Second MQ-8C Fire Scout Delivered to Navy
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 necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Northrop Grumman delivered a second MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter to the Navy. Flight testing of the aircraft will be performed before it begins operations in 2014. The MQ-8C Fire Scout can fly twice as long and carry three times more intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance payloads than the current model.
Two American B-52 bombers flew “a routine training mission” through airspace recently claimed by China on Tuesday, reports the New York Times. The flight challenges China’s position that it “has the right to identify, monitor and possibly take military action against aircraft that enter the area” which includes islands that are the focus of an ongoing territory dispute between Japan and China.
A new business tax incentive policy is being considered by the St. Mary’s County Department of Economic and Community Development, reports SoMDNews. An effort to attract businesses to move to the county has become necessary to counter the fallout from sequestration, defense budget cuts and a “need to diversify.”
The Navy’s next generation carrier drone will be loaded with GPS-guided precision-strike air-to-ground weapons called Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs, reports Defensetech. The UCLASS (Unmanned Carrier Launched Surveillance and Strike) aircraft will support Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Targeting technology.
U.S. military Typhoon Haiyan recovery efforts in the Philippines have moved into a “transition” phase, according to the Department of Defense. Operation Damayan personnel “logged nearly 2,000 flight hours, conducted 1,000 flights, and moved 2,000 relief workers into Tacloban City” and has airlifted 20,000 survivors from hard hit areas. DoD notes that it will continue to provide assistance to the storm ravaged nation during the transition period.
Private sector computing and other technology advances are now surpassing the traditional American military-industrial complex’s leading role as high technology innovators, according to Breaking Defense. Defense Department experts are concerned that adversary nations are starting to catch the US in military-specific technologies such as electronic warfare, stealth and precision-guided missiles. There is a growing push within the government to financially subsidize endangered private key defense industry components.
The Reserve Ready Mobilization Pool (RMP) will no longer involuntarily recall Reserve Sailors as of January 1, 2014, reports Navy.mil. A high Navy Reserve mobilization volunteer rate coupled with the reduction in forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has allowed the elimination of the RMP.
More than 21,000 active duty, 1,800 Reserve and 500 Full Time Support (FTS) Sailors have been selected for advancement to E4, E5, and E6 by the Navy, according to Military.com. The report provides links to view the names of Sailors selected for advancement.
BAE will execute a $200 million contract to upgrade 134 South Korean Lockheed Martin F-16 C/D aircraft, reports Flightglobal. The initial planning phase will provide details about computers, displays, sensors, weapons, software development, and a range of other elements.
Atlantic NICC Joint Venture LLC*, Falls Church, Va., is being awarded a maximum amount $19,500,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity job order contract for construction, alteration and repair of industrial, commercial, and utility projects to government facilities at various Department of Defense activities within Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and four option years, is $97,500,000. No task orders are being issued at this time. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Md. (31 percent), Dahlgren, Va. (30 percent), Indian Head, Md. (22 percent), and Annapolis, Md. (17 percent), with an expected completion date of November 2014. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
