The Insider

The Navy plans to establish its own variant of the Army’s Man Transportable Robotic System Increment II, a remotely operated platform used to detect and dispose of landmines and other explosives, according to a request for information posted earlier this month.

“The U.S. Navy has decided to establish a stand-alone configuration of the MTRS II system from the U.S. Army Program of Record,” the notice states. “The purpose of this separate configuration is to address Navy specific user requirements which include integration of the Flexible Cyber Secure Radio (FlexCSR).”

The notice asks interested vendors to detail their approach to “supporting government efforts to integrate FlexCSR system into the MTRS II systems” and “supporting government with integrating any Risk Management Framework security controls that are required to establish the Authority to Operate for the Navy configuration.”

In April, The Navy awarded a five-year, $55 million contract for FlexCRS radios to contractor Tomahawk Robotics.

While MTRS Inc. II is an Army program of record, the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force also employ the platform. Contractor Teledyne FLIR was selected to build the system in 2017, and in June 2023 announced it had delivered 1,000 MTRS Inc. II units to the U.S. military. The company has received orders for more than 1,800 systems totaling over $250 million, the notice adds.

The 160-pound robot is equipped with a visual and thermal camera and a robotic arm with a reach of six feet. It is controlled by a remote operator using a handheld controller. In addition to ordinance disposal, the system can be equipped with “different sensors and payloads” for other missions including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, according to the system’s maker.

The Defense Innovation Unit announced Monday that two new companies were awarded contracts to help with different aspects of the Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) initiative.

HyCAT, originally announced in April, was implemented to develop inexpensive, high-cadence hypersonic testing capabilities, according to a DIU press release issued Monday.

DIU has now announced that Hermeus Corp. and Innoveering have secured contracts since the project has grown to include further experimental cruise flight teams.

Hermeus will focus on providing “turbine-based combined cycle propulsion and a pathway for dual use, reusable hypersonic flight aircraft,” DIU said.

“Hermeus will emphasize demonstration of enabling technologies -- aircraft sub-systems and mission integration -- needed for future hypersonic aircraft,” according to DIU.

Meanwhile, DIU said Innoveering, which is a GE Aerospace company, received a contract to prototype an “affordable air-launched air-breathing hypersonic testbed.” The company will use subcontractors Specter Aerospace and Starfighters International to complete the prototype.

“Innoveering will mature the design, conduct supporting modeling and simulation and perform system integration to deliver a robust, hypersonic mission in the coming years,” DIU said.

“Our objective is to provide a diverse set of dual-use technology solutions to the hypersonic testing apparatus, addressing immediate and long-term needs,” Lt. Col. Nicholas Estep said. “This is the ideal conduit for DIU’s involvement -- providing mission-relevant, flight testbeds and novel technology insertions to the Defense Department hypersonic community of interest.”

DIU has tentatively set the initial mission date for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024.

“This suite of current and future commercial capabilities provides the DOD cost-effective, high cadence test options using the best of today’s recoverable technologies and tomorrow’s reusable technologies,” said Barry Kirkendall, technical director of DIU’s space portfolio.

Fenix Space Inc. was awarded a contract at the beginning stages of the HyCAT initiative and completed the initial concept design and flight trajectories for the project.

In May 2023, DIU launched HyCAT 2, targeting “technical insertions” deemed vital to the hypersonic community.

In HyCAT 2, NXTRAC was one of the initial performers, focusing on commercializing high performance GNC solutions.

“Their solution will be aggressively designed, ground tested, then integrated for hypersonic flight evaluation,” DIU said. “In addition to hypersonics, NXTRAC’s TDSA technology is being explored for a broad range of U.S. government lines of effort, to include seismic monitoring and geothermal exploration with the Department of Energy and informing dynamic space missions with the United States Space Force.”

The Defense Department has released a Responsible Artificial Intelligence Toolkit that aims to guide best practices for AI among DOD users and industry contractors.

The RAI Toolkit, coming out of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, is a critical part of the RAI Strategy and Implementation Pathway that Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks signed in June 2022.

“To ensure that our citizens, warfighters and leaders can trust the outputs of DOD AI capabilities, DOD must demonstrate that our military's steadfast commitment to lawful and ethical behavior apply when designing, developing, testing, procuring, deploying and using Al,” Hicks wrote. “The Responsible AI (RAI) Strategy and Implementation (S&I) Pathway illuminates our path forward by defining and communicating our framework for harnessing AI.”

The goal of the strategy, Hicks wrote, is to “eliminate uncertainty and hesitancy” among DOD users, industry and U.S. allies.

“Integrating ethics from the start also empowers the DOD to maintain the trust of our allies and coalition partners as we work alongside them to promote democratic norms and international standards,” she wrote.

A key part of this strategy and implementation plan was the development of an AI-related test and evaluation toolkit that would “draw upon best practices and innovative research from industry and the academic community, as well as commercially available technology where appropriate,” DOD said in a press release yesterday.

The toolkit was released to DOD users yesterday. It was created using the Responsible AI Guidelines and Worksheets, made by the Defense Innovation Unit, the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and Toolkit and the IEEE 7000 Standard Model Process for Addressing Ethical Concerns during System Design as a basis for its foundation.

"Responsible AI is foundational for anything that the DoD builds and ships,” CDAO Craig Martell said in a statement.

“So, I am thrilled about the release of the RAI Toolkit,” he continued. “This release demonstrates our commitment to ethics, risk assessment, internal governance, and external collaboration. We promised to establish processes to design and employ human fail-safes in AI development and deployment, and we're excited to provide this applied toolkit for our end users."

DOD also noted that the toolkit counsels users through “tailorable and modular assessments, tools and artifacts throughout the AI Product lifecycle.”

