Convoy Heads to Texas-US Border Standoff

Layers of Concertina are added to existing barrier infrastructure along the US – Mexico border near Nogales, AZ, February 4, 2019. (Photo from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs – Visual Communications Division, courtesy of Robert Bushell)

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.

A protest convoy warning of a migrant “invasion” at the US-Mexico border left Virginia on Monday and is making its way toward Texas, where a standoff continues between the state and federal governments over border authority and security, reports Military Times. The Take Our Border Back website calls on “all active and retired law enforcement and military, veterans, mama bears, elected officials, business owners, ranchers, truckers, bikers, media and law abiding, freedom-loving Americans.” The convoy was organized in part by Pete Chambers, a former Army lieutenant colonel, spoke about the movement’s aim to pressure the federal government by holding a rally Feb. 3, this week on shows hosted by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and ousted Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson.

The Texas Military Department posted on Tuesday a photo of the best-known flag of the Texas Revolution flying above its Austin headquarters, reports Military Times. The Gonzales flag reads “Come and Take It” underneath an image of a cannon.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard and state troopers to keep rolling out concertina wire last week after a 5-4 US Supreme Court decision gives the US Border Patrol authority to cut it but doesn’t prevent the state from taking action. Border Patrol agents have been prevented access to a park on the bank of the Rio Grande where thousands of migrants have crossed.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg is in the US this week meeting with Biden administration officials, lawmakers, and allies of former President Donald Trump in a high-stakes bid to unlock $60 billion in funding for Ukraine. Stoltenberg spoke at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank aligned with Trump. Trump and allies are pressing Republicans to reject a $111 billion aid package to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan over a border-policy disagreement with the White House.

Western allies must continue providing assistance to Ukraine in its war with Russia this year, or risk a mistake “of historic proportions,” CIA Director William Burns wrote in a column in Foreign Affairs published Tuesday, Politico reports. Burns said less than 5% of the US defense budget — “a relatively modest investment with significant geopolitical returns” — is all that Washington sends to Kyiv.

The Guardian reports that the US plans to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years amid a growing threat from Russia. UK and NATO policy neither confirms nor denies nuclear weapons at a given location. Calls have recently come from senior figures on both sides of the Atlantic for the UK to be prepared in case of a potential war between NATO forces and Russia.

Stars and Stripes reports Russian scientists have created a new nuclear bomb simulator, complete with mushroom cloud effects, that will enable the Kremlin’s troops to train for combat operations after a radioactive blast, according to a state-controlled media outlet.

Preliminary accounts suggest the enemy drone that struck the installation known as Tower 22 may have been mistaken for an American drone that was in the air at the same time, says Military Times.

The drones attacked Tower 22, a base that sits near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria along a sandy, bulldozed berm marking the DMZ’s southern edge. The Iraqi border is only six miles away, reports Military Times. The small installation includes US engineering, aviation, logistics, and security troops with about 350 US Army and Air Force personnel deployed there.

The United States and Iraq held a first session of formal talks Saturday in Baghdad aimed at winding down the mission of a US-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State group in Iraq, reports AP News.

American defense companies racked up $81 billion in new foreign military sales last year, a more than 50% increase from 2022, with huge deals spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine leading the way. The biggest deals were a trio of sales worth about $30 billion for attack and transport helicopters, and long-range missile launchers to Poland and Germany, as NATO rushes to stock up on state-of-the-art weapons in the alliance’s stare-down with Moscow, reports Politico.

Wall Street Journal reports many defense contractors are avoiding military projects that could turn into money-losers. The Pentagon wants to develop advanced weapons systems to counter emerging overseas threats. Execs of US defense contractors are reassuring investors they won’t chase projects with high risks for cost overruns.

The Czech Republic contracted with the US to purchase 24 F-35 fifth generation fighters, in what the Czech government called the “most important project in the history of the Czech Armed Forces,” reports Breaking Defense.

The Biden administration has approved the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey following the Turkish government’s ratification this week of Sweden’s membership in NATO, reports Defense News.

Taiwan is holding spring military drills following its recent presidential election and amid threats from China, which claims the island as its own territory that it is determined to annex, possibly by force, reports AP News.

North Korea fired several cruise missiles over waters near a major military shipyard on South Korea’s eastern coast, extending a streak in weapons tests that are worsening tensions with the US, South Korea, and Japan, reports AP News. The launches followed a separate round of North Korean cruise missile tests last week and a Jan. 14 test-firing of the country’s first solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile.

A US Air Force pilot safely ejected from an F-16 fighter jet that crashed into waters off South Korea’s southwestern coast on Wednesday, in the second such crash in less than two months, reports AP News.

Military veteran Edward Richmond Jr., 40, who shot and killed a handcuffed civilian in Iraq nearly 20 years ago, was ordered jailed Tuesday on charges that he used a metal baton to assault police officers during a mob’s attack on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, reports Military Times. He was initially released after his Jan. 22 arrest, but the judge agreed with prosecutors that Richmond is a danger to the community.

