1st Japanese-Built F-35A Unveiled
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What’s different about Japan’s fifth F-35A fighter jet? While that country’s first four planes were delivered from Lockheed Martin’s Dallas/Fort Worth factory, this one was built in Japan, reports Flight Global. “Seeing the first Japanese built F-35A is a testament to the global nature of this program,” said VADM Mat Winter, executive officer of the F-35 program. IHS Jane’s reports Lockheed Martin is open to expanding Japanese industry’s involvement in the program to build and assemble F-35 Lightning IIs.
NAVSEA Systems Command believes that more money for maintenance would allow Navy ships to stay in service longer, and accelerate the fleet’s growth to the Trump administration’s avowed goal of 355 ships by “10 to 15 years with a relatively small investment,” Breaking Defense reports.
North Korea said it had test-launched a new type of cruise missile capable of striking US and South Korean warships “at will,” The Washington Post reports, as South Korea found a suspected North Korean drone near the border between the two countries.
South Korea intends to set up an environmental review before allowing four more launchers to be added to a US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system meant to cope with North Korean threats, Defense News reports. THAAD already is operational in southeastern South Korea.
China’s People’s Liberation Army has said Pakistan is the likely location of its second overseas base, Defense News reports. Its first overseas base at Djibouti on the Horn of Africa is expected to be completed in 2018.
Though testing and certification of KC-46 tankers was about 65 percent complete by early May, Air Force officials expect delivery to be at least nine months late, reports the Everett Herald. One of the program’s test aircraft recently had been conducting ground testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California and NAS Pax River.
Defense News reports the Pentagon has asked Congress for $1.8 billion to continue an Obama administration program to train and equip Iraqi and Syrian forces to fight against the Islamic State and resist a major commitment of US ground troops. So far, DefSec James Mattis has not announced the administration’s strategy to defeat ISIS.
The George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group is now in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and has resumed airstrikes targeting the Islamic State, Navy Times reports. “We are resuming a relentless pursuit of ISIS targets, while reinforcing our commitment to partners and allies in the US 6th Fleet area of operations,” said RADM Kenneth Whitesell.
The House Armed Services Committee introduced a bill that requires the Pentagon to notify Congress about cyber operations it is waging outside war zones and the new cyber weapons it is employing, the Washington Examiner reports. The bill’s text states: DefSec James Mattis would have two days to tell armed services committees in the House and Senate about military cyber operations and about weapons reviewed or cleared for use under international law.
The Marine Corps is testing an Army bullet that is designed to penetrate body armor, Marine Times reports. Both the Marines and Army also are looking at fielding a higher caliber weapon.
A federal judge ordered Reality Winner, the 25-year-old woman charged with leaking classified US documents, to remain jailed until her trial after prosecutors argued late last week she might possess more stolen government secrets, Military Times reports.
The Maryland Democratic Party has hired national Democratic strategist Stephanie Potter to be its executive director, Maryland Matters reports. Southern Marylander Ed Holland was reappointed as veterans chair of the group. Mr. Holland is a former Marine who served in Iraq.
Contracts:
Academi Training Center LLC, Moyock, North Carolina (N00019-17-D-0094); Insitu Inc., Bingen, Washington (N00019-17-D-0095); PAE ISR LLC, Chantilly, Virginia (N00019-17-D-0098); and AAI Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland (N00019-17-D-0096), are each being awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for sea-and land-based unmanned aircraft system (UAS) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services in support of the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Services to be provided include trained personnel, UAS ISR non-developmental equipment, certifications, installation, operation, maintenance, sustainment, spares/product support, and other related support services. The aggregate amount for all contracts is $1,730,000,000, with the companies having an opportunity to compete for individual task orders. AAI and Insitu are eligible to compete for both sea-based and land-based task orders. Academi Training Center and PAE ISR are only eligible to compete for land-based task orders. Work will be performed at each awardee’s facility sites in Moyock, North Carolina; Bingen, Washington; Chantilly, Virginia; and Hunt Valley, Maryland, as well as various sea-and land-based locations, and is expected to be completed in June 2022. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated against each delivery order they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; four offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland (N66604-17-D-D701); General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (N66604-17-D-D702); and MES Simulation & Training Corp., Christmas, Florida (N66604-17-D-D703), are being awarded a combined $42,582,205 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple-award contract for the hardware design, fabrication, logistics, and installation of Submarine Multi-Mission Team Trainer systems. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (95 percent); and the government of Australia (5 percent), under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Newport, Rhode Island (30 percent); Groton, Connecticut (10 percent); King’s Bay, Georgia (10 percent); San Diego, California (10 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (10 percent); Carderock, Maryland (5 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (5 percent); Manassas, Virginia (5 percent); Bangor, Washington (5 percent); Santa Rita, Guam (5 percent); Yokosuka, Japan (2.5 percent); and Rockingham, Western Australia (2.5 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2022. Fiscal 2017 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,500 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 Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity.