The department reports that the toolkit will be continuously updated as it is a living document.

The Senate Rules Committee voted 9-7 along party lines to approve Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed’s (D-RI) resolution that would temporarily allow the Senate to override Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R-AL) hold on more than 425 defense nominees.

The resolution, which would allow for the en bloc consideration of military promotions with the exception of members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders, will now advance to the floor where it will need 60 votes to pass.

Tuberville has been holding up scores of military nominations and promotions for months because he opposes the Pentagon’s travel and leave policy for servicemembers seeking abortion services.

Reed, who spoke at a Politico conference earlier today, said he did not want to prejudge the outcome of the upcoming vote on the floor.

“I'm never confident until it’s over,” he said. “I’m Irish.”

Reed noted that his proposal, once it reaches the Senate floor, will need nine Republicans. Though some members of the GOP have taken to the floor to criticize Tuberville’s position, none have yet backed Reed’s resolution.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who spoke during the committee’s hearing on the proposal, said he disagreed with Tuberville’s methods but does not support Reed’s proposal “at this particular moment.”

McConnell said he supports Tuberville’s position but asserted that the matter could be taken to court without blocking military promotions. He said conversations about potential offramps with Tuberville remain ongoing.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), meanwhile, said Tuberville “has single handedly brought the Senate to a new low.”

“Our colleague from Alabama has made clear he will not budge,” Schumer said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who chairs the Rules Committee, said backing Reed’s proposal is an “elegant” solution for moving the stalled nominees forward.

“We believe this is the most sensible way to do it because it is a temporary policy,” she said.

Reed’s office put out a statement saying the resolution is technically not a rule change.

“Rather, it temporarily establishes a standing order for the remainder of the 118th Congress to provide for the en bloc consideration of military nominations -- with the exception of nominees to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders -- that have been favorably reported by the Senate Armed Services Committee,” the statement said.

Reed, who is quoted in the statement, said Tuberville has been “offered a number of off-ramps for his unprecedented abuse of military promotions, and this resolution offers him yet another.”

“It’s a way to solve the current crisis through the end of next year, but it cannot undo the damage Senator Tuberville has already inflicted on our military, nor should it be seen as a permanent solution,” he said.

Reed noted that the resolution is “limited in scope and duration.”

“It automatically expires at the end of this Congress, and we may need to debate this issue at the outset of the next Congress to ensure a sustainable solution,” he said. “Hopefully we can build bipartisan consensus that no senator should ever place this type of months-long blanket hold on military promotions for political demands, because the only ones benefitting here are Senator Tuberville and America’s adversaries.”

The Air Force is looking to recapitalize its executive airlift fleet with two to 10 modified commercial aircraft.

According to a request for information released yesterday, the service would replace or augment the current fleet of C-32A aircraft that carry VIPs such as the vice president (during which time the plane is called Air Force Two), the first lady and the state secretary.

The Air Force is requesting information from businesses interested in an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for “modified commercial derivative aircraft,” the post states.

The C-32A were modified from Boeing 757s and entered service in 1998.

The full RFI has not been released publicly as it’s labeled as controlled unclassified information.

The service has already begun recapitalizing the Air Force One aircraft with Boeing building two VC-25Bs.

That program has been plagued by delays and often pointed to as a factor in Boeing’s poor earnings reports in its defense sector. Boeing took on the firm, fixed-price contract in 2020 and has since taken on more than $2 billion in charges.

The Government Accountability Office anticipates the first VC-25B will be delivered in January 2027 and the second in April 2027, compared to September 2024 and February 2025, respectively.

The current Air Force One planes, the VC-25As, were fielded in 1990 and are expected to be retired in 2025. The delays will lead to extra costs.

The White House released a National Spectrum Strategy today, aiming to structure the future of U.S. innovation and national security requirements in advanced wireless technologies.

“My administration’s goal is to accelerate United States leadership in wireless communications and other spectrum-based technologies and to unlock innovations that benefit the American people, while ensuring necessary access to spectrum for agencies and private-sector users, such as for scientific, public safety, critical infrastructure, and national security uses, now and into the future,” President Biden wrote in a Presidential memorandum released today.

The White House outlined “four pillars” for advancing this goal in the National Spectrum Strategy released today.

The first pillar calls for “a spectrum pipeline to ensure U.S. leadership in advanced and emerging technologies.” This includes a two-year-long study of 2,786 megahertz of spectrum for potential repurposing and the creation of guiding principles from stakeholders and data analysts on near-term allocation.

The second pillar advocates for collaboration across private stakeholders and government agencies to deliver a long-term plan that will aid developing spectrum needs.

The third pillar cites the need for innovative spectrum technologies and techniques, like spectrum sharing, to be used in technology management and development. Through this, the White House plans to establish spectrum testbeds, create a National Spectrum Research and Development plan and support private sector R&D over the next 12-18 months.

The fourth pillar plans to broaden national spectrum awareness and focuses on implementing a national spectrum workforce plan and educating the public and policymakers to widen spectrum knowledge.

The memo also directs the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to work with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Interagency Spectrum Advisory Council, which the memo also established for agency heads to communicate, to create a strategy that is a “roadmap to make spectrum resources available,” has data-driven processes, spectrum management optimization plans, emerging technological advancements in spectrum management plans and recommendations for developing a managed shared spectrum across the federal government.

The memo gives the NTIA 90 days to publish a charter for the Council and the commerce secretary until 120 days after submission of the strategy to create and publish an implementation plan for the strategy.

“The policy of my administration is to ensure that spectrum management, usage, and allocation decisions are coordinated, consistent, and reflect the needs and diverse missions of agencies and non-federal users,” Biden wrote in the memo.