March 28, 2024

1st Step Taken in Renaming Bases, Ships With Confederate Names

Confederate

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

Acting DefSec Christopher Miller is moving forward with a commission to rename at least 10 Army bases and possibly two Navy ships that honor the Confederacy, reports Military.com. Mr. Miller made four appointments to the Commission on the Naming of Items of the Department of Defense that Commemorate the Confederate States of America or Any Person Who Served Voluntarily with the Confederate States of America. There will eventually be eight members on the commission.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs was asked late last week to keep President Donald Trump from launching America into surprise military hostilities in his final days in office, reports Military Times. “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wrote in a letter Friday. Some Democrats worry the president might use the military in an improper manner, reports Politico.

National security concerns are contributing to calls for President Trump’s removal from office before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration Jan. 20, reports The Hill.

The National Security Council’s senior director for defense policy is leaving his post, reports Defense News. Mark Vandroff, who has been involved in diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East, did not give a reason for his resignation. On Thursday, deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger resigned, reports NBC News. No explanation for his leaving was given.

ArmySec Ryan McCarthy said there will be 6,200 National Guard troops deployed in the National Capitol Region for no less than 30 days, reports Army Times. The troops will remain through the inauguration next week.

Hundreds of National Guard troops were posted in the streets of Washington, DC, last week as Congress met to certify results of the 2020 presidential election, but there was little they could do to respond as rioters overran the US Capitol. Military Times explains why.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), an Iraq war veteran, was in the Capitol last week when protestors stormed the building. The former Marine said he thought he would have to fight his way out, reports The Washington Post. He was one of a few lawmakers who reverted to their military training during the assault.

Diplomatic observers in Beijing believe that American social divisions will play into the Biden administration’s policies on China, reports South China Morning Post.

 

 

North Korea’s Kim Jong Un said his country is developing new weaponry including a nuclear-powered submarine, tactical nuclear weapons, and advanced warheads designed to penetrate missile defense systems, reports CNN.

Indonesia has discovered three Chinese underwater drones near the island of Selayar in the Indian Ocean, reports South China Morning Post. The unmanned underwater vehicle, labelled “Shenyang Institute of Automation Chinese Academy of Sciences,” is being inspected at an Indonesian military base.

US Air Force commanders have a few weeks to review their units’ emblems, morale patches, mottos, nicknames, coins, and other heraldry and insignia and remove any that are racist, sexist, or derogatory, reports Military.com.

The air campaign against ISIS in Iraq and Syria continues, reports Air Force Magazine, as the US withdraws forces from the region and the operation has largely fallen off the public’s radar.

Gary Kessler has joined the Executive 1 Holding Company LLC Advisory Board, reports Digital Journal. Mr. Kessler is currently the president of the Southern Maryland Navy Alliance.

The US Labor Department’s December 2020 jobs report shows that the US economy lost jobs for the first time in eight months, reports Reuters. Closures of bars and restaurants accounted for three quarters of the job losses.

The US Naval Community College will begin serving its first class of about 600 students, under a six-month pilot program, reports USNI News. The students will come from the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, and they will be taught by a combined effort from Northern Virginia Community College, University of Arizona, University of Maryland Global Campus, Alexandria Technical and Community College in Minnesota, and the State University System of New York.

Payroll providers and agencies are beginning to detail how and when federal employees and service members will repay the Social Security taxes that were deferred from their paychecks late last year, reports Federal News Network. Service members saw their basic pay increase by 6.2% starting in September, as the result of a tax deferral put into place by President Donald Trump, reports Military Times.

Bill 33, sometimes called “Blue Eyes,” the US Naval Academy’s goat mascot, has died, reports The Associated Press. He was the mascot from 2008 to 2015.

A Washington Post columnist set out to meet pet owners and find out how they named their pets. One local couple’s rescue dog has a name inspired by NAS Patuxent River.

SpaceX launched a Turkish communications satellite from Florida on Thursday night, reports UPI. The spacecraft will provide TV and internet broadcast services over Turkey, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

Contracts:

Science Applications International Corp., Fairfield, New Jersey, has been awarded a maximum $95,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for facilities maintenance, repair and operation supplies. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 US Code 2304 (c)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a one-year bridge contract with no option periods. Locations of performance are Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey and Washington, DC, with a Jan. 8, 2022, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8E3-21-D-0005).

US Foods Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina, has been awarded a maximum $377,791,948 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment, indefinite-quantity contract for full-line food distribution. This was a competitive acquisition with two responses received. This is a two-year base contract with one one-year option period and one two-year option period. Locations of performance are Virginia and North Carolina, with a Jan. 7, 2023, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE300-21-D-3313).

Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia, is awarded a $56,878,408 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-only modification to previously-awarded contract N00024-18-C-6413 for configuration changes, engineering services, material, maintenance and repair. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $131,895,943. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2021. No funds will be obligated at time of award. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

iGov Technologies Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $30,906,705 firm-fixed-price modification (P00015) to contract FA8730-18-F-0061 to exercise options for Tactical Air Control Party – Mobile Communications System Block Two kits, training and support of the system. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for an additional quantity of 142 production kits, along with the associated training Lot Two and second generation anti-jam tactical ultra-high frequency radio for the NATO licenses Lot One and Lot Two being produced under the basic contract. Work will be performed at various locations across the US, and is expected to be completed by September 2022. Fiscal 2020 other procurement funds in the amount of $1,189,383; and fiscal 2021 other procurement funds in the amount of $29,717,322, are being obligated at the time of award. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $81,006,838. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Missiles and Fire Control, Grand Prairie, Texas, is being awarded a $58,905,062 modification (P00006) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract HR0011-20-C-0038 to exercise the contract line item number 0003 option for development of the integrated OpFires system. This includes risk reduction testing to achieve a system-level critical design maturity. Fiscal 2020 and 2021 research and development funds in the amount of $18,505,167 will be obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas (57%); Huntsville, Alabama (11%); and Elkton, Maryland (32%), with an estimated completion date of January 2022. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Amentum Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $68,290,284 modification (P00024) to contract W9124G-17-C-0005 to provide undergraduate initial entry rotary wing and selected graduate course flight training, simulator flight training and flight academics. Work will be performed at Fort Rucker, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 9, 2022. Fiscal 2010 operation and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $68,290,284 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

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