DIU Launches Commercial Solutions Opening for Large Diameter Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Platforms
Published on
DIU Launches Commercial Solutions Opening for Large Diameter Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Platforms

The Defense Innovation Unit has initiated its solicitation of proposals for the development of software and hardware to support large diameter unmanned underwater vehicles.

The technology will be used by the U.S. Navy on future LD UUVs that can carry customizable payloads and navigate autonomously and unnoticed to long-distance targets, the agency said.

The Navy is banking on underwater autonomous technology to provide supplementary underwater sensing and deliver payloads in contested environments in support of its submarine forces.

The commercial solutions opening is for vendors that can develop platforms with navigation capabilities despite the absence of global positioning systems. Their prototype must be able to operate at a minimum 2,500 meters deep and be designed for collaborative autonomous capabilities. The technology should also be interoperable with software used by the government.

CSO management is being handled by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport and DIU will accept responses until July 28.

/
UTEP Unveils Digital Engineering Design Center at NASA Johnson
Published on
UTEP Unveils Digital Engineering Design Center at NASA Johnson

The University of Texas at El Paso has unveiled a new center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston that will focus on advancing the adoption of digital engineering toolsets and processes for space applications.

UTEP Aerospace Center will operate the Digital Engineering Design Center and oversee efforts to provide immersive, project-based training to students enrolled in the program, NASA said Thursday.

NASA engineers will offer hands-on learning experiences to students on digital engineering skills necessary to support NASA projects, while UTEP professors will provide instructions on digital engineering software.

Among the focus areas is in-situ resource utilization, which can enable Artemis astronauts to collect, store and use resources found on the moon and Mars.

“Collaborations like this one show we are committed to having the most talented, diverse, and motivated engineers that can continue to meet the exploration goals of the agency,” said Julie Kramer White, director of engineering at Johnson Space Center.

/
DARPA Enlists 4 Teams for Warfighter Mental Health Screening Tool Development Program
Published on
DARPA Enlists 4 Teams for Warfighter Mental Health Screening Tool Development Program

Two companies and two universities will lead teams under a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-backed initiative to develop tools for identifying diagnostic biomarkers of suicide risk in military personnel.

Participants in the Neural Evidence Aggregation Tool development program aim to provide clinicians an objective method to detect early signs of suicidal ideation that could augment subjective mental health questionnaires for active-duty service members and veterans, DARPA said Tuesday.

Charles River Analytics will collaborate with Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Tufts University on the NEAT project.

Meanwhile, Draper’s team comprises two teaching hospitals of the Harvard Medical School, Northeastern University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Pennsylvania.

Data analytics company Deliberate.ai, neurotechnology maker Intheon, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and University of Washington will be part of the University of Minnesota-led group.

The University of Southern California and University of California, Los Angeles, will jointly support the program.

DARPA chose Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to be the program’s validation and verification services provider and enlisted RAND to analyze the societal implications of NEAT research efforts.

/
GSA’s IT Modernization COE Oversees New Applied AI Large Language Model Challenge
Published on
GSA’s IT Modernization COE Oversees New Applied AI Large Language Model Challenge

The General Services Administration’s Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice has begun its third applied AI competition, this time focusing on large language models.

The Applied AI Challenge: Large Language Models will involve deploying LLM platforms to government agencies in an aim to analyze the technology’s risks and benefits, the GSA IT Modernization Centers of Excellence announced Thursday.

The competition will center on four priority areas: the climate crisis, equal opportunity, economic resilience and government customer service improvement.

AI COP will accept applications until July 26 and hold an industry day on Aug. 31. It will give away four top prizes on Sept. 14.

The first Applied AI Challenge, launched in April 2022, was focused on technology demonstration and hardware. The second challenge took place in February and concentrated on healthcare.

/
Michael Horowitz Named DOD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Force Development & Emerging Capabilities
Published on
Michael Horowitz Named DOD Deputy Assistant Secretary for Force Development & Emerging Capabilities

Michael Horowitz was named deputy assistant secretary for force development and emerging capabilities within the Department of Defense’s Office of the Under Secretary for Policy, according to a Tuesday Twitter post.

The defense official has more than two decades of experience in international security issues. He was a director within the former Emerging Capabilities Policy Office from April 2022 until recent dates.

In his new role, Horowitz will be responsible for leading the development and issuance of force planning and programming guidance as well as ensuring DOD Component compliance with it. He will also provide senior policy leaders with advice on force development efforts.

Horowitz’s career includes time with Foreign Policy Research Institute and University of Pennsylvania, where he worked as director of Perry World House and under the Richard Perry professorship. He is on a leave of absence from the university.

NDIA Institute Releases Report on Software Opportunities to Modernize DOD
Published on
NDIA Institute Releases Report on Software Opportunities to Modernize DOD

The National Defense Industrial Association released a report recommending that the Department of Defense create a science and technology board to guide the agency on software adoption and deployment opportunities.

NDIA’s Emerging Technologies Institute said Thursday that its recommendations were based on data from its Software as a Modernization Priority workshop, which took place in Nov. 2022.

ETI conducted the workshop in order to gain insights from DOD and the industry on the challenges in maximizing software’s potential to maintain the United States’ competitive advantage in terms of defense.

