By 
NSC-6 Milestone. Huntington Ingalls Industries successfully completed builder’s sea trials for the sixth Coast Guard National Security Cutter, Munro, marking a key milestone toward delivery of the Legend-class vessel in the fourth quarter of this year. During the trials, Munro spent three days in the Gulf of Mexico testing all of its systems including propulsion, electrical systems, damage control, anchor handling, small boat operations and combat systems, culminating in the successful completion of a four-hour, full-power propulsion run. “The NSC program is really firing on all cylinders, and NSC-6 is another example of how each successive ship just keeps getting better in all aspects,” says Derek Murphy, Coast Guard program manager.
Longer Wait. Security detection company American Science and Engineering says that the federal government’s anti-trust review of its acquisition by competitor OSI Systems has been extended. AS&E says that OSI on Aug. 5 voluntarily withdrew its notification of the proposed acquisition after informal discussions with the Justice Department and refiled the form on Aug. 9, which restarted the 30-day waiting period under the Hart Scott Rodino law. The refiling gives the department more time to complete its initial review of the proposed acquisition. AS&E still expects the deal to close by year’s end.
DHS at AUSA. The Department of Homeland Security will have a pavilion at this year’s Association of the United States Army meeting and exposition in Washington, D.C. in October. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson will be a featured speaker and discuss the partnership between DHS and the Army. The 2,000 square foot DHS pavilion will feature multiple exhibits and include program managers and subject matter experts to discuss department requirements and technologies in a number of areas including border security, aviation security, biometrics, cyber security, wearable technologies, and more.
Black Dark 2016. The U.S. military plans to conduct a major counter-drone exercise in Florida next month. Black Dart 2016 is slated to occur Sept. 11 to 23 at Eglin Air Force Base and be similar to last year’s Black Dart, which occurred at Naval Base Ventura County and Sea Range, Point Mugu, Calif.
Destroyer Proposals. The U.S. Navy has formally asked industry for proposals to build the first DDG-51 Flight III guided-missile destroyer. “The Navy has received initial inputs and is currently working with industry,” Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) says in a statement. General Dynamics Bath Iron Works is expected to be the lead contractor for the Flight III ship, which will be an upgrade from Flight IIA destroyers.
Japan Hawkeye. Northrop Grumman has received a U.S. Navy to contract begin building a second E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early-warning airplane for Japan. Japan’s first E-2D is in production and scheduled for delivery in 2018. “The airframe for the first Japanese aircraft is complete and is currently going through electrical and hydraulic subsystems installation,” says Jay Mulhall, director of business development for Northrop Grumman’s E-2D program. Japan has said it plans to buy up to four E-2Ds.
Disappearing Milley. Just as Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley was to take the mic at a conference on futuristic thinking this week, the public livestream went abruptly dark. While journalists and casual observers were not invited to the 2016 Mad Scientist Conference, hosted by Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) at Georgetown University, the event’s online livestream was advertised on social media and elsewhere. The entirety of the conference was made public that way until Milley, apparently at the last minute, made the decision to limit his audience to those in attendance. “There was a last minute change to keep Gen. Milley’s remarks off the record,” says Lt. Col. Cathy Wilkinson, Milley’s chief spokesperson. “I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”
…Reappearing Milley. Online observers of the Mad Scientist Conference, geared toward far-afield futurist thinking about problems and technologies the Army could face in 2050 and beyond, who sat through the radio silence during Milley’s prepared remarks and a following panel discussion, got to hear the chief speak briefly on camera and on the record, according to a blog post by the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA). Milley values long-range strategic forecasting, but not everyone shares his view, AUSA reports. “You are not going to get a right answer, but it has to be clear enough so we can take American taxpayer money in the billions of dollars and lay it on the table,” Milley says. “These are big bets.”Milley disagrees with people who write off long-range planning beyond five years into the future as an exercise in futility.
