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Army Advances Janus Program With Microreactor Site Selection, DIU Industry Solicitation
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U.S. Army logo. The U.S. Army has identified nine installations as microreactor power plant sites under its Janus Program.

The U.S. Army has identified nine installations as candidates to host microreactor power plants under its Janus Program, while the Defense Innovation Unit released an Area of Interest notice to solicit commercial technologies for advanced nuclear power.

Army Advances Janus Program With Microreactor Site Selection, DIU Industry Solicitation

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This nuclear initiative is designed to provide secure, resilient and reliable energy for national defense installations and critical missions, aligning with the mandate of Executive Order 14299 for advanced nuclear reactor technologies, the Army said Tuesday.

What Installations Were Selected for the Janus Program?

The Army conducted comprehensive analysis and on-site evaluations to identify optimal locations for the program. The assessment focused on mission-critical installations’ energy requirements, resilience gaps, power infrastructure, environmental factors and technical feasibility.

The nine selected sites are Fort Benning, Fort Bragg, Fort Campbell, Fort Drum, Fort Hood, Fort Wainwright, Holston Army Ammunition Plant, Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Redstone Arsenal.

How Does the Army-DIU Partnership Help the Janus Program?

The Army partnered with the DIU, utilizing its commercial solutions opening process and other transaction authority to solicit vendors for the Janus Program. DIU’s AOI notice seeks to gather industry input by collecting technical and operational feedback on the deployment of microreactors at military installations.

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DOE’s Fermilab, Qblox to Produce Quantum Control Platform
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DOE logo. Fermilab and Qblox have formed a partnership to produce a quantum control platform.

The Department of Energy has launched a new partnership bringing together its Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and Qblox to manufacture and distribute a Fermilab-built control platform for American quantum research. 

The collaboration aims to transition the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit, or QICK, from a laboratory-built tool into a domestically produced technology positioned for broader use across the U.S. quantum research ecosystem, DOE said Tuesday.

DOE's Fermilab, Qblox to Produce Quantum Control Platform

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Launched through a letter of intent, the partnership is expected to advance to a cooperative research and development agreement and a full licensing structure in the coming weeks. DOE described the arrangement as a model for future public-private efforts aimed at building out the U.S. quantum supply chain.

What Is QICK’s Role in the Quantum Ecosystem?

QICK is an open-source platform designed to coordinate quantum readouts and control functions for synchronizing quantum processors and sensors, a capability that could enable enhancements to U.S. computing, sensing and networking capabilities.

“By supporting the transition of QICK from research to production, we are laying the groundwork for scalable, interoperable quantum systems that serve national and scientific priorities,” said Dario Gil, DOE under secretary for science.

How Will Qblox Contribute?

Qblox will assume responsibility for U.S.-based manufacturing, distribution and supply chain operations. The company specializes in readout and control electronics that bridge classical and quantum systems.

“This collaboration underscores Qblox’s commitment to open-source developments and advancing the U.S. quantum ecosystem through workforce development and innovation,” said Qblox founder and CEO Niels Bultink. “Qblox is proud to facilitate this Made-in-the-USA platform to strengthen America’s quantum infrastructure, cultivate a highly skilled talent pool, and cement the nation’s position as a global leader in quantum technology.”

DOE’s Office of Technology Commercialization facilitates the QICK manufacturing and distribution initiative.

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Atlantic Council Launches ReForge Commission to Boost US Defense Industry
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DOD Deputy Secretary Kathleen Hicks. The Atlantic Council has launched the ReForge Commission.

The Atlantic Council has launched the ReForge Commission to create a blueprint for nationwide defense industrial mobilization, aiming to revitalize the U.S. defense industrial base to meet the challenges of modern warfare.

What Are the Goals of the ReForge Commission?

Modeled after World War II’s Freedom’s Forge, the commission will develop a roadmap to transform defense industrial capabilities and a broader industrial base to sustain production and deter prolonged conflicts. ReForge will explore mobilization for potential two-theater conflicts, investment in advanced manufacturing, critical stockpiles, digital industrial systems and incentives for private industry to prepare for sustained conflict.

Who Will Lead the Atlantic Council’s Commission?

The initiative is co-chaired by Kathleen Hicks, former deputy secretary of defense and four-time Wash100 Award winner, and William “Mac” Thornberry, former chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Stephen Rodriguez will serve as director of the commission.

