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IARPA Names 5 Contractors for Garment Sensor Integration Program
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IARPA Names 5 Contractors for Garment Sensor Integration Program

Three companies, one university and a nonprofit organization have won contracts from the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity to equip clothing with sensor systems intended for government data gathering work.

Leidos, Arete, Nautilus Defense, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and SRI International will conduct research efforts to support the Smart Electrically Powered and Networked Textile Systems program, the agency said Tuesday.

IARPA sought ideas from the business, academic and nonprofit sectors on incorporating audio recording, video and photography and geolocation tools into fabrics to facilitate the development of a computerized garment for potential use by intelligence, defense and federal law enforcement personnel.

“To date no group has committed the time and resources necessary to fashion the first integrated electronics that are stretchable, bendable, comfortable, and washable like regular clothing,” said Dawson Cagle, manager of IARPA’s SMART ePANTS program.

MIT Lincoln Laboratory and Advanced Functional Fabrics of America will help the agency track research progress under the estimated 42-month program.

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Ed Siskel to Succeed Stuart Delery as White House Counsel
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Ed Siskel to Succeed Stuart Delery as White House Counsel

Ed Siskel, former deputy White House counsel and deputy assistant to the president during the Obama administration, has been appointed by President Joe Biden as chief counsel.

Siskel will take over for Stuart Delery, effective in September, the White House announced Tuesday.

In his new role, Siskel will lead the White House legal team in formulating policies and executive actions, as well as addressing matters to defend the agenda of the president and the interest of the American public.

Siskel most recently served as chief legal officer of Grosvernor Holdings, a private equity firm. Prior to that, he spent two years as corporation counsel for the city of Chicago.

His experience in government service includes roles in the U.S. Supreme Court, Department of Justice, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

He also worked for international law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, from 2002 to 2005 and then again from 2014 to 2017.

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Space Force Picks 2 Institutions Under University Consortium Research Opportunity 2.0 Program
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Space Force Picks 2 Institutions Under University Consortium Research Opportunity 2.0 Program

The U.S. Space Force has selected the Regents of University of Colorado Boulder and Virginia Tech to pursue applied research in the areas of space domain awareness and beyond geostationary Earth orbit operations.

The two lead institutions selected through the University Consortium Research Opportunity 2.0 program will receive $6.4 million in combined funding, Space Force said Tuesday.

The selected proposals’ focus areas include decision-making and simulations, workforce development, sensing and astrodynamics trajectory design and optimization.

UCRO is a Space Force program that funds partnered universities to help them conduct applied research and develop and demonstrate space technologies that could be integrated with other space capabilities of the U.S. government.

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Deborah Lee James Shares Thoughts on Adding New Vendor to National Security Space Launch Program
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Deborah Lee James Shares Thoughts on Adding New Vendor to National Security Space Launch Program

Deborah Lee James, chair of the Defense Business Board and former secretary of the U.S. Air Force, said opening up the National Security Space Launch program to the addition of a third launch provider would endanger assured access to space for the country’s most critical satellites.

“Although I’m all for competition … I’m flatly against lowering the standards of the certification process for high-risk launches. And I’m also against allowing a vendor who has not yet successfully launched to compete on the basis of a paper proposal alone,” James, a previous Wash100 awardee, wrote in an opinion piece published Tuesday on Defense News.

According to James, Space Force indicated that the addition of another vendor to support the second lane’s missions could raise costs by more than $5 billion and reduce the incentive for contractors to submit price-competitive offers.

“These realities have not changed over the last six months, so neither should Space System Command’s procurement strategy,” she added.

In July, the Space Force announced plans to bring on a third provider to handle more difficult launch missions under the third phase of the NSSL program by implementing a “dual-lane” approach to acquisition.

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance are responsible for launch services via NSSL Phase 2 contracts awarded in August 2022.

Brig. Gen. Ed Barker Wants to Prioritize Strategic Partnership as Army’s IEW&S Program Exec Officer
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Brig. Gen. Ed Barker Wants to Prioritize Strategic Partnership as Army’s IEW&S Program Exec Officer

As the new program executive officer of intelligence, electronic warfare and sensors at the U.S. Army, Brig. Gen. Ed Barker said he plans to prioritize stakeholder management, review of strategic partners’ needs and building their organizational agility.

In an interview on C4ISRNET, Barker said he intends to meet with program managers in September to do a deep dive of their branch’s projects and goals as part of continuous assessments at PEO IEW&S.

He highlighted their outlook for deep sensing technology, which is being applied to experimental military assets such as the terrestrial layer system.

“We’re welcoming the conversation about deep sensing because we know we’re ready to contribute,” Barker explained. “With TLS or TITAN as examples, I think what that means is they may end up at a different echelon, and there may be more or fewer at that echelon, as the Army goes to this more centralized management, and then pushing those capabilities down to the brigade combat team. I think we need to be prepared to adjust for that, across the portfolio.”

When asked about the transition process between him and former IEW&S program executive officer Mark Kitz, Barker said that both of them had very similar leadership and problem-solving approaches. “There is definitely a different level of responsibility that the PEO has that the deputy doesn’t have,” the new PEO remarked. “Things like being the approving official for the networks and stuff…Mark helped me navigate that.”

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DARPA Releases Program Announcement for AI Exploration Initiative
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DARPA Releases Program Announcement for AI Exploration Initiative

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has issued a new funding opportunity announcement to enable exploratory research on a broad range of topics related to artificial intelligence.

