Kratos Awarded $950 Million Multiple-Award, IDIQ Contract for U.S. Air Force Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS)

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a leading National Security Solutions provider, announced today that it has been awarded a $950,000,000 ceiling indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the maturation, demonstration and proliferation of capability across platforms and domains, leveraging open systems design, modern software and algorithm development in order to enable Joint All Domain Command and Control (JADC2). This contract is part of a multiple award multi-level security effort to provide development and operation of systems as a unified force across all domains (air, land, sea, space, cyber, and electromagnetic spectrum) in an open architecture family of systems that enables capabilities via multiple integrated platforms.

Kratos offers solutions ranging from affordable, high performance tactical jet drone systems to affordable space communication systems, subsystems and Space Domain Awareness (SDA) solutions. Kratos’ extensive portfolio includes high performance target drones such as the BQM-167A and BQM-177A to exercise weapon, radar and other systems; and tactical UAS, such as the XQ-58A Valkyrie for strike/ISR and force multiplication missions. In communications, secure, resilient, interoperable capabilities from Kratos that connect and protect tactical platforms are well established, as are dynamic satellite ground solutions. This includes SDA capabilities enabled by Kratos’ own global RF sensor network.

Eric DeMarco, President and CEO of Kratos Defense, said, “Innovative capabilities that focus on agnostic, modular, value focused solutions are key to Kratos’ success. Our technology will support the Air Force and Space Force with critical interoperability solutions that the DoD needs to engage with peer and near-peer adversaries – connecting weapons, sensors and decision makers, through common interfaces that can disseminate data to the tactical edge. This is a crucial foundation for enabling multi-domain command and control. We look forward to supporting the ABMS program for the USAF.”

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/kratos-awarded-950-million-multiple-award-idiq-contract-for-u-s-air-force-advanced-battle-management-system-abms-1029622658#

MARINE CORPS FIELDS FIRST NEW SERVICE PISTOL IN 35 YEARS

QUANTICO, Va. –

For the first time since former President Ronald Reagan’s Administration, the Marine Corps is fielding a new service-wide pistol replacement.

Marine Corps Systems Command began fielding the M18 Modular Handgun System in September. This striker-fired, semi-automatic, 9-mm pistol is based on the Sig Sauer Model P320. The M18 will replace all other pistols in the Marine Corps inventory, including the M9, M9A1, M45A1 and M007.

“All Marine Corps units with a pistol will receive an M18,” said Brian Nelson, M18 project officer at MCSC.

Formal Marksmanship Training Centers, Reconnaissance Battalions, Provost Marshall Offices and Marine Corps Security Forces will be the first to receive the M18. MCSC projects fielding to conclude by fiscal year 2022.

How M18 differs from M9

The M18 comprises capabilities previous pistols lacked. For example, the M9—the most widely issued pistol among Marines—is a steel-framed, single-action/double-action hammer-fired pistol. This means it is a heavier, metal gun with two different trigger pulls for single- and double-action.

Conversely, the M18 is lighter and does not include two different trigger pulls.

“For some Marines, having two trigger pulls, like with the M9, is difficult to get used to because different forces are acting upon the gun,” said Sgt. Randall McClellan, pistol program manager with the Weapons Training Battalion aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia. “With the M18, the trigger is going to be the same weight every time.”

The M18 has increased modularity when compared with previous pistols. The gun includes interchangeable components to fit small, medium or large hands. It comprises a receiver module inside the pistol grip that enables Marines to remove the trigger mechanism and insert it into a new grip size, said Nelson.

https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/2358194/marine-corps-fields-first-new-service-pistol-in-35-years/

Disinformation, QAnon efforts targeting Latino voters ramp up ahead of presidential election

Didn't know they were a target…

Disinformation targeting Latino communities is ramping up ahead of Election Day, when the demographic is expected to play a crucial role in key battleground states.

Advocacy groups and election security experts alike say material is circulating on social media platforms and online messaging apps that pushes false conspiracies that echo larger disinformation campaigns in English.

The misinformation efforts, some of which reflect the QAnon conspiracy theory, are especially critical in Florida, a crucial swing state where polls show Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is running behind Hillary Clinton’s 2016 support among Latino voters.

Advocates said the misinformation could dissuade Latino voters, who have historically low levels of voter participation, from voting in this year’s election.