Who Are the Other Members of the ReForge Commission?

The commissioners are Lael Brainard, James “Hoss” Cartwright, Walter Copan, Melissa Dalton, Alan Estevez, Frank Finelli, Michael Gilday, Paul Kwan, Steve Lyons, Nadia Schadlow and Jon Tester.

Industry commissioners include Applied Intuition’s Jason Brown, Scott Cooper of Peraton, Lockheed Martin’s Megan Dake, Alex Daly of PTC and Gecko Robotics President Troy Demmer. Also part of the commission are Booz Allen Hamilton’s Steve Escaravage, a four-time Wash100 awardee; Hank Holland of Amaero; Rob Lehman of Saronic; Primer AI CEO Sean Moriarty; Edge Case Research CEO Nathan Parker; Garrett Smith of Reveal Technology; and Vince Stametti of Blue Forge Alliance.

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Maj. Gen. John Rafferty Jr. Nominated to Lead Army Space & Missile Defense Command
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Maj. Gen. John Rafferty Jr. The chief of staff of U.S. European Command has been nominated to lead USASMDC.

President Donald Trump has nominated Maj. Gen. John Rafferty Jr., chief of staff of U.S. European Command, to serve as the next commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, or USASMDC, and U.S. Army Forces Strategic Command at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.

Maj. Gen. John Rafferty Jr. Nominated to Lead Army Space & Missile Defense Command

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In a general officer announcement published Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a 2025 Wash100 awardeee, announced that Rafferty is also up for promotion to the rank of lieutenant general.

If confirmed, Rafferty will oversee USASMDC, which is responsible for developing and providing global space, missile defense and high-altitude capabilities for the Army, joint force and U.S. allies to enable multidomain combat effects, strengthen deterrence and enhance the detection of strategic attacks.

Who Is Maj. Gen. John Rafferty?

Rafferty assumed the role of chief of staff at European Command in Germany in July.

Before taking on his current assignment, he served as the commanding general of the 56th Artillery Command within the U.S. Army Europe-Africa in Germany.

His previous roles include chief of public affairs within the Office of the Secretary of the Army in Washington, D.C.; director of the Long Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team at Fort Sill in Oklahoma; and commander of the 18th Field Artillery Brigade.

Rafferty began his Army career in 1987, enlisting as an infantryman before earning his commission as a field artillery officer.

The Longwood University graduate holds master’s degrees from King’s College London and the U.S. Army War College.

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Army Names W. Jordan Gillis Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy, Environment
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W. Jordan Gillis, assistant secretary of the Army. Gillis previously served as assistant secretary of defense for sustainment

W. Jordan Gillis has been sworn in as the assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment. He will oversee all Army installations and facilities worldwide and guide policies related to installations, energy management, environment and safety, the service said Monday.

Army Names W. Jordan Gillis Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy, Environment

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Who Is W. Jordan Gillis?

Gillis served as assistant secretary of defense for sustainment during President Donald Trump’s first term. In the role, he directed over $170 billion in logistics activities and shaped sustainment, energy and real property policy for the Department of Defense.

He also previously held the positions of acting assistant secretary and principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment.

His private sector career includes leadership roles at ScottMadden, Deloitte and UiPath. 

Gillis is a former active duty Army officer who received the Bronze Star Medal and Purple Heart for his military service.

The defense leader holds a bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Duke University and a master of business administration from Emory University.

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OIG Offers Recommendations to Help NIH Improve All of Us Research Program’s Cybersecurity
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NIH logo. The HHS OIG is calling on NIH to strengthen the cybersecurity of its All of Us Research Program.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, or OIG, has issued a report calling on the National Institutes of Health to strengthen the cybersecurity of its All of Us Research Program to protect participants’ personal health data from cyber and national security threats.

OIG Offers Recommendations to Help NIH Improve All of Us Research Program’s Cybersecurity

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In an audit report posted Friday, OIG said the All of Us Research Program aims to improve disease prevention and treatment by providing researchers access to personal health information from over 1 million volunteer participants.

An NIH award recipient oversees the Data and Research Center, or DRC, which stores the participant data.

The OIG audit found that although the DRC award recipient implemented some cybersecurity controls, NIH did not ensure that authorized users’ access to program data was limited as required by program policies.

