A new engineering strategy from the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command will push for technical process transformation, talent development and digital acceleration.

The AFMC Engineering Directorate on Friday published the three lines of effort for its 2024 Engineering Strategic Plan to provide guidance to the unit’s 15,000 scientists and engineers.

The team plans to boost command and center integration as well as overhaul technical processes and policies to innovate, streamline and sustain cutting-edge warfighting capabilities. It will also grow its workforce and leverage digital methods to achieve its missions.

“Our capability development pipelines are being outpaced by China, and our ability to effectively sustain fielded capabilities has decreased in recent decades,” said Robert Fookes, Jr., director of AFMC Engineering and Technical Management. “We must take a hard look at our current technical development processes to root out inefficiencies and be willing to take greater risks in order to regain our capability development advantages.”

Information technology company NuAxis Innovations zeroed-in on the customer experience, or CX, and human-centered design, or HCD, in 2023.

This shift in focus helped NuAxis secure new contracts, cultivate a practitioner community and provide government agencies with new technologies, the Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company said on Friday.

“We hypothesized a few years ago that CX would have a huge impact on citizen services, and despite facing skepticism at that time, we’re thrilled to see the impact our team and our partners have had for our federal customers this year,” said Raza Latif, CEO of NuAxis.

The organization initially decided to prioritize CX and HCD in its government technology programs five years ago. Its strategy is centered around connecting subject matter experts from the private sector and working alongside federal leaders to consider and implement new ideas.

One related accomplishment for NuAxis was its addition of teams of CX and HCD specialists to contracts from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Small Business Administration and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The company also established the GovCX Collective, a group designed to promote collaboration between experts from across industries to operationalize outcomes for CX in the public sector, and received outside recognition.

“Our success this year is a testament to our team’s hard work and dedication, as well as the strong partnerships we have forged with industry experts and government agencies,” Latif said.

At the Potomac Officers Club’s CX Imperative Forum on Jan. 25, experts will dive into the importance of CX for federal agencies. At the event, public and private sector leaders will come together to consider the challenges and opportunities shaping government CX efforts. To learn more and register to attend the forum, click here.

The Biden administration has launched new initiatives to cut the cost of electric vehicles and ensure the reliability of the U.S. EV charging network, including updated guidance on EV charger tax credit eligibility for individuals and businesses and new investments in EV technologies.

The Department of the Treasury intends to propose regulations related to the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credit, which provides up to 30 percent off the EV charger cost to individuals and businesses in eligible census tracts, the White House said Friday.

Treasury proposes intended definitions for eligible census tracts that will clarify the eligibility of the tax credit to Americans in low-income communities and non-urban areas.

To support the Biden administration’s clean transportation mission, the departments of Energy and Transportation are investing $46 million in funding through their Ride and Drive Electric program to accelerate the development of a reliable EV charging network.

DOT is also investing $149 million in grants to repair or replace non-operational EV chargers nationwide.

Air Force Global Strike Command has secured up to $18 million in Small Business Innovation Research allocation from the U.S. Air Force’s innovation arm to partner with commercial vendors to modernize legacy systems and integrate new warfighting capabilities.

The SBIR funding will be available for AFGSC’s four approved solicitations under AFWERX’s SBIR Specific Topic call for B-52 pylon modification, electromagnetic pulse hardening, advanced battery development and integration for airborne platforms and readiness spares package deployment improvements, the Air Force said Friday.

AFGSC’s Commercial Capabilities Integration Transition Division, or CCIT, will spearhead the effort to scout new technology platforms from small commercial businesses.

“Global Strike has proven their mission needs in the innovation space, and we must look at all means, to include high caliber small businesses, to accelerate procuring the right capabilities for the warfighter,” said Nate Dawn, division deputy chief of CCIT.

“That’s the beauty of leveraging the Specific Topic process. We can actually talk to companies doing research and development, find funding through these AFWERX SBIR grants, and then shape product attributes to Striker needs,” Dawn said.

AFGSC could receive another $7 million in SBIR grants from AFWERX for two pending applications.

The Potomac Officers Club will host the 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit on Jan. 31 to discuss the latest developments in the defense technology sector. Register here and save a seat at the highly anticipated event.

The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering will lead site visits to eight regional innovation hubs as part of an initiative to speed up advanced microchip prototyping for military technologies.

OUSD(R&E) will send representatives along with delegates from the Naval Surface Warfare Center – Crane Division and National Security Technology Accelerator to the Microelectronics Commons Hubs in a three-week tour that starts on Monday, the Department of Defense announced.

The Commons hub network earmarked $2 billion over four years from fiscal 2023 to fund prototyping and workforce development in domestic microelectronics hardware. The budget was approved under the CHIPS and Science Act.

The hubs cover more than 430 academic institutions and other organizations across 35 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The representatives will begin the visit at the California Defense Ready Electronics and Microdevices Superhub, which is led by the  the University of Southern California. The final stop will be at the Silicon Crossroads Microelectronics Commons Hub, managed by the Applied Research Institute in Indiana.