One example, according to NALEO, a non-partisan non-profit organization that facilitates Latino participation in American politics, is a Facebook page “Cubanos por el Mundo” that makes false claims that the Cuban government is planning a caravan at the southern border to create a migratory crisis before the election to sabotage President Trump.

A video posted by the Facebook page pushing the claim this week was shared more than 334 times in one day.

Other disinformation efforts have spread across Facebook, Twitter and more recently WhatsApp, the widely popular messaging app among Latino immigrants, with the intent to misinform Latino communities about election security. Much of the disinformation is coming from “one off groups” that are hard to trace and can spread rapidly through forwarded WhatsApp messages,” said Lizette Escobedo, civic engagement director at NALEO.

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/518118-disinformation-qanon-efforts-targeting-latino-voters-ramp-up-ahead-of

Kim Jong Un issues rare apology to South Korea over death of official

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare apology on Friday over the killing of a South Korean official who was apparently trying to defect near the rivals' disputed sea boundary.

"Comrade Chairman Kim Jong Un asked to convey the message that he is very sorry about creating a huge disappointment to our southern compatriots and President Moon Jae-In because of this unfortunate incident that happened in our waters," a letter sent to South Korea's presidential Blue House said.

It was sent by the Unification Division, the North Korean body in charge of relations with its southern neighbor.

It is extremely unusual for a North Korean leader to apologize on any issue.

But it came after South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday that the North had shot and burned the body of a South Korean official who disappeared from a government boat earlier in the week.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called the incident "shocking" and "very regretful," as it fueled anti-North sentiment and sparked a public backlash.

Watch live: Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in state at U.S. Capitol

Selena Gomez is proud to show her transplant scar

NBC News logoKim Jong Un issues rare apology to South Korea over death of official

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a rare apology on Friday over the killing of a South Korean official who was apparently trying to defect near the rivals' disputed sea boundary.

Kim Jong-un, Moon Jae-in standing in front of a screen© Provided by NBC News

"Comrade Chairman Kim Jong Un asked to convey the message that he is very sorry about creating a huge disappointment to our southern compatriots and President Moon Jae-In because of this unfortunate incident that happened in our waters," a letter sent to South Korea's presidential Blue House said.

It was sent by the Unification Division, the North Korean body in charge of relations with its southern neighbor.

It is extremely unusual for a North Korean leader to apologize on any issue.

But it came after South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday that the North had shot and burned the body of a South Korean official who disappeared from a government boat earlier in the week.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called the incident "shocking" and "very regretful," as it fueled anti-North sentiment and sparked a public backlash.

The North Korean letter admitted that after initially firing blanks its military had shot "some ten rounds" of gunfire into the unidentified "intruder," as he did not reveal his identity and appeared to flee.

It added that for safety reasons due to the coronavirus pandemic, they had burnt the floating device he washed up on and did not find his body.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/kim-jong-un-issues-rare-apology-to-south-korea-over-death-of-official/ar-BB19pRQy

>>10781912

already noted my bad

>>10782047

Louisville police major calls BLM, antifa supporters ‘punks’ who will be ‘washing our cars’: report

A white Louisville Metro Police major reportedly disparaged Black Lives Matter and antifa supporters as “punks” who will be “washing our cars” and struggling financially “their entire life.”

News of the officer’s offensive statement last month was reported by the Louisville Courier Journal Wednesday, shortly after a Kentucky grand jury declined to charge any officers with the March 13 police shooting death of Breonna Taylor.

Only one former officer, Brett Hankison, was indicted for endangering Taylor’s neighbors by recklessly firing rounds near their residences during a botched raid on her apartment.

“I know it is hard to keep our thoughts and opinions to ourselves sometimes, especially when we, as a whole or as an individual, become the target of people in the public who criticize what we do without even knowing the facts,” Maj. Bridget Hallahan reportedly wrote to her division amid nightly protests and an alleged officer “doxing” incident.

“These ANTIFA and BLM people, especially the ones who just jumped on the bandwagon ‘yesterday’ because they became ‘woke’ – insert eye roll here – do not deserve a second glance or thought from us. Our little pinky toenails have more character, morals, and ethics, than these punks have in their entire body,” she purportedly said.

