/
Rear Adm. Douglas Williams: MDA Eyes Inaugural Aegis Flight Test in Guam by Dec. 2024
Published on
Rear Adm. Douglas Williams: MDA Eyes Inaugural Aegis Flight Test in Guam by Dec. 2024

Rear Adm. Douglas Williams, acting director of the Missile Defense Agency, said MDA plans to conduct the first test flight of its Aegis missile defense platform designed to defend a U.S. territory by the end of 2024, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

“We’re going to do our first flight tests with the Aegis Weapon System deployed on Guam with the SM-3 IIA in the December 2024 timeframe,” Williams said Wednesday at a symposium.

Williams assumed the acting director position on Aug. 1.

AWS is an automated weapons control and command-and-control system equipped with the AN/SPY-6 radar outfitted to detect and track missiles.

The rear admiral noted that MDA also intends to kick off testing of the Next-Generation Interceptor within the next three to five years.

In 2021, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin received contracts to conduct technology development and risk reduction work on NGI, which is part of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense program and is meant to protect the U.S. against intercontinental ballistic missile threats.

Williams, who was named director for test at MDA in 2022, said the agency hopes to start NGI testing in 2027 and expects operational testing of the interceptor to occur at the end of 2029.

OMB Establishes Interagency Council on Federal Financial Assistance
Published on
OMB Establishes Interagency Council on Federal Financial Assistance

Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget, has released a memorandum announcing the establishment of an interagency forum to improve coordination, transparency and accountability for federal financial assistance programs.

The Council on Federal Financial Assistance will serve as a leadership body tasked with informing policy, oversight and grant-related activities across the federal government.

According to the memorandum, the COFFA will be chaired by the OMB deputy director for management and comprised of senior financial assistance officers from each of the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies.

The SFAO from the Department of Health and Human Services will serve as the first co-chair of the council for a two-year term. Council members will select successor co-chairs.

/
Pete Muend: NRO, NGA, SPACECOM Agreement Promotes Commercial Satellite Threat Info Sharing
Published on
Pete Muend: NRO, NGA, SPACECOM Agreement Promotes Commercial Satellite Threat Info Sharing

The National Reconnaissance Office, U.S. Space Command and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency have agreed to coordinate in raising satellite operators’ asset threat awareness as part of a strategic framework, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

Pete Muend, director of the NRO Commercial Systems Program Office, said at a recent forum that data-sharing initiatives under the Commercial Space Protection Tri-Seal Strategic Framework could help imagery providers “make informed collection operations decisions in their support of U.S. government and non-governmental customers.”

Muend noted the interagency partnership will look to SPACECOM to relay classified and unclassified information about threats affecting the satellite industry.

With the framework, the NRO hopes agency contractors would notify the government about electronic jamming or cybersecurity incidents in systems that support the intelligence community mission.

SPACECOM’s role in the collaboration is to investigate threat reports from industry and offer anomaly response recommendations, while NGA will also receive information about activities that pose a serious risk to space assets.

Pete Muend: NRO, NGA, SPACECOM Agreement Promotes Commercial Satellite Threat Info Sharing

If you want insight into the U.S. Intelligence Community’s partnership with industry to stay ahead of national security threats, attend the Potomac Officers Club’s 9th Annual Intel Summit on Sept. 21 in McLean, Virginia. Register here.

/
Spirit, Oak Ridge National Lab Join Forces to Advance Hypersonic Flight Tech
Published on
Spirit, Oak Ridge National Lab Join Forces to Advance Hypersonic Flight Tech

Spirit AeroSystems and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility have partnered to develop hypersonic travel and aircraft technologies under a memorandum of understanding.

The team will work to enhance high temperature in-situ process monitoring approaches and predictive modeling capability to evaluate carbon and ceramic composites as well as additively manufactured alloys, Spirit AeroSystems said Tuesday.

Additionally, the partnership will delve into research on material processing techniques capable of withstanding challenging environments.

Sean Black, senior vice president, chief technology officer and chief engineer at Spirit AeroSystems, highlighted the project’s potential to bolster American manufacturing.

He added that the MOU aligns with the Industrial Demonstration Program the Department of Energy launched to advance efficient production of advanced materials while minimizing emissions.

2023 Hypersonics Forum

Join ExecutiveBiz’s 2023 Hypersonics Forum on Aug. 15 to hear industry executives and military leaders share their insights on hypersonics-related priorities, strategies and challenges. Click here to register.

/
Doug Bush, Army Acquisition Chief, Accepts Wash100 Award From Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson
Published on
Doug Bush, Army Acquisition Chief, Accepts Wash100 Award From Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson

First-time Wash100 honoree Doug Bush, assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for acquisition, logistics and technology, formally received his award from Executive Mosaic CEO Jim Garrettson.

Bush was included in the 2023 roster of outstanding leaders who made an impact on the government contracting industry, particularly for his forward-looking strategies to modernize procurement programs in the branch.

Upon his confirmation in February 2022, he pledged several priorities to improve Army acquisition. These included “placing a laser-like focus on program execution” to expedite the delivery of better equipment to soldiers; paying more attention to software, cybersecurity and supply chain security acquisition; and executing realistic system tests for early detection and resolution of potential issues.

He also vowed to closely collaborate with Congress to implement the branch’s modernization projects.

During his term, the Army closed a number of contracts, including a $1.2 billion award to Raytheon to support the Ukrainian military by providing training, logistical assistance, and six National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System batteries. The branch also granted a $430.9 million project to Lockheed Martin to proceed with full-rate production of High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems M124 launchers.

