Baltimore Sues Ship for Key Bridge Collapse

The Fort Carroll Temporary Alternate Channel, depicted in green, has a controlling depth of 20 feet, a 300-foot horizontal clearance, and a vertical clearance of 135 feet, and will facilitate additional commercially essential vessel traffic through the Port of Baltimore. (Infographic courtesy of Key Bridge Response 2024 Unified Command)

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River economic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Baltimore filed a legal claim on Monday against the owner and manager of the ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, causing it to collapse, reports CNN. The Dali, a 213-million-pound ship carrying cargo containers, is owned by Grace Ocean Private Limited and managed by Synergy Marine PTE LTD. Attorneys for Baltimore’s mayor and city council accused both companies of providing the vessel with an “incompetent crew” that lacked proper skill and training, according to the claim obtained by CNN.

The official information site, Key Bridge Response 2024, announced the opening of a third temporary channel northeast of the main channel for the port of Baltimore in the vicinity of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The channel provides limited access for commercially essential vessels as part of a phased approach to opening the main channel. The Fort Carroll Temporary Alternate Channel has a controlling depth of 20 feet, a 300-foot horizontal clearance, and a vertical clearance of 135 feet and will be limited to transit at the discretion of the captain of the port.

The Joint Simulation Environment at Pax River started with F-35 simulators, but the program expanded to add four Air Force F-22 Raptor cockpits in January, reports USNI. The complexity of the F-35 directed testing toward modeling and simulation and NAWCAD currently has eight F-35 cockpits and domes. As operational tests for all variants of the F-35 cockpits finished in September 2023, the facilities have switched to training for services like the Air Force and the Navy, as well as international partners.

Lockheed Martin says it will resume F-35 deliveries in the third quarter of this year, with the DoD to begin by taking updated aircraft in an interim “combat training-capable” standard, reports FlightGlobal. No F-35s have been delivered this year, a drop from 18 jets handed over in the last quarter of 2023.

The first F-35s to be delivered with the Technology Refresh 3 upgrades will initially be used for training, they will not be ready for combat until 2025, Defense News reported on Lockheed’s earnings call Tuesday.

Technical details were sparse as Anduril announced a prototype undersea drone in Australia last week, but company officials stressed, it’s early, under-budget, and could not have happened for the US Navy, reports Defense One. Christian Brose, Anduril chief strategy officer, said, “There just wasn’t an opportunity to do this in the United States by virtue of the Navy’s program of record. I think what we’ve proven — or [are] in the process of proving — is these kinds of capabilities can be built much faster, much cheaper, much more intelligently.”

NavSec Carlos Del Toro is open to foreign shipyards assembling certain US Navy warship modules overseas to increase domestic production rates, reports Breaking Defense. “We do this in the aircraft industry … where in India for example, we’re building aircraft engines now and … re-instituting them here in the United States,” Del Toro said.

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class David Elizalde, convicted on a charge stemming from participation in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, managed to avoid jail time or probation after a judge sentenced him to 30 days of home detention and a $2,500 fine, reports Military.com. Elizalde argued in a sentencing memo that a probation sentence would have been “fatal” to his Navy career, which he wanted to salvage despite conviction on violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds.

The House Armed Services Committee unveiled a bill last week focused on improvements to troops’ lives as the first step in crafting this year’s must-pass defense policy bill. The Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement Act would include giving junior enlisted service members a 15% raise in their base pay, reports Military.com.

Two Japanese navy SH-60K helicopters carrying eight crew members crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during nighttime training in a possible collision, leaving one dead while rescuers on Sunday searched for seven others missing, reports Military.com. An initial analysis of flight data recorders recovered from the crash showed no sign of mechanical problems, indicating likely human error. One of the eight crew members died, and the search continues for the seven others, reports AP News.

Two Malaysian military helicopters collided midair and crashed during a training session on Tuesday, killing all 10 people on board and injuring a swimmer in a pool, reports AP News. The helicopters were rehearsing at a naval base in northern Perak state for the navy’s 90th anniversary celebration when the accident occurred, the navy said in a brief statement. “All victims were confirmed dead on site,” it said.

The Army will begin in June conducting a cognitive assessment for a baseline measurement of brain health to measure the effects of any future trauma for all new soldiers at basic training and cadets before they are commissioned, reports Army Times.