What Are OIG’s Recommendations for NIH to Improve Cybersecurity? 

OIG issued five recommendations for NIH to improve its oversight of the program’s DRC. One of the recommendations is requiring the DRC awardee to implement controls that prevent users from accessing the system from outside the U.S. without verified approval. 

According to the report, NIH should ensure the DRC prevents the downloading of detailed participant data in accordance with the program’s data use policies.

Other recommendations in the report are that NIH formally communicate national security concerns about maintaining genomic data to All of Us award recipients; require the DRC awardee to reassess the security categorization for the DRC and DRC-RW information systems in light of national security concerns; and update the remediation timeframe in its system security plans to meet the deadlines in its award agreement with NIH.

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NASA Launches Sentinel-6B Satellite to Advance Ocean & Climate Monitoring
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Sentinel-6B Launch. NASA launched the Sentinel-6B satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

NASA and its international partners launched the Sentinel-6B satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 16.

The agency said Monday the satellite, now in low Earth orbit, will collect ocean and atmospheric data to support hurricane forecasting, coastal infrastructure protection, climate monitoring and maritime operations.

What Is the Sentinel-6B Satellite?

Sentinel-6B is a satellite designed to measure sea surface height, wind speed, wave height and atmospheric conditions. These observations will enhance flood prediction models and aid in identifying ocean temperature patterns that influence storm development and shipping safety. The data will be leveraged to safeguard critical coastal assets, including infrastructure, real estate and energy storage sites.

NASA collaborated with the European Space Agency, European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to develop the Sentinel-6B. The satellite is part of the European Union’s family of Copernicus missions.

How Will Sentinel-6B Take Over From Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich?

The new satellite, part of the Copernicus Sentinel-6/Jason-CS mission, will replace Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich as the reference standard for global sea level data. First, Sentinel-6B will fly 30 seconds behind its twin to verify that their instruments provide the same data. Once verified, the Michael Freilich satellite will transition to a different orbit, and Sentinel-6B will assume its new role as the official reference satellite, flying 830 miles above the Earth’s surface 13 times a day.

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DOD’s Emil Michael Unveils 6 Critical Tech Areas to Advance Military Capabilities
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DOD Under Secretary Emil Michael. Emil Michael has announced six critical technology areas to advance military capabilities.

Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Emil Michael has announced six critical technology areas, or CTAs, aimed at advancing U.S. military capabilities.

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What Are DOD’s Critical Technology Areas?

The Department of Defense said Monday the key technology areas Michael highlighted are aimed at rapidly delivering advanced capabilities to the warfighter, allowing them to keep pace with emerging threats and achieve operational advantage on the modern battlefield. The six CTAs include:

  • Applied artificial intelligence: Make the DOD an artificial intelligence-first organization to enhance decision-making and operations.
  • Biomanufacturing: Leverage living systems to develop capabilities and materials at scale, reducing supply chain risks and strengthening resilience.
  • Contested logistics technologies: Ensure steady resupply and operations in contested environments despite disrupted logistics.
  • Quantum and battlefield information dominance: Provide tools to keep communication,  precision navigation and timing, and electromagnetic spectrum control working in degraded or denied environments.
  • Scaled hypersonics: Deploy hypersonic weapons at scale to deliver rapid and precise strikes.
  • Scaled directed energy: Overcome cost and manufacturing limits to provide affordable, high-energy capabilities for precise threat neutralization.

“These six Critical Technology Areas are not just priorities; they are imperatives,” said Michael. “The American warfighter will wield the most advanced technology to maximize lethality.”

DOD's Emil Michael Unveils 6 Critical Tech Areas to Advance Military Capabilities
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Army-Led Task Force Building Online Marketplace to Accelerate Procurement of Counter-Drone Systems
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Unmanned system. The JIATF 401 is building an online platform for buying counter-UAS systems across government

The Army-led Joint Interagency Task Force 401, or JIATF 401, is planning an online marketplace where military and intelligence leaders can quickly and more easily pick and purchase counter-unmanned aerial systems, or c-UAS, from various vendors, Breaking Defense reported Monday.

According to Brig. Gen. Matt Ross, director of the task force, the c-UAS marketplace will coincide with the UAS marketplace that the Army is also building.

