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NASA Sets November Launch for NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2
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NASA Sets November Launch for NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA plans to launch NOAA’s third polar-orbiting environmental satellite to orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket no later than Nov. 1.

NASA said Joint Polar Satellite System-2 is slated to lift off from the Vanderberg Space Force Base in California to capture global environmental data to boost accuracy of weather monitoring and forecasting.

The satellite will be renamed NOAA-21 upon reaching orbit and continue the work of its predecessors NOAA-20, which was launched in November 2017 carrying a solar energy-measuring instrument.

JPSS-2 features a Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite instrument designed to collect imagery to support global observation of land, atmosphere, oceans and cryosphere.

NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator will launch as a secondary payload for to JPSS-2.

GAO Recommends Executive Branch to Formulate National Broadband Strategy
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GAO Recommends Executive Branch to Formulate National Broadband Strategy

The Government Accountability Office has urged the Executive Branch Office of the President to pursue a national strategy that would align federal broadband programs with fragmented or overlapping purposes and synchronize coordination among agencies that manage such internet access efforts.

GAO said Tuesday the strategy for facilitating program alignment could include legislative proposals from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The government audit agency made the recommendations after an analysis showed 15 federal entities are administering at least 133 funding programs associated with broadband connectivity and that millions of people in the U.S. do not have access to the service even though federal spending on these initiatives hit $44 billion during the 2015-2020 period.

As part of the audit, GAO had to interview federal officials and 50 nonfederal stakeholders, which include internet providers.

In May, the Biden administration kicked off a $45 billion effort to help everyone in the country gain access to high-speed internet by the end of the decade and NTIA put out three funding opportunity notices as part of the White House’s Internet for All initiative.

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MDA Sends 2 CubeSats to Space for Radio Tech Demonstration Efforts
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MDA Sends 2 CubeSats to Space for Radio Tech Demonstration Efforts

The Missile Defense Agency has deployed another two CubeSats aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to support several MDA and Department of Defense space efforts including the Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program.

Aside from assisting in the HBTSS development, MDA said Tuesday the new set of CubeSat Networked Communications Experiment Block 2 space vehicles will be used to test in-orbit nanosatellites’ networked radio communications as part of the Nanosat Testbed Initiative.

Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director of the MDA, underscored the importance of having a tech demonstration program in support of the national missile defense system.

“Establishing reliable communications links between satellites in orbit means we can relay fire-control-quality adversary missile track data to the warfighter through our command and control, battle management, and communications system, so we can engage and destroy those threats,” he added.

CNCE Block 2 will also be used to demonstrate a new software-defined radio and a technology for supporting High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryption in space.

The May 25 launch followed the first CNCE Block 1 deployment in 2021. However, the first two CubeSats were retired prior to the latest launch.

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U.S. to Provide Ukraine With Advanced Rockets, Ammunition
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U.S. to Provide Ukraine With Advanced Rockets, Ammunition

President Biden said his administration will provide Ukraine with “more advanced rocket systems and munitions” to help its people counter Russia’s invading forces and continue working with allies and partners on Russian sanctions.

Some of the weapon systems that the U.S. will continue providing Ukraine are Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, radars, Javelin anti-tank missiles, artillery and precision rocket platforms, Mi-17 helicopters, ammunition and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Biden wrote in a guest essay published Tuesday in The New York Times that the U.S. is not seeking a war between NATO and Russia and will not attempt to bring about the ouster of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

“So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces,” the president wrote.

“We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia,” he added.

Biden said the U.S. will continue to provide Ukraine congressionally authorized-financial assistance, address the global food crisis, help European allies reduce their reliance on Russia’s fossil fuels and reinforce NATO’s eastern flank.

He also explained the move of the U.S. to stand by Ukraine and shared his thoughts on the use of nuclear weapons.

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Navy Tests Mission Computer Replacement for T-45 Trainer Aircraft
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Navy Tests Mission Computer Replacement for T-45 Trainer Aircraft

The U.S. Navy has tested a new avionics computer technology that will replace the mission display processor of the branch’s T-45 jet trainer platform.

Naval Air Systems Command said Tuesday that two program offices put the Mission Computer Alternative through a flight test Monday at Patuxent River, Maryland.

The service’s PMA-209 air combat electronics program office developed the MCA system using the Hardware Open Systems Technologies framework as part of obsolescence management planning efforts.

HOST seeks to minimize the need for regular updates to mission computing hardware and software, according to NAVAIR. PMA-209 and the Naval Undergraduate Flight Training Systems program office collaborated to carry out the test.

The Navy is looking to apply the T-45 aircraft’s next mission computer for navigation performance and area navigation use.

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Pentagon Releases Guidance on Inflation, Economic Price Adjustment in Defense Contracts
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Pentagon Releases Guidance on Inflation, Economic Price Adjustment in Defense Contracts

The Department of Defense has issued a memorandum meant to guide companies and contracting officers on how to manage cost increases due to inflation under existing contracts and provide considerations with regard to the use of economic price adjustments when entering into new contracts.

