Pentagon Ramps Up Cybersecurity Efforts

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.

The Pentagon is now rolling out acquisition training to get government and industry up to speed on implementation of the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification standards program, reports Federal News Network. The new cyber-compliance requirements for all defense contracts were announced last week, GovConWire had reported. The certification goes into effect Nov. 10.

The US House has passed its version of the FY26 defense policy bill, which authorizes $848 billion for the military and includes protections for aid to Ukraine, reports Breaking Defense.

The National Defense Authorization Act passed Wednesday includes a bipartisan amendment to repeal the 1991 and 2002 war authorizations related to Iraq and make it harder for presidents to bypass Congress on military actions, reports Washington Examiner on MSN.

The US Naval Academy was put on lockdown Thursday, reports The Associated Press, and a building was cleared in response to reports of threats made at the school. One person was injured. The reports of a threat were not credible, a Navy spokesman said, reports The Washington Post. There turned out to be no active shooter. Instead, the person was injured while Naval Security Forces were clearing a building.

Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union failed to reach a tentative deal to end a five-week-long strike in the St. Louis area, reports The Associated Press. Workers rejected the proposal and will head back to the picket lines.

Singapore has selected Boeing’s P-8 Poseidon as its next maritime patrol aircraft, reports Breaking Defense. Singapore will acquire four P-8As as the first phase of its recapitalization of its maritime security capabilities.

Boeing says it delivered 57 jets in August, which marked its strongest production output since August 2018, reports Simple Flying. The manufacturer has already surpassed its total delivery figures for 2024, with 385 aircraft delivered by Aug. 31.

BAE Systems is bracing for its biggest-ever order of CV90 combat vehicles in 2026, reports Defense News. BAE expects an order for hundreds of CV90 tracked combat vehicles from a group of up to six European nations–Finland, Sweden, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, and the Netherlands.

DefSec Pete Hegseth said Friday that the Pentagon is tracking any comments from civilian and military employees that celebrate or mock the Sept. 10 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, reports The Hill. “We are tracking all these very closely—and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable,” Hegseth wrote Thursday on social media.

Memphis will be the next target of a National Guard deployment to fight crime, President Donald Trump said in a Friday interview with Fox News, reports The Washinton Post. “We’re going to Memphis,” Trump said. “National Guard and anybody else we need. And by the way, we’ll bring in the military too, if we need it.”

US Air Force test pilot MAJ Ross Elder will lead a four-person NASA crew living for a year inside a simulated Mars habitat as the space agency gears up for future long-term flights, reports Task & Purpose. The crew will include Space Force COL Ellen Ellis who oversees spy satellites. Two civilians will make up the rest of the Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog, or CHAPEA mission. The four will enter an isolated, Mars-like habitat known as Mars Dune Alpha inside NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Oct. 19 and will not emerge until Oct. 26, 2026.

The first four student naval aviators from Training Air Wing FOUR (TW-4) have completed their multi-engine training in the US Navy’s new T-54A Multi-Engine Training System, or METS, known as the Marlin II, reports Seapower Magazine. The service declared initial operational capability for the T-54A in May 2024, giving future naval aviators a modern platform to prepare them for the advanced aircraft they will fly in the fleet. These graduates represent the inaugural class of the Navy’s upgraded advanced training pipeline, designed to replace the T-44C Pegasus after more than 40 years of service.

Poland officials said Russian drone incursions in their country’s airspace last week were not only deliberate, they were a test of NATO’s ability to react to aerial threats, reports The War Zone. Polish authorities said some of the 19 Russian drones were shot down by Polish and Dutch combat aircraft. The intrusions came amid a new round of Russian drone and missile attacks on neighboring Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a drone and missile barrage struck across the north, south and east of his country, as well as other regions, reports USA today.

Israel has been banned from the Dubai Airshow in November over the recent bombing in Qatar, reports Defense News. Israeli government and defense-industry officials said the reason given was related to security concerns. Israel carried out an air strike targeting Hamas negotiators in an attack in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Sept. 9, CNN reported last week.

