/
NIWC Pacific Unveils New Lab for Network Testing, Validation Efforts; Tonya Nishio Quoted
Published on
NIWC Pacific Unveils New Lab for Network Testing, Validation Efforts; Tonya Nishio Quoted

The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific and its collaborators have established the Navy/Marine Corps Intranet Naval Enterprise Networks Baseline Lab to provide rapid end-to-end testing capability in like-live environments.

The NMCI/NEN Baseline Lab is Navy-owned and contractor-operated and has recently achieved full operational capability, the Department of Defense said Monday.

NIWC Pacific engineers would be able to perform tests and validation of NMCI developments before they are fielded to avoid contracting delays and ensure warfighters are equipped with tech more quickly.

NIWC Pacific Naval Enterprise Networks team worked with the Program Executive Office, Digital and Enterprise Services and Next Generation Enterprise Network Service, Management, Integration and Transport contractor team to launch the lab at its Topside facility.

“Establishing a fully integrated NEN lab at a government facility is a critical component of naval network transformation; providing continuity, improved agility, accelerated innovation, enhanced security and significant cost avoidance,” said Tonya Nishio, chief information officer of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command.

/
Space Force Assumes Responsibility Over US Military Satcom Functions; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting Quoted
Published on
Space Force Assumes Responsibility Over US Military Satcom Functions; Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting Quoted

The U.S. Space Force formally took over the U.S. Army’s military satellite communications mission, marking the consolidation of all Department of Defense satcom functions under one service branch.

Lt. Gen. Daniel Karbler, head of Army Space and Missile Defense Command, passed 53rd Signal Battalion colors to Space Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting at a ceremony that took place Monday at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado.

Prior to the transfer, the battalion held payload and transmission responsibility over constellations of Defense Satellite Communications System and Wideband Global System satellites.

The 53rd Space Operations Squadron, part of SpOC’s Space Delta 8, will now handle the constellations that were built to offer connectivity for the U.S. president and partners of the country that perform operations across the globe.

USSF added its SATCOM Office will oversee four regional support hubs located in Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and Germany. 

Monday’s ceremony also marked the transfer of 500 military and civilian Department of the Army positions to the Department of the Air Force.

/
DISAWERX Launched to Provide DOD Personnel With Collaborative IT Innovation Lab
Published on
DISAWERX Launched to Provide DOD Personnel With Collaborative IT Innovation Lab

The Defense Information Systems Agency has established a new laboratory meant to provide all Department of Defense members with a collaborative environment where they can work to foster information technology innovation.

DISAWERX is a virtual and physical lab for DOD personnel to get together and work on IT advancements to help meet the increasing demand for technologies with added functionality, the agency said Friday.

The unclassified environment does not follow the Security Technical Implementation Guide and is accessible via internet for rapid development and prototyping efforts, according to Jeanelle Holder, program manager of DISAWERX.

“With the creation of DISAWERX, employees can bring commercial and open-source technologies into their own ‘sandbox,’ a safe environment to test, develop and prototype solutions that can solve some of DISA’s biggest technical challenges,” she added.

The lab is based out of the Joint All Domain Warfighting Lab of KBR in Maryland while its online component is accessible from virtual private network, with users being provided their own machines.

“The objective of DISAWERX is to make it easier and faster to bring in, integrate and explore new technologies, IT tools and services while allowing DISA employees to collaborate with uncleared individuals from industry and academia,” said Holder.

/
Terran Orbital CAPSTONE Spacecraft Recognized by Voting Body; Marc Bell Quoted
Published on
Terran Orbital CAPSTONE Spacecraft Recognized by Voting Body; Marc Bell Quoted

Satellite producer Terran Orbital has been distinguished by a voting body for its lunar-orbiting CAPSTONE spacecraft.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Small Spacecraft Technical Committee recognized the CAPSTONE endeavor as Mission of the Year for its achievement in structural design modification, instrument development and communications facilitation, the Boca Raton, Florida-based company said Monday.