The memo states that the treatment of cost differences depends on contract type and that vendors should inform DOD that the costs incurred are closing in on the limits specified in the contract.

Upon notification, the department may raise contract funding and the company is not obligated to continue contract performance beyond what can be carried out within the contract’s funded amount.

For fixed-price incentive contracts, the government may adjust the target profit in the event that the vendor’s actual cost differs from the target costs.

The memo signed by John Tenaglia, principal director of defense pricing and contracting at DOD, states that under fixed-price contracts with EPA, the government will shoulder the cost risk up to the limit specified in the clause.

For firm-fixed-price contracts, contractors should bear the risk of cost increases and those associated with inflation. The department said it is addressing queries about the possibility of user requests for equitable adjustment to address inflation under FFP contracts.

“For contracts being developed or negotiated during this period of unusually high inflation, an EPA clause may be an appropriate tool to equitably balance the risk of inflation between the Government and contractor,” the document reads.

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Space Execs Get Temporary Clearances for IC’s Classified Cyber Briefing; Kevin Coggins Quoted
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Space Execs Get Temporary Clearances for IC’s Classified Cyber Briefing; Kevin Coggins Quoted

U.S. intelligence officials organized a classified briefing on hacking threats facing satellite networks amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and issued temporary security clearances to executives of satellite operators for them to attend the event, Via Satellite reported Tuesday.

“It was a milestone moment,” Erin Miller, executive director of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, said of the clearances, also called “one-time read-on.”

“We had people who were not cleared who were invited to the discussion, people who would normally never have had access to that [classified] information,” Miller said during a May 13 panel discussion at a conference.

Space ISAC facilitated the briefing, which was organized under the leadership of Stacey Dixon, principal deputy director of national intelligence and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner.

Kevin Coggins, vice president for positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) at Booz Allen Hamilton, said the briefing included the FBI and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. He also described the issuance of provisional clearances as “unprecedented.”

“The intelligence community said, ‘You have a need to know because you operate in the space domain. You might not have government contracts, but you’re part of Space ISAC and the space community, and we need you to know these classified threats and behaviors we’re seeing because we want you to be able to defend against them,'” said Coggins, who is also a Space ISAC board member.

Miller also discussed Space ISAC’s information-sharing efforts using the Traffic Light Protocol and how the center produced and transmitted machine-readable alerts to its members using Structured Threat Information eXpression and Trusted Automated eXchange of Intelligence Information as information sharing standards.

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ASRC Federal Recognized as AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner; CTO Eric Velte Quoted
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ASRC Federal Recognized as AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner; CTO Eric Velte Quoted

Amazon Web Services has honored defense contracting company ASRC Federal with its advanced tier services partner distinction.

Awarded to organizations within the AWS partner network, this selective recognition is given to businesses that demonstrate exemplary technical skill sets and customer experience offerings, the Beltsville, Maryland-headquartered company said Tuesday.

Eric Velte, chief technology officer at ASRC Federal, noted that the company’s AWS credentials come from serving clients with the platform “through our centers of excellence and integrat[ing] these resources into our technology product offerings.”

ASRC Federal and AWS collaboratively offer comprehensive cloud-based strategies and a set of cloud management applications that aim to provide speedy and malleable interface and storage for users.

AWS advanced tier services partners are trained and knowledgeable about AWS processes and are seen as something of an ambassador for the AWS brand. In exchange, the network of companies can acquire resources through the AWS marketing development funds program. The latter program sponsors prototypes and the launch of embryonic research endeavors.

ASRC’s AWS notice follows the company’s Data Network Technologies business unit’s contract award from the Transportation Security Administration in April. Under the Dynamic Integrated Secure Connectivity for Operational Value and End Point Resiliency contract, ASRC DNT will modernize the TSA’s Security Technology Integrated Program.

In January, ASRC Federal Space and Defense landed prime positions on six pools of the General Services Administration’s ASTRO contract vehicle for manned, unmanned and optionally manned robotics work.

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Red Hat Brings Cloud Environment Qualifications to HPC Research with DOE Labs; CTO Chris Wright Quoted
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Red Hat Brings Cloud Environment Qualifications to HPC Research with DOE Labs; CTO Chris Wright Quoted

Red Hat has partnered with several U.S. Department of Energy laboratories, targeting their efforts to progress cloud-native standards and practices in high-performance computing environments.

The Raleigh, North Carolina-based open source software company said Tuesday it will work with the research teams at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories, among others, to expand the possibilities of harnessing standardized container platforms to connect HPC and cloud computing impacts.