US Navy VADM Richard Correll has been selected to serve as the next commander of US Strategic Command, reports Breaking Defense. Also, the White House nominated VADM George Wikoff to become commander of US Naval Forces Europe and Africa, the Navy’s top operational officer in that region.

The Navy relieved CMDR Adam Ochs, the commanding officer of the USS Santa Barbara, of his duties last week, reports Military Times. He was removed “due to a loss of confidence” in his ability to command the littoral combat ship, according to the service.

NASA has banned Chinese citizens with US visas from participating in agency programs, reports UPI News on MSN. It comes as the space race continues between the US and China. NASA said that Chinese nationals would be barred from using its “facilities, materials and networks to ensure the security of our work,” after Chinese workers contributing to research were locked out of their IT systems and prevented from attending in-person meetings earlier this month.

MAJ John “Lucky” Luckadoo, the last surviving B-17 pilot of the Eighth Air Force’s famed “Bloody Hundredth” Bombing Group, died at his Dallas, TX, home Sept. 1, reports Military Times. He was 103. Luckadoo was the subject of a 2022 book by Kevin Maurer, “Damn Lucky: One Man’s Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History.” Luckadoo had been honored across the country and around the world as he told his incredible story and the story of the 100th Bomb Group. Many people called Lucky a hero, but he disagreed. “I’m no hero. I’m a survivor,” he told ABC News 9 in Chattanooga, TN, in an interview in January.

A new six-episode docuseries follows a handful of US Navy and Marine officers as they take on the rigors of advanced fighter training at Naval Air Station Meridian, MS, reports Navy Times. It’s the final—and most challenging—six months of training for these would-be pilots before they earn the coveted Wings of Gold. The first episode of “Top Guns: The Next Generation” premieres at 9pm Sept. 16 EST/8pm Sept. 16 CST on National Geographic and streams the next day on Disney+ and Hulu.

USNI fleet tracker weekly reports the approximate positions of the US Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world. Here is the Sept. 8, 2025, Fleet and Marine Tracker.

Marine Corps GEN Christopher Mahoney, the nominee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman position, told the Senate Armed Services Committee he supports a number of changes to the Pentagon’s budgeting process put forward by a 2024 congressional commission, reports Breaking Defense. He also weighed in on whether the Navy needs a next-gen fighter jet. “I think what we have to do is keep our eye on the capabilities that we need. We need longer range, deeper penetration, and better sensors. To the extent that F/A-XX would fill that void, we need to look at that very closely,” he said.

Login.gov Director Hanna Kim says that fraud is a “serious national security risk,” reports Federal News Network. The federal government’s online hub to access benefits and services recently launched a cross-agency threat intelligence working group. Login.gov is leaning into its role as a tool to combat fraud in government spending.

Karen Brazell, nominee for Veterans Affairs under secretary for benefits, promised to conduct a full review of current benefits rules and processes, to potentially include controversial revisions factoring in veterans’ personal finances in their eligibility for disability awards, reports Air Force Times. Brazell was speaking at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Democrats on the committee are concerned about proposals that would reduce certain benefits payouts, including cutting disability checks and dropping some compensated health conditions that aren’t directly related to military duty.

Leaders of a Georgia-based church with congregations in five states have been charged by federal prosecutors with stealing millions of dollars in veterans benefits from parishioners serving in the military, reports The Associated Press. The US District Court in Savannah has charged House of Prayer Christian Churches of America founder Rony Denis and seven other church leaders with conspiring to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, as well as other federal crimes.

Data from the New York Federal Reserve reveals pessimism among job seekers is the worst in a decade, reports The Washington Post. The data underscores the hardship in the labor market: Job seekers are feeling the worst about their prospects since 2013, when its Center for Microeconomic Data first started studying the trend.

Personal-finance website WalletHub released its report on 2025’s Happiest States in America. To determine where Americans have the highest satisfaction with life, WalletHub compared the 50 states across 30 key indicators of happiness. The data set ranges from the depression rate and the share of adults feeling productive to income growth and the unemployment rate.