Marc Bell, CEO, chairman and co-founder of Terran Orbital, expressed the company’s honor in receiving the award, and thanked NASA, with whom the satellite manufacturers have worked closely on the CAPSTONE project under the auspices of the Artemis initiative.

Bell also credited the engineers who have labored over the spacecraft and who are now directing the ship to the Moon.

The mission of the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, or CAPSTONE, is to evaluate and confirm the calculated orbital stability needed for the Lunar Gateway space station. The 55-pound craft is scheduled to arrive in a 1,000 mile vicinity of one lunar pole on its near pass and come within 43,500 miles of the other pole at each one-week peak. Its final lunar arrival date is November 13.

Among CAPSTONE’s achievements is its status as the first spacecraft to chart a near rectilinear halo orbit, which intends to strike an exact balance point in the gravitational zones of Earth and the Moon. By completing this experimental test run, CAPSTONE is poised to ensure that future crafts traveling this orbit will not run into any surprises.

In July, Terran Orbital completed the first statistical maneuvers, in the form of a TCM burn, to enable a stable course for the CAPSTONE’s mission.

/
Cherokee Federal Division Secures Spot on $850M DTRA Contract; Karl Gaskins Quoted
Published on
Cherokee Federal Division Secures Spot on $850M DTRA Contract; Karl Gaskins Quoted

A federal contracting company under the Cherokee Federal banner has landed a spot on a potential $850 million contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency for security support.

Under the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity award, Cherokee Nation Strategic Programs will conduct evaluations, practices and modeling and simulations to help national and international chemical, biological, radiological nuclear and high explosives security, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based organization said Thursday.

“It is an honor to continue supporting the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to protect Americans here at home and our international partners abroad,” commented Karl Gaskins, operations general manager for CNSP.

Gaskins also shared that the specialists on staff at CNSP have been collaborating with the DTRA to perform vulnerability threat assessments for six years. The new contract is a continuation and expansion of this work.

Four other organizations in addition to CNSP earned spots on the DTRA contract. It is aimed to contribute to the efforts of the Department of Defense, the U.S. federal government broadly as well as its international allies, to mitigate and rebuff domestic and international threats.

To complete the assignment, CNSP will leverage its team’s proven track record of partnering with government clients to address challenges in military operational management, overseas diplomatic infrastructure, forensics intelligence analysis, vulnerability/suitability assessments, as well as security force operations and management.

The DTRA contract follows the Defense Health Agency’s multiple award contract to Cherokee Nation Operational Solutions, another Cherokee Federal division, in June. Under this ID/IQ award, CNOS will offer research and development services and translational science and support services.

/
CENTCOM Opens Competition to Generate Ideas for Innovation Across US Military
Published on
CENTCOM Opens Competition to Generate Ideas for Innovation Across US Military

U.S. Central Command is requesting active service members and civilian personnel to submit innovation ideas and proposals designed to address military problems as part of a new competition, dubbed Innovation Oasis.

The competition calls for ideas, inventions and processes to be judged by top executives from Google, SpaceX and NASA, as well as senior uniformed U.S. military leaders, CENTCOM said.

Active service members, reservists, National Guard members and service civilian personnel have until Sept. 16 to submit proposals with a visual presentation depicting their ideas in the implementation stage.

The CENTCOM Innovation Oasis team will screen the submissions and select five finalists to present their ideas to the panel of technical and military experts on Oct. 12 at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

The competition winner will receive a service award, a four-day pass and the opportunity to implement their idea across the command.

/
GSA Creates Playbook for Implementing Identity Lifecycle Management Process
Published on
GSA Creates Playbook for Implementing Identity Lifecycle Management Process

The General Services Administration’s Office of Government-wide Policy has created a document for identity program managers and enterprise and application architects looking to modernize their identity management process for federal employees.

