DoD boosts Boeing contract for GPS-guided bombs

The Federal Headlines is a daily compilation of the stories you hear discussed on the Federal Drive.

• A Boeing contract for Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits has been nearly doubled to replenish the U.S. military’s depleted JDAM reserves.  The Air Force  boosted its  2014 contract with Boeing for the tail kits from $1.7 billion to more than $3.2 billion for guidance kits that convert unguided “dumb bombs” into precision-guided smart munitions by allowing them to receive guidance from Global Positioning Systems.  The Air Force said the system improves bomb accuracy in all weather conditions and is compatible with a variety of fighter jets. (DOD)

• Navy Secretary Ray Mabus has made his department the first in the military to consider mental health conditions when separating a  service member.  The order would protect Sailors and Marines suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or any other diagnosed mental health condition.  Previously a service member’s misconduct took precedence over diagnosed mental health conditions when considering separation, which impacted the veteran’s ability to receive benefits. Now, if it contributed to the misconduct, the medical condition will take precedence.(Navy)

• The General Services Administration has extended its Networx Enterprise contract with Level 3 Communications by three years. It was originally set to expire by May 2017, but will now go to 2020. Level 3 says GSA extended the contract to give federal agencies more time to move to the Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions contract vehicle. (Level3)

• The National Institute of Standards and Technology has invited organizations to provide products and technical expertise to help it learn how agencies typically recover systems from backup storage after an attack. By accelerating dissemination and use of integrated tools and technologies for protecting IT assets, NIST said its aim is to reduce risk for companies and individuals using IT systems, while encouraging development of innovative, job-creating cybersecurity products and services. (Federal Register)

• The Small Business Administration has made some adjustments to federal small-business contracting regulations. A Final Rule published in the Federal Register looks to implement provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013. The rule changes SBA’s regulations on non-manufactuerer and business affiliation rules. It also allows joint ventures to qualify as small businesses. (Federal Register)

• The military services and Defense agencies have ramped-up migration to DoD’s shared cyber-infrastructure. Their stated goal is to have all DoD-connected networks on the Joint Regional Security Stacks (JRSS) by 2019. The Army has done the most work of any of the services thus far. JRSS currently has 160,000 users so far across six installations in the United States. The Air Force has already begun operational tests to migrate to the new infrastructure. The Navy, Marines and Coast Guard have all said they will participate. (Federal News Radio)

Copyright © 2024 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.