The recommendations came from experts representing NDIA member companies and universities, who also suggested the development of tools that can aid decision-making when it comes to software product pipelines.

Software S&T investments should also depend on DOD’s prioritization of long-term needs, according to the report. The authors encouraged the agency to consider capabilities that employ artificial intelligence to address data security concerns.

The report was written in cooperation with Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute and Rebellion Defense.

/
Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein Nominated as Vice Chief of Space Operations
Published on
Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein Nominated as Vice Chief of Space Operations

President Biden has nominated Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander of Space Systems Command, for promotion to the rank of general and to serve as vice chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a 2023 Wash100 awardee, also announced the nomination of Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements, to succeed Guetlein as head of SSC, the Department of Defense said Thursday.

SSC is the Space Force’s acquisition and logistics field command that designs, acquires, launches and sustains the service branch’s space systems, including satellites and associated command and control apparatuses.

Guetlein took the helm at the command in 2021 after serving as deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office, where he dual-hatted as the commander of the Space Force Element.

Garrant worked as program executive for ground-based weapon systems for the Missile Defense Agency and vice commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center before assuming his current duties.

Collins Aerospace Concludes Flight Testing for MS-110 System; Andy Hunter Quoted
Published on
Collins Aerospace Concludes Flight Testing for MS-110 System; Andy Hunter Quoted

Collins Aerospace, an RTX subsidiary, has finished flight testing the MS-110 Multispectral Airborne Reconnaissance System on the F-16 aircraft.

This milestone comes one year after the system’s first flight on an F-16 in June 2022 for an unnamed international customer, the company announced from its Cedar Rapids, Iowa headquarters on Friday.

“With MS-110 development and integration completed, the critical intelligence made available by the system can be rapidly rolled out to support multi-domain efforts,” said Andy Hunter, director and general manager of intelligent sensing for Collins Aerospace.

He said that this expansion of an earlier indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a U.S. Air Force foreign military sales client “will be a major factor” in ramping up production and increasing system affordability.

Included in the MS-110 are multispectral features designed to boost intelligence analysts’ ability to collect information from a broad range of target sets. The system utilizes Collins Aerospace’s multi-spectral imaging knowledge from SYERS-2C, which was flown on the U-2.

MS-110 is built on the foundation of the DB-110 and uses the same support and imagery exploitation infrastructure — a characteristic that allows DB-110 operators to adapt their pods to the MS-110 configuration at their own maintenance facilities to lower costs and reduce operational downtime for the system. MS-110 is also compatible with MALE unmanned aerial vehicles, including the MQ-9.

During the flight testing period, Collins Aerospace conducted an exhaustive set of assessments and related ground activities to ensure that the system’s wide area, long-range sensor suite was prepared for deployment. Currently, the organization is working to deliver 16 total sensors to global Fast-Jet operators as well as 13 pods for three other customers.

Collins Aerospace’s airborne and reconnaissance systems have been employed on both tactical fast jet platforms and special mission intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance business jets.

/
ASRC Federal Books $320M NASA Facilities Support Contract; Jennifer Felix Quoted
Published on
ASRC Federal Books $320M NASA Facilities Support Contract; Jennifer Felix Quoted

An ASRC Federal subsidiary has won a potential five-year, $320 million NASA award for facilities support.

Activities under the Repairs, Operations, Maintenance and Engineering contract will be performed by ASRC Federal Facilities Logistics at Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, the Reston, Virginia-headquartered enterprise announced on Thursday.

Jennifer Felix, president and CEO of ASRC Federal and a past Wash100 Award winner, said that the company is “pleased” to continue its enduring relationship with NASA through this award.

“Our team will keep the launch facilities up-to-date and the lights on in the science labs so that NASA can focus on their critical mission of furthering science through space exploration,” she said.

ASRC Federal’s contracting work targets a range of installations, including office buildings and technical infrastructures such as clean rooms, integration and test spaces, laboratories, launch facilities, airfields and warehouses. The company’s responsibilities surround facilities operations and maintenance, architect-engineering, construction work and utility management.

Outside of the Goddard Space Flight Center, ASRC Federal will also conduct its work at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

This award follows ASRC Federal’s win of a $35 million NASA contract in June 2022. Under the award, the company is currently providing advanced research and development information technology services to support the spaceflight and aircraft management systems at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.

ASRC Federal’s long-standing relationship with NASA was also demonstrated with its win of a $212 million contract from the administration in January 2021. The ongoing contract for professional services and IT support is scheduled to end in January 2026.

NSF to Launch Grant Program for Research Security Studies
Published on
NSF to Launch Grant Program for Research Security Studies

The National Science Foundation has introduced the Research on Research Security Program to fund projects focused on identifying, preventing and diminishing research security risks.

The program will accept proposals until Sept. 25, and award grants by December, NSF said Wednesday.

The Research on Research Security Program builds on efforts by NSF and other agencies in the R&D, law enforcement and intelligence sectors to secure U.S. research infrastructure. It aims to help the research community improve transparency, collaboration and responsible disclosure of data.

Prior to the program’s launch, NSF will host a workshop for national and international experts to raise awareness and identify study topics for the project. The foundation will also host webinars on July 13 and 26.

1 … 504 505 506 507 508 … 2,610