DHS at AUSA. The Department of Homeland Security decides to be a high-profile participant in the 2016 Association of the U.S. Army Annual Meeting and Exposition in October.A Homeland Security Pavilion will be part of the exhibit in Hall A of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Two days of the professional development forum will include events related to DHS. There will be three professional education sessions dedicated to Homeland Security topics, one on Oct. 4 and two on Oct. 5. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson speaks Oct. 5 on the agency’s partnership with the U.S. Army.The Homeland Security events and exhibits are open to all registrants for the AUSA Annual Meeting. Registration details are available here: http://ausameetings.org/2016annualmeeting/register/
Iraqi Aircraft. Orbital ATK received an $11 million contract for contractor logistic support (CLS) of the Iraqi Air Force’s Armed Caravan program. The contract provides funding to provide maintenance and support training for the modified aircraft fleet currently used by the Iraqi Air Force. The contract will also include spare parts, component repair, publication updates, maintenance training and logistics. Additional options, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to $118 million through 2020. Orbital has supported the Iraqi Air Force since 2007 when the first missionized Cessna 208 aircraft was delivered out of the company’s Fort Worth Special Mission Aircraft facility. It supplies three armed aircraft (AC-208B), three reconnaissance aircraft (RC-208B), and five trainer aircraft (TC-208B) in support of the U.S. government contracts for rebuilding the Iraqi Air Force.
CRS Cyber Update. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released an updated directory and summary of legislation, hearings, and executive branch documents relating to cybersecurity dated as July 26, document number R43317: Cybersecurity: Legislation, Hearings, and Executive Branch Documents.
Cyber Company Hire. Agari, a cybersecurity company, hired Markus Jakobsen as Chief Scientist. Jakobsen has over two decades of experience as a security research and scientist studying phishing, crimeware, and mobile security at several technology organizations including PayPal, Xerox PARC, and RSA Security. He also previously served as an associate professor and adjunct associate professor at Indiana University and New York University, respectively. At Agari Jakobsen is set to focus on using data science to prevent advanced email attacks.
Cyber MOOC Funding. Cybrary, the first and only free cybersecurity massive open online course (MOOC), secured $1.3 million in an oversubscribed series seed financing. The financing is led by Arthur Ventures and Ron Gula, founder and chairman of Tenable Network Security, with additional participation from existing investors like Inner Loop Capital. Vybrary launched in 2015 and has over 550,000 registered users internationally and delivers over 70 million minutes of cybersecurity training and educational content on over 2,000 topics. “With this latest financing, we intend to focus on product development to improve the learning experience for Cybrary users and introduce new features that will help drive greater comprehension and adoption of the concepts and training we provide,” Ryan Corey, Cybrary co-founder says in a statement.
NextSTEP-2. NASA on Aug. 9 picked six companies to develop ground prototypes and concepts for deep space habitats for its possible Journey to Mars, according to an agency statement. NASA selected Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada Corp., and NanoRacks. NASA says the contract award amounts are dependent on contract negotiations and the agency estimates that the total of all the awards, covering work in 2016 and 2017, will be roughly $65 million, with additional efforts and funding continuing into 2018. Selected partners are required to contribute at least 30 percent of the cost of the overall proposed effort. Through the public-private partnerships enabled by the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships-2 (NextSTEP-2) broad agency announcement, appendix A, NASA and industry partners will expand commercial development of space in low earth orbit (LEO) while also improving deep space exploration capabilities to support more extensive human spaceflight missions.
NanoRacks. The NanoRacks External Platform (NREP) deployed outside the International Space Station (ISS) on the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) Exposed Facility, according to a company statement. NanoRacks calls the self-funded NREP the first-ever commercial gateway-and-return to the extreme environment of space. Following the cubesat form factor, payloads can now experience the microgravity and radiation of the space environment, observe earth and test sensors, all while having the opportunity to return the payload to earth. The NREP is manufactured by Airbus.
NROL Contracts. The Air Force on Aug. 4 announced it intends to solicit and negotiate sole source contracts with United Launch Alliance (ULA) for two EELV Delta IV Heavy launches, according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO). Launch services are for National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) missions NROL-82 and NROL-91 with an initial launch capability of fourth quarter FY ’20 and fourth quarter FY ’23, respectively. ULA is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.
