/
DOD Issues Call for Projects Under Microelectronics Commons Program; David Honey Quoted
Published on
DOD Issues Call for Projects Under Microelectronics Commons Program; David Honey Quoted

The Department of Defense will provide up to $280 million in funding to support projects that advance prototyping work and production of microelectronics for the U.S. military.

DOD said Monday the Microelectronics Commons FY24 Call for Projects reflects the department’s focus on strengthening the U.S. microelectronics manufacturing industry to maintain the country’s military tech advantage.

Project awards are expected to be announced in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.

“This Call for Proposals is the next step in our effort to bridge the valley of death from ‘lab-to-fab,’” said David Honey, deputy under secretary of defense for research and engineering.

“With participation from companies and universities across the nation, these projects will catalyze domestic production of advanced microelectronics that are vital to America’s national defense and economic competitiveness, supporting the goals set forth by the White House and the CHIPS and Science Act,” Honey added.

/
RTX Secures $80M Navy Contract to Prototype EW System; Bryan Rosselli Quoted
Published on
RTX Secures $80M Navy Contract to Prototype EW System; Bryan Rosselli Quoted

An RTX business has booked an $80 million contract to prototype an electronic warfare tool for the U.S. Navy.

Over the award’s three-year period, Raytheon will develop and test the consolidated Advanced Electronic Warfare, or ADVEW, system for the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet aircraft, the company announced from Goleta, California on Tuesday.

“These advancements are paving the way for the next generation of electronic warfare,” said Bryan Rosselli, president of advanced products and solutions at Raytheon.

ADVEW is designed to condense existing electronic warfare systems into fewer components and build an open architecture to provide modernization and performance enhancement. During the development process, Raytheon intends to align and integrate ADVEW with other radio frequency sensors and effectors used by the Super Hornet.

The new system is set to supplant the aircraft’s current AN/ALQ-214 integrated defensive electronic countermeasure and AN/ALR-67(V)3 radar receiver.

Rosselli said the one-box technology “will deliver a generational refresh to the electronic warfare capability for the lifetime of the Super Hornet.”

The prototype phase will include preliminary design review, critical design review and flight testing. A majority of these activities will occur in Goleta, California.

This contract follows RTX’s earlier support for the Navy’s efforts to upgrade the Super Hornet. Last month, the company’s StormBreaker precision-guided glide bomb was fielded on the aircraft, which represents the first Navy aircraft cleared to host the weapon system.

RTX has recently won multiple other Navy awards, including a $96.3 million contract modification for sensor network design and engineering and a $20.8 million award to construct and demonstrate two wideband passive sensor systems as part of the service branch’s Birdseye Yonder initiative.

Dr. Shankar Rachakonda to Introduce Dana Chisnell at the POC-hosted CX Imperative Forum
Published on
Dr. Shankar Rachakonda to Introduce Dana Chisnell at the POC-hosted CX Imperative Forum

Register here to be part of  The CX Imperative Forum and uncover how government leaders are pushing for human-centered designs in federal technology and solutions.

 

Dr. Shankar Rachakonda of Radiant Digital will introduce keynote speaker Dana Chisnell, Executive Director for Customer Experience at the US Department of Homeland Security. 

 

At the Potomac Officers Club’s (POC) CX Imperative Forum, insights on the impact of digital transformation in the government space will be shared and discussed.

 

Learn more about Dr. Shankar Rachakonda and his role in promoting digital revolutions in the government here.

 

Dr. Shankar Rachakonda: Who is he?

 

Radiant Digital CEO Dr. Shankar Rachakonda
Photo of Dr. Shankar Rachakonda/IAICC

Dr. Shankar Rachakonda is the present Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Radiant Digital, a company passionate about developing applications and products that promote organizational change and provide users with a competitive edge.

 

As CEO, Dr. Rachakonda oversees the development of Radiant Digital’s growth and strategy plans and programs focused on digital transformation and expanding the company’s operations in the Caribbean, India, and North America.

 

Even before taking the leadership reins at Radiant Digital, Dr. Rachakonda has taken the helm of leadership at other technology-based companies. His previous roles were crucial to his growth as a leader and distinguished technology space forerunner.

 

Leadership Background

 

Government AI initiatives
Image by VideoFlow/Shutterstock

Below are the roles Dr. Shankar Rachakonda took on before joining Radiant Digital:

  • Chief Executive Officer of the SCI Group, from September 2000 to March 2015
  • Consultant at Network Solutions, from 2001 to 2009
  • Consultant at VeriSign, from 2000 to 2002
  • Principal Consultant at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, from September 1998 to August 2000
  • Technical Manager at the Raytheon Company (present-day Raytheon Technologies), from 1996 to 1998
  • Senior Engineer at the Hughes Information Technology Company, from 1995 to 1996

 

Dr. Shankar Rachakonda, Keynote Introducer at the CX Imperative Forum

 

Technology has been an indispensable part of various government processes. Through digitizing assets and procedures, government workers are capable of providing citizens with all sorts of services that cater to their welfare.

