By Debbie Gregory.

The Air Force announced that Lockheed Martin will receive a $7.2 billion contract to manufacture 22 Global Positioning System satellites.

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said the new generation of GPS satellites, called GPS 3 follow-on, or GPS 3F, is more resistant to interference and electronic attacks.

“These satellites will provide greater accuracy and improved anti-jamming capabilities, making them more resilient.”

The satellites are expected to be available for launch into space beginning in 2026.

“The world is dependent on GPS, from getting directions to getting cash from an ATM machine or trading on the stock exchange,” Wilson said.

“This investment in GPS 3 continues to advance our capabilities into the future,” said Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. David Goldfein.

In 2008, Lockheed Martin was selected by the Air Force to build the first 10 GPS 3 satellites. In February, the Air Force requested competitive bids for the next batch of 22, but only Lockheed Martin submitted a proposal. Other military satellite manufacturers like Boeing and Northrop Grumman that were expected to challenge Lockheed Martin decided not to.

The Air Force experienced a number of setbacks and schedule delays in the production of the first 10 GPS 3 satellites.

Timely production of GPS satellites is critical as the current constellation of 31 GPS 2 satellites in orbit will have to be replaced over the next decade. The first GPS 3 launch was scheduled for March, 2018, but has been delayed.

According to the agreement, the $7.2 billion fixed-price deal ensures that the “contractor, not the taxpayer would be responsible for any cost overruns.”

The first vehicle of the GPS 3 constellation arrived at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on August 20th in anticipation of a December 15th launch.

By Debbie Gregory.

A new, lightweight, modular ghillie suit for snipers is in the works to replace the current Flame Resistant Ghillie System, or FRGS, that will be more functional for troops in hot environments.The U.S. Army issued a request for proposal for the IGS on August 28th.

A ghillie suit is a type of camouflage clothing designed to resemble the background environment such as foliage, snow or sand. Typically, it is a net or cloth garment covered in loose strips of burlap, cloth or twine, sometimes made to look like leaves and twigs, and optionally augmented with scraps of foliage from the area.

Program Executive Office Soldier is developing the Improved Ghillie System, or IGS, a modular system that would be worn over the field uniform, Debbie Williams, a systems acquisition expert with Product Manager Soldier Clothing and Individual Equipment, said in a recent Army press release posted on PEO Soldier’s website. Components will include sleeves, leggings, veil and cape that can be added or taken off as needed.

The Army plans to buy about 3,500 IGSs to outfit the approximately 3,300 snipers in the service, as well as Army snipers in U.S. Special Operations Command.

The ghillie suit was developed by Scottish gamekeepers as a portable hunting blind. Lovat Scouts, a Scottish Highland regiment formed by the British Army during the Second Boer War, is the first known military unit to use ghillie suits.

The FRGS was first fielded in 2012 at the Army Sniper School at Fort Benning, Georgia; U.S. Marine Corps Scout Sniper School at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia; and the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The updated version will do away with the accessory kit, as most of the items in the kit are not being utilized.

The IGS will feature a lighter, more breathable fabric than the material used in the FRGS, and will offer some flame-resistance, but soldiers will receive most of their protection from their Flame Resistant Combat Uniform, worn underneath the IGS, Army officials said.

The Army will test and evaluate the new IGS in both lab and field environments during day and night conditions, with a user evaluation scheduled for next spring at the Sniper School at Fort Benning.

By Debbie Gregory.

Most soldiers carry a heavy burden in the field, including an 80-pound backpack filled with essential supplies and tools.

If that’s not heavy enough, soldiers often carry an additional 20 to 30 pounds in backup batteries to power their radios and other necessary electronics.

A new mini-generator about to make its debut might allow one member of a small unit serve as a recharger for the rest of the squad or platoon to save on batteries and lighten loads, according to Veronika Stelmakh, co-founder, along with Walker Chan, of Mesodyne Inc.

Mesodyne’s high-energy-density ultra-quiet portable power generator, about the size of a soda can, reduces the battery load of dismounted warfighters by 75% so they can carry 2 extra gallons of water or 20 extra magazines of ammunition. Developed at MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies and incubated at Argonne National Lab, the technology converts fuel to electricity in the 1-300 W range.

