NASA and UC Berkeley Form Agreement on Supercomputing Resources Hosting
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NASA and UC Berkeley Form Agreement on Supercomputing Resources Hosting

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the University of California, Berkeley are working together to host supercomputing resources.

The agency said Friday it has entered into an agreement with the research university to host its supercomputer and storage systems at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. In particular, they will be hosted at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Facility, or NAS, the agency’s foremost supercomputing center.

The Reimbursable Space Act Agreement is aimed at developing novel computing algorithms and software for various areas in science and technology. It will also facilitate an exchange of knowledge and resources between the two parties.

Rupak Biswas, director of exploration technology, said the move to support UC Berkeley’s supercomputing operations “opens up possibilities for gaining new knowledge in aeronautical and space sciences, materials sciences and information science.”

Under the three-year pact, researchers from the land-grant university will gain vital knowledge about optimizing modern computing codes from NASA. On the other hand, the agency will learn about UC Berkeley’s best practices in operating and maintaining computing systems.

A NASA data center will house the latest addition to the university’s “Savio” supercomputer. It will have 192 dual Intel Ice Lake Xeon processor nodes, 32 NVIDIA graphics processor unit accelerated nodes and 1.3 petabytes of flash storage.

The recent development is in line with UC Berkeley’s collaboration with SKS Partners in October 2023. The San Francisco-based real estate developers will construct the Berkeley Space Center, a 36-acre innovation center, at the NASA Research Park.

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USAF Starts Flight Tests on New Boeing Modular Weapons Pylon
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USAF Starts Flight Tests on New Boeing Modular Weapons Pylon

The U.S. Air Force’s 412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, has started flight testing of the Boeing-designed load adaptable modular pylon to check its capability to carry and deploy a variety of weapons for maximum mission agility.

A B-1B Lancer bomber was used in the initial LAM pylon test, but the system is designed to be modifiable for attachment to other types of aircraft, the Air Force Materiel Command said Monday.

Lt. Col. Scott Ponzer, 9th flight test squadron commander, said the pylon testing is geared to check weapons delivery in a “variety of different configurations,” including new armaments.

“We’re excited that the LAM pylon is going to be able to allow the warfighter to carry a whole new set of weapons and capabilities very important for winning future conflicts and deterring our adversaries,” he added.

According to Dan Ruder, Boeing’s B1-B advance program manager, pylon ground tests previously covered interface and flutter testing.

The testing is one of the Edwards base teams’ efforts to work with private industry and test professionals in infrastructure innovation.

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DIU to Hold Competition to Refresh Blue UAS List
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DIU to Hold Competition to Refresh Blue UAS List

The Defense Innovation Unit will expand its lists of approved drones and National Defense Authorization Act-compliant unmanned aerial system components and software through a competition.

Product proposals to join the Blue UAS Refresh Challenge will be accepted until Aug. 19, with the finalists expected to be identified within a month in preparation for a demonstration event at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms from Nov. 4 to 6, the DIU said.

The competition, organized in partnership with the National Security Innovation Network, will evaluate First Person View, Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 platforms and UAS components, capabilities and software to select the products that could be added to the Blue UAS List or the Blue UAS Framework List.

The winners will be announced on Nov. 15, after which the technologies will undergo verification to ensure they are governed by the 2020 and 2023 National Defense Authorization Acts and the 2024 American Security Drone Act.

A cybersecurity analysis will also be performed.

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NSA Director Gen. Timothy Haugh Announces AI-Powered Penetration Testing Tool for IC Vendors
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NSA Director Gen. Timothy Haugh Announces AI-Powered Penetration Testing Tool for IC Vendors

The director of the National Security Agency said at a recent dinner event with the Intelligence and National Security Alliance that his agency now possesses an artificial intelligence-powered autonomous penetration testing tool meant for use by vendors supporting the intelligence community, Defense One reported Monday.

According to U.S. Air Force Gen. Timothy Haugh, the APT tool will work to help vendors in automating the process of evaluating the robustness of their cyber defenses.

