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Space Force Mulling Future of Transport Layer
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Space Force's Gen. Chance Saltzman spoke about the future of the Transport Layer at a Senate hearing

The U.S. Space Force may be reassessing its plan to build the Transport Layer, a data relay satellite network meant to rapidly deliver targeting data from sensors to shooters. 

At a Senate Appropriation Committee’s defense subcommittee hearing, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations and a 2025 Wash100 Award winner, said that the Space Force is exploring alternatives. 

“Now we have to look at what are the other avenues to deliver, potentially, a commercial, proliferated, low Earth orbit constellation,” he stated. “And so we are simply looking at alternatives as we look to the future as to what’s the best way to scale this [the Transport Layer] up to the larger requirements for data transport.”

The Space Development Agency plans to launch about 450 Transport Layer satellites into low Earth orbit. The agency already has 27 Tranche 0 demonstration satellites in space and plans to begin launching 126 Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites into orbit in the coming months. 

Tranche 2 of the Transport Layer is expected to have 182 satellites and begin delivering data globally by September 2026.

Space Force Mulling Future of Transport Layer

Experts from across government and industry will discuss the critical importance of air and space capabilities amid the great power competition at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 Air and Space Summit on July 31. Register for the in-person event here.

Could MILNET Replace SDA’s Transport Layer?

Multiple sources from government and industry spoke to Breaking Defense about the future of the Transport Layer. According to people with knowledge of the program, Space Force may terminate the Transport Layer once the satellites it currently has on contract have been delivered. 

The unnamed sources also shared that data transport will be relegated to SpaceX under the MILNET program.

Sen. Chris Coons, D.-Del., seems to have confirmed the transition when he voiced his concern over MILNET. 

“And that [SDA] work, which has been going on for several years and had robust competition and open standards, has been replaced by something called MILNET, which is being sole-sourced to SpaceX,” he stated at the hearing. “No competition, no open architecture, no leveraging a dynamic space ecosystem.”

The Space Force’s fiscal 2026 budget request also allocates $277 million for MILNET and eliminates funding for the Tranche 3 Transport Layer.

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DLA R&D Roundup Identifies 16 Enterprise Problem Statements
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Bradd Bunn, vice director of the DLA, delivered the opening remarks at the agency's recent Roundup meeting

The Defense Logistics Agency’s research and development arm recently hosted its annual Roundup Meeting, where leaders from across the agency reviewed 16 enterprise problem statements.

At the event, Adarryl Roberts, chief information officer at DLA, said the agency’s R&D team must “apply a problem-first approach to these enterprise problem statements instead of leading with shiny solutions.”

The Roundup is the culmination of visits that R&D leaders conduct across the agency’s subordinate commands and directorates. The visits enable the leaders to identify enterprise problem statements, which they rank according to agency priorities.

“DLA is becoming a digital-first organization,” stated Brad Bunn, the agency’s vice director. “Nothing is off the table as to where we will apply R&D’s capabilities to tackle the agency’s major problems and find solutions that have a clear, measurable benefit to the warfighter.”

DLA’s Ongoing Enterprise Challenges

The enterprise problem statements identified at the recent Roundup ranged from enterprise IT planning to scalable data and package sharing.

According to David Koch, R&D director at DLA, current agency projects aim to address enterprise problem statements mentioned at the event, including Department of Defense interoperability, reclamation of critical materials and manual acquisition processes.

R&D leaders also looked at the return on investment and the potential impact of the problems from an enterprise-wide perspective.

Senior leaders who attended the Roundup agreed to track project funding through fiscal 2026 to improve the transparency and agility of R&D investment and then apply outyear planning between 2027 to 2030.

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AIA to Serve as Navy Talent Pipeline Program National Facilitator
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The Aerospace Industries Association will serve as the National Facilitator for the U.S. Navy Talent Pipeline Program

The Aerospace Industries Association has announced that it will serve as the National Facilitator for the U.S. Navy Talent Pipeline Program, or TPP.