The Identity Lifecycle Management Playbook serves as a practical guide to help federal agencies understand how to manage the life cycle of identities to achieve an enterprise identity, credential and access management system, GSA said Friday.

ILM refers to the stages of digital identity from creation to deactivation, also known as the joiner-mover-leaver process.

According to OGP, this process can help agencies ensure only active employees can access federal resources, remove access for employees with incomplete security training, enforce least privilege to accounts whose users have changed roles; and implement access control using attributes.

OGP encourages agency leaders to adapt the playbook to their organizational structure, requirements and mission needs. 

/
FEMA Allocates $3B in Funding for Two Climate Resilience Programs; Alejandro Mayorkas Quoted
Published on
FEMA Allocates $3B in Funding for Two Climate Resilience Programs; Alejandro Mayorkas Quoted

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is investing more than $3 billion in two resilience grant programs to help communities prepare for and mitigate the impacts of climate change and extreme weather events.

FEMA announced Friday the funding for the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program will more than double to nearly $2.3 billion and the budget for the Flood Mitigation Assistance initiative will increase to $800 million.

About $900 million of the budget will be funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, consisting of $200 million for BRIC and $700 million for FMA.

BRIC and FMA were established to help states, local communities, tribes and territories build hazard mitigation projects designed to reduce their risks to flooding, wildfires, extreme heat, hurricanes, drought and other disasters and hazards.

“With historic levels of funding for the BRIC and FMA programs being announced today, we are investing in our nation’s resilience and building individual and community preparedness across the country,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and a previous Wash100 Award recipient.

/
Rear Adm. John Dougherty Assumes Command of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division
Published on
Rear Adm. John Dougherty Assumes Command of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

Rear Adm. John Dougherty, formerly program manager for the U.S. Navy’s Next Generation Air Dominance Program Office (PMA-230), has taken on a new role as commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division.

He took over the position from Rear Adm. John Lemmon, who transitioned to the role of program executive officer for tactical aircraft programs, during a ceremony held Friday at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, the Navy said Friday.

Dougherty will oversee the service branch’s warfare center that has over 17,000 personnel and is responsible for research, development, test, evaluation and sustainment of naval aviation platforms and other warfighting technologies used by the Navy and the Marine Corps.

“We are in a great power competition and the outcome of that fight depends on this team,” said Dougherty, who will also serve as chief engineer of Naval Air Systems Command.

Dougherty previously served as program manager for the Precision Strike Weapons Program Office (PMA-201). He flew with Strike Fighter Squadrons 125 and 147 and completed acquisition tours, including F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program Office deputy director of development and Airborne Rockets and Pyrotechnics Integrated Product Team lead for the Direct and Time Sensitive Strike Weapons Program Office (PMA-242).

/
Airmen Demo MQ-9 Reaper’s Capabilities at Maritime Warfare Exercise
Published on
Airmen Demo MQ-9 Reaper’s Capabilities at Maritime Warfare Exercise

The U.S. Air Force’s MQ-9 Reaper detachment demonstrated the capabilities of the remotely piloted aircraft during the Rim of the Pacific 2022 exercise that concluded Aug. 4 in Hawaii.

“The MQ-9 Reaper community made its debut at RIMPAC 2022 and led the exercise with 32 sorties in 22 days spanning 316 airborne hours supporting a wide range of mission sets,” Air National Guard Capt. Philip West, RIMPAC MQ-9 Maritime Force integration lead, said in a statement published Saturday.

“We became the most requested asset by partner nations, receiving as many as three times the requests as any other,” added West.

The General Atomics-built Reapers supported 63 missions during the exercise, including 25 maritime missions, six intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and seven operations to recover personnel. The airmen also used MQ-9s to launch Hellfire missiles.

The maritime warfare exercise also introduced the unmanned aerial vehicle to a sinking exercise, surface and war-at-sea operations, amphibious assault scenario and other maritime events.

1 … 793 794 795 796 797 … 2,660