“Do not stop to their level. Do not respond to them. If we do, we only validate what they did. Don’t make them important, because they are not. They will be the ones washing our cars, cashing us out at the Walmart, or living in their parents' basement (paying) COD for their entire life,” Hallahan allegedly wrote.

Attempts to reach Hallahan were unsuccessful Wednesday, the Courier Journal reported.

https://news.yahoo.com/louisville-police-major-calls-blm-204900103.html

How British grannies are spreading QAnon conspiracy theory memes on Facebook

A headteacher in Stoke-on-Trent told me that, alongside ensuring a COVID-safe return to school for her pupils this September, she’s having to reassure parents that their children will not be forcibly taken away and isolated in a secret location if they start coughing in class.

The headteacher keeps getting sent a Facebook post warning parents to “wake up” to the threat in the UK’s Coronavirus Act. “Is this true, can you take my child?” she is asked.

The Facebook post those parents had seen began going viral mid-August. It’s one of several similar posts seen in the UK and Australia, and follows a pattern in many posts linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory. These often include a direct appeal to parents, challenging the reader to do their own research to “prove” the veracity of the claim, a call to defend individual rights against big government, elites, or some undefined “they”.

Despite being quickly fact-checked and tagged as false, this and related posts which use the hashtag #SaveTheChildren are still circulating and the phrase “covid act 2020 children in school” still comes up as an autofill option if you search for “covid act” on Google.

https://theconversation.com/how-british-grannies-are-spreading-qanon-conspiracy-theory-memes-on-facebook-145820

>>10782123

she won't have a job…

>>10782123

The Air Force's Secret New Fighter Jet May Not Even Be a Fighter at All'

The world continues to search for clues surrounding the mysterious new fighter jet that the U.S. Air Force secretly designed, built, and flew in just one year. We're still debating whether or not the Air Force already showed us what the new fighter looks like, and now, one defense blog raises an even more intriguing question: What if the Air Force's new fighter jet isn't actually a fighter jet at all?

As The War Zone points out, the pace of technological innovation means the Air Force's secret new fighter may not be what most people envision when they think of fighter jets, and the aircraft could be something totally new for the same mission: sweeping enemy planes from the skies.

Last week, the Air Force’s chief of acquisition, Will Roper, revealed to Defense News that the service had developed the new fighter jet under the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) project. That project, designed to produce a peer and possible successor to the F-22 Raptor, has been in the works for several years, but aviation experts pegged an actual flyable fighter jet to be at least 5 to 10 years away.

Yet Roper announced that instead of the traditional years of development, the new fighter took merely a single year to produce—a staggering, inconceivably short period of time in anyone’s air force.

Given that astonishing time frame, The War Zone raises an interesting theory: With the new fighter jet, the Air Force didn't just do away with the traditional aircraft design process—it also ripped up the traditional idea of what a fighter could look like. Perhaps the new Air Force is now doing things in a fundamentally different way than it has in the past, by virtue of necessity.

The new fighter, says The War Zone, is merely one part of the NGAD program. Over the past year, the Air Force has referred to NGAD as not as a single plane, but a “family of systems” that could well include both crewed and uncrewed aircraft. This was apparently the conclusion the Air Force came to after it studied an analysis of alternatives for the new air dominance program.

Crewed aircraft could be accompanied by uncrewed aircraft into battle, with the pilotless drones acting as decoys, wingmen, flying magazines, or sensor platforms. All of these aircraft would collaborate with the help of AI and battlefield networking to shoot down enemy planes and claim the skies. From The War Zone:

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/air-forces-secret-fighter-jet-125000316.html

>>10782294

California sheriff’s deputy sentenced to jail for having sex with teen boy

A California sheriff’s deputy accused last year of having sex with a teenage boy has been sentenced to six months in jail.

The sentence was imposed Wednesday in the case of Shauna Bishop, 44, a former member of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, according to reports.

The sentence also requires her to serve probation and register as a sex offender, KCRA-TV reported.

“Although Bishop is a deputy sheriff, she did not meet the victim through her job nor did the alleged acts occur while on duty,” the Folsom Police Department said at the time of her arrest in June 2019.

Court documents accused Bishop of having sex with the 16-year-old son of another deputy, whom she had previously dated, Fox 40 Sacramento reported last year.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-sheriffs-deputy-sentenced-to-jail-for-having-sex-with-teen-boy

>>10782345