The U.S. Army’s maintenance depot tasked with repairing and modernizing air and missile defense platforms and precision fire systems has outlined a $1.4 billion modernization plan to perform major upgrades in preparation for next-generation battlefield systems, Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

Letterkenny Army Depot plans to modernize its facilities, upgrade equipment and boost workforce development and training to support future air defense systems including platforms designed to counter small drone threats.

The facility also proposes to establish new production space across five large buildings and invest in the development of a high-energy laser test range.

Kate Williams, director of the office of strategic management at Letterkenny Army Depot, said the plan is crucial to keep up with the Army’s modernization efforts and align the facility’s capabilities with future mission requirements.

“We need to build the right facilities at the right time with the right equipment and the right skill sets prepared to provide service to the sustainment community,” Williams said.

The modernization is still awaiting final resourcing approval from Army Materiel Command.

The Department of Commerce has unveiled its strategy for implementing a $50 billion program meant to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor industry, create jobs and drive innovation.

The implementation strategy for the CHIPS for America program was released in accordance with an executive order that President Joe Biden signed in August, the department said Tuesday.

The document outlines the program’s four key goals, such as expanding domestic semiconductor production, building a stable supply of mature node semiconductors and investing in research and development efforts to ensure that future chip technologies are developed and manufactured in the U.S.

The CHIPS for America program backs three initiatives: large-scale investments in leading-edge manufacturing; new production capacity for mature and current generation chips, new and specialty technologies and semiconductor industry suppliers; and initiatives to strengthen U.S. leadership in R&D.

The program also establishes long-term strategic goals and calls for potential program applicants to consider approaches to increase scale and attract private capital and advance collaboration to build out semiconductor ecosystems.

According to the strategy, the program will spend approximately $28 billion on efforts meant to drive domestic manufacturing of logic and memory chips and invest $11 billion in a national semiconductor technology center and national advanced packaging manufacturing program, among other initiatives.

The department will release application guidance for the program in early February and plans to issue awards and loans on a rolling basis.

The Advanced Communications Technologies Working Group of the Interagency Committee on Standards Policy has released a report providing an overview of ACT standards activities, priorities and goals of federal agencies.

The interagency report outlines nine strategic standards priority areas for consideration by the ICSP including internet of things, security and privacy for communication networks, communications for data access and sharing, spectrum measurement and management and quantum communications, the National Institute of Standards and Technology said Tuesday.

The report also sets out the goals and priorities of contributing federal agencies to promote the broad adoption of consistent communications standards.

ACTWG is comprised of 18 federal agencies including NIST, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, NASA, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and the departments of State and Defense.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has unveiled a new program aimed at developing sensors capable of enabling quantum-level infrared detection at room temperature.

The Optomechanical Thermal Imaging program will run for five years and will consist of two phases to validate, characterize and benchmark the new class of room-temperature optomechanical IR detectors both in the mid-wave and long-wave regions, DARPA said Friday.

OpTIm seeks to improve IR sensing capabilities by combining the three main paradigms for sensor technology: optomechanical resonators, all-optical detectors and IR metamaterials.

Mukund Vengalattore, OpTIm program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office, said the compact IR sensors have potential applications in night vision, battlefield surveillance and terrestrial and space imaging.

“It would also enable a host of commercial applications including infrared spectroscopy for non-invasive cancer diagnosis, highly accurate and immediate pathogen detection from a person’s breath or in the air, and pre-disease detection of threats to agriculture and foliage health,” Vengalattore added.

DARPA is soliciting research proposals for the first technical area of the OpTIm program.