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New Navy CMV-22B Osprey Transport Helicopter Reaches Initial Operational Capability
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New Navy CMV-22B Osprey Transport Helicopter Reaches Initial Operational Capability

The U.S. Navy’s new tiltrotor aircraft for transporting personnel and cargo from shore bases to aircraft carriers achieved initial operational capability on Dec. 14.

Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, director of Air Warfare Division within the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, said in a Friday Navy article that the IOC designation was the result of the CMV-22B Osprey’s successful maiden deployment in summer 2021.

“It is a vote of confidence from top Navy leadership that the design, testing and production of this aircraft meet the logistical needs of the carrier air wings designated to fly the CMV-22B,” shared U.S. Marine Corps Col. Brian Taylor, the V-22 joint program manager.

Built by the Bell–Boeing team, the CMV-22B can carry up to 6,000 pounds of load across 1,150 nautical miles and is set to replace the service branch’s decades-old C-2A Greyhound aircraft.

The aircraft is assigned to Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron 30 on the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, on which it contributed to the detachment’s 98 percent mission completion rate and 75 percent mission capable rate during its maiden deployment.

“This aircraft went from first flight to first deployment in 19 months; a feat possible through the dedication of the Navy’s acquisition, engineering, test and operational communities, as well as industry, all working in tandem, toward a common goal,” noted Taylor.

Bell Boeing is currently in contract to produce 44 CMV-22Bs, 14 of which are already with the Navy, and is expected to secure a full operational capability designation for the aircraft by 2023.

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Senate Confirms Lt. Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla to Lead Central Command
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Senate Confirms Lt. Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla to Lead Central Command

The Senate has voted to confirm Lt. Gen. Michael Kurilla, who heads the U.S. Army’s 18th Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, to be the next commander of the U.S. Central Command, MilitaryTimes reported Friday.

Kurilla, who previously served as chief of staff at CENTCOM, will be promoted to four-rank general as part of the confirmation and succeed Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie, who is expected to retire in April.

His confirmation comes more than a month after he was nominated by President Joe Biden to oversee the U.S. military’s operations in the Middle East.

Kurilla said his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 8 that artificial and human intelligence capabilities will play a key role in countering terrorism threats in the region.

According to Kurilla, CENTCOM needs to invest more in the research and development of emerging technologies to increase its ability to identify and respond to threats posed by Iran and its allies.

The Senate also confirmed Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue as Kurilla’s replacement to command the Army’s 18th Airborne Corps.

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CISA Publishes New Document to Protect Critical Infrastructure From Misinformation; Jen Easterly Quoted
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CISA Publishes New Document to Protect Critical Infrastructure From Misinformation; Jen Easterly Quoted

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has published a new Insight advisory on protecting critical infrastructure from misinformation and other forms of influence operations.

CISA said Friday its document titled “Preparing for and Mitigating Foreign Influence Operations Targeting Critical Infrastructure” advises critical infrastructure owners to train staff on cyber hygiene, seek out vulnerabilities and implement an incident response plan against mis-, dis-, and malinformation (MDM).

The agency’s recommended incident response plan involves oversight of the MDM incident response process, personnel assignments for MDM response and public relations and setting up communication systems for answering queries.

The guidance document also provides ways to mitigate the impacts of MDM. These practices include information sharing coordination and sharing accurate information.

“We need to be prepared for the potential of foreign influence operations to negatively impact various aspects of our critical infrastructure with the ongoing Russia-Ukraine geopolitical tensions,” said Jen Easterly, CISA director and a 2022 Wash100 awardee.

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Vice Adm. Jon Hill: MDA Works to Ensure Availability of Deterrence Capability Against Hypersonic Threats
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Vice Adm. Jon Hill: MDA Works to Ensure Availability of Deterrence Capability Against Hypersonic Threats

Vice Adm. Jon Hill, director of the Missile Defense Agency, said MDA can counter hypersonic missile threats and other proliferating technologies from adversaries by ensuring the availability of deterrence capabilities for the Department of Defense and U.S. forces. 

He said hypersonic systems are fast, highly maneuverable weapons.

“The only way to do that for a maneuvering threat is to look down from space and so that drives us to build out a space architecture that can look down and see these targets across the globe because where they’re really maneuvering is in what we call the glide phase,” Hill told Government Matters in an interview published Sunday.

“The challenge is hot target against a warm earth and so you have to have exquisite algorithms to extract those targets out of that scene,” he added.

He noted that there has been a “heavy focus on countering hypersonics” amid proliferating regional threats and MDA plans to conduct a demonstration of the hypersonic ballistic tracking space sensor capability up in space by fiscal year 2023.

Hill said MDA has “transitioned into a development agency that delivers capability to the warfighter” and covers science and technology, development, production, testing and support to the services.

He stressed that MDA is the “only joint acquisition engineering organization that is focused on this mission space so it allows the nation to have an organization that is focused on the missile defense mission, whether it’s ballistic missiles or hypersonics or cruise missile defense.”

He also discussed the concept of kill assessment and its importance to the warfighter and how MDA works with the Space Development Agency and industry on missile defense capabilities.

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Trade Groups Discuss Impact of Continuing Resolutions on Federal Contractors
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Trade Groups Discuss Impact of Continuing Resolutions on Federal Contractors

Associations that represent federal contractors are highlighting operational and workforce challenges associated with continuing resolutions, Government Executive reported Friday.

