The U.S. Army Cyber Command and Second Army will launch two programs in an effort to develop countermeasures against cyber adversaries.

For the first program, Arcyber will begin the Silicon Valley Innovation Pilot program that teams 10 command professionals with 10 tech industry personnel to work on a social media project through direct collaboration, the U.S. Army said March 7.

The second program includes participation in the Stanford University Hacking4Defense program that begins in April where students can select to apply “lean startup principles” to address Army challenges.

“I think we’re pushing on an open door. I think you’re going to see information sharing in ways that we haven’t’ really seen before,” said Lt. Gen. Ed Cardon, commander of Army Cyber Command.

“We’re not in this by ourselves. We need academia and industry.”

The programs are intended to support Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s push to collaborate with the tech industry such as the Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, Defense Innovation Advisory Board and Defense Digital Service, the report said.

Bob Sadowski, chief roboticist at U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center, has told an unmanned technology conference that robotic systems could serve as an initial line of defense against adversaries during battle as opposed to manned platforms.

“We should be thinking about having a robotic vanguard, particularly for maneuver formations,” he said, according to a March 7 Army report.

“There’s no reason why the first contact with an enemy force should be with a man-platform, because it means that platform is at the greatest risk.”

Sadowski said the Army could eventually carry out an extended warfighter experiment with robotic technologies at Savannah River, South Carolina.

The Army has identified robotic systems as a tool that can potentially detect adversaries in the field and take fire before personnel are attacked.

Advancements in robotics for warfare face challenges such as logistics and how to use robots in the field during fights, Sadowski said.

Sadowski said industry developers could create products the Army can work to integrate in units’ missions as a way to make the process more efficient.

Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the U.S. military needs to apply the Defense Department’s Third Offset Strategy toward efforts to counter threats posed by Russia, China and other potential adversaries, DoD reported Sunday.

Amaani Lyle writes Selva made his remarks at the McAleese & Associates and Credit Suisse 2017 Defense Programs conference in Washington Thursday.

The strategy “is about figuring out what we do differently that unhinges their advantages with the goal of maintaining conventional deterrence,” Selva said.

He noted that the strategy seeks to leverage on the U.S.’ fighter planes, ships, tanks and other adaptable assets as well as on potential enemies’ vulnerabilities.

Selva told his audience that continued commitment to U.S. nuclear deterrence should be considered in future defense budget and planning efforts.

He also cited aerial, naval and intercontinental ballistic missile delivery platforms as three components of the nuclear triad under the U.S.’ deterrence strategy.

A U.S. Naval Research Laboratory-led team of scientists has been selected as the winner of the first Defense Department Diplomacy, Development, and Defense Innovation Summit Pitch Challenge.

The NRL said Friday that the team included members from the State Department Bureau of Energy Implementation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Joint Staff Logistics Directorate, U.S. Air Force Air University Center for Space Innovation, Mankins Space Technology and Northrop Grumman,

NRL added the winning concept was designed to harness solar energy from space to power terrestrial instruments.

“The proposed approach entails collection of solar energy, its conversion to microwave energy, and the wireless transmission of the microwaves to the Earth,” said Jaffe.

He further noted the concept aims to address issues that affect terrestrial solar energy such as diurnal cycles and atmospheric losses.

NRL said Jaffe’s team was selected winner in four out of seven award categories for Innovation, Presentation, Collaboration and People’s Choice among the top six teams across DoD and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The innovation challenge is an interagency initiative that aims to catalyze ideas and collaborations on issues concerning national security and wealth, NRL noted.

An international team will conduct feasibility analyses on the winning proposal and if successful, the approach could enable construction of platforms that will supply thousands of megawatts through wireless power transmissions, NRL said.

John McNellis, formerly corporate senior vice president at L-3 Communications, has been named deputy assistant secretary for space, strategic and intelligence systems at Defense Department.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced McNellis’ appointment to the Senior Executive Service role in a Defense Department release published Friday.

McNellis most recently led L-3’s aerospace systems group as president and previously served in the same capacity at the company’s integrated systems group and link simulation and training business.

He also held senior executive positions at Lockheed Martin‘s tactical systems unit, IBM and Loral.

Carter also announced that Melissa Flagg, former senior program officer at the MacArthur Foundation, joined the SES to serve as deputy assistant defense secretary for research.

She oversees the Pentagon’s science and technology programs and laboratories in her new role.

Flagg previously served as director for the technical intelligence office under the Office of Defense Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics.

Gen. David Goldfein, vice chief of staff at the U.S. Air Force, has said he believes the future development of combined arms depends upon a multi-domain strategy.

The Air Force said Tuesday Goldfein checked the multi-domain development so far at two Numbered Air Forces, where the military branch’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and cyber forces collaborate on the effort.

“What you’re doing here is exactly what we need,” Goldfein told Maj. Gens. B. J. Shwedo and Burke Wilson during a visit to the 25th and 24th air forces.

“You’re already executing multi-domain, you’re on the right path, so keep running hard the way you’re going,” he said.

Goldfein also announced the completion of a process to develop the service’s future operating concept in preparation for its 2030 strategic plan.

“That strategic plan puts us in complete alignment with the Secretary of Defense’s vision for a third offset strategy,” Goldfein said.

The Senate Armed Services Committee has approved the nomination Eric Fanning to become the next secretary of the U.S. Army, Defense News reported Thursday.

Joe Gould writes the Senate panel took a voice vote that advances Fanning’s nomination to the full chamber.

Fanning was named U.S. Air Force undersecretary in April 2013 and he served as acting secretary of the service prior to the appointment of Deborah Lee James later that year, according to the report.

He served as deputy undersecretary of the U.S. Navy and its deputy chief management officer between 2009 and 2013.