Contracts:

The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is awarded a $39,995,549 cost-plus-fixed-price order (N0001925F0254) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0006). This order is for procurement of P-8A platform sustainment support, support equipment maintenance, engineering investigations, and integrated maintenance augmentation support in support of the Navy, and the governments of Australia, the United Kingdom, Norway, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, and Germany. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (25%); Whidbey Island, Washington (15%); Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (5%); Patuxent River, Maryland (5%); Keflavik, Iceland (5%); Sigonella, Italy (6%); Manama, Bahrain (6%); Kadena, Japan (5%); Misawa, Japan (5%); Seattle, Washington (2.5%); Oceana, Virginia (2.5%); Fayetteville, Tennessee (2.5%); Mesa, Arizona (2.5%); Dayton, Ohio (2.5%); Columbus, Ohio (2.5%); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (2.5%); Huntsville, Alabama (2.5%); and various other locations within the continental US (1%); and outside the continental US (2%) and is expected to be completed in September 2027. Fiscal 2025 Royal Australian Air Force funds in the amount of $270,095; fiscal 2025 Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $1,542,027; fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $15,941,801; and fiscal 2025 other customer funds in the amount of $21,787,216, will be obligated at time of award, $37,729,017 of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $160,094,898 cost-plus-incentive fee modification to previously awarded Contract N00024-21-C-2106 for the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) Refueling Complex Overhaul for supplemental work. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by October 2026. Fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

JP Harvey – Stantec JV, Hampton, Virginia, is awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for general architectural and engineering services for small- to medium-sized facilities projects. Work will be performed at Navy and Marine Corps installations in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland, within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington area of operations. The work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2030. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and one option period, is $30,000,000. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance, Navy funds in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated at time of award for the minimum guarantee and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the sam.gov website, with 16 offers received. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N40080-25-D-1001).

Raymond Pond Federal Solutions JV LLC, Conyers, Georgia, is awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for general architectural and engineering services for small- to medium-sized facilities projects. Work will be performed at Navy and Marine Corps installations in Washington, DC, Virginia, and Maryland, within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington area of operations. The work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2030. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and one option period, is $30,000,000. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance, Navy funds in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated at time of award for the minimum guarantee and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the sam.gov website, with 16 offers received. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington is the contracting activity (N40080-25-D-1002).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded an $18,315,750 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide design agent field engineering services in support of the AN/SPY-1 Series Radar Antenna, which is integrated within the Aegis Combat System. This contract combines purchases for the Navy and the governments of Japan and Spain under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. No FMS (Japan) or FMS (Spain) funds will be obligated at this time. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would increase the cumulative contract value to $74,680,938. Work will be performed in Yokosuka, Japan (23%); San Diego, California (18%); Mayport, Florida (17%); Rota, Spain (12%); Norfolk, Virginia (10%); Seattle, Washington (10%); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (7%); Port Hueneme, California (2%); and Wallops Island, Virginia (1%), and is expected to be completed by September 2026. If all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2029. Fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,073,776 (57%); and fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $802,750 (43%), will be obligated at the time of award, of which $802,750 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a sole source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1). Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme Division, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity (N6339425C0005).

Metron Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the “Research, Development and Transition in Support of Mission Planning” effort. This contract focuses on enhancing the Navy’s mission planning capabilities by integrating advanced Meteorology and Oceanography (METOC) data and probabilistic risk assessments. The research and development effort will improve the Navy’s ability to incorporate physical battlespace factors, including atmospheric effects on the electromagnetic spectrum, space weather and acoustic impacts, into multi-domain mission planning and risk management systems. The contractor will develop algorithms and decision support tools to predict and assess the impacts of uncertain risks on naval operations, considering factors like hazardous weather and sea state conditions and the use of autonomous and remote systems. The program will deliver user-friendly analysis tools and decision aids that provide insights into potential mission and force risks. The project’s approach leverages observed, predicted and derived METOC data to improve fleet operations and decision making. Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia, and is expected to be completed in September 2030. The total cumulative value of this contract, including a 60-month base period with no options, is $9,953,224. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $988,917 are obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under long range broad agency announcement (BAA) N0001424SB001 titled “Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology.” Since proposals were received throughout the year under the Long-Range BAA, the number of proposals received in response to the solicitation is unknown. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N0001425C2209).

