Proposed FCC Rules to Enable Licensed Spectrum Use for Drones; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted
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Proposed FCC Rules to Enable Licensed Spectrum Use for Drones; Jessica Rosenworcel Quoted

The Federal Communications Commission has started developing rules to enable unmanned aircraft system operators to access wireless communication links in the 5030-5091 MHz band to improve the reliability of drone operations.

The FCC said Wednesday it has released a notice of proposed rulemaking to seek industry input on whether changes to measures are necessary to facilitate UAS use on flexible-use wireless networks.

Drones depend on wireless communications for a variety of mission-critical operations ranging from medical supply to emergency response and the FCC determined that the licensed spectrum is capable of supporting such activities.

“The FCC must ensure that our spectrum rules meet the current – and future – spectrum needs of evolving technologies such as unmanned aircraft systems, which can be critical to disaster recovery, first responder rescue efforts and wildfire management,” said Jessica Rosenworcel, chairwoman of the FCC.

The agency has also suggested a licensing process for drone operators to communicate with air traffic control and other aircraft to ensure safe integration of UAS operations in controlled airspace.

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USAF F-15EX Fighter Jet Demonstrates Increased Missile Capacity
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USAF F-15EX Fighter Jet Demonstrates Increased Missile Capacity

The U.S. Air Force demonstrated expanded missile capacity with two Boeing-built F-15EX Eagle II fighter aircraft by fielding missiles from their new weapon stations during a flight test held in late November over the Gulf of Mexico, the service said Wednesday.

Eagle II pilots from the Air Force’s 96th test wing launched an AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile from Station 1 and an AIM-9X missile from Station 9 as part of the Operational Flight Program Combined Test Force mission.

The flight test reportedly marked a key step in proving the fighter jet’s capability to fire up to 12 air-to-air missiles.

The two F-15EX Eagle II jets, which come with four additional missile stations, deployed the missiles against a target drone and over the water range of the Eglin Test and Training Complex, reflecting another milestone in the aircraft’s development test program.

In October 2021, the Air Force announced the completion of the first operational test mission of Eagle II at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. 

The Air Force awarded Boeing a potential $23 billion contract to design and produce the F-15EX Eagle II in July 2020.

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Leidos Wins Accenture Federal Services Subcontract for CDC Cloud Modernization; Liz Porter Quoted
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Leidos Wins Accenture Federal Services Subcontract for CDC Cloud Modernization; Liz Porter Quoted

Leidos has won a subcontract from Accenture Federal Services to provide cloud modernization support for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The time and materials subcontract falls under a $189 million award and has a base period of one year with two one-year options and a six-month option, Leidos announced from Reston, Virginia on Thursday.

Liz Porter, president of Leidos Health Group, expressed her excitement to join forces with Accenture to support the CDC.

“Through our experience and technical expertise migrating legacy systems, Leidos will accelerate the CDC’s performance and execution. We’re proud to support this mission and the CDC’s work protecting the health of the American people,” she stated.

Leidos is responsible for four tasks under the subcontract: application rationalization, project initiation and planning, cloud modernization and application sustainment and modernization.

These services are intended to aid the CDC in moving its systems into secure cloud environments to enhance public health data collection, validation, analytics, forecasting and decision-making.

The collaboration aims to combine both organizations’ strengths by integrating technology, healthcare, systems infrastructure and mission knowledge to support all Department of Health and Human Services operating divisions.

Accenture was awarded the initial contract in October of last year, under which the company is responsible for updating CDC information technology systems and advancing the agency’s adoption of cloud platforms.

Leidos has worked with the CDC across multiple initiatives. In 2021, the enterprise received a potential five-year, $13 million contract to deliver scientific computing and bioinformatics services to the agency’s Office of Advanced Molecular Detection, including IT assistance, data management, high-performance computing and analytical services surrounding genomics and proteomics.

That same year, Leidos partnered with Intel to build a platform that ensures secure data sharing for contact tracing within the CDC’s MicrobeTrace Next platform. The provided technology is also intended to be used for post-pandemic analysis and other necessary public health responses.

Akima Subsidiary Secures Multiple Awards at Noble Skywave 2022; Barry Smallwood Quoted
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Akima Subsidiary Secures Multiple Awards at Noble Skywave 2022; Barry Smallwood Quoted

An Akima subsidiary has won multiple awards in the annual Noble Skywave 2022 military-led High Frequency competition, which measures the number of HF contacts each team can achieve by voice, data and distance.

