Protest Denied. The Governmental Accountability Office last week denied a protest filed by Safran Group’s Morpho Detection business that sought to overturn a potential $162 million contract from the Transportation Security Administration to Implant Sciences to supply explosive trace detectors for aviation security. The award, Implant’s largest, is the company’s first production contract with TSA, whose blessing is considered the gold-standard in aviation security products. The protest decision frees Implant to begin negotiations with TSA on delivery schedules for the company’s QS-B220 desktop ETD.
Cyber Markup. The Senate Intelligence Committee as early as this week is expected to mark up legislation aimed at promoting sharing by the government and private sector of cyber threat data. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a member of the committee, tells the Intelligence National Security Alliance that “Congress needs to pass legislation to make it easier for public and private sector entities to share cyber threat vulnerability information. That means some liability protections for the private sector.” She expects the committee to mark up a cyber security bill as this week.
…Mandatory Reporting. Collins also says that critical infrastructure owners and operators “should be required to report significant cyber intrusions that could compromise their industrial control systems.” Collins and former Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I/D-Conn.), co-authors of cyber security legislation that Congress never approved, originally attempted to mandate that the private sector report serious cyber breaches but under pressure from industry and congressional Republicans modified their language to make reporting voluntary. She says most states require companies to tell consumers when their personal data has been compromised, adding that companies doing business with national security agencies must also report on breaches related to networks where classified information is stored.
…Done Good. Collins, who also with Lieberman co-authored the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which created the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), says the NCTC “has lived up to what we hoped it would be.” The NCTC was created to ‘connect-the-dots’ linking disparate pieces of intelligence data to enable the intelligence community to better uncover and track terrorists. “The progress at NCTC—whether measured in integration of intelligence, the expertise of its analysis, or the advances in technology—is immense,” says Collins, highlighting the fact that so far there hasn’t been a “catastrophic” attack on the U.S. homeland since 9/11.
Rand Promotion. President Barack Obama nominates Air Force Gen. Robin Rand to become the next chief of Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), according to a Defense Department statement. Rand would take over for Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle. Rand currently serves as the head of Air Education and Training Command (AETC), located at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
SBIRS Ground System. The Air Force says it successfully commands on-orbit missile-warning satellites from its new Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) ground system, which is currently in development. During the first three days of the test, the Increment 2 system demonstrates its ability to transmit and receive commands to and from each of the missile-warning satellites individually: Defense Support Program (DSP), Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) and Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO). The Air Force says this marks a major risk reduction milestone as the service plans to transition to full missile-warning operations to the Increment 2 system in 2016. 
Pratt Contract. The Air Force sole-sources Pratt & Whitney a $407 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract for an engine component improvement program, according to a Feb. 25 DoD statement. Pratt will provide design improvement, life management/analysis, repair development and tests of its in-service F135, F100, F119 and TF33 engines, Pratt spokesman Matthew Bates says in a statement. Bates says, through the contract, Pratt has five goals: Maintain flight safety; improve system operational readiness, reliability and maintainability; correct service-revealed deficiencies, reduce engine lifecycle costs and sustain engines throughout their service lives. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2021. The Air Force did not respond to a request for comment by press time. Pratt & Whitney is a division of United Technologies Corp.
JMM BRU Contract. The Air Force sole-sources Raytheon a $35 million contract to provide aircraft integration and life-cycle technical support on an advanced bomb carriage and release system for aircraft, according to a company statement. The Joint Miniature Munitions Bomb Rack Unit (JMM BRU) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (ID/IQ) contract began in October and has an eight-year period of performance. In addition to the contract award, Raytheon also takes delivery of its first order. Raytheon says JMM BRU will allow both the Air Force and Navy to perform more missions while utilizing less aircraft.
New Erickson CEO. Erickson names Jeff Roberts as its new president and CEO affective April 1 after current CEO Udo Rieder informs the company of his decision to retire, according to a company statement. Rieder’s retirement from the company also includes retirement from his role as an Erickson board member. Roberts arrives from CAE Inc., a leader in modeling, simulation and training for civil aviation and defense. Roberts was also previously president and CEO of SimuFlite Training International Inc., a provider of pilot flight simulation training companies owned by GE Capital.
ISIL Defeat Important. Defeating ISIL is important because it’s “a social media-fueled terrorism group in a way we haven’t see yet,” Defense Secretary Ash Carter tells SASC. Adherents are showing up in North Africa, the Gulf, Europe and Afghanistan. From a recent meeting in Kuwait meeting with leaders, Carter says from his perspective ISIL is attractive “to younger members of older movements.” The leadership is older, perhaps more “staid,” and the younger members have “more steam up or are deluded.” Importantly, “those very distant from a battlefield, or without any experience of radicalism, suddenly become enticed by social media.” People around the world are being attracted to the movement. “That’s why it’s important to inflict defeat on ISIL,” he says. “These people are not invincible.”
Growler Work. The Navy’s EA-18G Growler is DoD’s only EA aircraft, and CNO Jonathan Greenert tells a Senate appropriations defense panel, “I’m concerned we won’t have enough electronic attack aircraft,” in the future. A Pentagon study expected this summer should “unambiguously” declare what the DoD requirement would be. “We have what we need today,” Greenert says. “What I don’t know yet is what the electronic attack capability requirements would be in the future.”
U.K. Eyes Space. The U.K. government confirms widespread support for its plans to make Britain the home of Europe’s first spaceport. Publishing the outcome of a three-month consultation with interested parties paves the way for developing a technical specification for spaceport requirements before inviting proposals. This would be published this year. Satellite and commercial launches are envisioned for the new spaceport. The Civil Aviation Authority published a short list of spaceport sites. The government did rule out two RAF airfields due to their vital defense role. The spaceport would support the emerging spaceflight industry, creating jobs and driving economic growth, Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill says.
New Exec. Kristen Helsel is the new vice president of commercial systems for CyPhy Works. Helsel was formerly vice president of sales and business development for AeroVironment’s Commercial UAS business. CEO of CyPhy Works LLC Helen Greiner says, “Kristen’s appointment will ensure that CyPhy Works addresses our growing business customer needs.” CyPhy Works is a leading robotics company developing aerial robots and UAVs for large industries such as defense, oil and gas, agriculture, entertainment, law enforcement, and mining.