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Trade Wars
Pentagon Begins Enforcing CMMC Compliance, But Readiness Gaps Remain
An amendment to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement went into effect Monday, officially mandating that all Defense Department solicitations and contracts include requirements for Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 (CMMC 2.0). And while the road to get CMMC 2.0 across the finish line has been six years in the making, there are still disparities among the defense industrial base’s readiness to validate the cybersecurity controls required by the program. Experts told DefenseScoop that those gaps are largely fueled by CMMC’s controversial history, misconceptions of what the rule change means and challenges in proving compliance.
CMMC 2.0 is a three-tiered cybersecurity framework that requires defense contractors working with federal contract information (FCI) or controlled unclassified information (CUI) to have proper security controls based on how sensitive the data they’re handling is. When bidding on new contracts, companies will have to prove that their networks — as well as those of their entire supply chain — meet one of the three levels of compliance outlined by CMMC. That rule change was enacted Monday, beginning phase 1 of a three-year implementation plan to incrementally introduce CMMC requirements.
Read more at Defense Scoop
Pfizer Wins $10 Billion Bidding War For Metsera As Novo Nordisk Exits
U.S. drugmaker Pfizer has clinched a $10 billion deal for obesity drug developer Metsera capping a fierce biotech bidding war between the New York-based pharma giant and Danish rival Novo Nordisk. Metsera accepted a sweetened offer from Pfizer late on Friday, citing U.S. antitrust risks in Novo's bid that it had previously called superior. The Danish obesity drug behemoth said on Saturday it would exit the race.
The bidding war win hands Pfizer a way into the lucrative obesity drug market, even if Metsera's treatments remain years from hitting the market. It marks a blow for Novo as it tries to claw back lost ground against U.S. rival Eli Lilly. Metsera's experimental obesity drugs, MET-097i, a GLP-1 injectable, and MET-233i, which mimics the pancreatic hormone amylin, are projected to reach $5 billion in combined peak sales, according to Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger.
Read more at Reuters
FAA’s Air Traffic Cuts Aren’t Hampering Cargo Flows — Yet
A reduction in air traffic ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration will have limited short-term impact on cargo flows, but shippers should still map out contingency plans, experts told Supply Chain Dive. The FAA last week ordered a 10% cut in air traffic at 40 major airports across the United States due to an ongoing government shutdown. The agency told airports to reduce traffic by 4% by Nov. 7 and scale up to 10% by Nov. 14, per an emergency order.
On Sunday, several outlets reported that the U.S. Senate voted to move forward with a bill that would end the shutdown. However, the timetable remains unclear, with the resolution still needing passage in the Senate and the House of Republicans, as well as President Donald Trump’s signature. Most of the traffic cuts thus far have targeted short-haul regional flying, which doesn’t typically include large amounts of air cargo demand, according to Derek Lossing, senior industry advisor for e-commerce and transportation at Cirrus Global Advisors. Carriers such as FedEx, UPS and Delta Cargo have not seen severe impact to their operations, particularly because the order requires traffic cuts to be made to flights between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. local time.
Read more at Manufacturing Dive
New U.S. Nuclear Power Boom Begins With Old, Still-Unsolved Problem: What To Do With Radioactive Waste
The Trump administration aims to quadruple the current nuclear energy output over the next 25 years through construction of conventional reactors and next-gen small modular reactors, but a clear solution has yet to emerge for the old issue of radioactive waste. More than 95,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel (with a minority from weapons programs) sits temporarily stockpiled in special water-filled pools or dry casks at 79 sites in 39 states.
The Department of Energy has no permanent disposal facility for nuclear waste, leaving taxpayers on the hook for payments to utilities of up to $800 million every year in damages, a bill that has reached $11.1 billion since 1998, and could grow to $44.5 billion in the future.
