security Ties After Removal of Arms Trade Restrictions
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Ashton Carter: US, Vietnam Eye Closer Security Ties After Removal of Arms Trade Restrictions


Ashton Carter
Ashton Carter

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter supports President Barack Obama’s decision to fully lift a weapon sales ban the U.S. government had previously imposed on Vietnam, DoD News reported Tuesday.

“Bilaterally, this allows us to make yet further advances in what really is an historic military-to-military relationship with Vietnam,” Carter was quoted as saying.

“I think this will particularly be reflected in the maritime domain,” he added, according to the report.

He told DoD News that many Southeast Asian countries seek collaboration with the U.S. to help them address security challenges in the region and he believes that U.S. military presence there has contributed to regional stability.

The report said Carter became the first U.S. government official to tour a naval fleet in Vietnam’s Hai Phong harbor when he visited the site last year.

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House Appropriations Committee’s FY 2017 Spending Bill Lacks Funds for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission
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House Appropriations Committee’s FY 2017 Spending Bill Lacks Funds for NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission


BudgetA draft report by the House Appropriations Committee says an appropriations bill that would authorize $19.5 billion in total budget for NASA for fiscal year 2017 would not allocate any funds for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, Space News reported Monday.

Jeff Foust writes the House committee released the report Monday ahead of the scheduled May 24 markup of the FY 2017 commerce, justice and science spending bill.

The House committee noted that the bill would provide $1.8 billion in budget for planetary science programs, including $260 million in funds to support a mission to planet Jupiter’s Europa moon, Foust reports.

The proposed legislation also includes additional funds for NASA’s Orion program and Space Launch System and would authorize $1.69 billion for Earth science initiatives and $75 million for deep space habitats, according to Space News.

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US, Vietnam Ink Administrative Agreement to Build on Civil Nuclear Field Cooperation
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US, Vietnam Ink Administrative Agreement to Build on Civil Nuclear Field Cooperation


Nuclear powerplantThe governments of the U.S. and Vietnam have signed an administrative pact under a peaceful uses of nuclear energy deal known as the 123 Agreement to support both countries’ clean energy cooperation in the civil nuclear field.

The White House said Tuesday the two nations will work to accomplish tasks such as the construction of new institutional connections, develop training and education strategies and promote both regulatatory infrastructure and bilateral civil nuclear trade.

The alliance also looks to establish a new U.S.-Vietnam Joint Committee on Civil Nuclear Cooperation that will handle the implementation of the 123 Agreement along with cooperation on information sharing from both government and private sectors.

Both countries will also update export controls, secure and track nuclear and radiological materials, build incidence response capacity and develop public-private education support for Vietnamese officials in nuclear science and engineering and other related programs.

Tiger, Apache Pilots Complete Electronic Warfare Training Exercise
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Tiger, Apache Pilots Complete Electronic Warfare Training Exercise


electronic warfarePilots of the Tiger and Apache helicopters have completed a four-day joint training exercise on electronic warfare detection and evasion strategies at Heeresflugplatz Fritzlar, Germany.

Soldiers from the Kurhessen, 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade and JagerBattalion 291 conducted the helicopter training exercise between May 27 and May 20 to refine existing techniques against threats, the Army said Monday.

The pilots kicked off the first day with a screening mission and a forward passage of lines, an air interdiction during the second day and a vehicle search and destroy mission on the final day.

Bundeswehr soldiers from the 4th Company of JagerBattalion 291 served as the opponents during the exercise called Strong Punch and the 4th Company soldiers used the RASIT radar system fixed to a German Fox transport vehicle as their electronic monitoring tool.

Staff Capt. Thomas Muller and Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Sims conceived the training exercise in 2013 when they trained together with the use of reconnaissance assets from JagerBattalion 291.

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Breaking Defense: UK Seeks Potential Spawns of US Medium-Lift Aircraft Development Program
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Breaking Defense: UK Seeks Potential Spawns of US Medium-Lift Aircraft Development Program


ArmyChopperU.K.’s ministry of defense has monitored the ongoing U.S. Joint Multirole Technology Demonstrator that seeks to develop a medium-lift vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with updated capacity, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

Richard Whittle writes U.K. can potentially get involved with the JMR-TD program and acquire future aircraft spawned from the effort.

Bryan Finlay, senior engineer at U.K. defense science and technology laboratory, said — at the American Helicopter Society International annual forum — the government has decided to replace its army and navy medium-lift helicopters by mid-2030s.

Bell Helicopter‘s V-280 Valor tiltrotor and the Sikorsky–Boeing SB>1 Defiant compound helicopter will begin flights for validation of technologies and designs next year as part of the JMR-TD, the report said.

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Charles Bolden: NASA Eyes Continued Space Cooperation with Int’l Counterparts
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Charles Bolden: NASA Eyes Continued Space Cooperation with Int’l Counterparts


Charles Bolden
Charles Bolden

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has said the agency’s international counterparts remain interested in spaceflight cooperation projects with the U.S. despite concerns over the next administration’s plans for space programs, Space News reported Monday.

Jeff Foust writes Bolden told a Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies breakfast event in Washington that he will meet with officials in Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates next week to affirm NASA’s support for UAE’s first Mars orbiter mission set for launch in 2020.

He is also set to negotiate the extension of the International Space Station to 2024 with the European Space Agency and sign an agreement during the Farnborough Air Show in July for the establishment of NASA’s SERVIR Earth observation program ground station in England, according to Foust’s report.

The report said he also plans to travel to China for a potential agreement on aeronautics and air traffic management cooperation

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FCW: GSA Adds Contracting Officer to Technology Transformation Service
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FCW: GSA Adds Contracting Officer to Technology Transformation Service


Tom Sharpe
Tom Sharpe

The General Services Administration will embed an acquisition expert within the newly established Technology Transformation Service group in a move to boost 18F‘s acquisition capabilities, FCW reported Monday.

Mark Rockwell writes a contracting officer will transition to TTS from the Federal Acquisition Service in order to help TTS personnel in their procurement assistance efforts for customer agencies.

FAS Commissioner Tom Sharpe told FCW that TTS needs FAS contracting officers to provide external procurement support in addition to the new group’s internal acquisition authority.

The contracting officer will impart insights about Federal Acquisition Regulation methods and receive training in agile information technology procurement in return, the report said.

Sharpe said the number of embedded contracting personnel will increase in the future as demand grows, Rockwell reports.

GSA formed TTS early this month to house 18F, the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies and the Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

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Peter Highnam: NGA Identifies 7 Research Focus Areas
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Peter Highnam: NGA Identifies 7 Research Focus Areas


highnam_peter_small
Peter Highnam

Peter Highnam, director of the InnoVision organization at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, has cited radar, spectral, geophysics, environment and culture, automation, geospatial cyber and anticipatory analytics as the focus areas of NGA’s research work in an interview with C4ISR & Networks published Monday.

He told reporter Amber Corrin at the GEOINT Symposium the agency used input gathered from the U.S. intelligence community to identify those seven research “pods.”

Highnam added he believes people have a key role in technology transition efforts.

“So we’re going to be giving resources — people, funds — to technologies and having those people move to be the champions of that technology somewhere else at NGA and to take it into practice,” he said.

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