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Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson Assigned to Lead AF Materiel Command
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Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson Assigned to Lead AF Materiel Command

Lt. Gen. Duke Z. Richardson, military deputy at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, has been appointed to lead Air Force Materiel Command.

Richardson will also receive a promotion to general and be assigned at Wright Patterson Air Force Base to command AFMC, the Department of Defense said Wednesday.

He oversees research, development, testing and modernization activities valued at over $60 billion yearly in his current role. The U.S. Air Force officer joined the service in 1983 to serve as an avionics technician and later on underwent officer training.

His military career includes materiel-related assignments for the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center and U.S. Special Operations Command.

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BAE Suppliers Discuss Combat Vehicle Opportunities at Virtual Event
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BAE Suppliers Discuss Combat Vehicle Opportunities at Virtual Event

Over 400 suppliers from the U.S. industrial base discussed their challenges and opportunities with regard to combat vehicle production in a virtual conference hosted by BAE Systems.

The event tackled opportunities that BAE’s combat vehicle supplier base can pursue with customers from the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, and was attended also by congressional representatives, the company said Friday.

Approximately 1,000 suppliers from 45 states compose BAE’s U.S. industrial base for combat vehicle production.

“The work being done by the folks that make up our defense industrial base is critical to our national security,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

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Patent Lawyer Kathi Vidal Confirmed USPTO Director
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Patent Lawyer Kathi Vidal Confirmed USPTO Director

Kathi Vidal, a managing partner in the Silicon Valley office of law firm Winston & Strawn, was confirmed by the Senate in a voice vote Tuesday to become director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property.

President Joe Biden nominated Vidal to head USPTO in October 2021 and the White House described her as “one of the leading intellectual property lawyers in the country.”

She is known for handling high-profile patent cases that involved complex technology, such such as semiconductors and medical devices, and spent 25 years in private practice as an IP litigator.

“I have seen our intellectual property system at its best: incentivizing research and development that leads to new technologies and improvements to existing technology,” Vidal told senators at a hearing.

“I have also seen that we can do better—that we can work together to build an intellectual property system that is more predictable, reliable and transparent.”

She worked for General Electric and Lockheed Martin as an engineer before joining the legal sector.

Vidal will replace Drew Hirshfeld, who has been performing the duties of commerce undersecretary for IP and USPTO director since 2021.

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Air Force’s Unfunded Priorities List Includes $921M for 7 More F-35s
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Air Force’s Unfunded Priorities List Includes $921M for 7 More F-35s

The U.S. Air Force submitted to Congress its unfunded priorities list worth $4.6 billion, including $921 million for seven additional F-35 fighter jets, Air Force Magazine reported Friday.

The service requested to procure 33 F-35s in its fiscal year 2023 proposed budget, down from a total of 48 aircraft units it bought in FY 2022 and down from 60 jets in FY 2021.

“The Air Force unfunded list would add just seven F-35 jets, less than half of what’s needed to match the 48 requested in each of the past three years,” said Bruce Wright, a retired Air Force lieutenant general and president of the Air & Space Forces Association.

“Indeed, in 2020 and 2021, Congress increased the Air Force request from 48 to 60 and we would urge lawmakers to do the same in 2023,” added Wright.

Other unfunded priorities in the Air Force’s list are weapons systems sustainment, EC-37B Compass Call electronic warfare aircraft and hypersonic testing with F-15s, F-16s and B-52s.

The Space Force’s FY 2023 unfunded priorities list requested $327 million in funds for classified programs, $200 million for missile warning and missile tracking systems and $112 million for weapons systems sustainment efforts.

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Solarium Commission Co-Chairs Ask Biden to Retain Cyber Authorities in 2018 Presidential Memo
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Solarium Commission Co-Chairs Ask Biden to Retain Cyber Authorities in 2018 Presidential Memo

The co-chairs of the Cyberspace Solarium Commission called on the White House to maintain the cybersecurity authorities outlined in a 2018 national security presidential memorandum, FCW reported Friday.

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., the commission’s co-chairs, wrote a letter to President Joe Biden saying the NSPM-13 memo expanded the Department of Defense’s authority to approve defensive and offensive cyber operations.

The lawmakers said the memo helped “limit Russian cyber-enabled information operations” during the 2018 midterm elections and presidential election in 2020.

They urged the administration not to make any major changes to the memo that provides the government a more agile process to decide on offensive cyber activities that seek to protect the country’s critical infrastructure.

“Any effort to alter and possibly weaken NSPM-13 signals to our adversaries a lack of credible willingness to use offensive cyber capabilities which undermines the credibility of our deterrent,” the letter reads.

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Appeals Court Overturns Nationwide Injunction on Federal Employee Vaccine Mandate
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Appeals Court Overturns Nationwide Injunction on Federal Employee Vaccine Mandate

A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday upheld the White House’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal employees in a 2-1 ruling, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The decision of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed a ruling by a federal district court judge in Texas against the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate in January.

The appeals court ruled that unvaccinated employees seeking to avoid discipline should file their complaints with the Merit Systems Protection Board instead of the courts since the mandate was an employment action that the Civil Service Reform Act covers.