 

That said, government agencies need to push for digital reforms to keep up with the changing federal landscape and needs of civilians.

 

Dr. Shankar Rachakonda to Introduce Dana Chisnell at the POC-hosted CX Imperative Forum

 

The Potomac Officers Club offers other summits that discuss the most important aspects of the government. Register to become a member and get access to exclusive content from the foremost government leaders and decision-makers.

 

On January 25, 2024, the Potomac Officers Club will host the CX Imperative Forum at Falls Church, Virginia. At the summit, Dr. Shankar Rachakonda will introduce Dana Chisnell of the US Department of Homeland Security as the keynote speaker.

 

Jeffrey “Jeff” McLaughlin, Senior Vice President at Radiant Digital, will act as the summit’s moderator.

 

POC’s CX Imperative Forum will cover the impact of the government harnessing technology to advance President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on Transforming Federal Customer Experience and Service Delivery to Rebuild Trust in Government, implemented in 2021.

 

The summit speakers will shed light on how digital transformation would help modernize services while ensuring they’re accessible, transparent, equitable, protective, and user-friendly for civilians.

 

You might also be interested in: Accenture, Google Introduce New Cybersecurity Center of Excellence; Karen Dahut & John Goodman Quoted

 

/
NGA Releases 1st Topic Call Under Boosting Innovative GEOINT-Science & Technology BAA
Published on
NGA Releases 1st Topic Call Under Boosting Innovative GEOINT-Science & Technology BAA

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has introduced a broad agency announcement to solicit innovative concepts that could help address GEOINT problems across the technical domains of foundational GEOINT, advanced phenomenologies and analytic technologies.

Under the Boosting Innovative GEOINT-Science and Technology BAA, NGA has issued a call for abstracts and proposals for the first topic: Geospatial-Intelligence Foundational Model — dubbed GFM — according to a solicitation notice published Friday.

The research topic seeks to build a trained foundational neural network model that can ingest overhead and ground-level imagery and vector data and help address geospatial questions while demonstrating a proof of concept.

Topic 1 has a one-year base period and three option years and covers GFM, multimodal machine learning, geospatial artificial intelligence, masked autoencoding, remote sensing, neural networks and geographic information system.

Questions for the GFM topic are due Jan. 2. NGA will accept abstracts until Jan. 23 and proposals through March 4 for the initial research topic and the performance period is expected to start on May 15.

DOD Challenge Winners Demo Manufacturing Technologies for Cold Environments
Published on
DOD Challenge Winners Demo Manufacturing Technologies for Cold Environments

Winners of the Department of Defense’s Point-of-Need Manufacturing Challenge have demonstrated technologies designed to help the Pentagon address operational constraints in extreme cold temperatures at the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Six project demonstrations from DOD Manufacturing Innovation Institute member companies were held during the event — hosted by ManTech in collaboration with Army Combat Capabilities Development Command — to demonstrate how warfighters can sustain operational effectiveness in extreme environments, DOD said Friday.

The technologies tested at the event included a portable, rugged manufacturing station for a self-administrable injectable applicator; an integrated “factory in a box” for employing additive electronics and mechanical part manufacturing; an intrepid expeditionary 3D printer; and a zero trust platform for machines.

“Material performance in the cold is different,” said Steven Wax, assistant secretary of defense for science and technology. “We must understand this to adapt to support current operations.”

POC - 10th Annual Defense R&D Summit

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.

/
CISA Advisory Attempts to Guide Healthcare Sector Toward Cyber Resilience; Nitin Natarajan Quoted
Published on
CISA Advisory Attempts to Guide Healthcare Sector Toward Cyber Resilience; Nitin Natarajan Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued an advisory to guide public health organizations and other healthcare entities in building a resilient IT defense infrastructure.

CISA announced Friday that the cybersecurity advisory is based on findings from a risk and vulnerability assessment conducted within the health and public healthcare, or HPH, sector in January.

The assessment found 16 vulnerabilities that can be addressed through the strict management and security of assets, identity and devices. CISA also recommended strategies for vulnerability, patch and configuration management. HPH organizations’ cyber weaknesses ranged from guessable credentials and passwords to active but unnecessary network services.

The agency reiterated the importance of secure-by-design principles to software manufacturers. It also recommended that HPH entities regularly test their cybersecurity infrastructure using Mitre‘s ATT&CK Framework.