Rick Aviation Inc., Newport News, Virginia, has been awarded a minimum $7,156,356 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for various types of fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with 99 responses received. This is a 41-month contract with a six-month option period. Location of performance is Virginia, with a March 31, 2021 performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2017 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE600-17-D-0124).
ITC Defense Corp., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $10,497,669 modification (P00005) to foreign military sales (Kuwait) contract W91CRB-16-C-5009 for development and deployment of an armory and fuel management system for the Kuwait Ministry of Defense. Work will be performed in Kuwait, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2020. Fiscal 2011 other funds in the amount of $10,497,669 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
CSRA LLC, Falls Church, Virginia, was awarded a competitive single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for milCloud 2.0 Phase 1 commercial infrastructure services in the Department of Defense (DoD) facilities, connected to DoD networks in a private deployment model for use by the DoD community and DoD partners to include transition engineering services. The contract ceiling is $498,000,000 and the minimum guarantee to be awarded via task order 0001 is $600,000 funded by fiscal 2017 defense working capital funds. Performance will be in Alabama, and Oklahoma. Proposals were solicited via FedBizOpps, and five proposals were received. The period of performance for the base period is June 9, 2017 through June 8, 2020 with five, one-year option periods. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC102817D0004).
Sprint Federal Operations LLC, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a non-competitive, firm-fixed-price contract modification for the addition of three sites in Belgium to the existing Department of Defense Information Network 100G Packet-Optical Transport Network. The face value of this action is $13,116,906 funded by Defense Information Systems Agency with fiscal 2016 procurement funds. The estimated total cumulative face value of the contract is $215,700,000. Performance will be at various locations within Europe. A proposal was solicited and received from the contractor. The period of performance is June 9, 2017 through May 31, 2018. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois is the contracting activity (HC1047-15-C-4000-P00014).
Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $10,827,927 modification (000267) to contract W31P4Q-15-A-0024 for engineering and software support services. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 18, 2018. Fiscal 2016 and 2017 research, development, test and evaluation; operations and maintenance (Army); and other procurement (Army) funds in the combined amount of $10,869,949 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
The Raytheon Co. – Space and Airborne Systems Div., Aberdeen, Maryland, has been awarded a $42,810,725 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for Identification Friend-or-Foe KIV-77 Mode 4/5 cryptographic applique production. Contractor will provide KIV-77 units, associated spare parts, remote form factor, and data. This contract includes foreign military sales to multiple countries. Work will be performed at Largo, Florida, and is expected to be complete by June 8, 2022. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. No funds are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Joint-Base San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity (FA8307-17-D-0015).
Planned Systems International Inc., Columbia, Maryland, was awarded a firm-fixed-price, bridge contract for $8,097,541. The bridge will ensure continued support for enterprise-wide code maintenance and sustainment, code enhancements, maintenance of current functional requirements, support of transition to production, code management and documentation ensuring correct protections are in place to ensure cybersecurity, information assurance and risk management concerns are addressed in all enterprise systems as required by Defense Health Agency Health Information Technology(IT) Directorate, Solutions Delivery Division. The contractor shall provide assistance in various locations to include San Antonio, Texas; Montgomery, Alabama; Falls Church, Virginia; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The initial award is a four-month base period with one two-month option. This bridge contract was a sole-source acquisition under General Services Administration’s IT Schedule 70 and fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance funds. The Defense Health Agency, Contract Operations – Health Information Technology San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity and the new contract award number will be HT0015-17-F-0074.
