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USSF to Support Research Projects on xGEO Operations & Space Domain Awareness
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USSF to Support Research Projects on xGEO Operations & Space Domain Awareness

The U.S. Space Force has collaborated with the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Universities Space Research Association to support university-led space science and technology research projects.

USSF said Wednesday the new University Consortium Research Opportunity will focus on using applied research to develop transformational technologies for beyond geostationary earth orbit operations and space domain awareness.

The xGEO Operations and SDA UCRO will center on technologies intended for enhancing space object tracking capabilities in both military and civilian operations.

The service branch will select at least three research institutions, including a prominent university, to work with AFRL, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and industry partners to address space research, development and demonstration requirements.

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US Navy Unveils Land-Based Test Site for DDG(X) Destroyer Program
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US Navy Unveils Land-Based Test Site for DDG(X) Destroyer Program

The U.S. Navy launched a land-based test site in Philadelphia for the next-generation guided-missile destroyer program DDG(X).

The service’s Program Executive Office Ships and the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday to unveil the test zone, which will support technical and risk reduction efforts for the DDG(X) program’s critical systems, the branch said Thursday.

“Today we mark the beginning of a unique test site that will be used to advance the design, reliability and capability of our Nation’s next-generation guided-missile destroyer, the DDG(X), the successor to the supremely successful DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class,” said Capt. Joseph Darcy, NSWCPD commanding officer.

According to the Navy, the DDG(X) program is still in the concept refinement phase.

In July 2022, General Dynamics subsidiary Bath Iron Works and HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division secured Navy contracts to perform shipbuilder engineering and design analysis for the destroyer program.

MITRE Creates Community Engagement Group for System of Trust Framework
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MITRE Creates Community Engagement Group for System of Trust Framework

MITRE has established a community engagement group to guide the development and implementation of its System of Trust supply chain security risk management framework.

The 30-member group is tasked with using evidence-based data to identify supply chain risks and assess their impact on financial stability, legal and ethics, foreign and competitor influence, business operations and service delivery.

Specifically, the panel will help develop the System of Trust framework’s Body of Knowledge content that outlines top-level risk categories for suppliers, supplies and services.

MITRE has developed a prototype cloud-native risk model manager informed by input from the group to expand users’ access to the BoK content. The web-based application enables active tailoring of the BoK content into profiled sub-sets of supply chain risks to address particular assessment requirements.

“As aligned to our whole-of-nation approach, the MITRE System of Trust community brings together not only major chip manufacturers and IT and OT companies but also representation from financial, energy, defense, and telecom industries, as well as from government and industry associations,” said Yosry Barsoum, vice president and director of the Center for Securing the Homeland at MITRE.

The nonprofit research organization unveiled the System of Trust framework in June 2022 to help organizations evaluate and mitigate potential supply chain security risks.

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Gen. Mark Milley Cites Readiness Through Modernization as Top Priority
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Gen. Mark Milley Cites Readiness Through Modernization as Top Priority

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a four-time Wash100 Award winner, said the joint forces must strike a balance between ensuring preparedness for current and future fights, DOD News reported Thursday.

“Readiness now and readiness in the future through modernization is our No. 1 priority. And there is no other No. 1,” Milley told members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee on Thursday. 

He highlighted the need for the U.S. military to integrate precision long-range fires, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, hypersonic weapons, robotics and other emerging technologies to counter adversaries and win across all domains of conflict.

The general also mentioned the threats posed by China, Russia and Iran and how the proposed defense budget for fiscal year 2024 could help the U.S. military maintain its capabilities.

Letter From Congressional Republicans Calls on President Biden to Provide Cluster Munitions to Ukraine
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Letter From Congressional Republicans Calls on President Biden to Provide Cluster Munitions to Ukraine

A group of Congressional Republicans sent a letter calling on President Joe Biden to send dual purpose improved conventional munitions to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The letter was published Tuesday by the House Armed Services Committee, and authored by Committee Chair and Wash100 awardee Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, along with Sens. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, and Roger Wicker, R-Miss.

The lawmakers expressed their disappointment in the Biden administration’s current efforts to provide weapons and maneuver capability to Ukraine’s military, saying that it has hampered the country’s battlefield breakthroughs against Russia.

“Providing DPICM will allow Ukraine to compensate for Russia’s quantitative advantage in both personnel and artillery rounds, and will allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to concentrate their use of unitary warheads against higher-value Russian targets,” they wrote.

McCaul is chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, while Risch and Wicker are ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, respectively.

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Curtiss-Wright Books USMC Contract for MOSA Deployed Baseband System; Lynn Bamford Quoted
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Curtiss-Wright Books USMC Contract for MOSA Deployed Baseband System; Lynn Bamford Quoted

Curtiss-Wright Corporation has won a follow-on contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to supply small form factor network router and switch modules to aid the service branch in modernizing its communications with portable expeditionary network communications tools.

In fulfillment of the contract, Curtiss-Wright will deliver a Modular Open Systems Approach deployed baseband system for the Marine Corps Wideband Satellite-Expeditionary initiative, the Davidson, North Carolina-headquartered company announced on Thursday.

Lynn Bamford, chair and CEO of Curtiss-Wright and a Wash100 Award winner, noted the “long and successful” relationship the enterprise has with the USMC and said that this award exemplifies Curtiss-Wright’s ability to “enhance interoperability and improve cost efficiencies with electronics systems” in line with Department of Defense standards for the MOSA.

“As a leading supplier of tactical battlefield communications solutions, we are very proud to provide the Marine Corps with our proven field-deployable network communications technology to support the MCWS-X program,” she said.

Contracting activities will be conducted within Curtiss-Wright’s defense solutions business in the defense electronics department. The company will ship its products to the USMC from the Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions facility in Portland, Oregon.

Curtiss-Wright has recently won a number of contracts that support multiple service branches. Last month, the organization was selected by Leidos’ Dynetics subsidiary to deliver actuation technology for installation into its Enduring Shield platform to meet Army demands for cruise missile defense.

In August of last year, Curtiss-Wright announced that it won over $220 million in contracts from Bechtel Plant Machinery and General Dynamics Electric Boat to produce an array of ship parts, including propulsion valves, pumps and complex instrumentation and control systems, for two Navy submarines and an aircraft carrier.

Progeny awarded Curtiss-Wright a $70 million contract in April 2022, under which the former is ordered to provide MOSA computers and digital processing modules for the Navy’s MK54 and MK48 torpedo modernization initiative.

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Lloyd Austin: President’s FY24 DOD Budget Includes $30B for Critical Munitions
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Lloyd Austin: President’s FY24 DOD Budget Includes $30B for Critical Munitions

Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2023 Wash100 inductee, said the president’s fiscal year 2024 budget request of $842 billion for DOD includes multiyear procurement authorities and over $30 billion for the acquisition of critical munitions.

“We’re asking for more than $30 billion to further invest in the industrial base and to buy the maximum number of munitions that American industry can produce,” Austin told the House Appropriations Committee during a hearing Thursday.

He said the proposed defense budget reflects a 3.2 percent increase from the enacted funding level for FY 2023 and would enable the department to implement the 2022 National Defense Strategy and the administration’s National Security Strategy.

Through the budget request, the secretary said DOD is seeking over $61 billion to sustain air dominance; more than $48 billion to advance sea power; $33.3 billion for space programs; $11 billion for long-range fires; and $9.1 billion for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative.

Austin cited his top priorities at the Pentagon as the challenges posed by Russia and China, persistent threats associated with Iran, North Korea and global terrorist groups and the country’s continued support to Ukraine.