AIA, an organization representing the aerospace and defense industry, said Thursday the collaboration aims to support the TPP’s mission of boosting the skills of small and medium suppliers within the defense industrial base to enhance their talent acquisition and retention systems, resulting in a more efficient business operation and an increase in industrial capacity.

What Is the Navy Talent Pipeline Program?

The TPP, launched and initially funded by the Navy, provides employers with the tools to address workforce issues. Now accessible to all companies within the DIB, the program supports businesses in implementing effective practices for recruiting, hiring, onboarding and retaining employees. The program provides training, coaching and recognition without the participants incurring any expenses. The program fosters a culture of collaboration, encouraging partners to share insights and knowledge while delivering data on hiring and retention to showcase measurable progress and sustained enhancements.

“Building and sustaining world-class talent pipelines is at the core of our mission — ensuring our industry stays at the forefront of innovation, while leading in recruitment, development and retention,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning, a previous Wash100 Award winner. “This initiative offers a smart, scalable solution to one of our industry’s most pressing challenges — building a sustainable, skilled workforce. By helping our members access proven team performance improvement strategies and resources, we’re not just supporting individual companies—we’re strengthening the entire defense industrial base,” Fanning continued.

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DOD CIO Seeks Input on Risk Management Framework Modernization Effort
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The Office of the DOD CIO is seeking industry input on innovative approaches to modernizing the Risk Management Framework

The Office of the Department of Defense Chief Information Officer has begun soliciting input from cybersecurity experts, innovators and industry stakeholders to help update the Risk Management Framework as part of efforts to improve cyber resilience, accelerate the deployment of secure technologies and enhance risk assessment across DOD.

According to a request for information published Tuesday, responses are due July 24.

Risk Management Framework Revamp RFI

According to the RFI, the Office of the DOD CIO aims to identify emerging technologies, operational methodologies and best practices to address redundant compliance efforts, streamline cybersecurity risk assessment and improve reciprocity across the department’s components.

Key areas of interest include AI-driven cybersecurity tools, continuous monitoring platforms, proactive cyber defense mechanisms, security control inheritance, artifact reuse, security testing frameworks and risk assessment models that support the rapid integration of automation, monitoring and active threat mitigation within cybersecurity programs.

The government expects industry responses to inform policy adjustments, improve the department’s cybersecurity posture and optimize risk management strategies to ensure the delivery of mission-critical capabilities to warfighters.

Requested Information to Support RMF Overhaul

The DOD CIO is asking interested stakeholders to provide a detailed overview of the tools and methodologies used by their organizations for continuous monitoring, system testing, penetration testing and vulnerability remediation.

Respondents can also explain how cybersecurity assessment and mitigation tools integrate automation technologies to improve threat mitigation, risk identification and cybersecurity resilience.

The office also wants information on risk assessment algorithms that could perform near-real-time risk calculations on large data sets.

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Senate Confirms Paul Dabbar as Commerce Deputy Secretary
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Paul Dabbar earns senate confirmation as Commerce Department deputy secretary

The Senate has voted 56-40 to approve the nomination of Paul Dabbar, former Bohr Quantum Technology president and CEO, as deputy secretary of the Department of Commerce. His role calls for managing an $11.4 billion annual budget and 12 units with 47,000 employees, the department said Wednesday.

President Donald Trump nominated him to the position in March. Dabbar had served in the first Trump administration as science undersecretary at the Department of Energy, wherein he oversaw most of the U.S. national laboratories’ energy research, as well as technologies commercialization at the department’s 17 national labs.  

Dabbar’s Private Sector Engagements

Besides leading Bohr Quantum previous to his Commerce Department appointment, Dabbar had served as a managing director at J.P. Morgan. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Dominion Energy and AirJoule, according to his LinkedIn profile.

A former U.S. Navy nuclear submarine officer, Dabbar earned a master of business administration degree from Columbia University and a bachelor of science degree in marine/nuclear engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Dabbar’s leadership will be vital in advancing the department’s research and technology efforts. “Paul brings a unique science-backed mindset and deep understanding of how the government and industry can work together to push the boundaries of American innovation and technology,” the top commerce official remarked.