A pilot and explorer who embarked on an $11 million expedition at sea believes he has solved one of the world’s greatest mysteries: the final resting place of Amelia Earhart’s plane that vanished in 1937, reports NBC News.

Contracts:

Alutiiq Solutions LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, is awarded an $8,171,023 modification (P00011) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0042120D0007). This modification exercises an option to provide research and analysis, strategic initiative, executive leadership management, administrative, operational, and technical program support for the Command Strategic Leadership Service Team in support of the Commander, Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and direct reporting teams, the NAVAIR Corporate Operations Group Business Financial Management competency, the Joint Strike Fighter front office, and the NAVAIR Washington Liaison Office. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (60%); and Arlington, Virginia (40%), and is expected to be completed in February 2025. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

ASRC Federal Facilities Logistics LLC, Beltsville, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $150,000,000 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for industrial product support. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. This is a three-year base contract with two two-year option periods and one three-year option period. The performance completion date is Sept. 30, 2027. Using military service is Navy. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2024 through 2027 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Aviation, Richmond, Virginia (SPE4AX-24-D-9414).

Tapestry Solutions, Inc., San Diego, California, has been awarded a $8,839,343 contract modification (P00006) to previously awarded contract FA2860-22-C-0011 for executive airlift flight dispatch services. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $41,977,632. Work will be performed at Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Facility Washington, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 31, 2027. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $8,839,343 are being obligated at time of award. The 316th Contracting Squadron, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity. 

Ironclad Technology Services LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded $8,214,258 firm-fixed-price contract to provide command financial management system – consolidated support services in support of the Office of the Secretary of the Navy (Financial Management and Comptroller). The contract will include an 11-month base ordering period with a one-year option period, two six-month option periods, and an additional six-month ordering period option pursuant of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) 52.217-8 – option to extend services, which if exercised, will bring the total estimated value to $31,599,893. The base ordering period is anticipated to begin February 2024 and is expected to be completed by December 2024, and, if all options are exercised, the ordering period will be completed by June 2027. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia (70%); Norfolk, Virginia (15%); and Pensacola, Florida (15%). Fiscal 2024 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $744,478 will be obligated at time of award, and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this sole-source procurement in accordance with FAR 6.302-1 and one offer was received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Philadelphia Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-24-C-Z015).

Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc., Sacramento, California, is awarded a $57,673,542 modification (P00003) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N0001923C0021). This modification exercises options to procure full rate production Lot Five of the BQM-177A Surface Launched Aerial Targets. Specifically, this modification provides for the production and delivery of 70 BQM-177A Surface Launched Aerial Targets and 70 Rocket-Assisted Takeoff attachment kits, as well as associated technical and administrative data in support of weapons system test, and evaluation and fleet training for the Navy. Work will be performed in Sacramento, California (50%); Dallas, Texas (20%); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (5%); Blacksburg, Virginia (4%); Santa Ana, California (2%); Newton, Kansas (2%); Concord, California (2%); Milwaukie, Oregon (2%); Chatsworth, California (2%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (11%), and is expected to be completed in April 2026. Fiscal 2024 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $45,314,926; and fiscal 2023 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $12,358,616, will be obligated at the time of award, $12,358,616 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics NASSCO, San Diego, California, is awarded a $53,137,125 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N0002423C4424 to exercise options for the accomplishment of ship alteration 79521K, AN/SLQ-32(V)7 under the USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and USS James E. Williams (DDG 95) Fiscal 2024 Depot Maintenance Period availabilities. The scope of this acquisition includes all labor, materials, supervision, equipment, production, testing, facilities, and quality assurance necessary to prepare for and accomplish the critical modernization efforts under the Chief of Naval Operations availabilities. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (53%); and San Diego, California (47%), and is expected to be completed by April 2024. Fiscal 2023 other procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $2,000,000 (100%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $15,041,557 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract to provide program management, non-recurring unique requirements, and training in support of start-up integration efforts for the government of Canada into the F-35 Program. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (73%); Orlando, Florida (9%); El Segundo, California (8%); Lancashire, United Kingdom (7%); and Baltimore, Maryland (3%), and is expected to be completed in January 2027. Canadian Department of National Defense Cooperative funds in the amount of $15,041,557 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 US Code 3204(a)(4). Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001924C0026).

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded a $10,600,354 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost only contract for Ship Self-Defense System Combat System Ship Integration and Test. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $96,850,486. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey (22%); San Diego, California (17%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (15%); Newport News, Virginia (15%); Norfolk, Virginia (15%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (11%); and Washington, DC (5%), and is expected to be completed by January 2025. If all options are exercised, work will continue through January 2031. Fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $611,131 (38%); fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $535,441 (34%); fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $377,555 (24%); and fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $70,354 (4%), will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management website, with one offer received. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N00024-24-C-5105).

CORRECTION: The Jan. 25, 2024, announcement of a contract awarded to National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (FA9550-24-C-B001), for the Department of the Air Force Science and Technology Fellowship Program was awarded on Jan. 29, 2024, and the contract’s ceiling is $71,331,385.