Chris Wright, chief technology officer and senior vice president of Red Hat, outlined the prominence of HPC technology in demonstrating computer-intensive applications’ strengths in scientific experimentation via containers. Wright says this caused an imbalance of standards throughout HPC sites and a resultant difficulty in constructing and implementing new programs that can be used in HPC, commercial and cloud settings.

“Through our collaboration with leading laboratories, we are working to remove these barriers, opening the door to liberating next-generation HPC workloads,” Wright stated.

A widespread, growing desire to operate containerized syllabi on traditional HPC architectures is attributable mainly to new discoveries in artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning, in addition to compute and data-driven analytics.

In their joint ventures with the DOE, Red Hat looks to combine their expertise in cloud-native and multi-cloud infrastructure with the laboratories’ innate facility with large-scale HPC execution. The collaboration will center on four focus areas aimed at gaining new understanding in exascale computing, touching on standardization, scale, cloud-native application development and container storage.

The work will find Red Hat’s team utilizing some of the most intricate and robust supercomputers in the world. Their partnership with the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Berkeley Lab will see the two organizations refine Podman, a daemonless container engine designed to develop, manage and run container images on a Linux system.

In addition, alongside the research staff at longtime partner Sandia National Laboratories, Red Hat will concentrate on deploying a Kubernetes-derived infrastructure at enlarged scale in order to test a simplified route for mechanism delivery of containerized workloads.

Red Hat’s new DOE announcement follows the company’s March deal to offer data integration services for a network of hospital research centers in Canada. Using Red Hat Integration, Toronto-based University Health Network consolidated 170 systems into one platform.

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GovCon Expert William Boykin: Federal Thrift Savings Plan’s New Investment Window
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GovCon Expert William Boykin: Federal Thrift Savings Plan’s New Investment Window

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Executive Mosaic, its newsroom, or any of its affiliates)

NO T.S.P. FOR THE C.C.P.

By Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin, (U.S. Army, Ret.)

As things stand now, the people who manage our federal retirement funds will mark Memorial Day with an egregious act of betrayal of our men and women in uniform, past and present, and their civilian colleagues. Based on my own experience serving our country, I think what they are doing by surreptitiously arranging for participants in the Thrift Savings Plan unwittingly to invest in companies owned or controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is tantamount to treacherous sedition.

On May 24th, I joined five prominent retired military leaders in warning the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) that, in “our professional judgment…mutual funds with such companies in the portfolio must be excluded from the Mutual Fund Window that the Thrift Savings Plan expects to open to
federal retirees [on June 1st].

We observed that: 

Under Chinese law, all PRC companies are obliged to assist the Party and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) whenever asked to do so. Worse yet, some of those Chinese corporations listed or traded in our capital markets actually work directly for the PLA. It is completely unacceptable that our servicemen and women, past and present – or, for that matter their civilian counterparts among the federal workforce – might be put in a position where their investments may help acquire weapons intended to kill them.

We called on the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) “to refrain from opening mutual funds to TSP participants’ investments unless and until you have ensured than none of such investments will help enrich, enable or empower the Chinese Communist Party.”

Our bottom line is one that I am convinced the vast majority of Thrift Savings Plan participants – if not, as I would hope, every one of them – would strongly endorse: “The government of the United States should be precluding any underwriting of the CCP’s ominous military build-up and human rights abuses, not legitimating and facilitating them.”

This is not the first time the FRTIB and its lead fund-manager, Larry Fink’s BlackRock, have tried to help the Chinese Communists to gain access to our federal employees’ retirement savings. They attempted in 2020 a relatively above-board effort to the same end by switching the only option for international TSP investing to an index fund whose portfolio was substantially made up of CCP corporations. To his credit, President Trump personally intervened to block that gambit.

So, now the TSP fund managers have stealthily conjured up a far less transparent scheme, whereby participants are invited to put up to 25% of their retirement investments in one or more of perhaps as many as 5,000 mutual funds. While the FRTIB will not reveal which of such mutual funds it is offering – and, thereby, at least implicitly legitimizing and endorsing as prudent investments, it is widely expected that many will have problematic Chinese companies in portfolios. Yet, the TSP managers have said that they will not be making transparent the funds that include such companies and which ones.

Apart from the fiduciary irresponsibility of such an arrangement, there’s another factor that should concern every TSP participant still working in a sensitive position with or for the federal government: Professional harm could be done to government employees with security clearances if they wind up having what would rightly be deemed to be, at a minimum, a conflict of interest by dint of their investments in what has emerged as our greatest enemy of all time.

For these reasons, I urge Thrift Savings participants and other patriotic Americans to take a stand at once and express righteous indignation about the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board’s insidious, and potentially dangerous, help to the Chinese Communist Party. You can do so quickly and easily with your own elected representatives and with the FRTIB Board at www.NoTSPforCCP.org.

Please, do it today.

Lieutenant General William “Jerry” Boykin capped a highly decorated 36-year career in the U.S. Army, including service as the commander of its elite Delta Force special operations unit and as the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence.

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