The tool will make it possible for users “to more quickly broaden penetration tests of their internal assets, identify issues, implement mitigations, and confirm effective closure of any identifiable vulnerabilities,” said Haugh, who also leads the U.S. Cyber Command.

The 2024 Wash100 awardee went on to say that the same tool will also work to help traditional penetration testing capabilities in learning new threats, adding that AI-powered penetration testing is seen as an efficient way of addressing vulnerabilities and minimizing the extent to which a vendor’s systems are left exposed.

The APT tool will be made available via NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.

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Maj. Gen. Ryan Janovic Takes on Army Cyber Center of Excellence Commanding General Role
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Maj. Gen. Ryan Janovic Takes on Army Cyber Center of Excellence Commanding General Role

Maj. Gen. Ryan Janovic, most recently director of operations (J3) for U.S. Cyber Command at Fort Meade in Maryland, officially assumed command of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Eisenhower in Georgia, DVIDS reported Friday.

He succeeds Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton, who has been confirmed to assume the rank of lieutenant general and to serve as the next director of the Defense Information Systems Agency and commander of the Joint Force Headquarters-Department of Defense Information Network.

Lt. Gen. Milford Beagle, commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, presided over the change of command ceremony on Friday at Fort Eisenhower.

In his current position, Janovic will serve as the branch chief for the Army Cyber, Signal and Electromagnetic Warfare and as the military installation’s senior commander.

The Army major general previously served as deputy commander of Joint Force Headquarters-Cyber within Army Cyber Command.

Janovic started his career as a platoon leader in the 201st Military Intelligence Battalion, 513th Military Intelligence Brigade. During his time as a junior captain, the former White House Fellow served as brigade intelligence officer for the 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in the Republic of Korea.

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DARPA Posts Draft Solicitation for Project to Develop New RF Sensing System Standard
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DARPA Posts Draft Solicitation for Project to Develop New RF Sensing System Standard

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has announced an upcoming solicitation to support its effort to develop a new standard for advanced radio frequency sensing systems.

According to a DARPA notice posted Friday on the System for Award Management website, the envisioned capability will control reconfigurable hardware technologies in dynamic environments.

The agency will execute the project under the Next-Generation Electronic Surveillance Technology—or NGEST—program, which will run for 15 months during the first stage focused on modeling and simulation.

Its second phase will last 18 months and the work will center on prototyping, testing and measurements in laboratory and real-world environments.

DARPA said NGEST will proceed with expert input on machine learning, signal processing, RF hardware properties, software and control theory.

The agency noted that selected performers who presented the most promising approaches in the initial stage would move forward to the project’s second phase.

According to DARPA, questions and comments about the program will be accepted until Aug. 9 while abstract submissions will be accommodated no later than Aug. 27. The government will then host an event for oral presentations of the proposed solutions around four weeks after the abstracts’ submission deadline.

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Commerce Department to Roll Out Traffic Coordination System for Space Phase 1.0 in September
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Commerce Department to Roll Out Traffic Coordination System for Space Phase 1.0 in September

The Department of Commerce will launch by the end of September the initial phase of the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, program, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

The announcement of the rollout comes after the agency signed an agreement with the Department of Defense regarding data from military radar and related assets that will be shared with TraCSS and the system’s non-military users.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce is developing TraCSS as a cloud-based information technology system that will provide space situational awareness and space traffic coordination support services for private and civil space operators.

During a conference in Las Vegas, Sandy Magnus, chief engineer at OSC, said Phase 1.0 of the TraCSS system will include a small group of “beta users” only and a subset of the space tracking and monitoring data sources.

Barbara Golf, executive agent for space domain awareness at Space Systems Command, discussed DOD’s efforts to address security concerns over data-sharing with the new space traffic system.

“We are working through some pretty detailed documentation. The first one we just got done … are the data transfer requirements … down to the micro-level” and “signed out by multiple four-stars,” Golf said at the event.

OSC on Thursday released a solicitation for the TraCSS program’s Presentation Layer.