“Of course, ideally, a normal budget process under regular order would be ideal, as the CR carries with it certain challenges, like the cap on spending and the limitation on new starts,” Roger Waldron, president of the Coalition for Government Procurement, told the publication Thursday. “Still, a CR extension provides all sides time to collaborate on a mutually beneficial spending agreement.” 

Under stopgap funding bills, “defense industry workforces are subject to seemingly endless stop-and-start contract cycles, creating inefficiency and disruption that ripples through the defense supply chain with disproportionate effects on smaller companies,” several trade associations wrote in a Jan. 11 letter to Congress.

David Berteau, president and CEO of the Professional Services Council, talked about the impact of CRs on government operations and innovation.

“But I think there’s a far more insidious impact, and that is the impact on delaying contract awards, even if the funding is available from prior year appropriations or under the continuing resolution,” added Berteau. 

President Biden on Friday signed a stopgap measure that would fund government operations at current funding levels through March 11. The move came a day after the Senate voted 65-27 to pass the CR and nearly two weeks after the House approved the bill.

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Lloyd Austin: Integrated Deterrence Driving Force Behind National Defense Strategy
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Lloyd Austin: Integrated Deterrence Driving Force Behind National Defense Strategy

Lloyd Austin, secretary of the Department of Defense and a 2022 Wash100 Award winner, said integrated deterrence will be a key factor of the new National Defense Strategy, which seeks to address major threats to national security and the international rules-based order, DOD News reported Friday.

“Integrated deterrence means using all of the capabilities in all warfighting domains: Air, land, sea, space and cyber,” Austin said Friday during a press conference in Warsaw.

Visit Wash100.com to cast a vote for Gen. Lloyd Austin as one of your TEN votes to advocate for your favorite leaders in the federal and government sectors. 

He noted that people have seen some components of the new strategy in play as the U.S. and its allies counter Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.

“But most important, [integrated deterrence means] using the capability and capacity that’s resident in our partners and allies,” Austin said.

“So, what you see today, actually playing out is exactly that. You’re seeing us lead with diplomacy. You’ve seen us work very, very carefully with our allies and partners to share information, and to also move very, very quickly and deliberately to help reassure and reinforce wherever required.”

Austin’s remarks in Warsaw came days after he met his three European counterparts in Brussels to discuss diplomatic engagements and NATO’s importance in deterring Russia.

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IonQ, Pacific Northwest Lab Generate Barium Qubit Source for Ion-Powered Quantum Computers
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IonQ, Pacific Northwest Lab Generate Barium Qubit Source for Ion-Powered Quantum Computers

A joint IonQ and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory team has produced a source of barium ions that the Maryland-based company believes could help in the commercialization of quantum computing technologies.

IonQ said Thursday the domestic source generates enough sustainable amounts of barium qubits, core components powering its quantum computers, to support an increase in its systems manufacturing operations perpetually.

According to the company, the public-private partnership also managed to shrink a barium material to a microscopic scale that could open the possibilities for smaller core system components and, in turn, quantum computers small enough to network with each other.

“IonQ’s work with PNNL to secure the domestic supply chain of IonQ’s quantum computing qubits is a fundamental step in the mass commercialization of quantum computing,” noted Peter Chapman, president and CEO of IonQ.

The partnership is part of various efforts to expand the company’s manufacturing work within the Pacific Northwest region. IonQ computers are designed to use trapped atoms, unlike the traditional synthetic quantum systems, to compute for complex math equations.

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T-Rex, NGA Partner to Bolster Geospatial Workforce, Tech Development
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T-Rex, NGA Partner to Bolster Geospatial Workforce, Tech Development

T-Rex’s innovation and entrepreneur center will help the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency develop technology and a corresponding workforce to address modern national security challenges.

NGA said Thursday it will work with T-Rex’s St. Louis, Missouri-based center under a partnership intermediary agreement signed the same day.

The PIA aims to establish a repository of unclassified imagery for academic and industry engagement, harness the expertise of academic researchers and boost the capacity for science, technology, engineering and mathematics in underserved communities.

“We are excited to partner with T-Rex and explore ways to leverage the deep ties T-rex has within the geospatial sector,” said Phil Chudoba, associate director for capabilities at NGA.

The agency can use PIAs to partner with companies, small businesses and non-traditional organizations to drive technology transfers.

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NOAA Releases Commercial Space Object Tracking Sources Sought Notice
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NOAA Releases Commercial Space Object Tracking Sources Sought Notice

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce is looking for commercial sensors and tracking technologies that can be used to monitor objects orbiting Earth.

OSC plans to tap private companies to support the development of an open architecture data repository to provide commercial space situational awareness and fill in gaps in the government’s object-tracking capabilities, according to a sources sought notice on SAM.gov.

The office is particularly interested in technologies to track objects in Earth’s southern atmosphere, refine orbit estimates of priority spacecraft and follow calibration satellites within a timeframe between 2022 and 2030.

OSC will accept responses from the industry until March 21.

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DHS’ Lynn Parker Dupree Wants Privacy-Ready Systems in Department
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DHS’ Lynn Parker Dupree Wants Privacy-Ready Systems in Department

Lynn Parker Dupree, chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security, said she wants to implement systems that already take information security into consideration, Federal News Network reported Thursday.

Dupree said she wants to begin including privacy in technical designs and deviate from the tradition of applying privacy mitigations after a technology’s development.

“I have been really working with academia and technologists to figure out how we can build tools that actually enhance privacy,” the chief privacy officer said.

Dupree noted that she and her personnel are working with the department’s chief information officer, Science and Technology Directorate and procurement arm on efforts to boost data privacy.

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