Space Operations Command welcomes new commander
Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr., U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command commander, speaks during a change of command ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, January 9, 2024. Miller is SpOC’s second commander since it’s activation October 21, 2020.
Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr., U.S. Space Force’s
Space Operations Command commander, speaks
during a change of command ceremony at
Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado,
January 9, 2024. Miller is SpOC’s second
commander since it’s activation October 21, 2020.
The U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command held a change of command ceremony at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, where Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting relinquished command to Lt. Gen. David N. Miller Jr.
Chief of Space Operations Gen. Chance Saltzman served as the presiding officer for the ceremony. During his remarks, Saltzman spoke about SpOC’s mission evolution and its vitality to national defense.
“Our ability to adapt, to stay ahead of emerging threats and to seize new frontiers will be instrumental in maintaining our superiority in space in this era of Great Power Competition,” Saltzman said.
He added, “These challenges will be expertly addressed because of our Guardians and the missions they execute under SpOC.”
After assuming command, Miller spoke about his goals for his tenure as SpOC’s commander.
“As I see it, our task from the Secretary and the CSO is pretty clear: to build on and also build out the combat space power of this nation,” said Miller. “We need to provide a United States Space Force service force provider to coordinate, prioritize and recommend to our CSO combat-sourcing solutions to solve the joint force’s problems.”
Miller also expressed optimism for the command’s future.
“I am excited about this opportunity, but our work is far from done,” Miller said. “We need to set our horizons high, and we will achieve the goals we set up.”
NGA announces Luno A commercial data RFP worth million$$$
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is soliciting proposals for Luno A, a $290 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to acquire unclassified commercial GEOINT-derived computer vision and analytic service capabilities.
This will be a five-year IDIQ with awards to multiple vendors, focused on monitoring global economic and environmental activity and military capabilities.
Luno A is a follow-on to the Economic Indicator Monitoring contract, which focused on managing the deluge of data by purchasing commercial data as services to integrate with NGA machine learning and AI efforts.
Luno A will expand access to data and services for the National System for Geospatial Intelligence, accelerate analytic workflow modernization objectives and integrate data and services into enterprise capabilities.
“Because of the incredible success with the EIM contract, we’ve substantially increased our financial commitment to commercial capabilities with Luno A,” said Devin Brande, director of NGA Commercial Operations. “As the quantity and quality of commercial data continues to increase, we must continue to partner effectively with industry to keep pace with state-of-the-art analytic capabilities and meet the increasing demands of our customers.”
Luno A will deliver data that enables NGA and NSG analysts to add context to analytic assessments, and have unparalleled insight into and data to quantify worldwide economic and environmental activity and military capabilities.
The unclassified nature of commercial data will ensure that Luno A products, data, and/or services are easily shareable with key partners and allies across the globe.
Luno A will focus on identifying unclassified computer vision capabilities, to include object detection, object classification, object segmentation, pattern detection, broad area search and area monitoring and feature mapping across six areas of interest:
• General change detection, climate security and natural resources
• Feature identification
• Infrastructure and high cadence transportation network monitoring
• Facility monitoring
• Incidental and fortuitous processing
• Emerging products, data and services
Additional information is available at this direct link as well as this URL…
Raytheon building defensive microwave antenna systems for U.S. military
Raytheon, an RTX business, will design, build and test two high-power microwave antenna systems that will use directed energy to defeat airborne threats at the speed of light. The systems are designed to be rugged and transportable for front-line deployment.
Under the three-year, $31.3 million contract from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Raytheon will deliver prototype systems to the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force as part of the Directed Energy Front-line Electromagnetic Neutralization and Defeat (DEFEND) program.
“Non-kinetic defense systems are a key part of America’s national defense strategy,” said Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon. “The new iterations of Raytheon’s high-power microwave systems are cost-effective and reliable solutions that operate at the speed of light – enabling our warfighters to defend against faster and more maneuverable threats.”
Raytheon has been a leader in the use of high-power microwaves for nearly 80 years. The new HPM prototype systems build on Raytheon’s decades of experience developing capabilities such as the Counter-Electronic High Power Microwave Extended Range Air Base Defense, known as CHIMERA.
Work on this contract is being conducted in Tucson, Arizona in partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Lab, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Prototypes are expected to be delivered in fiscal years 2024 and 2026.
iDirect Government Creates Engineering Center of Excellence
iDirect Government (iDirectGov) has established the iDirectGov Engineering Center of Excellence at its Herndon, Virginia, headquarters to address EW and other transmission security (TRANSEC) developments.
The center, co-located with iDirectGov’s existing engineering team, will enable the company to better respond to the ever-evolving EW and cyber threats, meeting defense and government requirements for faster-paced innovation to keep ahead of adversaries and bad actors that relentlessly target military satellite communications (MILSATCOM).
The center will leverage iDirectGov’s specialized Communication Signal Interference Removal™ (CSIR™) technology, which features crypto-agility, anti-jam and strengthened security for the tactical edge and warfighter.
Marking the company’s continuous efforts to integrate and harness its engineering teams’ intellectual properties and capabilities, the center represents iDirectGov’s intensified focus on developing innovative and resilient solutions to address EW.
By combining its existing security professionals with its anti-jam-focused engineers, iDirectGov’s defense and government SATCOM global customers will benefit from bandwidth-efficient, scalable and highly secure satellite solutions.
The center will create an additional platform for iDirectGov’s engineers to develop holistic approaches to EW, cyber risk, TRANSEC, countermeasures and the overall company security solutions strategy.
This will enable the team to build solutions with advanced functionality, innovative form factors and tactical advantages for use on land, in the air and at sea, helping to ensure that the U.S. remains at the forefront of MILSATCOM technology.
