Brett Vaughan, former chief artificial intelligence office at the Navy, has been appointed as an inaugural member of the board of advisers at Knexus, an AI and machine learning developer. Building on his service experience, Vaughan will assist Knexus in addressing the evolving needs of the modern warfighter.

The State Department cleared a proposed $500 million sale of eight UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters and its components to the government of Croatia. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency gave Congress the required certification for the proposed foreign military sale, which will be fulfilled by lead contractor Sikorsky, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin.

Jeff Williams, a 20-year military real estate veteran, has been appointed senior vice president of asset management at defense infrastructure management company Corvias. He will oversee the company's investments within the military sector and partner with Department of Defense clients to ensure long-term care and maintain the economic performance of their physical assets.

As cyber attacks evolve and increase in frequency, the Intelligence Community is working to ensure that it is prepared to handle these threats. Cyber is one topic that may be discussed at the Potomac Officers Club’s 10th Annual Intel Summit in September 2024, where experts from both the public and private sectors will come together to share their insights on the current intelligence landscape. 

To learn more and register to attend the event, click here.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Hensel Phelps Construction a potential $102.8 million contract to build an integrated command center for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile system. Work will occur at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming through Aug. 3, 2026.

Though venture capitalists have invested heavily into defense startups and these companies have expressed interest in pursuing more government contracts, these companies have not yet captured the attention of the Department of Defense. Defense spending trends continue to reflect a strong preference for more established contractors as in fiscal year 2023, startups only accounted for 1 percent of the $411 billion in contracts issued by the DOD.

Tom Fusco, former vice president of special operation forces and advance programs at Viasat, has joined SNC as vice president of strategy and business development for the company's new digital grid business unit. He will be responsible for overseeing the team dedicated to expanding digital grid capabilities and markets on a global scale.

Progeny Systems, a division of General Dynamics' mission systems business arm, has secured a potential $82.9 million contract to design and build submarine sonar subsystems for the U.S. Navy. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract covers engineering design, development and supporting material and travel procurements for sonar subsystems installed in the service branch's submarines.

Lockheed Martin and Boeing have each won $66 million contracts from the U.S. Air Force for the first phase of a program aimed at procuring two satellites to augment the existing narrowband military satellite communications constellation. The contracts involve providing risk reduction and early design activities to minimize uncertainties and risks before progressing to the next phase of the Mobile User Objective System Service Life Extension program.

A General Atomics business unit will demonstrate the capability of its optical communications terminals aboard a satellite in low Earth orbit under a contract with the Space Development Agency. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems is developing two OCTs for integration with two GA-75 satellites to support data sharing and other on-orbit computing resources.

The General Services Administration selected Guidehouse as its consultant for carbon pollution-free electricity acquisitions. The agreement enables GSA to obtain services ranging from retail and wholesale electricity market price analysis to procurement strategies compliant with Executive Order 14057, which focuses on clean energy-related job creation.

NASA-designed collision avoidance software has been tested onboard two research helicopters of Lockheed Martin's Sikorsky division as part of efforts to evaluate the autonomous technology to enable advanced air mobility. Five software systems were loaded into the Sikorsky Autonomy Research Aircraft, a modified S-76B converted into a flying lab, and the larger Optionally Piloted Vehicle Black Hawk.

Register here to join the Potomac Officers Club's 2024 Space Summit on March 5 and hear insights from the nation’s space experts, government leaders and industry executives about new technologies, commercial investments and adversarial threats that are shaping the future of space.