Russia is preparing to enlist more contract soldiers as it presses its invasion of Ukraine, aiming to avoid at least for now another mass call-up that could undermine popular support for the war. The Kremlin is anxious not to repeat the September 2022 mobilization, which shook public confidence and triggered an exodus of as many as a million Russians from the country, according to Military.com.

Although American officials played down expectations for breakthroughs, US StateSec Antony Blinken is in China on a three-day mission to push leaders to cut ties with the Kremlin, reports The Washington Post. The Biden administration blames China for what it says is a systematic effort to keep Moscow’s defense sector afloat, enabling further civilian deaths in Ukraine.

The US will begin plans to withdraw troops from Niger, in what experts say is a blow to Washington and its allies in the region in terms of staging security operations in the Sahel, reports Military Times.

While Ukraine and Western allies have spent the last year scouring the world for ammunition, the attention has now shifted to the urgent need to find spare Patriot systems to close gaps in Kyiv’s air defenses, reports Defense News. The quest to find these highly coveted weapons has intensified over the last month, as Russian troops have carried out relentless attacks on Ukraine’s critical and civilian infrastructure.

Lockheed Martin has forged a partnership with a Spanish firm for the production of interceptor missile parts for the Patriot air-defense system, a move that could help alleviate a bottleneck in manufacturing the sought-after systems, says Defense News.

A Moscow court this week sentenced a man to five years of compulsory labor for giving an antiwar comment to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty two years ago — a criminal prosecution that showed the Russian government intensifying its crackdown on dissent and that could have a chilling effect on international media still operating in the country, says The Washington Post.

Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) called on Monday for President Biden to deploy the National Guard to colleges, particularly Columbia University in New York City, where pro-Palestinian protesters have staged sit-ins and other disruptive activities to focus public attention on the war, reports The Hill.

A lawyer for the military contractor being sued by three survivors of the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq told jurors Monday that the plaintiffs are suing the wrong people, reports Military.com. “If you believe they were abused … tell them to make their claim against the US government,” said John O’Connor, defense attorney for Reston, VA-based military contractor CACI. “Why didn’t they sue the people who actively abused them?” Jurors were to resume deliberations yesterday, Wednesday.

Tesla has cut prices in a number of its major markets, including China and Germany, following price cuts in the United States, as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles, especially against Chinese EVs. The price cuts come after Tesla, led by its billionaire CEO Elon Musk, reported this month that its global vehicle deliveries in the first quarter fell for the first time in nearly four years, reports Reuters.

Military retirees and some spouses or dependents continue to face problems using their DoD IDs to traverse Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at US airports. Military.com reports TSA’s consideration to quit accepting those IDs, known as USIDs, is sure to irritate those who like using their military IDs instead of a state driver’s license or passport for travel.

CNN reports it has uncovered new video evidence that significantly undermines two Pentagon investigations, into the American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. The latest Pentagon report released last week investigated an ISIS-K suicide attack outside Kabul airport.

Sailors looking for a nice cash bonus to reenlist are seeing some major increases, reports Task & Purpose. Cyber warfare technicians are now eligible for a whopping $100,000 bonus. Although only 22 sailors are eligible for the cyber bonus, bonuses are up or at least stayed flat with many FY23 ratings, for example, some, though not all, hospital corpsmen can also get $100,000, up from $90,000.

Contracts:

Imagine One Technology & Management Ltd., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $35,813,685 cost-plus-fixed-fee definitized bridge contract action for informational technology services in support of Naval Sea Systems Command, Digital Industrial Operations, Navy Maritime Maintenance Enterprise Solution Program. This contract includes an option which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $58,790,185. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (88%); Lexington Park, Maryland (2%); Rocket Center, West Virginia (6%); Bremerton, Washington (1%); Kittery, Maine (1%); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (1%); and Washington, DC (1%), and is expected to be completed by October 2024. Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,000,000 (87%); and fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $600,000 (13%) will be obligated at time of award, of which $4,000,000 will expire at the end of fiscal 2025, and $600,000 at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 US Code 2304(c)(1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Surface Warfare Center Corona Division, Corona, California, is the contracting activity (N6426724C0021).

Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $10,004,145 modification (P00106) to contract W31P4Q-21-F-0095 to provide full life cycle support for trainers and virtual interactive and multimedia systems. Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of April 23, 2026. Fiscal 2024 procurement, defense-wide funds and operation and maintenance, defense-wide funds in the amount of $10,004,145 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

SPARC Research LLC, Warrenton, Virginia, has been awarded a $22,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee ceiling increase modification (P00001) to previously awarded contract FA8651-23-D-A010 for future research to continue Counter Air Science and Technology efforts to conduct research for advanced missile subsystem components in support of Compact Air to Air Missile and Extended Range Air to Air Missile. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $28,000,000. Work will be performed in Warrenton, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by Aug. 7, 2028. Funding will be provided on the task order level. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 23, 2024)

Colonna’s Shipyard Inc, Norfolk, Virginia (N0002424D4226); East Coast Repair & Fabrication, Portsmouth, Virginia (N0002424D4227); General Dynamics NASSCO-Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida (N0002424D4228); BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair LLC, Jacksonville, Florida (N0002424D4229); Fincantieri Marine Repair, Jacksonville, Florida (N0002424D4230); Standard Inspection Services/Standard Welding & Fabrication, Jacksonville, Florida (N0002424D4231); Epsilon Systems, Portsmouth, Virginia (N0002424D4232); and Tecnico Corp., Atlantic Beach, Florida (N0002424D4233), are awarded a combined $701,167,248 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for repair, maintenance and modernization requirements of non-nuclear Navy Surface ships homeported in, or visiting the Mayport, Florida, region. The scope of work includes continuous maintenance emergent maintenance and short-term (10 months or less in duration) Chief of Naval Operations availabilities. Each awardee will be awarded $10,000 (minimum contract guarantee per awardee) at contract award. Work will be performed in the Mayport, Florida, homeport area. Work is expected to be completed by April 2029. Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $80,000 is obligated at contract award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. All other funding will be made available at the delivery order level as contracting actions occur. This contract was competitively procured via the SAM.gov website, with 10 offers received. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a $167,113,948 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (M67854-19-C-0043), in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This modification provides for the exercise of Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) full rate production Lot Six options to procure four full rate production G/ATOR systems and associated data and travel. Work will be performed at Baltimore, Maryland (35%); East Syracuse, New York (19%); Stafford Springs, Connecticut (6%); Tulsa, Oklahoma (4%); Hampstead, Maryland (3%); Santa Clarita, California (3%); Rochester, New York (2%); Atlanta, Georgia (2%); San Diego, California (2%); and various places at 1% each (24%), with an expected completion date of February 2029. Fiscal 2024 other procurement funds (Air Force) in the amount of $167,113,948 are being obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Dcode Group Inc., Washington, DC, is awarded $10,605,490 for a firm-fixed-priced task order (N00189-24-F-R037) under previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00189-24-G-R001) to provide deployment, sustainment, maintenance, and enhancement support services for the Naval Autonomous Data Collection System, in support of Naval Supply Systems Command. The contract will include a one-year base period with two one-year option periods which, if exercised, will bring the total estimated value to $32,503,240. All work will be performed in Washington, DC. Work is expected to be completed by April 2025; if all options are exercised, the ordering period will be completed by April 2027. Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000,000 will be obligated at time of award, and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Individual task orders will be subsequently funded with appropriate fiscal year appropriations at the time of their issuance. The requirement was solicited for this sole-source procurement pursuant to the authority of 10 US Code 3204(a)(5) as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5 and one offer was received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Regional Directorate, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Illinois, is awarded a $9,063,776 modification (P00006) to a previously awarded fixed-price incentive (firm-target), cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract (N0001923C0001). This modification increases the contract ceiling to procure the necessary hardware and associated technical engineering, management and logistics support for fabrication, assembly, test, and delivery of eight AN/APR-39 D(V)2 Radar Warning Receiver/Electronic Warfare Management Systems, and eight D(V)2 Battery Handle Assemblies in support of the MV-22B aircraft. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Illinois (50.3%); Woburn, Massachusetts (9.48%); Lansdale, Pennsylvania (8.5%); San Leandro, California (5.42%); Lewisburg, Tennessee (5.3%); Longmont, Colorado (5%); Verona, Wisconsin (2.5%); Salt Lake City, Utah (1.75%); Newark, Delaware (1.6%); Melbourne, Florida (1.29%); Baltimore, Maryland (1.17%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (7.72%), and is expected to be completed in May 2027. Fiscal 2023 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,063,776 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.