Ligado Battle Continues | Ramping Up N95 Production

May 11, 2020

Edited by Amy McCullough with Rachel S. Cohen, Brian W. Everstine and Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

A group of House Armed Services Committee members sent the FCC a letter about the L-band spectrum and GPS. Photo via the Architect of the Capitol on Twitter.

HASC Members Press FCC on Ligado Approval

By Rachel S. Cohen

Nearly two dozen House Armed Services Committee members wrote to the Federal Communications Commission on May 7 to jump into the spectrum dispute that pits the FCC and Ligado Networks against several federal agencies and national security stakeholders. “The national security community was unanimous in the judgement that approval of the use of certain portions of the L-band spectrum could pose an unacceptable risk to the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the United States,” the bipartisan group of lawmakers wrote. “Other federal and nonfederal users of this spectrum have raised serious concerns, including satellite communications providers and airlines."

USAF Executes $126 Million Contract for In-Demand N95 Masks

By Brian W. Everstine

The Air Force’s Acquisition COVID-19 Task Force recently executed a new, $126 million contract to 3M to ramp up production of N95 masks to increase the supply chain for the in-demand masks and resupply the Strategic National Stockpile. The contract uses funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act to expand the supply chain to produce 26 million more masks per month beginning in October, with about 312 million masks produced over the next 12 months, according to an Air Force release. “Our past initiatives to empower our acquisition workforce and to accelerate programs have put us in a good position to respond to the present crisis with speed and agility,” said Will Roper, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, who established the service’s COVID-19 Task Force, in the release. “We are proud to be an important part of the solution.”

Amazon Files New Protest in Ongoing JEDI Cloud Saga

By Rachel S. Cohen

Amazon Web Services filed another protest May 4 to again push back on the Pentagon’s premiere cloud infrastructure competition. Amazon is appealing directly to the Pentagon over a perceived lack of clarity as the Defense Department amends its requirements for the commercial Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud. The company already pumped the brakes on the JEDI program by protesting DOD’s October 2019 contract award to Microsoft, leading a federal judge to order the Pentagon to make changes. The new protest is private. Now, AWS says the proposed changes do not meaningfully address the problems it raised in its protest.

How the New Jersey Air National Guard is Getting the Job Done During a Pandemic

By Brian W. Everstine

The New Jersey Air National Guard’s 177th Fighter Wing has a “no fail” mission and must keep F-16s on alert to respond to threats to the country’s northeast, even though the local community has been hit hard by the new coronavirus. COVID-19 has created a “biologically contested environment right here, in our backyard” for the wing, which operates out of the Atlantic City International Airport. The wing has shut down most access to the base, screening all visitors, and even quarantining crews before they go on alert to ensure that the wing’s F-16s and pilots are ready, the wing’s commander Col. Bradford Everman said in an interview with Air Force Magazine. “The 177th Fighter Wing, like really the rest of the Department of Defense, we don't have that opportunity to take a knee, we can't just shut down for a week or for a month,” Everman said. “We don't have that option. We have to continue getting the job done, because we have to continue defending America, our states, and our communities.”

‘Letters to Lackland’ Encouraging BMT Trainees During COVID-19 Pandemic

By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

One Airman’s grassroots initiative to lift up Air Force basic trainees during an unprecedented moment in history has grown into a global movement. Airman 1st Class Cailey Brislin, who works in the 434th Squadron Aviation Resource Management at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas, was inspired to start the “Letters to Lackland” initiative last month after rediscovering encouraging notes she’d received while completing Basic Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, according to a 47th Flying Training Wing release. Air Force Magazine reached out to the 37th Training Wing to find out how other Airmen and civilians can get in on the letter-writing action and help encourage potential future Airmen.

Virtual Events: Space Force Vice Commander on Mitchell Institute’s ‘Aerospace Nation,’ & More

By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory

On May 12, U.S. Space Force Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson will appear in conversation with retired USAF Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of AFA's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, on the latest installment of its "Aerospace Nation" series, and the COVID-19 Military Support Initiative will host a virtual town hall entitled "Healthcare for Military Families During COVID-19" featuring representatives from the Defense Health Agency and National Military Family Association.

Radar Sweep

Snapshot: DOD and COVID-19

Air Force Magazine

Here's a look at how the Defense Department is being impacted by and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pandemic Spending Won't Prevent the Next Military Pay Raise, Lawmaker Says

Military.com

Service members can expect another pay raise next year, despite the pressure on defense budgets from the trillions the government has already spent to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee said May 7.

VOX Space Signs Deal to Fly LauncherOne from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam

Space News

VOX Space, the Virgin Orbit subsidiary focused on the national security market, has signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force that allows the company’s LauncherOne to fly missions from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Pentagon Wants Better Data for Its Predictive Aircraft Maintenance AI

Nextgov

The Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center is looking for ideas on how to improve the way it can use artificial intelligence technologies to predict when the Defense Department’s thousands of planes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles need maintenance and repairs. The JAIC issued a request for information May 7 indicating it has run into challenges in its pathfinder project using AI to predict maintenance on H-60 helicopters and their T700 engines.

Esper Orders SDA to Link C2 Networks for All-Domain Ops

Breaking Defense

Joint All-Domain Command and Control is a way for the individual service C2 networks to "all have the same networking infrastructure to talk to one another," says Space Development Agency Director Derek Tournear.

U.S. Defense Firms Hiring Thousands Amid Record Unemployment

Defense One

As U.S. unemployment reached its highest level since the Great Depression amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of America’s largest defense firms are hiring thousands of workers to build fast-flying missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons.

Peters Presses Air Force on Long-Promised Cleanup of Wurtsmith Contamination

The Detroit News

Sen. Gary Peters is upset the Air Force says it's using $13.5 million allocated for cleaning up drinking water contaminants at the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Mich., to do further study, rather than "tangible" cleanup projects in the area. The funding was part of $60 million that Congress provided last year to the Defense Department to address contamination by certain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as PFAS at decommissioned military bases.

Air Force Academy Starts Lifting Some Coronavirus Restrictions

Air Force Times

The Air Force Academy is starting to reopen some facilities and lift restrictions that were imposed to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. The Academy on May 11 will lift the “official business only” restriction, which was put in place March 23 and only allowed access to people who work or live on the installation or who needed medical services.

One More Thing

Sources: Trump Administration Drafting 'Artemis Accords' Pact for Moon Mining

Reuters

The Trump administration is drafting a legal blueprint for mining on the moon under a new U.S.-sponsored international agreement called the Artemis Accords, people familiar with the proposed pact told Reuters. The agreement would be the latest effort to cultivate allies around NASA’s plan to put humans and space stations on the moon within the next decade, and comes as the civilian space agency plays a growing role in implementing American foreign policy. The draft pact has not been formally shared with U.S. allies yet.