Speaking in a recent engagement at the Potomac Officers Club’s 8th Annual Army Summit, Bush said that the service is “dramatically increasing production rates of key munitions across the board,” with help from Congress. “We will be able to meet the demand to both support Ukraine and keep the U.S. Army ready. And I believe in doing this well and showing we can do it, create a deterrent value for anyone else who might think about taking on the United States,” he commented.

New Labor Reform to Raise Wage Standards for Federal Construction Workers
Published on
New Labor Reform to Raise Wage Standards for Federal Construction Workers

Vice President Kamala Harris has announced that the Department of Labor is issuing a new rule to boost wages and protections for workers on federally funded or assisted construction projects.

The rule will update the prevailing wage standards issued under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts to ensure fair wages for over 1 million construction workers, the White House said Tuesday.

The legislation requires payment of locally prevailing wages and any fringe benefits to workers on $200 billion government-funded infrastructure projects.

The administration expects the number of workers covered by the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage regulations to increase with new projects under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

/
DOD Releases Schedule of Procurement Management Reviews for FY 2024
Published on
DOD Releases Schedule of Procurement Management Reviews for FY 2024

The Department of Defense’s defense pricing and contracting office has tasked the Defense Contract Management Agency with leading procurement management reviews of each Fourth Estate component agency that performs contracting functions.

A memorandum issued and signed by John Tenaglia, principal director for defense pricing and contracting, outlines the PMRs scheduled for fiscal year 2024 involving several agencies, including the National Security Agency, U.S. Transportation Command and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

According to the memo issued Tuesday, DCMA depends on military departments and Fourth Estate organizations to support reviews by providing personnel to supplement individual teams.

Tenaglia has asked each of the Fourth Estate agencies with contracting personnel of 40 or more to nominate at least two volunteers to take part in one of the reviews scheduled in the upcoming fiscal year.

“Volunteers may request a particular agency they would be interested in reviewing and DCMA will seek to accommodate those requests,” the memo reads.

Agencies have until Sept. 8 to submit the names of their volunteers and their corresponding review preferences and contracting experience.

/
NIST Opens Public Comment Period for Cybersecurity Framework Update
Published on
NIST Opens Public Comment Period for Cybersecurity Framework Update

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework is being revised nearly 10 years after its initial release.

NIST on Tuesday published a draft of Cybersecurity Framework 2.0 in an effort to adapt to the changing landscape of cyber defense.

The new version incorporates feedback from a request for information issued by the institute in February 2022. It retains key attributes of the framework, while providing additional guidance about evolving ransomware threats and supply chain risks stemming from online vulnerabilities.

Extending its scope beyond critical infrastructure, the latest edition attempts to cater to all types and sizes of organizations. CSF 2.0 now has six main functions: to identify, protect, detect, respond, recover and—the newest addition—govern.

The draft is open to public comment until Nov. 4, with a finalized version to be released in early 2024.

/
NASA Prepares ComPair Instrument for Scientific Balloon Campaign
Published on
NASA Prepares ComPair Instrument for Scientific Balloon Campaign

NASA is preparing its ComPair science instrument for a scheduled launch aboard a high-altitude balloon from Fort Sumner, New Mexico to test new technologies for measuring and studying gamma rays.

ComPair is designed to detect gamma-ray emissions with energies between 200,000 and 20 million electron volts, an energy range that current missions have not covered, NASA said Tuesday.

The payload needs to reach above the majority of the Earth’s atmosphere up to 130,000 ft to ensure technical readiness of new gamma-ray technologies.

“Gamma rays are too high-energy for a traditional telescope to detect – the light flies right between the mirror’s atoms,” according to Regina Caputo, ComPair project manager at Goddard Space Flight Center.

“Instead, our instrument uses layers of different kinds of elements and compounds stacked on top of each other. As gamma rays pass through the instrument, they interact with different layers depending on their energies,” Caputo said.

ComPair has four major components: a tracker containing 10 layers of silicon detectors; a high-resolution calorimeter made of cadmium, zinc and telluride; a high-energy calorimeter made of cesium iodide; and an anticoincidence detector.

The instrument was developed in collaboration with Goddard, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Naval Research Laboratory.

NASA’s 2023 fall scientific balloon campaign window opens Aug. 10.

DOD Manufacturing Innovation Arm to Launch 1st Domestic Production Line for Electrochemical Separators
Published on
DOD Manufacturing Innovation Arm to Launch 1st Domestic Production Line for Electrochemical Separators

LIFT, the manufacturing innovation institute of the Department of Defense, is slated to develop a pilot line for electrochemical separators in a bid to reduce the cost of energy storage and conversion at its operations.

The Detroit-based project will make LIFT the first U.S.-based producer of such instruments, the organization said Monday.

Electrochemical separators are the main components of energy storage and conversion devices. They have shown promise as a lightweight alternative to corrosion-resistant separators, which are necessary for isolating chemical reactants and waste heat from energy systems.

LIFT’s plan is to make test units from the pilot line, transition to full production after two years and support activities to find a permanent owner and operator of the line.

The program “will secure the supply chain of a critical component of energy systems, it will lower costs, and it will create an enduring research tool for separators in general,” DOD Program Manager Kevin Cronin remarked. “All of these benefits lend to providing the warfighter the best technology we can get them.”

Sponsored by the Manufacturing Science and Technology Program under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the project is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2025.

1 … 484 485 486 487 488 … 2,609