The INSIDER daily digest -- Feb. 21, 2019

By John Liang / February 21, 2019 at 1:35 PM

This Thursday INSIDER Daily Digest has news on a schedule change to the AWACS upgrade program and more.

There's been a schedule change to the E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System Block 40/45 upgrade program:

Air Force reports E-3G delay, pushes AWACS Block 40/45 final milestone into mid-2024

The Air Force has delayed a key milestone for its $2.7 billion, E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System Block 40/45 upgrade program stemming from shortfalls identified during testing and delays in delivering new hardware by prime contractor Boeing.

Inside Defense recently chatted with Nicolas Chaillan, special adviser for cloud security and DevSecOps within the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment:

Pentagon aims to boost agile software development with 'DOD DevSecOps Initiative'

The Pentagon has 19 pathfinders, ranging from individual weapon systems to program executive offices, leveraging the work of a new initiative to make agile software development tools available across the Defense Department, according to the official in charge of the effort.

Jaret Riddick, the head of the Army Research Laboratory's vehicle technology directorate, spoke at a technology forum this morning:

Army official: Research lab seeking partnerships that are less 'transactional'

The Army Research Laboratory is "thinking about new models for collaboration that are not so transactional," according to the head of the lab's vehicle technology directorate.

A new broad agency announcement seeks companies to propose Pit Boss solutions that take advantage of new command-and-control, health monitoring and remediation, inter- and intra-satellite data management, and on-orbit resource scheduling technology:

DARPA solicits proposals for Blackjack's Pit Boss technology

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is calling for industry input into a software development effort known as Pit Boss, which will demonstrate space-based autonomous command-and-control and data processing to support the agency's highly watched Blackjack program.

Defense Department Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Robert Behler is concerned the Air Force's Enhanced Polar System program needs additional improvements in order to meet cybersecurity standards:

DOT&E calls for additional EPS testing to ensure secure polar satellite communications

The Pentagon's top weapons tester is recommending that the Air Force conduct additional testing to ensure a new polar satellite program can provide secure communications in a contested environment.

Our colleagues at Inside Cybersecurity chatted recently with Symantec's federal chief technology officer:

Symantec CTO lauds Trump AI order, calls for 'baseline' IoT security standard

Cybersecurity firm Symantec's federal chief technology officer, Aubrey Merchant-Dest, said President Trump's recent executive order on artificial intelligence builds off important work at the Defense Department, which is being extended across the private sector, while also calling for a standard on securing the emerging Internet of Things market.

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