One of the department’s new plans calls for a revamp of the AI Safety Institute to lift obstacles on the rapid commercialization of artificial intelligence.

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Tricentis Launches 2 New Agentic AI Offerings for Enterprise-Grade Software Quality Testing
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Kevin Thompson, CEO of Tricentis, discusses his company's new agentic AI offerings for enterprise customers

Tricentis has introduced two new agentic artificial intelligence tools for enterprise software testing.

The company said Tuesday that the remote Model Context Protocol, or MCP, servers and Agentic Test Automation are in line with its goal to deliver flexibility, value realization and responsible innovation to democratize AI access and enhance software quality.

“With MCP and Tricentis Agentic Test Automation, we’re giving our customers the flexibility to build their own AI agents or use ours — whichever best fits their strategy,” commented Kevin Thompson, CEO of Tricentis. “Together, these innovations start to bring our agentic AI vision to life, where AI doesn’t just assist — it acts to drive productivity, reduce risk and transform how testing gets done.”

Tricentis plans to unveil more agentic and autonomous AI capabilities in the coming months.

What Are Tricentis’ Remote MCP Servers?

According to the company, it is the first in the industry to deliver secure remote MCP servers, which enable agentic AI to interact directly with enterprise-grade testing tools. The technology also supports customers who want to jointly develop enterprise AI solutions with Tricentis or other partners, such as Anthropic, OpenAI and Cursor.

MCP servers offer an open and modular framework to ensure that customers can tailor their AI strategies to meet their unique software requirements.

Paul DiGrazia, vice president of quality engineering at Tricentis partner Wolters Kluwer, shared that his company’s engineering and testing team was able to explore ideas faster just by describing requirements to the AI system. Wolters Kluwer, a professional information and software company, received early access to remote MCP servers.

How Agentic Test Automation Supports Testing

The Agentic Test Automation tool, generally available in July, autonomously generates complete test cases from plain or natural language prompts. The AI agent also learns test runs, considers enterprise-specific contexts and interprets visual cues using Tricentis’ Vision AI.

According to early adopters, the implementation of Agentic Test Automation has led to up to 85 percent time savings and 60 percent increased productivity.

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GAO Recommends ONCD to Lead National Quantum Strategy
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GAO wants ONCD to be the central office for the nation's strategy against quantum computing threats

The Government Accountability Office told lawmakers that the Office of the National Cyber Director should lead policy and initiatives related to securing systems from post-quantum computing threats.

In its report to Congress published publicly on Tuesday, GAO said assigning the ONCD as a centralized office for quantum efforts would lead to better-defined roadmaps that allocate resources and hold participants accountable.

GAO Identifies Shortcomings in Current PQC Strategies

The congressional watchdog noted in its report that various documents issued over the past several years to counter quantum threats have identified three central goals, but also presented challenges.

The key goals that GAO identified based on its review of various strategy documents are:

  • Standardize post-quantum cryptography for conventional and quantum computers
  • Migrate government systems to PQC
  • Encourage all economic sectors to prepare for quantum computing threats

GAO noted that the documents it reviewed do not fully define a strategy to counter quantum threats. For instance, the documents do not establish performance measures for all three goals.

During her appearance in front of Congress on Tuesday, Marisol Cruz Cain, the agency’s director of information and cybersecurity, explained to legislators that while critical infrastructure operators know the risks associated with quantum computing, there are no documented impacts specific to federal government operations.

“Unless we have done a complete risk assessment to find out where our vulnerabilities are and the threats that they pose and how to mitigate it, we are not even prepared to start to protect our systems and transition them to PQC,” the official revealed.

GAO attributed the issues to the lack of a single federal organization to provide oversight and coordination across all quantum efforts.

Cruz Cain also highlighted the importance of confirming a new national cyber director to be in charge of developing and implementing national strategies and ensuring that federal agencies are aware of what needs to be done to strengthen security against quantum computing.