Read more at CNBC
Advanced IoT And AI Solidify KONE’s Elevator And Escalator Predictive Maintenance Services
KONE is a leader and innovator in the building technology industry. Long a proponent of preventive maintenance, KONE quickly grasped the potential of intelligent predictive maintenance technologies for identifying equipment issues before they become a problem. KONE’s experiences on its IoT and AI journey offer lessons for others seeking connectivity and optimization for their products and services. The advanced IoT and AI solutions are significantly reducing the time and effort to resolve outages, lowering maintenance costs, improving sustainability metrics, and increasing operational efficiency for KONE and its customers. The new architecture also facilitates seamless scaling of fleet operations and the creation of new, innovative products. Realized benefits include:
- 70% increase in proactive fault identification
- 40% fewer customer-reported elevator and escalator issues (“callouts”)
- 40% fewer entrapments (e.g., elevator door fails to open with passengers inside)
- 99.9% provisioning success rate
- 5x increase in the scale of connected IoT devices
Read more at Plant Services
Nestlé Leaves Climate Alliance Focused On Reducing Dairy Methane Emissions
Food group Nestle said on last week that it had withdrawn from a global alliance for cutting methane emissions that aims to reduce the impact of dairy farming on global warming. The Dairy Methane Action Alliance was launched in December 2023, with members, which include Danone, Kraft Heinz and Starbucks committing to publicly measure and disclose methane emissions from their dairy supply chains and publish plans to reduce those emissions over time. "Nestle regularly reviews its memberships of external organizations," the Swiss company said. "As part of this process, we have decided to discontinue our membership of the Dairy Methane Action Alliance."
Nestle did not say why it was pulling out of the alliance but said it would continue working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, throughout its supply chains and was sticking to its net zero commitment by 2050. On Thursday, Nestle said it was partnering with the World Farmers' Organisation to join efforts to help make food systems more resilient to climate change. By the end of 2024, Nestle had reduced methane emissions by almost 21% compared to 2018 levels, the company said in its 2024 non-financial statement.
Read more at Reuters
Boeing’s $1B Expansion in South Carolina Will Double 787 Production Rate
Boeing has started a more than $1-billion expansion of its assembly complex in North Charleston, S.C., as it aims to increase the production rate for its 787 Dreamliner program to 10 aircraft/month. Lately, Boeing has been producing 787s at a up seven jets/month, though its current target is four to five jets/month. The plant adjacent to Charleston International Airport opened in 2009, and Boeing has more than 7,800 employees working there and at a satellite location in Orangeburg, S.C. It has projected another 1,000 workers will be employed at the expanded plant.
The expansion project announced last year involves constructing a new, 1.2-million sq.ft final assembly building comparable in size to the existing assembly operation, which will include airplane production positions, production support areas, and office space. The 787 Dreamliner is a twin-engine, long-range wide-body jet in service since 2011 and offered in three variants, with carrying capacity for 210 to 330 passengers. Boeing has collected a total of 2,270 orders for the 787 series jets, with 1,222 orders still to be filled.
Read more at American Machinist
Hegseth Says He Wants the Pentagon to Prioritize Speed Over Cost When Buying Weapons
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday the Pentagon is revamping how the military buys weapons, shifting the focus away from producing advanced and complex technology and toward products that can be made and delivered quickly. Hegseth, speaking to military leaders and defense contractors in Washington, said the "objective is simple: transform the entire acquisition system to operate on a wartime footing, to rapidly accelerate the fielding of capabilities and focus on results.”
The defense secretary argued his changes are meant to move the military away from the more traditional process that prioritized delivering a perfect, if expensive and late, product in favor of something that is less ideal but delivered quickly. Some experts say the changes could mean less transparency and the military ending up with systems that may not function as expected. The shift is coming as Russia’s grinding war has seen an underfunded Ukraine using cheap, mass-produced drones to effectively hold off a technologically superior Moscow, which is armed with advanced missiles and hundreds of tanks.
Read more at Military.com
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