“We are going to establish a UAS and counter-UAS marketplace that will provide authoritative data on how each of these systems performs under varying conditions and allow users or customers to select a tool that’s right for them,” he told reporters. “We’ve got a wide variety of counter-UAS tools, and I actually think that we need all of them, because depending on where you are or what threat you’re focused on, your requirements will be slightly different.”’

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What Will the Army c-UAS Marketplace Offer?

Ross did not divulge the types of drones that will be available on the marketplace, but shared that the online platform will likely offer drone detectors and non-kinetic effectors.

“Today, if we were to field a counter-UAS solution around some critical infrastructure in the US, we would likely not include an explosive warhead,” he explained. “So, we would want a low-collateral interceptor if we’re going to use a kinetic interceptor, opposed to an explosive solution that might be more appropriate for a combat environment.”

He added that the task force has not set a launch date or determined how many systems will be available. JIATF 401 does not yet have a dedicated budget, but it will likely utilize funding from its operations and maintenance, research and development, and procurement budgets.

The task force plans to host a counter-UAS summit in the coming weeks to coordinate with interagency partners on how it intends to test and evaluate systems that would be added to the marketplace.

What Is JIATF 401?

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a 2025 Wash100 winner, established JIATF 401 in August to replace the Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office. The task force is in charge of efforts to accelerate the delivery of c-UAS to warfighters.

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Space Force’s Vector 2025 to Guide Service Transformation
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Chance Saltzman. The USSF CSO said the Space Force must remain adaptable as technologies and threats evolve.

The U.S. Space Force has released Vector 2025, a consolidated reference outlining the direction and momentum the service intends to maintain as it continues its transition into a warfighting organization. According to the service branch, the document compiles the core concepts, priorities and service-level activities that underpin the Space Force’s approach to space superiority.

Gen. Chance Saltzman, Space Force’s chief of space operations and a three-time Wash100 Award recipient, said the publication is not a plan or strategy, but a “vector” meant to help Guardians understand how ongoing initiatives connect across doctrine, force design and day-to-day operations.

What Does Vector 2025 Emphasize?

The document aligns the service around its formative purpose: achieving and maintaining space superiority. It reiterates that the joint force depends on space-enabled capabilities and that the Space Force must be organized and trained to contest and control the domain against a thinking adversary.

Vector 2025 also outlines the Space Force’s theory of success, known as Competitive Endurance, which centers on avoiding operational surprise, denying adversaries a first-mover advantage and conducting responsible counterspace operations that do not create debris hazards.

How Will the Space Force Build the Force It Needs?

Vector 2025 details four service-level activities that anchor the transformation:

Force Design

This activity defines the force that the service needs five to 15 years ahead. It relies on future operating environment forecasts, wargaming, experimentation and detailed mission analysis to shape the “Objective Force,” a blueprint for capabilities, capacity and force structure. The Objective Force serves as a living reference for modernization and informs resourcing discussions with allies and partners.

Force Development

This portion focuses on improving the “Fielded Force,” blending capability development with career-long personnel training. It highlights new training pipelines for officers, enlisted Guardians and civilian professionals, as well as acquisition-specific improvements such as space-focused qualification training. Vector 2025 stresses the need to build a workforce with deep, domain-centered expertise.

Force Generation

Space Force Generation, the Space Force’s rotational readiness model, creates dedicated time for advanced training rather than relying on continuous daily operations. Vector 2025 calls for enhancing the readiness activities enabled by SPAFORGEN by expanding operational test and training infrastructure and implementing mission deltas and system deltas as integrated counterparts to strengthen unity of command and tighten coordination between readiness and capability development.

Force Employment

This activity focuses on the operational roles of Space Force units, including planning, coordinating and integrating space capabilities with the Joint Force. Vector 2025 notes that the service is maturing its component commands, strengthening their ability to shape theater plans, support global operations and provide continuous space domain awareness, defensive space control and other mission essential functions.

Why Issue Vector 2025 Now?

Saltzman wrote that the Space Force must remain adaptable as technologies and threats evolve, noting that “the difference between haste and efficiency is understanding.” He encouraged Guardians to internalize the document’s guidance to support the service’s transition into a fully realized warfighting organization.

The document consolidates direction from existing strategies and doctrine, including the Space Warfighting Framework, the Commercial Space Strategy and the forthcoming Objective Force.

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