June 16 Market Close: GovCon Index Closes Down While Major Indices Close Mixed The Executive Mosaic GovCon Index closed down today, with a mix of service and platform companies leading the pack. Many U.S. stocks slipped today and the dollar weakened with Treasury yields due to sub-par housing data…

Read More

Report: Pentagon Plans to Send Thousands of U.S. Troops to Afghanistan The Department of Defense is planning to send between 3,000 to 5,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, reports CBS News. An announcement on the exact number from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is expected in the next few days or weeks…

Read More

Dell EMC to Integrate Analysis Tool With SAIC’s Cloud Migration Services Suite; Steve Harris Comments Science Applications International Corp. has partnered with Dell EMC to integrate the companies’ business intelligence software and cloud migration service offerings. SAIC said Thursday its Cloud Migration Edge services suite will incorporate Dell EMC’s Adaptivity platform designed to analyze an organization’s application portfolio and facilitate the decision-making process for technology investments…

Read More

Army Outlines FY 2017 Force Structure The U.S. Army has outlined how it will distribute additional soldiers as part of an end strength increase mandated by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. The service branch said Thursday its regular Army force will reach 476,000 soldiers; the Army National Guard will increase to 343,000 soldiers; and the Army Reserve will have 199,000 troops…

Read More

Marine Corps Eyes 65% Increase in Joint Light Tactical Vehicle Procurement Andrew Rodgers, program manager for light tactical vehicles at PEO Land Systems Marine Corps, said the U.S. Marine Corps plans to increase the number of joint light tactical vehicles it intends to buy from 5,500 to 9,092 units, National Defense Magazine reported Thursday…

Read More

Michele Gates: NASA to Discontinue Asteroid Redirect Mission NASA will move to shutter its Asteroid Redirect Mission after agency leadership defunded the project due to a lack of support from Congress, Space News reported Wednesday. Michele Gates, ARM program director, told NASA’s Small Bodies Assessment Group at a meeting Tuesday the agency will continue to develop proposed technologies for the mission despite the cancellation of the project…

Read More

John Zangardi: Workforce, Industry Collaboration Key to Cyber Resiliency John Zangardi, acting chief information officer of the Defense Department, has said DoD needs to hire “exceptional” talent, maintain good cyber hygiene and collaborate with industry to stay ahead of security threats, DoD News reported Thursday…

Read More

DARPA Eyes Digital Tech for Coastal Urban Operations; John Paschkewitz Comments The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has introduced a program that aims to create digital tools to support the U.S. military’s expeditionary operations in complex urban locations such as coastal cities…

Read More

OMB Moves to Reduce Agency IT, Procurement Data Reporting Requirements The Office of Management and Budget has issued a new memorandum that aims to reduce reporting requirements for federal agencies, NextGov reported Thursday. OMB Mick Mulvaney revoked several directives in the areas of information technology, procurement, financial management, performance management and customer service…

Read More

Teledyne’s Earth Imaging Platform Installed on Space Station An Earth observation platform developed by a Teledyne Technologies subsidiary has been installed on the International Space Station to host imaging, technology demonstration and space qualification payloads…

Read More

tiag to Build Wellness & Performance Tracking Platform for Navy Sailors Reston, Virginia-based tiag will design and build an expanded version of its performance tracking system for the U.S. Navy. The company said Tuesday it will evolve the Warrior Performance Platform into an interactive Human Performance Self-Service Kiosk in an effort to provide sailors access to wellness and nutrition information tailored to their individual fitness goals…

Read More

VIDEO: USAF’s Brewer on Improving Aircraft Survivability with Lasers 2nd Lt. Tyler Brewer, USAF, a laser physicist with the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., discusses how the lab’s SHiELD (Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator) program can defend aircraft with Defense & Aerospace Report Editor Vago Muradian at DoD Lab Day 2017 at the Pentagon on May 18, 2017…

Read More