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Executive Mosaic Spotlights Carlos Del Toro and Judi Dotson in Recognition of 2023 Wash100 Wins
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Executive Mosaic Spotlights Carlos Del Toro and Judi Dotson in Recognition of 2023 Wash100 Wins

Continuing the celebration of the Wash100 Award’s incredible 10th anniversary class, Executive Mosaic has honored U.S. Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro and Booz Allen Hamilton’s Judi Dotson, two dedicated advocates for military modernization, with comprehensive profiles detailing their  accomplishments within the past year.

The annual Wash100 Award, which signifies the most prestigious recognition in the broad government contracting industry, puts its nominees through a detailed selection process that considers their past achievements and expected future triumphs. This year, Del Toro and Dotson both proved their standing as notable GovCon leaders and joined the ranks of Wash100 for the first time.

The cherished Wash100 popular vote contest is in full swing. To join the fun and cast two of your 10 votes for Carlos Del Toro and Judi Dotson in this compelling competition, please visit Wash100.com.

As head of the Navy, Del Toro has worked extensively to position the service branch for a successful future. Recently, Del Toro initiated the creation of a 30-year plan to upgrade naval infrastructure, which targets long-term, medium-term and short-term challenges posed by structural issues.

He has also steered the Navy toward the adoption of more advanced technologies, such as unmanned systems and drones, which he said have been “transformational on the battlefield.” To read his full profile, click here.

Dotson, who was elevated to president of Booz Allen’s global defense sector last year, has since driven the expansion of the firm’s defense technology portfolio through the acquisition of software development and analytics-focused company EverWatch.

She also led the development of new partnerships, which, in 2022, included collaborations with Armaments Research Company and AEye to empower the use of new technologies in aerospace and defense initiatives. Click here to read her full profile.

Executive Mosaic Spotlights Carlos Del Toro and Judi Dotson in Recognition of 2023 Wash100 Wins

Booz Allen is sponsoring ExecutiveBiz’s 5G Forum on April 25, during which 5G experts will convene to discuss related challenges and priorities and consider the future of the evolving field of networks. To learn more and register to attend, please visit ExecutiveBiz’s events page.

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FTC Issues RFI to Gain Insight on Cloud Computing, Improve Security Accountability
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FTC Issues RFI to Gain Insight on Cloud Computing, Improve Security Accountability

The Federal Trade Commission is inviting industry input on the dynamics of cloud computing, including business practices, security implications, and its impact on competition.

The agency said Wednesday that the request for information is part of its ongoing efforts to protect and secure consumer data as various sectors increasingly rely on cloud-based technology.

In 2020, FTC published six steps that companies can follow to ensure cloud security. The agency has also filed a lawsuit against companies that used third-party cloud services but failed to implement basic cyber defense measures.

In light of such incidents, FTC is seeking feedback from software providers on their competitive practices, identification and customer notification approaches in case of security risks, and the extent of different industries’ reliability on these companies.

The agency is particularly interested in the impact of cloud services on defense, transportation, e-commerce, healthcare and finance.

Responses are due by May 22 and will be posted to the website Regulations.gov.

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CISA Circulates Updated Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals
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CISA Circulates Updated Cross-Sector Cybersecurity Performance Goals

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released the updated cybersecurity performance goals in alignment with the five functions of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework.

The CPGs were initially made public in October as a set of voluntary practices that owners and operators of critical infrastructure can take to mitigate cybersecurity risks, CISA said Tuesday.

CISA updated the cross-sector goals based on feedback from stakeholders from multiple sectors and in accordance with the identify, protect, detect, respond and recover functions of NIST’s CSF.

The agency expects the CPGs to serve as a benchmark for critical infrastructure owners to assess and improve their cybersecurity maturity and as recommended security practices for owners of information technology and operational technology systems.

According to CISA, the goals recommend a subset of measures meant to help organizations prioritize their security investments. The updated goals arrived a week after CISA launched a pilot program to help protect critical infrastructure organizations against ransomware threats.

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