The SIGNAL Blog

Tactical Products Group Names New VPs

Tactical Products Group Incorporated, Delray Beach, Florida, has named Richard “Rick” Karst as vice president, spearheading the Ballistic Armor Division, and Christopher “Chris” Wheeler Jr., as vice president of business development.

Departments:

Industry

Thales Communications Appoints Brosnan a VP

Aaron Brosnan has been appointed vice president of business development for Thales Communications Incorporated, Clarksburg, Maryland.

Departments:

Industry

Soldiers Prepare for Deployment with WIN-T

April 18, 2013

The U.S. Army’s 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, is training with Warfighter Information Network–Tactical (WIN-T) Increment 2 capabilities for its upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. The nodes will provide the division’s on-the-move network, delivering situational awareness information and enabling mission command. In addition to connecting ground soldiers, the network allows company commanders in vehicles to receive orders in real time from higher headquarters. By incorporating the Army’s handheld, manpack, small form fit AN/PRC-154 Rifleman and two-channel AN/PRC-154 manpack radios, WIN-T creates secure on-the-go networks that connect soldiers at the squad level. The Army ordered 136 additional WIN-T Increment 2 network nodes in December, which brings the total number of network nodes to 532 and extends the reach of the soldier network to the company level.

Departments:

Defense

Homefront Help: My HealtheVet

April 18, 2013

By Rita Boland

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is offering My HealtheVet as the personal health record to help veterans, active-duty troops, dependents and their caregivers partner better with their health care teams. Members of the military community who have not accessed their account in a while will find upgraded features including different levels of accounts. Eligible personnel who have never created an account may want to apply for one now to access all the benefits available.

Options available to site visitors include direction to the most popular features, including the most requested forms. The enhanced Blue Button adds several categories of information from the VA Electronic Health Record. Or veterans can request a handbook personalized to their particular needs.

Homefront Help also has a Facebook page where visitors can gather and share information. If you know of a program that is helping service personnel, veterans or their families please submit that information to Rita Boland, SIGNAL’s senior news editor.

McLane Advanced Technologies Promotes Blurton to VP

McLane Advanced Technologies, Temple, Texas, has promoted Cathy Blurton to vice president of Program Management Office.

Departments:

Industry

Cool App-titude: America's Army Comics

April 16, 2013

By Rachel Eisenhower

America's Army iPad Android app The America's Army comics from the U.S. Army, designed to highlight the reality of being a soldier, are now available for the iPad and Android tablets. The free app features the first two issues of the comics, which follow the saga of courageous U.S. soldiers deployed to the fictional war torn region of Czervenia.

Readers can enjoy the story through animated panels, authentic sound effects and musical scores.

The app was developed by the same team that created the successful America's Army PC game—the Software Engineering Directorate of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command's Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center. While the America's Army game is more than a decade old, the app is a relatively new offering and will continue to be updated with new issues and features.

"Comic books and the Army have been around for a long time," Marsha Berry, Army Game Studio public game director, explains. Both the game and the comic include the latest Army technology and emphasize that there is more to being a soldier than just guns.

Download the app from the iTunes App Store or Googly Play.

These sites are not affiliated with AFCEA or SIGNAL Magazine, and we are not responsible for the content or quality of the products offered. When visiting new Web sites, please use proper Internet security procedures.

Guest Blog: The Next Generation of Defense IT--Network Modernization

April 15, 2013

By Anthony Robbins

At no time has information technology (IT) modernization and its role in protecting our nation been more important than it is today. The defense IT community has a full plate—from mandated efforts to consolidate data centers by migrating to the cloud by 2015, to improving IT security, to responding to the growing pressures and implications of mobility (not to mention sequestration, budget cuts and political pressures everywhere). The modernization of government IT systems needs to happen quickly.

What often stalls IT innovation has very little to do with technology and a lot to do with leadership. As government leaders need to increase productivity, functionality and return on investment from their IT networks, it is important to look at technology as an enabler of leadership and transformational change. Common challenges include:

Understanding how to invest in IT tools, systems and infrastructure with declining budgets

Managing the increasing cost of current IT infrastructure

Dealing with the high rate of IT systems that miss original intent or service level agreements

And, of course, responding to increasing security threats

The Defense Department spends more than $40 billion annually on IT, more than $250 billion in the last seven years or so. That’s a quarter of a trillion dollars—a lot of money. Modernizing IT systems and infrastructure, like most change or transformational agendas, comes down to leadership. There is an opportunity right now for a more aggressive leadership platform as it relates to the modernization of IT by the Defense Department, especially around the network.

Aggressive thought leadership and action can help in today’s complex environment. Examples of this involve following commercial best practices, the use of open standards, the OpEx vs. CapEx debate and more aggressive training around IT acquisition models.

Departments:

Defense

NASA, Air Force Seek Space Processor for Future Missions

April 12, 2013

NASA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory are asking industry for solutions to meet future high-performance space computing needs in the coming decades.

The Air Force Next Generation Space Processor Analysis Program is seeking two to four companies to perform a year-long evaluation of advanced space-based applications that would use spaceflight processors for the 2020 to 2030 time frame. The call for research and development proposals came in a broad agency announcement, which will involve a competitive selection process with plans to award a cost-reimbursement contract with approximately $2 million to be shared by the selected companies over one year.

Awardees will begin with three months of studies to determine and define the required computing performance for these advanced applications and to compare their findings with the government's preliminary requirements. During the following nine months, the selected companies will develop spaceflight processing architecture solutions to a set of NASA and Air Force requirements.

A chosen team may develop the spaceflight processor following the initial phase of research. Depending on the availability of funds, that contract award could be roughly $20 million over a four year period.

Holy Robotic Batwings!

April 12, 2013

George I. Seffers

Researchers at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, have developed a robotic batwing that could one day lead to more dynamic, dexterous and sophisticated wings for aircraft. The National Science Foundation, which supports the research, announced the breakthrough in its online publication Science Nation, along with a video. Unlike the wings of birds or insects, batwings are more like the human hand with many joints and skin, allowing bats to change the shape of their wings in-flight, researchers say.

Departments:

Defense

Guest Blog: Lowering Walls and Blurring Lines

April 12, 2013

By Dr. Louis S. Metzger

The latest Incoming column from Lt. Ben Kohlmann, USN, titled “Link Warfighters to Technologists at the Lowest Possible Level” (SIGNAL Magazine, April 2013), resonated with observations I’ve made and conclusions I’ve reached over the years. I’ve been involved with the research and development and acquisition communities for a long time, including serving as the Air Force chief scientist from 1999 to 2001. Perhaps my adding to Lt. Kohlmann’s advice will help it gain additional traction, and stimulate further discussion and activity.

Leveraging technology to provide our military with improved capability requires diverse insights, multiple skills and varied roles. The insights cover current understanding of user needs, the operational environment, and the potential of existing and emerging technology. The skills span science and engineering, contracting, testing and training. And the roles include requirements developer, laboratory investigator, acquirer and support provider. The realities of specialization demand that multiple communities come together to provide all these ingredients. Unfortunately, interpretation of rules, processes and culture have built walls, and suspicion between different communities to the extent that the teamwork and collaboration needed to expeditiously develop and field new capabilities often islacking.

Departments:

Defense

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