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Capgemini, JMA Wireless Win in Multiple Categories at NTIA 5G Challenge
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Capgemini, JMA Wireless Win in Multiple Categories at NTIA 5G Challenge

IT services provider Capgemini won first prize in the multi-vendor end-to-end integration category at the 2023 5G Challenge, bringing home $750,000. The company’s engineering business also received $100,000 under the wraparound emulation testing category.

For its part, JMA Wireless was named one of two winners under the best software bill of materials category, receiving $100,000. The networking hardware provider was also deemed a winner under the wraparound emulation testing category, bringing home an additional $100,000, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said Thursday.

Organized by the NTIA’s Institute for Telecommunication Sciences in partnership with the Department of Defense, the competition seeks to promote the adoption of multi-vendor solutions, 5G open interfaces and interoperable systems.

The 2023 edition of the 5G Challenge, the second in its history, strove to reward contestants capable of integrating hardware and software for key 5G network subsystems. A total of $7 million in prizes was awarded for the competition.

Alan Davidson, the administrator for the NTIA and assistant secretary of commerce, congratulated the winners of the 2023 5G Challenge and said the technologies they demonstrated offered a glimpse of a future characterized by a global telecommunications supply chain that is resilient, competitive and diverse.

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Pentagon Submits Selected Acquisition Reports to Congress
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Pentagon Submits Selected Acquisition Reports to Congress

The Department of Defense has handed to Congress annual selected acquisition reports as part of the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2024.

DOD said Friday SARs have been submitted for 75 major defense acquisition programs and 20 middle tier of acquisition programs.

The acquisition reports for MDAPs include 36 for the Department of the Navy, 21 for the Department of the Air Force and 16 for the Department of the Army.

The Missile Defense System and Chemical Demilitarization-Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives are the two additional MDAPs under the purview of the undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment.

Meeting the MDAP cost threshold are 20 MTA programs, including 12 for the Department of the Air Force and five for the Department of the Army.

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Lockheed Launches New Center Highlighting Remote Satellite Operation Tech; Maria Demaree Quoted
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Lockheed Launches New Center Highlighting Remote Satellite Operation Tech; Maria Demaree Quoted

Lockheed Martin has opened a new technology test bed to illuminate the potential of a web-based, secure cloud infrastructure to enable operators to manage multiple space missions concurrently.

Located on Lockheed’s Denver, Colorado campus, the Operations Center of the Future will leverage the company’s Compass Mission Planning and Horizon Command and Control software to demonstrate remote satellite management, Lockheed announced from Littleton, Colorado earlier this month.

Maria Demaree, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Space’s national security space unit and a 2023 Wash100 Award winner, said the center’s advanced artificial intelligence, automation and cloud capabilities allow operators at any location to stay closer to the mission than ever before.

“Remote operators can instantly receive timely mission alerts about satellite operations, and then securely log-in to make smart, fast decisions from virtually anywhere,” she elaborated.

The Operations Center of the Future’s technologies have already been used to fly over 50 spacecraft in various government, research and commercial space missions. Lockheed’s software enables operators to manage single satellites as well as complete constellations of related or different satellite varieties simultaneously at nearly any location. With the included AI/machine learning tools, operators are able to control almost any size of satellite constellation, and because the center allows operators to use the same baseline software across different missions, it requires minimal staff to function.

Earlier this year, the test bed successfully showcased its concept of operations with the flight of Lockheed’s In-space Upgrade Satellite System demonstrator, displaying how small satellites can improve and sustain space architectures. In the future, the center is anticipated to command and control the organization’s Pony Express 2, TacSat and LM 400 on-orbit technology demonstration missions.

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth & Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George Weigh in on Major Army Transformation Initiatives
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Army Secretary Christine Wormuth & Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George Weigh in on Major Army Transformation Initiatives

The U.S. Army is embracing constant transformation and interoperability to adapt to the evolving battlefield, according to top Army officials.

During a discussion with the Center for Strategic and International Studies last week, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth and recently appointed Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George noted Project Convergence, multinational exercises and recruiting efforts as three ways the service branch is shaking things up, the Army said on Sunday.

Wormuth, a 2023 Wash100 winner, said the Army is moving away from a strictly annual cycle for Project Convergence to create more space to “learn fully from last year’s experience and really build the set of experimentation cases for the next year.” She said the service branch found that absorbing lessons learned from the previous year takes longer than just 12 months.

George emphasized the importance of interoperability in developing the force. In recent months, the Army participated in two significant multinational exercises with U.S. allies. During Super Garuda Shield, which concluded earlier this month in Indonesia, military personnel from 14 nations — including newcomers Australia, Singapore and Japan — came together for arms, live-fire and amphibious and airborne exercises. In July and August, the Army joined Australia’s Talisman Sabre program, where the service branch and international allies defended an island chain from a hostile entity.

In the realm of recruitment, the Army has set a goal of recruiting approximately 60,000 new Soldiers each year. Though the service branch does not expect to reach its target recruiting numbers this year, Wormuth said she has seen the pace of new recruits speed up in the past couple of months.

Another part of building up the force, said George, is improving the methods used to train and educate its personnel.

George characterized the Army’s strategy as viewing warfighting as “continuous transformation.” What this means, he said, is tying each piece together to “make sure we’re doing this in a continuous fashion.”

Army Secretary Christine Wormuth & Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George Weigh in on Major Army Transformation Initiatives

Interested in learning more about how the Army is adapting to modern battlefield requirements? At ExecutiveBiz’s Army Acquisition Priorities: Balancing Readiness and Modernization Forum on Nov. 8, you will have the opportunity to hear insights from top Army officials and industry experts on the service branch’s efforts to upgrade its acquisition processes and deploy cutting-edge technologies. Click here to learn more, and click here to register to attend.