“It could be just one soldier, and a lot of people could recharge off him,” said Stelmakh.

The device, which weighs about one pound, would run off fuel, most likely propane or butane, to generate electricity through a conversion process using infrared radiation to drive specialized photovoltaic cells.

According to an Army release, its Research, Development and Engineering Command is experimenting with wearable solar panels that could recharge batteries and allow soldiers to carry fewer of them.

The command is also looking at backpacks that generate electricity from the soldier’s movements.

Lightning Pack—a 2017 R&D 100 Award Winner—is able to generate electricity as soldiers walk and run through the field, eliminating the need for them to carry batteries. The backpack works by harvesting kinetic energy, while also reducing the heavy load soldiers have to carry around the field. The pack is currently undergoing stringent field tests on the backpacks.

By Debbie Gregory.

Microsoft is partnering with the U.S. Government in the journey to the cloud.

Microsoft officials announced that the company had achieved the required security levels to host secret U.S. military and intelligence data on its cloud computer network, Azure Government.

Azure Government was the first government-only cloud to be awarded Information Impact Level 5 DoD Provisional Authorization by the Defense Information Systems Agency. It delivers a physically isolated cloud that is DoD Impact Level 5-ready for infrastructure, platform, and productivity services serving every branch of the military and the defense agencies the greatest number L5 services in the market.

“We’re taking our public cloud Azure and sending our FedRamp moderate coverage to cover 50 of those services,” said Julia White, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, referring to cybersecurity framework for cloud hosting for government. “By the end of the calendar year, those 50 services will have FedRamp high certification.”

Azure Government Secret is meant to provide multi-tenant cloud infrastructure and cloud capabilities to U.S. Federal Civilian, Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and U.S. Government partners working within Secret enclaves.

The biggest cloud companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, IBM and Oracle, all have been jockeying for bidding position for the winner-take-all Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract.

Google has dropped out of the race for the Department of Defense’s $10 billion, 10-year cloud contract, citing an inability to meet the security levels required and because they could not be “assured that it would align with our AI Principles,” according to a Google spokesperson.

Whatever company they choose to fill this contract, this is about modernizing their computing infrastructure and their combat forces for a world of the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence and big data analysis, while consolidating some of their older infrastructure.

Google’s abdication leaves Amazon and Microsoft as the two most likely contenders for the JEDI contract.

By Debbie Gregory.

The U.S. Army is looking for a new vehicle to quickly transport troops across the battlefield. Qualified applicants must carry nine fully-armed infantry soldiers, work after being pushed out of an airplane, and enjoy a road speed of 55 mph.

The Army recently released a market survey for what it’s calling the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV). The ISV is meant to be an ultra-light vehicle capable of hauling troops across the battlefield. Unlike other vehicles, the ISV is merely a people hauler and won’t actually do any fighting. The solicitation states that the Army wants to buy new vehicles along with hardware and services, at a total quantity of around 2,065.

The Army has several ways to move infantry soldiers in wartime. At the high end of warfare soldiers are transported in M2A3 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs).

At the next level down soldiers in Stryker brigade combat teams ride in Stryker interim armored vehicles. Faster moving but with less protection than a Bradley, Strykers can transport up to nine soldiers meant to dismount before the battle in order to fight.

The next level down is where the new Infantry Squad Vehicle comes in.

The Army and the Marine Corps continue to struggle to find ways to lighten the load of infantry soldiers, a problem that the Defense Department’s newly-formed Close Combat Lethality Task Force has made a priority to address.

“The ISV is all about mobility. Previously, if paratroopers, light infantry or air assault troops wanted to quickly secure their objective they needed to land close by—and become a target for guns and surface-to-air missiles.

The ISV “should be capable of “traversing longitudinal grades up to 60 percent,” but will offer no armor protection for soldiers, according to the solicitation.

“Survivability will be achieved through high mobility, a roll cage and occupant restraints,” the document states.

So if you’ve got a vehicle that could fit the bill, the deadline to respond is October 26, 2018.