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Navy Department’s 2 Flank Speed Cloud Computing Capabilities Get ATO Approval
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Navy Department’s 2 Flank Speed Cloud Computing Capabilities Get ATO Approval

The Department of the Navy’s Neptune Cloud Management Office announced that the Flank Speed Impact Level 5 GitHub Service and Flank Speed Azure Impact Level 6 Tenant cloud capabilities have received authority to operate approval.

DON’s Program Executive Office for Digital and Enterprise Services said Monday the cloud platforms seek to help improve the department’s ability to facilitate collaboration and provide service members access to critical data.

“These cloud computing capabilities provide Navy and Marine Corps mission owners with stronger tools in Flank Speed to collaborate across the Navy and Marine Corps and support systems modernization efforts; as well as expand Enterprise Secret Internet Protocol Router Network (SIPRNet) classified data capabilities,” said Neptune CMO Director John Mithun.

“We are bringing capability to our customers that addresses their needs at the speed of mission,” Mithun added.

What Are the Flank Speed Cloud Offerings?

The FS IL5 GitHub Service serves as a repository for infrastructure as code, or IaC, and offers security controls and governance to enable mission owners to build their environments and develop and field their platforms. The service also authorizes application development using the department’s Rapid Assess and Incorporate Software Engineering, also known as RAISE.

FS Azure IL6 uses the Azure Government Secret offering and provides mission owners with accelerated access to sensitive, mission-critical information while ensuring the integrity and security of classified workloads. It is a self-contained environment connected to the DOD SIPRNet and is available from three accredited regions worldwide to support disaster recovery and business continuity requirements.

“The Flank Speed Azure IL6 is an ecosystem that brings together over 300 Azure services to seamlessly mesh with commonly used tools, providing an intuitive, integrated and secure space for our Sailors and Marines around the world,” said Kory Bennett, product owner for Azure IL5/6. “Understanding there will be nuances, the end game is to have the IL6 environment mirror the capabilities in IL5.”

Neptune CMO plans to introduce upgrades to the USMC Azure environment to support the Integrated Mission Data Fabric initiative.

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Matthew Seaford Appointed CHIPS Program Office Deputy Chief Portfolio Management Officer
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Matthew Seaford Appointed CHIPS Program Office Deputy Chief Portfolio Management Officer

The Department of Commerce has appointed Matthew Seaford as deputy chief portfolio management officer of its CHIPS Program Office.

Seaford announced starting in the new role in a LinkedIn post on Friday. He will work for a Commerce Department office tasked to support investment in U.S. facilities and equipment under the CHIPS for America program.

Before taking on the new job, Seaford served as a national security adviser at the CHIPS Program Office for nearly two years and was the deputy director for the Defense Production Act Title Three program at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a post he held for six years.

Seaford earned his doctorate in materials science and engineering from Cornell University and his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Rutgers University.

Seaford will be the second-in-command under Lynelle McKay, the newly appointed chief portfolio management officer of the CHIPS Program Office, which has already announced around $30 billion in proposed funding to bolster the U.S. semiconductor industry.

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GovCon Index Hit 4th Consecutive Week of Growth
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GovCon Index Hit 4th Consecutive Week of Growth

Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Index rose by 0.69% last week, an increase that elevated the average to $5,218.19.

GovCon Index is an aggregate index that collects and displays real-time data on the stock market performance of 30 major government contracting companies. With this information, users can make their own assessments of current GovCon market trends and evaluate the standing of each tracked organization.

Parsons, which grew by 13.85%, was last week’s top performer. ICF claimed the second spot with gains of 10.17%, and Tetra Tech’s 8.46% increase earned the company the third slot in the ranks. Fourth and fifth place were taken by Lockheed Martin (+4.37%) and Booz Allen Hamilton (+2.88%), respectively.

GovCon Index started off the week in positive territory, rising by 0.16% on Monday. On Wednesday, GovCon Index grew by 1.33% — the highest growth day of the week.

This momentum was halted on Thursday with a decrease of 0.45%, but overall, GovCon Index was able to maintain its positive trend.

Check out last week’s market reports for more insights into daily GovCon Index performance. To access the full list of tracked companies, click here.

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