Amazon Web Services has introduced a three-tiered solution guide designed to help government customers protect and maintain key digital assets and services during disruptions caused by natural disasters, cyberattacks against infrastructure or power grid failures.

Tonis Pihlakas, a technical business development manager for AWS worldwide public sector, said in a blog post published Tuesday that the Continuity of Government IT on AWS encompasses three levels of continuity classification: cloud backup, pre-planned migration and active cloud standby.

For the first level, CGIT will help government agencies determine the best strategy for creating an architecture for continuous cloud data backup.

At Level 2, AWS will assist customers in preparing plans and procedures for service migration and recovery.

Level 3 CGIT engagements will focus on ensuring seamless continuity of operations between on-premises and digital storage.

“CGIT gives public sector bodies the ability to leverage globally distributed IT infrastructure to underpin their continuity plans,” shared Liam Maxwell, director of government transformation for AWS.

The Department of Defense released an annual report outlining the challenges facing the U.S. military and assessing changes in China’s military and security strategy, DOD News reported Tuesday.

The 2022 China Military Power Report details the East Asian country’s efforts to expand its national power to transform the international system; increase military coercion in the Indo-Pacific region; strengthen its space, nuclear and counterspace capabilities; and intensify its diplomatic, political, economic and military pressure against Taiwan.

“It’s important to understand the contours of [Peoples’ Liberation Army] modernization to include their thinking about what the PLA’s way of war would look like, to kind of survey their current activities and modernizing capabilities and to assess their future military modernization goals,” a senior defense official told reporters prior to the report’s release Tuesday.

“As an outcome of the 20th Party Congress [in October], Beijing is focusing on intensifying and accelerating the PLA’s modernization goals over the next five years, including strengthening what they refer to as its system of strategic deterrence,” the official said.

According to the report, PLA started discussing the “multi-domain precision warfare” as an operational concept meant to use its command, control, communications, computers, intelligence and reconnaissance network to detect vulnerabilities in the operational systems of its adversaries.

The document also noted that China has 400 operational nuclear warheads and could deploy about 1,500 warheads by 2035 if the pace of the country’s nuclear expansion efforts continues.

Maj. Gen. Shawn Bratton, commander of Space Training and Readiness Command, said STARCOM is considering offering live operations training to Guardians in addition to conducting training in an “all simulation, all classroom environment,” Breaking Defense reported Tuesday.

“And it’s something we’re certainly thinking through and looking for help on is, you know, if I put a Guardian in a simulator, simulator, simulator and then put them on the ops floor live to fly GPS or communication satellite or any of the space capabilities, is that the best preparation? Or is it better if in training, they do some of those live activities?” Bratton said.

He said the command is turning to industry to seek help as it works on establishing its range infrastructure. He also offered updates on the proposed National Space Test and Training Complex.

Army Futures Command’s Air and Missile Defense Cross-Functional Team is mounting a new endeavor to support the service branch’s efforts to defeat unmanned aerial system threats, C4ISRNET reported Tuesday. 

Col. Patrick Costello, director of AMD CFT, said the team’s initiative would focus on supporting the development of new and advanced capabilities against emerging adversarial UAS capabilities.

AMD CFT is the latest Army organization to shift its focus to defeating enemy drone threats, which Army leaders have considered a high-priority objective. 

The Army Rapid Capability and Critical Technologies Office is working on technologies designed to counter drones, including high-capacity microwave systems capable of targeting multiple incoming drone threats simultaneously.

The Program Executive Office Missiles and Space is also aiding the cause by exploring how to bring new capabilities to the force.

Responsible for evaluating and deploying new counter-UAS technologies, the Department of Defense’s Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office has also been assigned to Army leadership in order to double down on this focus area.

Costello said AMD CFT’s new mission “requires coordination with the PEO, it requires coordination with the RCCTO and a close relationship with the JCO.”