The U.S. Army has started the development of a mobile application that aims to help leaders manage daily tasks and connect with squad members. The team will collaborate with the Army Futures Command to study various approaches for counseling, sponsorship and training management, the service branch said Wednesday.

Sgt. Maj. Michael Grinston formed a team of 15 non-commissioned officers to help develop the app and provide inputs.

“We’re really looking at how do we give a squad leader an app — like a leader’s book — right there in the palm of their hands,” said Grinston.

The Army plans to unveil the app during the Association of the U.S. Army's yearly meeting in October. The app's development is a part of the This is My Squad effort, a program that seeks to assist squad leaders in fostering trust with their members.

Rob Beutel, deputy chief information technology officer of the U.S. Air Force, has said that telework operations did not prevent his team from evaluating new technologies through online demonstrations, FedScoop reported Thursday.

Beutel told attendees at a GovLoop webinar that his office increased virtual interactions with research institutions and academic entities with the prevalence of livestreaming events and conferences amid the ongoing pandemic. “Now, on a daily basis we can meet with [any] company,” he noted.

Beutel and his team were previously required to set up meetings with key stakeholders in Washington, D.C., and the Silicon Valley area for technology demos with Department of Defense (DoD) networks.

His office also worked to ensure the sufficiency of laptops for airmen and civilians deployed around the world, according to the report.

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the Department of Energy (DoE) has given its approval of an effort to evaluate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's potential for continued operations.

The LLNL Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operation will assess the environmental impacts of options on whether to maintain the laboratory's operations without significant changes, DOE said Wednesday.

The first option is to maintain existing activities with no operational expansions for the next 15 years, and the alternative would be to update old infrastructure. The alternative option may involve facility alterations, new construction, excess facility decommissioning and operational changes. A notice of intent for the effort was published Wednesday on the Federal Register.

“The continued operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is critical for NNSA’s Stockpile Stewardship Program and reducing global nuclear threats," said Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, NNSA Administrator and DOE's undersecretary for nuclear security.

Amentum, Bechtel National, BWX Technologies and Battelle are part of LLNL's management team.

International research offices of the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army have established presence at White City Campus, a science hub managed by Imperial College London.

The tri-service research offices have occupied space at the campus to strengthen collaboration with the U.K. defense ministry, Wright-Patterson AF Base said Thursday. The move is also intended to boost the offices’ engagement with the U.K.’s industry, academia and community of non-traditional innovators.

“Co-locating with Imperial College London is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen the relationships formed through our existing grants and is a direct realization of the 2030 strategy call to build bridges and foster innovation on critical research topics,” said Col. D. Brent Morris, international science division director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research within AF Research Laboratory.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the occupied space will take place when the area sufficiently reduces COVID-19 restrictions.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the U.S. Army needs to consider potential risks such as cost uncertainties and program delays when prioritizing the rapid development of next-generation combat vehicles (NGCV).

GAO said in a report released Thursday that such obstacles could also lead to delays in engineering reviews, resulting in an increased risk of technical problems in the NGCV platforms.

According to the report, the Army implements both traditional and middle-tier acquisition approaches and was able to mitigate risks in NGCV programs like the Optionally Manned Fighting Vehicle and Mobile Protected Firepower. However, the watchdog noted that the Army postponed crucial system engineering assessments and took steps that are inconsistent with GAO’s best practices.

GAO noted that implementing leading practices in program management that reflect cost uncertainties and appropriate engineering reviews "could improve Army's ability to provide insight to decision makers and deliver capability to the warfighter on time and at or near expected costs."

The Army has taken actions such as establishing cross-functional teams to oversee program requirements and coordinating with other Department of Defense entities for cost and risk assessments.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) plans to tap the private sector after declaring no contest winners for the agency’s commercial launch competition, National Defense Magazine reported Thursday.

DARPA previously selected Virgin Orbit, Vector Space and Atmosphere and Space Technology Research Associates (Astra) for the DARPA Launch Challenge in 2018. Virgin backed out of the competition while Vector filed for bankruptcy last year. Astra, the sole competitor, failed to conduct the launch within the specified time period.

The rapid-launch competition offered $2 million to any competitor that completed the first launch. DARPA would award $10 million for the first-prize winner of the second launch, $9 million as a second-place prize and $8 million for the third placer.

“As we start to look at space as a warfighting domain in the future, we need to really take a closer look at how do we promote speed as a priority," said Todd Master, program manager for the DARPA Launch Challenge, in a prior interview.

Master said DARPA is looking into integrating the rapid-launch concept into other military activities such as the Rim of the Pacific exercise. The agency also plans to coordinate with the U.S. Space Force and other entities for related efforts, according to the report.