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DHS S&T Seeking Applications for Remote Identity Validation Rally Phase 2
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DHS S&T will evaluate identity validation capabilities to combat fraud.

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate is inviting technology developers of remote identity validation capabilities to participate in the second phase of the Remote Identity Validation Rally, or RIVR.

DHS S&T Combating ID Fraud-Enabled Crimes

RIVR, which will evaluate the ability of ID verification systems to authenticate identity documents, aims to combat identity fraud when users apply for government services, open bank accounts or verify social media accounts, DHS said Wednesday, adding that improvements to ID verification technologies will enable the agency to crack down on human trafficking, bank account fraud, welfare fraud, identity theft and other crimes that rely on ID fraud.

Interested organizations are invited to join an informational webinar about the second phase of RIVR on Tuesday. Submission of applications is due July 18.

“Since we announced the Remote Identity Validation Rally (RIVR), we’ve seen a tremendous response from technology users and developers,” said Arun Vemury, DHS S&T senior adviser for biometric and identity technologies. “This challenge gives developers a chance to apply lessons from the Remote Identity Validation Technology Demonstration (RIVTD), refine their tools, and continue contributing to this unique public-private testing partnership.”

The first phase of RIVTD was completed in 2024, helping establish new benchmarks for remote identity verification technology and providing companies with clear targets for improvement.

DHS S&T announced the second phase of the program following the full implementation of Real ID, designed to prevent criminals, illegal aliens and terrorists from exploiting lax ID enforcement for domestic air travel.

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Navy Demos Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing Software Mission Planning Tech for Unmanned Systems
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NAWCAD tested its Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing mission planning software

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, or NAWCAD, has completed the demonstration of an advanced mission planning software called Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing.

What Is the Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing Software?

The Navy said Wednesday the OCDSS software program is designed to streamline mission planning for groups of unmanned aircraft systems, or UAS. The advanced technology leverages thousands of computer simulations to determine the most effective combinations of drones, sensors and configurations to ensure maritime mission success.

Navy Demos Optimized Cross Domain Swarm Sensing Software Mission Planning Tech for Unmanned Systems

Join the 2025 Navy Summit on August 26 and listen to the U.S. Navy’s top brass and industry leaders discuss the latest technologies, such as the OCDSS mission planning software and other initiatives.

The recent demonstration showcased the swarm mission planning technology’s ability to predict how various drones perform together during operations. This allows planners to select the exact number and type of unmanned vehicles needed for a particular mission. The OCDSS software’s virtual testing environment minimizes the need for real-world demonstrations.

“This software gives warfighters faster and more effective decision making — that’s competitive advantage,” said Raymond Koehler, lead software developer of the OCDSS.

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Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Ban Government Use of Foreign Adversary AI Tools
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Sen. Rick Scott introduced No Adversarial AI Act to ban government use of foreign adversarial AI tools

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., along with Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and bipartisan members of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the No Adversarial AI Act.

The senator said Wednesday the bipartisan bill aims to prohibit government agencies from utilizing artificial intelligence technologies controlled by China and other foreign adversaries. This is in response to reports that DeepSeek and other companies linked to the CCP store U.S. user data in China.

What Would the No Adversarial AI Act Do?

The bill would establish a federal list of adversarial AI by mandating the Federal Acquisition Security Council to identify and publicly publish AI developed by companies associated with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. It would also ban the use of the identified AI in executive agencies. However, limited exceptions for research, testing, or mission-critical functions will be allowed with strict oversight and written justification to Congress and the Office of Management and Budget. The bill will also require updates to the adversarial AI list every 180 days and direct agencies to remove prohibited AI from their systems.

The bipartisan bill is spearheaded in the House of Representatives by Cong. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., Darin LaHood, R-Ill., and Ritchie Torres, D-NY.

“With clear evidence that China can have access to U.S. user data on AI systems, it’s absolutely insane for our own federal agencies to be using these dangerous platforms and subject our government to Beijing’s control. Our No Adversarial AI Act will stop this direct threat to our national security and keep the American government’s sensitive data out of enemy hands,” said Scott.

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