“Exposure of common vulnerabilities and insecure configurations can result in detrimental cyber activity for U.S. healthcare organizations, such as ransomware, data breaches, or denial-of-service. The intent of this advisory is to help organizations maintain the availability, confidentiality, and integrity of their critical healthcare and public health systems, functions, and data,” CISA Deputy Director Nitin Natarajan said.

/
PNNL Establishes New Center to Advance AI Research & Development
Published on
PNNL Establishes New Center to Advance AI Research & Development

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has established a new research center dedicated to developing new ways to create trustworthy and secure artificial intelligence technologies to support science, national security and energy resilience projects.

The Center for AI @PNNL aims to advance AI technologies in critical missions by coordinating research and capability development, building up a skilled AI workforce, conducting autonomous experimentations and fostering industry partnerships and outreach, the laboratory said Thursday.

PNNL has been applying AI and machine learning to projects aimed at boosting energy resilience, improving the U.S. electrical grid, exploring new ways to power next-generation lithium batteries and countering the proliferation of nuclear materials.

“The time is right for PNNL to focus its AI-related efforts,” said Court Corley, chief scientist for AI at PNNL and director of the new center. “The field is moving at light speed, and we need to move quickly to keep PNNL at the frontier.”

POC - 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit

Join the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21 to hear more about cutting edge AI innovations from government and industry experts. Click here to register!

//
Registration Open for DARPA Competition to Develop Software Vulnerability Detection AI-Powered Systems
Published on
Registration Open for DARPA Competition to Develop Software Vulnerability Detection AI-Powered Systems

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is now accepting registrations for the AI Cyber Challenge, a.k.a. AIxCC, which seeks to develop AI-powered cyber reasoning systems, or CRS, that can identify and resolve vulnerabilities present in widely used software in real time.

DARPA said Thursday that the CRS to be submitted by competitors will be evaluated using a scoring system that measures four metrics—the ability of a CRS to: accurately identify vulnerabilities; submit patches that fix vulnerabilities without interfering with software functionality; avoid submitting too many inaccurate vulnerabilities or patches; and function across a range of vulnerability classes and languages.

Registrants will be entered into the AIxCC open track by default. Those aspiring to be part of the small business track would have to submit additional materials to determine eligibility. As many as seven small business will be chosen, with each to be awarded $1 million.

The small business track replaces what used to be called the funded track, which was financed by the Small Business Innovation Research program.

Up to seven competitors will advance to the AIxCC semifinals, which is set to take place in August 2024 during DEF CON. Each semifinalist will win $2 million each. Those that move on to the finals will win a total of $29.5 million.

AIxCC kicks off in March 2024.

Registration Open for DARPA Competition to Develop Software Vulnerability Detection AI-Powered Systems

Leaders in artificial intelligence, including those from DARPA, will be part of the Potomac Officers Club’s 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit, which will take place on March 21, 2024. Register now.

//
DOD Kicks Off CDAO Continuous Bounty; Jennifer Hay Quoted
Published on
DOD Kicks Off CDAO Continuous Bounty; Jennifer Hay Quoted

The Department of Defense has launched the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office Continuous Bounty, a new hackathon-esque challenge meant to strengthen cybersecurity resilience that marks the first of its magnitude in the DOD.

The CDAO Continuous Bounty will run nonstop for a year with an option for extension and will begin with Defense Digital Service’s public-facing assets, DDS said Thursday.

“We hope to set an example in DoD that running continuous bounties strengthens our assets and sets a precedent that continuous checks on vulnerabilities is achievable and scalable to support obtaining quality data,” said Jennifer Hay, director of Defense Digital Service within CDAO.

Hay was appointed to the director role at DDS in August.

The CDAO-DDS Hack the Pentagon team has teamed up with Bugcrowd to operate the continuous bounty, which launched on Tuesday and includes a rapid response capability that intends to enable researchers to look for critical vulnerabilities across DOD’s infrastructure within 72 hours.

Laura Stanton Discusses GSA’s Agency Partnerships to Implement Post-Quantum Cryptography
Published on
Laura Stanton Discusses GSA’s Agency Partnerships to Implement Post-Quantum Cryptography

The General Services Administration currently collaborates with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to ensure that its contract vehicles comply with security requirements, including the post-quantum cryptography standards.

In a blog post published Friday, Laura Stanton, the assistant commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Category at the Federal Acquisition Service, said agencies looking to explore quantum computing could use GSA’s IT Professional Services and Multiple Award Schedule contract vehicles.

These procurement vehicles offer access to IT vendors that provide relevant products and services to assess cryptographic risks and test safeguards to help agencies protect their sensitive information.

“We look forward to working with more agencies to help them prepare for this imminent post-quantum future,” Stanton said.

GSA is set to host a Quantum Summit on April 16 to familiarize agencies with post-quantum cryptography and quantum resilience.

1 … 402 403 404 405 406 … 2,621