Compass Point’s performance in the three-day evaluation earned the company first place in the U.S., first in the 400+ watt transporter category and third place among all participants, Akima announced from Herndon, Virginia on Thursday.

“The knowledge and readiness this team displayed is essential for strengthening connectivity across the Army. This is a critical military mission and lifeline for communication, if and when needed,” said Barry Smallwood, president of Akima’s emerging markets group.

The competition, which was hosted by the Canadian Armed Forces, included 429 military units from 13 different countries.

Compass Point currently maintains and operates the Army HF Gateway Station in Fort Huachuca, Arizona year-round, where the company conducts tailored training sessions for military units from every branch.

These training sessions frequently include HF radio troubleshooting, detailed training on novel systems and guidance on configuration and setup.

Specific skills Compass Point applies to daily base operations were highlighted during the competition.

The organization also harnesses this experience to aid military radio operators across the nation by troubleshooting problems concerning frequency, antennae angles and the configuration of related technologies.

“We’re so proud of this hard-working team that is extremely passionate about what they do,” Smallwood emphasized.

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Raj Iyer Announces Departure from US Army CIO Position
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Raj Iyer Announces Departure from US Army CIO Position

Raj Iyer, the first civilian U.S. Army CIO and a two-time Wash100 Award winner, has announced that his contract is expiring and he will be stepping down from the role in the near future.

In a LinkedIn post published Wednesday, Iyer detailed his efforts to upgrade Army technology while holding the position, which centered around six major strategies intended to change the branch’s culture and drive engagement with the plan.

“It was clear to me that the sense of urgency was strong and transforming the Army was an imperative. Adopting technology at scale to transform and innovate seemed like a distant dream to many when even basic IT didn’t meet their requirement,” Iyer said.

The first three pillars of Iyer’s initiative focused on leadership. First, Iyer had Army Secretary Wormuth sign his plan to “send the right message to the Army.” Second, he took steps to ensure CIO collaboration with every decision-making entity to harness the bureaucratic nature of the federal government. Third, he built relationships with Army leaders to establish trust.

Pillars four, five and six were centered around communication. Iyer said he traveled to international locations to explain the plan and its impact on warfighting to those serving in the military branch and encouraged soldiers and civilians to reach out to have their voices heard. He additionally partnered with DOD CIO John Sherman and other military CIOs to create a team based around joint objectives.

“We enabled the Army’s largest and most aggressive transformation in its history in just two years. But I can take very little credit for this success because the execution was truly at all levels in the Army,” Iyer described.

“Every one of the initiatives could be completed in two years if only we all pulled in one direction,” he added.

During Iyer’s time as CIO, the Army also reportedly changed the way it interacts with the private sector.

“We sent a strong message to software vendors, you are either our strategic partner or we will find others who want to be,” he stated.

Reflecting on his time in the role, Iyer said that the Army is now on a “strategic sustainable path” to advance in the future and his job as the Army’s first CIO has concluded.

“We have established irreversible momentum at a scale where there is no going back. More importantly, we have shown that we can do this in a budget-neutral fiscal environment and never used funding as an excuse for not getting things done,” Iyer stated.

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Maxar Secures 2 NGA Awards for Geospatial Intelligence Services & API Development; Tony Frazier Quoted
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Maxar Technologies has been awarded two contracts with a combined value of $35.8 million by the National Geospatial-Intelligence agency.

Under the two awards, Maxar is expected to supply the agency with geospatial intelligence data and an improved application programming interface, the Westminster, Colorado-based company announced on Wednesday.

“Maxar is proud to continue partnering with NGA on enduring missions such as foundation geospatial intelligence, land cover and intelligence support, as well as to help spur innovation in new areas like automation,” commented Tony Frazier, executive vice president and general manager of public sector earth intelligence at Maxar and a five-time Wash100 Award winner.

The first award has a one-year period of performance and a potential value of $22.5 million, of which an initial $11.3 million will be funded under NGA’s Janus Geography program.

This award expands Maxar’s long history of efforts to provide NGA with foundational geospatial intelligence data by characterizing land cover at high resolution over various areas that are currently unmapped.

Maxar will be responsible for providing a modernized API under the second contract, which is valued at $13.3 million and has a base period of six months with four option years. The API is intended to support computer vision, machine learning and artificial intelligence applications.

