Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Democratic lawmakers remain opposed to giving the Defense Department more money to help the industrial base. The concern is that DOD has not shown that the funds are helping the companies that truly need it, said Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.).
The Defense Department inspector general has terminated an audit of what DOD did to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified during the testing and evaluation of acquisition programs, citing the effects of COVID-19. The objective of the canceled audit was to "determine whether DOD components took action to accept, mitigate, or remediate cybersecurity vulnerabilities identified during cybersecurity test and evaluations of DOD acquisition programs," Carol Gorman, assistant inspector general for the cyberspace operations, wrote in an Oct. 16 memo.
The Air Force’s top general says moving data and making it accessible is the most important and most challenging task for the service as it continues its effort to set up the Advanced Battle Management System. That program is a key component of joint all-domain command and control—the military’s attempt at an all-seeing eye for warfare that will incorporate artificial intelligence and real time knowledge to make decisions and facilitate attacks.
Joint all-domain command and control is driving change throughout the Air and Space Forces. Read our latest on the quest for greater interconnectedness across the battlefield.
“I think about, more so, what is the capability that would give me the equivalent of 386? What things can I do?” he told the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies on Oct. 21. “Some of that may not be exquisite and expensive; it may be doing things differently.”
Under this vision, military buyers and contractors will work collaboratively in virtual cloud networks. Each piece of equipment will exist as a digital model. And once the design is finished, the digital information will be used for the entire life of a system—from development to production and for eventual upgrades.
The Navy is exploring new options for replenishing its submarines out at sea, which could have broader impacts on how it resupplies all of its fleets.
Under a decision issued Oct. 21 by the Government Accountability Office, the company selected to manage military moves and shipments of household goods belonging to U.S. service members has lost the contract but still may be able to bid for the job, worth up to $19.9 billion over a decade.
Air Force researchers are actively working on creating an interface between the human brain and computers to improve airmen’s ability to learn and make more rapid, effective decisions. The Air Force Research Laboratory recently announced its efforts in developing an “augmented learning platform” to essentially non-invasively make the brain more receptive to soaking up information in the process of learning.