National Industries for the Blind, Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded an estimated $15,142,500 modification (P00017) exercising the third one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE1C1-23-D-B002) with four one-year option periods for advanced combat helmet pad suspension system. This is a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. The ordering period end date is Sept. 17, 2026. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2025 through 2026 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Barbaricum LLC, Washington, DC (H9240125DE001); Management Services Group Inc., doing business as Global Technical Systems, Virginia Beach, Virginia (H9240125DE002); iGov Technologies Inc., Reston, Virginia (H9240125DE003); and NexTech Solutions LLC, Tampa, Florida (H9240125DE004), were awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a maximum combined ceiling of $2,390,000,000 for Targeted Requirement Execution (TREX) were awarded to the following companies to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance related equipment solutions and related incidental development for system integration, hardware and modifications, specialized communications solutions and networks, and signal processing capabilities. The contracts have seven one-year ordering periods and will include fixed-firm-price and cost reimbursable as appropriate for the requirement. Each contract will have an effective date of Oct. 16, 2025, and an ordering period expected to be completed by Oct. 15, 2032. US Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, is the contracting activity.

ASRC Federal Data Network Technologies LLC, Beltsville, Maryland, was awarded a $525,831,923 cost-plus fixed-fee contract action for contract deliverable sustainment. This contract is being issued to procure service and support for the Cyber Support Services 3 program. Most of the work will be performed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, and at various base locations worldwide. The work is expected to be completed by Sept. 11, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition and 13 offers were received. Fiscal 2025, operations and maintenance funds, in the amount of $19,688,765 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA872625CB007).

NATI-Maytag Group LLC, Lanham, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $25,850,058 firm-fixed-price contract for government-owned, contractor-operated aircraft and ground fuel services and storage and distribution services at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. This was a competitive acquisition with six responses received. This is a four-year base contract with one five-year option period and one option to extend, not to exceed six months. The performance completion date is Nov. 30, 2029. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (SPE603‐25‐C‐5009).

Lockheed Martin Corp., Titusville, Florida, is being awarded an un-priced letter contract N0003025C0100 on a fixed-price-incentive-fee basis with a maximum amount $34,242,050 for long lead material, labor, planning, and scheduling necessary to support fiscal 2026 Trident II (D5) Missile production schedule. Work will be performed in Magna, Utah (68.9%); Camden, Arkansas (15.4%); Joplin, Missouri (4.5%); Elkton, Maryland (3.8%); Biddeford, Maine (1.6%); Inglewood, California (1.6%); East Wenatchee, Washington (1%); and various other locations (less than 1% each totaling 3.2%). Work is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2030.  Fiscal 2025 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $34,242,050 will be obligated on this award and no funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract is being awarded to the contractor on a sole source basis under 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1) and was previously synopsized on the System for Award Management (SAM.gov) online portal. Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $31,820,802 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-20-C-6117) to exercise options for Navy hardware procurement to support Sonar systems. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (65%); Clearwater, Florida (32%); Syracuse, New York (2%); and Marion, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed by September 2031. Fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $27,977,219 (88%); and fiscal 2025 Shipbuilding and Conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,843,583 (12%), 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.

HII Fleet Support Group LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia, was awarded a $11,362,400 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (N62793-25-F-7512) as part of a previously awarded contract (N00024-21-D-4103) for maintenance and operator training, technical and repair support during the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Refueling Complex Overhaul for the maintenance, operation, repair, training, and testing of the following equipment: aircraft elevators, weapons elevators, deck edge doors, hangar bay divisional doors and vertical package conveyors and associated handling equipment/systems. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2026. Fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,362,400 was obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Newport News, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Sept. 10, 2025)

DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $12,900,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for systems engineering and technical assistance support. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 15, 2026. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $9,000,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (W91CRB-25-C-A018)