Government Executive
email Contracting Groups Welcome Extension of Leave Provision in COVID Deal
Language enacted in the CARES Act allowing agencies to give contractors sick or paid leave during the pandemic if they cannot access their worksites was extended until March 31, 2021.
The federal contracting community welcomed the extension of leave flexibilities in the $900 billion coronavirus relief package that Congress approved on Monday after months of negotiations.
The relief package extended Section 3610 from the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, which allows federal agencies to use their funds to give contractors sick or paid leave during the pandemic if they are not able to access their worksites or telework, until March 31, 2021. Although the Trump administration in guidance issued on March 20 advised agencies to “maximize telework” for contractors, that is not possible for many contractor jobs, including some involving sensitive or classified work.
Here s a look at five weapons-related programs Military.com has reported on this year:
Soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division used the latest prototype of the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) during a trench clearing exercise in October at Fort Pickett, Virginia. The event was part of a larger Soldier Touchpoint, the third major milestone in the development and testing of the IVAS, which will undergo one more STP in the spring before initial fielding next year. (U.S. Army Photo by Bridgett Siter)
1. Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS).
In October, Army modernization officials finished the third soldier touch point (STP) in which troops evaluated the first ruggedized version of IVAS. The Microsoft-designed goggles are intended to provide a heads-up display that offers infantry troops situational awareness tools to help them navigate, communicate and keep track of other members of their unit day and night.
US military officials are in the early stages of developing a unified, comprehensive, interoperable wireless networking system that would basically connect everything owned and operated by the Pentagon.
Commanders envision the system connecting sensors with shooters across all domains, commands and services. In military parlance, doing so would increase lethality.
The system is called JADC2 (Joint All-Domain Command and Control). And it s apparently going to run on 5G.
5G can enhance something as simple as virtual reality training or as ambitious as the connectivity of systems for JADC2, said Mark Esper in September, according to National Defense, a publication run by the National Defense Industrial Association trade group. Esper is the former US Secretary of Defense, having been fired by President Trump last month.
Marine Corps Looking to Fill Munitions Gaps MARINE CORPS NEWS
12/17/2020
Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Andrew Skiver
The Marine Corps is looking to industry to help fill munitions capability gaps to keep pace with near-peer threats, a service official said.
“Right now, the USMC really needs to address the shortfalls in . capability gaps, and in doing so we do need the assistance of industry,” said Chief Warrant Officer Chad Cason, the service’s medium calibers and small arms project officer. “Now is when we’re starting to reimagine the Marine Corps as a small agile force.”
A number of the ammunition programs are beginning to refocus to meet the Commandant’s Planning Guidance, Cason said during the virtual Joint Armaments, Robotics and Munitions conference, which was organized by the National Defense Industrial Association.
By
Theresa Hitchens on December 16, 2020 at 1:06 PM
WASHINGTON: Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper’s long-held vision of an AI co-pilot –– a real-world version of Star Wars’ famous R2D2 droid took a step closer to reality last night, with a flight test of artificial intelligence technology working as a crew member on a U-2 spy plane.
“This is cool. An AI “guy in the back” sharing the mission load is a real step forward,” commented Mark Gunzinger, Mitchell Institute director of future concepts, in an email.
“I think it’s fantastic,” ‘Hawk’ Carlisle, head of the National Defense Industrial Association and a retired general who ran Air Combat Command from 2014-2017, told me in an interview today. “I think most everybody sees it as a continuation the evolution that’s occurred so far” in fourth and fifth generation fighters an evolution “that makes that person in the loop, that young woman, or young man, that much more effective, that m