In mid-January, the Supreme Court blocked the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccination and testing requirement for large private businesses but allowed the administration to implement a vaccine mandate for over 10 million health care workers whose facilities take part in Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The White House also ordered a vaccination mandate for federal contractors but faced a legal setback in December after a district court judge in Georgia decided to prohibit the administration from implementing the requirement.

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Air Force’s AWACS Aircraft Completes First Airborne EW Data Transmission, Updates
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Air Force’s AWACS Aircraft Completes First Airborne EW Data Transmission, Updates

An E-3G Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft of the U.S. Air Force conducted in-flight data transmissions and an in-air update for the first time during a recent proof-of-concept test in Florida.

The service branch said Thursday the electronic warfare milestone helped showcase the ability of the E-3G aircraft to adapt to new threats and complete mission data reprogramming in a short period on future battlefields.

During the test, the E-3G operated by the AWACS Combined Test Force used its Internet Protocol Enabled Communications satellite communications system to transmit EW data to the 36th Electronic Warfare Squadron, which sent back analyzed and corrected data to the aircraft within an hour.

The team then used the newly received information to update its electronic support measures database using a mission computing system onboard the aircraft.

“The next step is to build on this concept within the E-3G community and work with other airborne platforms to use IPEC and existing datalinks to provide in-air updates for other platforms,” shared Lt. Col. Dameion Briggs, commander of the 605th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Detachment 1.

Based on the Boeing 707 aircraft, E-3G uses an externally mounted radar to provide airborne early warning, command and control to the Air Force.

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SBA Launches Inaugural America’s Seed Fund Expo Competition
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SBA Launches Inaugural America’s Seed Fund Expo Competition

The Small Business Administration is looking for start-ups with technology developed through the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs to join its inaugural competition.

SBA said Friday it will accept applications from small businesses until April 22 to attend America’s Seed Fund Startup Expo that will take place virtually on May 25.

In the competition guidelines, the SBA Office of Investment and Innovation said it will select up to 12 start-ups supported by America’s Seed Fund to join the competition and connect with the resources they need to compete in the global marketplace.

The competition will showcase research and development projects focused on areas including agriculture technology, climate and energy, supply chain resiliency and national security.

“With the launch of SBA’s first America’s Seed Fund Expo, we will showcase exceptional entrepreneurs who have leveraged federal R&D funding in key industries and highlight the resources to advance these game-changing innovations right here in America,” said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman.

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Tony Barrett Promoted to President of Cyber and Engineering at BigBear.ai
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Tony Barrett Promoted to President of Cyber and Engineering at BigBear.ai

Intelligence executive Tony Barrett has been elevated to the position of president of cyber and engineering at data and digital services company BigBear.ai.

In his new role, Barrett will build upon his work in BigBear’s integrated defense solutions division while leading both security efforts and the innovation-minded creation of new strategies, he announced in a LinkedIn post on April 1.

“I am humbled as well as energized by the opportunity and look forward to many more great things at BigBear.ai,” Barrett shared.

The executive’s experience combines business operations, software and enterprise-level computer system operations and military combat service. For over two decades, Barrett was an officer, commanding officer, major and deputy director in the U.S. Marine Corps.

After this time, he began a career in the private sector spearheading intelligence-surveillance-reconaissance data and technology integration throughout various data origin points, domains and security levels at software company Modus Operandi.

Subsequently, Barrett was Hanscom site lead and and director of Department of Defense operations for technology and management consulting firm PCI, which was eventually acquired by BigBear.ai in February 2021.

Barrett’s core capabilities lie in intelligence operations, investigations, enterprise architecture and counterinsurgency operations. He also specializes in counterterrorism operations, internal and personal security and intel systems.

He attended Boston University and graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in history in three years’ time while on active duty in a Marine-enlisted commissioning program.

The promotion of Barrett follows BigBear.ai’s February addition of two new senior vice presidents: Todd Hughes assumed the position of SVP of technology and research and Dan Jones came aboard as SVP of products.

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Riverside Research Receives Contracts Totaling $53.9 Million in Q1 2022; Jeff Druessel Quoted
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Riverside Research Receives Contracts Totaling $53.9 Million in Q1 2022; Jeff Druessel Quoted

Riverside Research has netted over $53.9 million in contract awards during the first quarter of 2022, the Arlington, Virginia-headquartered scientific research firm said Thursday.

“These new research programs expand our capabilities with current customers and extend our reach to support new missions,” commented Jeff Druessel, vice president of Riverside business development.

The contracts are a mix of new projects and follow-up assignments primarily from U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence sector clientele. They involve research and development efforts in software engineering and systems engineering, as well as commercial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

The wins are a part of the institute’s push to further deepen its presence in the national security, military and intelligence communities. Riverside’s R&D open innovation concept is specifically designed to meet the needs of the national security market via technology modernization strategies.

Alka Bhave, chief operations officer at Riverside, remarked that the organization is “working diligently” to realign the company’s approach and staff activity with the series of new task orders and heightened profile.

In January, Riverside became a member of the National Science Foundation’s Center for Hardware and Embedded Systems Security and Trust consortium. This opportunity gives the institute direct access to new work with the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Prior to its 2022 successes, in November 2021 Riverside announced a partnership with T-REX to tackle research and development endeavors surrounding geospatial intelligence, measurement and signature intelligence, in addition to multiple intelligence.

Like their newly received contracts, this collaboration will have impacts for Department of Defense and intelligence sector customers.

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