Capabilities to be included in the interface include querying, discovering and downloading Maxar products from the organization’s 125-petabyte, high-resolution commercial imagery archive. Moving away from legacy dissemination methods, the API will supply content to the end user’s cloud account.

Also offered in the API are options for third-party content integration, full business analytics and increased production capacity.

“Public-private partnerships such as this represent the U.S. government’s ongoing commitment to commercial space and geospatial analytics technology,” emphasized Frazier.

Maxar is currently supporting the NGA under an ongoing $60 million contract awarded in 2021, through which the enterprise is continuing to develop and operate a classified big data analytics platform that utilizes geospatial tools to quickly interpret data.

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Space Systems Command Launches Weather Imaging CubeSat Technical Demonstration
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Space Systems Command Launches Weather Imaging CubeSat Technical Demonstration

Space Systems Command has launched a small satellite onboard the SpaceX Transporter-6 mission to showcase the capability of space-based electro-optical/infrared weather systems to provide weather imagery data from low Earth orbit.

The demonstration, which was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, will last for one year, the command announced on Tuesday.

According to Lt. Col. Joe Maguadog, EWS materiel leader and program manager, the EWS CubeSat technical demonstration will collect space-based environmental monitoring data to inform the U.S. Space Force’s movement toward a more resilient weather constellation.

SSC said Orion Space Solutions manufactured and delivered the weather imaging CubeSat prototype used in the demonstration under a contract awarded in February 2022.

General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Group was also selected to produce a second EO/IR SmallSat prototype to deliver operational data by 2025.

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GSA Adds ‘Interested’ Feature to eBuy Acquisition Platform
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GSA Adds ‘Interested’ Feature to eBuy Acquisition Platform

The General Services Administration has added a new feature to the acquisition tool, eBuy, that allows contractors to inform agency customers they are interested in a request for quote or request for information.

The “interested” feature will reportedly enable eBuy vendors to identify and filter quotes they have not submitted and potentially help government buyers to get an idea of the number of quotes they expect on an RFI or RFQ and determine whether to extend the closing date of their requests, GSA said Tuesday.

The new feature could also allow government buyers to view the quote status of “Interested” on the details page of RFQ in the acquisition platform.

GSA also outlined the steps for vendors on how to use the “Interested” function on eBuy.

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Regulatory Agencies Warn Banking Organizations of Crypto-Asset Risks
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Regulatory Agencies Warn Banking Organizations of Crypto-Asset Risks

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have released a joint statement highlighting risks associated with crypto assets to banking organizations.

Some of these risks include misleading or inaccurate disclosures and representations by crypto-asset companies; significant volatility in crypto-asset markets; susceptibility of stablecoins to run risk; and contagion risk within the crypto-asset sector stemming from interconnections among certain crypto-asset participants, according to the joint statement published Tuesday.

The agencies said they are taking a “careful and cautious approach” with regard to activities related to crypto assets at each banking organization and are continuing to evaluate whether such activities can be carried out in a way that addresses consumer protection, legal permissibility, safety and soundness and compliance with regulations and laws.

The Federal Reserve, FDIC and the OCC will continue to closely track exposures of banking institutions to crypto-asset risks and collaborate with other authorities on matters associated with crypto assets.

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DARPA Launches Crop Protection Research Program; Molly Jahn Quoted
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DARPA Launches Crop Protection Research Program; Molly Jahn Quoted

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has unveiled a new program that seeks to advance threat detection and warning capabilities for protecting crops such as corn, rice and wheat from damage.

The Foundational Security for Food Systems program will be an 18-month, two-phase research effort to test the feasibility of a pathway-based approach in determining crop damage.

“Similar to how a person can have any one of thousands of viruses long before certain common symptoms present, we’re interested in finding the earliest signs those pathways are active before symptoms show up in cereal crops,” explained Molly Jahn, FS2 program manager in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office.

“FS2 will investigate the ability to create detection and warning protocols based on pathways with observable plant-level effects including signatures that are detectable remotely,” Jahn continued.

DARPA is expected to release the full FS2 program details and instructions for interested proposers on SAM.gov before a virtual information session about the program on Jan. 17. The agency will award $1 million in total funding to the winning party.

FS2 is part of DSO’s Disruptioneering initiative, which seeks to accelerate scientific discoveries by focusing on smaller, targeted projects and issuing awards less than 90 days after solicitation.

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