The U.S. Navy has conducted a fleet battle experiment on its variant of the V-22 Osprey aircraft to gauge the platform’s performance as replacement for the C-2A Greyhound carrier on-board delivery platform.

The service branch said Monday the MV-22B Osprey aircraft transported 34,590 pounds of cargo and 563 passengers to and from the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier as part of the experiment that ran until Thursday.

Ospreys also work to provide logistics support to a carrier during night operations, the Navy added.

“The analysis and conclusions from this experiment will inform future concept of operations and how we will employ this aircraft and integrate it within the carrier air wing.” said Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, Naval Air Forces commander.

Lucas Kadar, USS Carl Vinson air officer, said Ospreys aid usage flexibility since the fleet can be treated as helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft.

The Boeing-built V-22 Osprey is designed to feature tiltrotor technology to integrate helicopters’ vertical performance with the speed and range of fixed-wing aircraft.

The U.S. Air Force has introduced a new course on the Blended Retirement System that will help educate the service branch as well as Defense Department leaders on the new initiative.

The Air Force said Monday the BRS course is available both online and on mobile via Joint Knowledge Online and will work to provide military and civilian leaders a working knowledge on the BRS as well as the DoD plan prior to its implementation on Jan. 1, 2018.

“The Air Force has a plan to train personal financial managers and make them available to assist members and spouses on the financial aspects of the current and new retirement systems,” said Col. Brian Anderson, Air Force headquarters military compensation policy chief.

“In the future, airmen will be able to seek individual information and education from a personal financial expert at their Airman and Family Readiness Center before making a final decision.”

Stand-alone DVDs on the BRS leader course will also be available for use at remote locations as well as a course available at an alternate website for the servicemen’s family members that do not own a Common Access Card.

The Army Department has deployed 400 soldiers from the Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division to Iraq for Operation Inherent Resolve.

The service branch said Friday the newest batch will join approximately 1,300 previously deployed soldiers from the same unit as part of President Barack Obama’s plans to increase authorized troop levels in Iraq.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced in April that the U.S. aims to deploy 217 additional troops to Iraq in support of counterterrorism efforts against the Islamic State militant organization.

Lt. Col. Eric Lopez, 2nd Brigade Combat Team provisional brigade commander, said the soldiers are called the Strike Ready Force and that they were trained to maintain deployment readiness.

The Defense Logistics Agency and U.S. Transportation Command have discussed how both organizations would address future mission challenges through a joint plan.

DLA and Transcom outlined the joint plan at the Fort Belvoir, Virginia-based McNamara Headquarters Complex on Wednesday along with past and current work for future operations, DLA said Friday.

DLA-Transcom Division Chief Air Force Col. Michelle Hall highlighted recent works such as humanitarian support to Iraqi and Syrian refugees and the development of the sustainment dashboard electronic system to track shipments to customers’ locations.

DLA also formed two support teams under Transcom’s Joint Task Force-Port Opening to operate a port of debarkation and handle cargos to support combatant command-led contingencies.

The two organizations also sought to forge partnerships in cybersecurity and participate in joint exercises to address cyber risks.

DLA and Transcom plan to team up with geographic combatant commands, military services and other agencies to develop plans for sustainment distribution in each region over the next 18 months.

The discussion also covered lessons learned from exercises, operating procedures and the development of skills for DLA and Transcom employees.

Lisa Heidelberg, chief of the mission command capabilities division at the U.S. Army‘s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center, has discussed her team’s initiatives to accelerate preparation of infrastructure for an operation.

The Army said Wednesday Heidelberg told reporters during a July 28 media event her group aims to develop expeditionary command post tents and eliminate the need for wires and keyboards in CPs.

“To get to an expeditionary force, you need to enable the commander to be mobile, to be able to command from outside the CP,” she added.

Tyler Barton, CERDEC project lead for expeditionary command post capabilities, said his team has created a CP tent that is designed to support assembly within seconds as well as house a Humvee to remove the need for trailers.

The 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment has tested the tent during the Network Integration Evaluation exercises held at Fort Bliss in October last year, according to Barton.

He added his team also worked to remove video cables in the 200-pound Jupiter Switch transit box through the Display Viewer Application that is designed to connect computers over a wireless local area network.

Cyndi Carpenter, CERDEC data engineering branch chief, said her team has developed the Single, Multimodal, Android Service for Human-Computer Interaction app as part of efforts to replace keyboards with gesture, voice interaction and eye tracking technologies.

SMASH is designed to translate voice commands to activate controls on a monitor display of a battlefield, the Army noted.

Carpenter added SMASH completed laboratory and user tests and is slated to undergo a field environment assessment.

The Obama administration seeks to turn the Cyber Command into a unified command equal to military combat branches and separated from the National Security Agency to give the command’s leaders a “larger voice” in proposing the use of cyber tools in future conflicts, Reuters reported Sunday.

Warren Strobel writes the White House plans to boost the Pentagon’s cyber weapons development strategy to help deter attacks, punish cyber intruders on U.S. networks and address adversary threats such as the Islamic State militant organization.

Cyber Command currently serves as a subordinate to the Strategic Command that oversees military space operations, nuclear weapons and missile defense.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work has visited the Army Research Laboratory to inspect technologies that support the Defense Department‘s Third Offset Strategy.

The U.S. Army said Wednesday ARL scientists and engineers demonstrated projects in robotics, miniaturization and manufacturing that are designed to aid the U.S. military’s capacity against adversaries.

“Our mission is to organize, train and equip a joint force that is ready for war and that is operated forward to preserve the peace,” said Work.

Work observed a robot that is designed to explore terrain in real time and team with a human operator to aid soldiers’ situational awareness in future operations, the Army said.

Engineers also showcased additive manufacturing or three-dimensional printing equipment that work to print metals, ceramics, polymers and glass through one machine, according to ARL additive manufacturing head LJ Holmes.

Holmes added the 3D printing equipment could be used to create parts of truck suspension or a ceramic body armor in the future.

Army scientist Jean Vettel’s team presented their machine learning project that aims to capture data from human brains then design individualized technologies through neuroscience.

Work also inspected the Joint Tactical Aerial Resupply Vehicle — a quadcopter that works to carry 300 pounds of cargo within a 10-mile range.

Scientists and engineers further demonstrated technologies in various areas such as active armor protection and materials sciences, the service branch noted.