A notice posted Monday on SAM.gov states that DARPA seeks to enter into other transaction agreements with multiple vendors to research and develop “third wave” AI applications that address the limitations of first and second-wave technologies.

The AI Exploration program is part of DARPA’s broader AI investment strategy to help maintain the U.S. technological advantage in the area.

DARPA will issue AIE opportunities via targeted presolicitation notices that will be open for 30 days from publication.

Selected prototype projects may include proofs of concept, pilots, novel applications of commercial technologies for defense purposes and design and demonstration of technical or operational utility.

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PLA Looking to AI to Gain Warfighting Edge, USAF Report Says
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PLA Looking to AI to Gain Warfighting Edge, USAF Report Says

The Chinese military is developing artificial intelligence weapons and other technical systems in hopes of enhancing the People’s Liberation Army’s range of warfighting capabilities, the Washington Times reported on Tuesday.

According to the “China’s ChatGPT War” report released by the Department of the Air Force’s China Aerospace Studies Institute, “there is a consensus in the PLA media that Generative AI has a place in warfare,” and military writings have revealed initiatives surrounding this new technology.

One of the most widespread examples of generative AI is ChatGPT, a chatbot able to generate content in response to user-written prompts. As it advances, analysts forecast that ChatGPT will be able to create text, video and images using a combination of advanced software and high-speed computing in a way that mirrors the human brain.

The report noted that using similar AI technologies for human-machine relations could largely increase the PLA’s force as they are installed into unmanned combat systems that can quickly collect and analyze information and create attack plans. Generative AI may also improve decision making within the PLA when adopted.

AI applications in cyber warfare are also being considered by the PLA. According to the report, hackers will use AI to write malicious code, build bots and websites to obtain user information, carry out social engineering scams and phishing campaigns and create advanced polymorphic malware that can dodge network security software. The PLA also intends to use AI in cognitive warfare, a form of battle that uses non-kinetic methods to shape people’s opinions, as well as in logistics, space operations and training.

While China’s military sees many benefits of AI implementation, there are still areas of concern, including system security, a lack of warfighting experience within the PLA and even the potential for AI systems to develop self-awareness, the report said.

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Berkeley Lab Center Spearheads Efforts to Enable Large-Scale Microelectronics Production
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Berkeley Lab Center Spearheads Efforts to Enable Large-Scale Microelectronics Production

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is leading a newly established center to research and develop extreme ultraviolet lithography technology to enable large-scale production of advanced semiconductor chips.

The Center for High Precision Patterning Science secured funding from the Department of Energy to research new EUV lithography materials and evaluate their interaction with EUV light, Berkeley Lab reported Monday.

The CHiPPS Energy Frontier Research Center focuses on four research areas: photomaterials synthesis, new materials for “hierarchical” self-assembly, theory and modeling and new methods to characterize EUV lithography materials with atomic precision.

Berkeley Lab CHiPPS Director Ricardo Ruiz said the center aims to create a fundamental understanding and control of patterning processes for large-scale manufacturing of future-generation microelectronics.

“EUV lithography is key to creating integrated-circuit patterns on the scale of a billionth of a meter in the materials that are used to manufacture advanced microchips. It’s the latest advance in lithography, a technique that uses light to print tiny patterns in silicon to mass produce microchips,” Ruiz explained.

The CHiPPS team includes scientists from the Molecular Foundry, the Advanced Light Source, the Center for X-Ray Optics, the Chemical Sciences Division and the Energy Storage & Distributed Resources Division.

Argonne National Laboratory, San Jose State University, Stanford University, the University of California at Santa Barbara and Cornell University also provide support to the center.

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NIST Seeks Reviewer Assistance for Semiconductor Manufacturing Grant Applications
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NIST Seeks Reviewer Assistance for Semiconductor Manufacturing Grant Applications

The National Institute of Standards and Technology is looking for a contractor to help the agency evaluate semiconductor facility concept plans submitted through the CHIPS Incentives Program.

In a sources sought notice posted Monday, NIST said a potential contract team will conduct a technical evaluation of proposed projects to invest in facilities and equipment aimed at driving domestic chip sector growth.

The notice comes as NIST issued a second notice of funding opportunity under the program to seek construction, expansion or modernization proposals involving a capital investment of not more than $300 million.

NIST expects at least three contractor reviewers to assess eligible applicants based on criteria established in its notice of funding opportunity and submit resulting scores to the agency’s CHIPS Program Office for final consideration.

The office plans to commence grant program review training for a selected contract team in January 2024 and kick off the submission assessment process in February.

Responses to the sources sought notice are due Sept. 12.

Navy, Marines Trial CH-53E Manned Aircraft Refueling MQ-8C Unmanned Helicopter
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Navy, Marines Trial CH-53E Manned Aircraft Refueling MQ-8C Unmanned Helicopter

The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps demonstrated a refueling mission between the latter’s MQ-8C Fire Scout helicopter and the former’s CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter, marking a first time for such event involving an unmanned rotary wing aircraft and manned platform.

The aerial delivered ground refueling trial was performed at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California on July 31, according to a post on Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.

About 700 pounds of fuel were transferred to the MQ-8C by utilizing the ability of the CH-53E to deliver fuel to air and ground vehicles in austere environments. The said value could support an estimated range of 150 nautical miles and enable the unmanned helicopter to function on the battlespace longer.

“By conducting ADGR in addition to using a mobile control station, the MQ-8C can be operated to support Marines in nearly any environment,” said Lt. Cmdr. Brian “Freq” Paskey, the HSC-21 training officer.

Participants in the trial were Marines with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and the MQ-8C Fire Scout from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21.

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