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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Continue Running Ocean Observatories Initiative Following $220M NSF Award
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Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to Continue Running Ocean Observatories Initiative Following $220M NSF Award

A group of organizations under the leadership of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has been awarded $220 million by the National Science Foundation for the continued operation of the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a collection of instruments that work to monitor ocean processes.

According to the NSF, the WHOI-led group will use the new funds to enhance OOI’s cybersecurity and hire additional staff.

The group, whose members include the University of Washington and Oregon State University, will also use the money to finance the relocation of the Pioneer Array, one of OOI’s two arrays that work to monitor the coastal environment. The Pioneer Array is currently positioned off the coast of New England.

Lisa Clough, who heads the ocean sciences division at the NSF, described the function of OOI as “directly monitoring critical organs of the Earth” and underscored the necessity of such surveillance in light of fossil fuel use and its effect on the oceans.

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Independent Review Board Recommends Budget, Organizational Structure Tweaks for Mars Sample Return Mission
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Independent Review Board Recommends Budget, Organizational Structure Tweaks for Mars Sample Return Mission

NASA has released to the public an independent review board’s report on the Mars Sample Return mission, and is preparing to take action on some of the panel’s recommendations.

The agency said Thursday that it built a team to respond to the findings, which cited concerns about the project’s cost and the efficiency of its proposed sample collection process.

One of the IRB’s recommendations was to optimize the collection of Mars sample materials that will be loaded onto NASA’s Perseverance rover. The mission should be discerning in selecting samples of high scientific value and should consider the health of the rover in gathering the specimens to be studied in Earth, according to the report.

The board also provided suggestions on the overall organizational structure of the project, such as the establishment of an integrated Mars exploration program office with a planning and control group at NASA’s headquarters.

NASA’s team plans to respond to the recommendations by the second quarter of the agency’s 2024 fiscal year.

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FCC OKs Rules to Allocate Radio Spectrum for Commercial Space Launches; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted
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FCC OKs Rules to Allocate Radio Spectrum for Commercial Space Launches; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted

The Federal Communications Commission has passed new rules meant to provide commercial space launch operators access to spectrum resources needed for communications during satellite launches and science exploration missions.

The FCC rules will expand allocation in the 2025 to 2110 MHz band to support ground-to-launch vehicle telecommand and free up the entire 2200 to 2290 MHz band for launch telemetry, the commission said Thursday.

With the new policy, a non-exclusive licensing framework and technical rules will be established to provide commercial launch providers with the predictability they need to carry out their operations.

FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said allocating airwaves for commercial space launches “will make our process simpler and more open to new entrants.”

“It will better facilitate coordination with our federal partners through the use of a frequency coordinator,” added Rosenworcel, who first introduced the spectrum rules in late July.

According to the FCC, 79 commercial space launches occurred in 2022, up from nine launches in 2015.

The move marks the latest effort in advancing the commission’s Space Innovation agenda.

White House Asks Agencies to Account for Climate Change Impacts in Federal Procurement
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White House Asks Agencies to Account for Climate Change Impacts in Federal Procurement

The White House has directed agencies to calculate the costs of climate change impacts by using the social cost of greenhouse gases or SC-GHG metric in federal procurement processes as part of the implementation of an interagency working group recommendation to address the climate crisis.

High-impact procurements, including the purchase of large energy-consuming systems, could serve as pilots that could enable federal agencies to integrate SC-GHG, the White House said Thursday.

According to the Biden administration, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council agencies have solicited public feedback on plans to incorporate SC-GHG values in local and international procurement decisions.

The president has also required agencies to account for SC-GHG in budget development and implementation and environmental reviews in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act.

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Melissa Dalton Nominated for Under Secretary of the Air Force Role
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Melissa Dalton Nominated for Under Secretary of the Air Force Role

Melissa Dalton, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs at the Department of Defense, was nominated by President Joe Biden to become the under secretary of the U.S. Air Force.

In her current role, Dalton provides the DOD secretary and other senior defense leaders with informed recommendations on defense continuity and mission assurance; homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities; and Arctic and global resilience. She also guides U.S. defense and security policy for Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and South America.

She was principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy, plans and capabilities for over a year before taking on her present designation. She held that previous role for over a year, advising defense leaders on national security, defense strategy and other key areas.

Dalton’s career also includes time as a senior fellow and deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies International Security Program and Director of the Cooperative Defense Project.

Additionally, she spent a decade as a civil servant in the DOD during the Bush-Cheney and Obama-Biden administrations.

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CISA, FBI Release Joint Advisory on Mitigating Snatch Ransomware Attacks
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CISA, FBI Release Joint Advisory on Mitigating Snatch Ransomware Attacks

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI have released a joint cybersecurity advisory warning organizations against a ransomware variant that targets the critical infrastructure sector.

The CSA outlines indicators of compromise and tactics, techniques and procedures associated with the Snatch ransomware variant identified through recent FBI investigations, CISA said Wednesday.

Snatch is a ransomware-as-a-service operation that uses data exfiltration and double extortion to target a wide range of critical infrastructure sectors, including the defense industrial base.

According to the agencies, Snatch operators have changed their tactics based on current trends in the cybercriminal space and the successes of other ransomware operations.

The FBI and CISA recommended that organizations review the CSA and implement best practices to mitigate Snatch ransomware attacks.

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