The State Department has approved the government of Egypt's request to purchase additional light tactical vehicle chassis and fleet build from the U.S. government under a potential $200 million foreign military sales agreement. The proposed FMS deal will add to a previous agreement that includes a 4-Man REV1-B Rolling Chassis with 190 horsepower diesel engines along with training for the chassis assembly process and maintenance, spare and repair parts and testing equipment, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said Wednesday.

Satellite communications provider iDirect Government has opened a new facility that will serve as an engineering hub for advanced electronic warfare and other transmission security services at its headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. The iDirectGov Engineering Center of Excellence will provide an additional platform for current engineers to develop the company’s security services and formulate strategies for EW, cyber risk, TRANSEC and countermeasures, the company said Tuesday.

Iridium Communications is developing a narrowband-internet of things non-terrestrial network service based on 3GPP 5G standards that would enable direct-to-device capabilities like 5G NTN messaging and emergency SOS on mobile. Iridium said Wednesday that the NB-NTN service, called Project Stardust, will be deployed on its existing constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites, which are already undergoing early-stage programming to accommodate the requirements of partner companies like smartphone makers, mobile network operators and chipmakers.

Leonardo DRS has landed contracts potentially worth over $3 billion from the U.S. Navy and General Dynamics' electric boat subsidiary for integrated electric propulsion components for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine. The awarded contracts will involve the design and manufacturing of products for the Columbia Electric Drive Propulsion System, DRS said Wednesday.

RTX's Raytheon business, in partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, demonstrated the ability of its new GhostEye MR radar to support air defense operations during an extended exercise at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The Raytheon-built radar technology was integrated into the command and control element of the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, expanding the missile system's capabilities against cruise missile and drone threats, RTX said Wednesday.

SAIC has booked a $156 million award from the U.S. Army Reserve Command for system support services. Under the contract, SAIC and its collaborators will deliver a cost-effective service model that centers mission imperatives and user experience with secure, resilient IT services, the Reston, Virginia-based company announced on Thursday.

SAIC is sponsoring the Potomac Officers Club’s Achieving Transformative Cooperation for National Defense Forum on March 14. To learn more and register to attend the event, click here.

Steve Orrin, federal chief technology officer at Intel, said in an article published Wednesday in FedTech Magazine that government agencies should prioritize governance and assurance as they start evaluating use cases for artificial intelligence and should protect data and training models as they work to deploy AI tools.

Register here to attend the Potomac Officers Club's 5th Annual Artificial Intelligence Summit on March 21 and hear federal leaders and industry experts discuss the latest developments in the field.

Executive Mosaic spoke with Tim Boltz, director of the healthcare business at Carahsoft, to learn more about the AI demand signals coming from the federal landscape and better understand how AI will work in tandem with other emerging technologies and concepts to support a myriad of missions in the public sector. 

Accenture has agreed to buy digital transformation services provider Navisite from Madison Dearborn Partners for an undisclosed sum as part of a push to expand its infrastructure and application managed services capabilities in support of information technology modernization efforts of customers in North America. Accenture said Wednesday it will integrate approximately 1,500 Navisite employees into its infrastructure engineering practice to help clients advance cloud transformation initiatives.

SAIC will deliver information technology services for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs through a potential 10-year, $60.7 billion award. IT services provided under the Transformation Twenty-One Total Technology Next Generation Two contract, or T4NG2, will span 11 functional areas and support both the VA and additional agencies, SAIC announced from its Reston, Virginia headquarters on Wednesday.

SAIC is sponsoring the Potomac Officers Club's Achieving Transformative Cooperation for National Defense Forum on March 14. To learn more and register to attend the forum, click here.

An opportunity to win a prime spot on a NASA contract is approaching in 2024, and contractors should be preparing now. According to Deltek’s Vice President of Research Carey Webster, the sixth iteration of NASA’s Solutions for Enterprise Wide Procurement, or SEWP, contract will have no awards cap, which unlocks opportunities for new companies. 

Join the Potomac Officers Club on March 5 for the 2024 Space Summit! Register here. 

NASA has announced the modification of a task order awarded to Jacobs under the Aerospace Testing and Facilities Operations and Maintenance contract. NASA said Tuesday that under the task order, Jacobs will work to upgrade the electrical system of the Ames Research Center's Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, making its main drive motors more capable and efficient.