ARLINGTON, Va. A U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) unmanned surface vessel (USV) -- part of the Ghost Fleet Overlord autonomous-vessel partnership between the DoD's Strategic Capabilities Office and the U.S. Navy -- recently traveled a distance of more than 4,700 nautical miles (5,409 miles), almost entirely autonomously. After this transit the ship participated in an exercise called "Dawn Blitz," where it again spent nearly all of its time operating autonomously. 

WASHINGTON. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) approved and released a new strategy to lead and direct counter-small unmanned aircraft systems (C-sUAS) activities across the military services, which is intended to provide the framework for addressing sUAS hazards and threats in operating environments including the United States, host nations, and contingency locations.

BETHESDA, Md. The U.S. Navy has awarded Lockheed Martin a two-year contract modification worth $101.5 million to perform F-35 Lightning II aircraft sustainment and day-to-day flight support work for the British defense ministry.

ARMONK, N.Y. IBM has entered into a Phase 1 Other Transactions Agreement with Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Crane Division within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to support advancing U.S. microelectronics technology.

WASHINGTON. The Center for Public Policy Innovation (CPPI) and the Homeland Security and Defense Forum (HSDF) -- which held a virtual symposium in October 2020 it called "Artificial Intelligence: Transforming the Government Mission" -- released its report on the symposium, in which the participants conclude that the most critical aspect of the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by the U.S. federal government is creating a secure supply chain and ensuring that security is built in from the beginning into the government’s IT infrastructure, including in agencies' hardware, software, and cloud services.

WASHINGTON. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) -- a department within the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) -- has notified the U.S. Congress that it has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the government of Italy regarding two Gulfstream G550 aircraft with airborne intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare (AISREW) mission systems and related equipment for an estimated cost of $500 million. 

UNITED STATES and AUSTRALIA. The U.S. and Australia have launched the first agreement to continuously develop a virtual cyber training range. Both nations signed the Cyber Training Capabilities Project Arrangement Nov. 3. The bilateral, international agreement is intended to enable U.S. Cyber Command to incorporate Australian Defense Force feedback into Cybercom's simulated training domain, the Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE).