Aircraft Carriers Turn 100

Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier Nimitz assemble on the flight deck and form a human “100” to commemorate the centennial of the aircraft carrier. (MC3 Elliot Schaudt/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 reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

Aircraft carriers joined the Navy fleet 100 years ago this month. The concept originated with CMDR Kenneth Whiting, naval aviator, as a way to transport planes within the fleet using cargo ships, reports Navy Times. Whiting was subsequently involved in transforming the collier Jupiter into the first aircraft carrier Langley, commissioned March 20, 1922.

With the US projected to spend nearly $600 billion on R&D in 2022, the personal-finance website WalletHub reports on 2022’s Most & Least Innovative States. Using 22 indicators WalletHub compared the 50 states and DC for innovation-friendliness. At the top of the list is Washington, DC, Maryland comes in at fourth, and Virginia sixth.

The US and Britain inked a trade deal Tuesday evening to remove Trump administration-era tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in exchange for London to lift retaliatory levies worth hundreds of millions of dollars on US products, like whiskey, blue jeans, and motorcycles, reports UPI.

Al Jazeera presents the key events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a fourth week of fighting continues. Get the latest live updates here.

DefSec Lloyd Austin is not ruling out sending additional US troops to Eastern Europe, as Russia’s war on Ukraine nears its one-month mark, reports Stars and Stripes, A senior US defense official said, “This is something the secretary is looking at every week and he’s not going to foreclose any option if it’s a valuable requirement to bolster the eastern flank.” There are more than 100,000 American service members in Europe, more than 14,000 of whom are in Eastern European countries such as Poland and Romania, which neighbor Ukraine.

The water has been declared safe to drink in all 19 zones within the Navy water system in Hawaii, and displaced residents have left their hotels and moved back to their homes, reports Military Times. Testing and monitoring of the water will continue. “Rapid response teams” have been set up to respond to residents who report issues with their water and a call center has been organized.

Video shows the Russian Navy fired eight long-range naval cruise missiles from a guided-missile warship near the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, reports USNI.org. Several posts on Instagram and Telegram show video of eight missiles launching from a ship operating off the coast of Crimea that bear the same characteristics of a Kalibr NK SS-N-30 naval guided cruise missile, which launches vertically and then quickly pivots 90 degrees to travel parallel to the ground.

MacKenzie Scott has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its US affiliates, the largest publicly disclosed donation from the billionaire philanthropist since she promised in 2019 to give away most of her wealth, reports The Guardian. The group received $25M from Scott and her husband, Dan Jewett, with the remaining $411M to be distributed among local affiliates.

If confirmed as undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, nominee William LaPlante plans to conduct a “data-driven” review of a major acquisition reform of the Trump administration and champion modern software practices, reports FCW. LaPlante served on the Section 809 panel, which issued nearly 100 recommendations for the Defense Department to improve its tech buying practices. Most of those recommendations have yet to be adopted. LaPlante said he would revisit reforms once he can “fully understand the impact of the changes from the last four years,” according to the 59 pages of responses to advance policy questions from the Senate Arms Services Committee.

 

 

Showing videos of POWs, regardless of the content or under what conditions it is obtained, is a violation of international law, reports Military Times. “Articles 13 and 14 of the third Geneva Convention protect POWs from insult and from becoming the object of public curiosity,” says Leila Sadat, special adviser on crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.  “The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the main security arm of the Ukrainian government, has a Telegram account with about 868,000 subscribers where it has posted videos of captured Russian soldiers who appear under duress or are revealing their names, identification numbers, and other personal information, including their parents’ names and home addresses,” Human Rights Watch noted in a call to Ukraine to respect the rights of prisoners and to stop its social media postings of Russian prisoners.

President Joe Biden confirmed Russia’s use of hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, reports USA Today. Russia has said it twice used its Kinzhal aviation missile system to strike targets in Ukraine. Hypersonic missiles can move at five times the speed of sound or more. The Russian military said these missiles are capable of hitting targets at a range of more than 1,200 miles, or roughly the distance from New York City to Kansas City.

Biden administration plans to launch an initiative to speed up visa processing for Ukrainian relatives of US citizens and permanent residents to make it easier for some Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country to come to the United States after only a handful of refugees were admitted in the first two weeks of March, reports Reuters. Increased staffing is also planned for applications for a temporary status known as “humanitarian parole.”

The Washington Post reports Evan Newmann, on the FBI’s wanted list for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, has been granted asylum in Belarus, according to that country’s state media. Newmann, 49, of California, fled to Europe after the attack on the US Capitol. He lived in a rented apartment in Ukraine for four months before crossing into Belarus on foot through the Ukrainian swamps of Pripyat, near Chernobyl, late last year, Belarusian state television said at the time. Newmann said he thought Ukrainian security service agents were pursuing him, and that he encountered snakes and wild boars on the journey.

Veterans Affairs officials announced this week that all expulsions from the department’s caregiver support program will be halted while officials re-evaluate new eligibility criteria that threatened monthly support stipends for thousands of families, reports Military Times. The move is a turnaround for VA, which for months called the moves necessary to bring the program’s membership into order ahead of a massive expansion in eligible families later in fall 2022.

Chinese searchers found on Wednesday one of two black boxes from a China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) plane that crashed this week in forest-clad mountains with 132 people onboard, Reuters reports. The device was severely damaged, and it was not immediately clear if it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder, an official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China told a media briefing.

General Motors is recalling thousands of small SUVs manufactured over close to an eight-year period, over issues with their headlights, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reports UPI. The recall applies the 2010 to 2017 model years of its GMC Terrain vehicles, documents show.

A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader and high-profile Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to nine more years in prison on charges of fraud and contempt while his lawyers were arrested following the hearing, reports UPI. The Moscow Times reports the court’s ruling means Navalnyy could be behind bars a total of 12 years. Navalny was already in prison for a parole violation technicality. The judge also fined Navalny about $11,000.

Contracts:

HII Fleet Support Group LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $10,774,516 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide engineering services, planning the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) refueling complex overhaul, maintenance and operator training, technical and repair support. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2023. Fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,774,516 was obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. In accordance with 10 US Code 2304(c)(1), this contract was not competitively procured — only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirement. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Newport News, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62793-22-F-1000).

Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC), Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $10,167,546 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost no fee task order (N66001-22-F-0434) for public safety interoperable communications technical assistance and strategic communications and tools under multiple award contract N66001-19-D-3413. The task order provides for research, development, testing, evaluation, and delivery of tools, documentation, training, workshops, and strategic communications plans to enhance communications interoperability of public safety and first responders. The task order includes a one-year base period and one, one-year option period. The option period, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this task order to $20,558,626. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (95%); and Reston, Virginia (5%), with much of the work being performed in telework status. Work is expected to be completed by March 2023. If the option is exercised, work could continue until March 2024. Fiscal 2022 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $1,652,626 will be obligated at the time of award. Further funding will be provided incrementally. This contract is being awarded based on an approved Fair Opportunity Exemption pursuant to the authority of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.505(b)(2)(i)(b) — only one awardee is capable of providing the supplies or services required at the level of quality required because the supplies or services ordered are unique or highly specialized. The Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity. (Awarded March 22, 2022)

Amentum Services Inc., formerly known as DynCorp International LLC, Germantown, Maryland, is awarded a $29,013,941 fixed-price contract modification to indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N62470-19-D-2013. This modification provides for the exercise of Option 2 for custodial services, recycling, and grounds maintenance support at federal installations within a 100-mile radius of the National Capitol Region, under the AbilityOne program. Work will be performed in Washington, DC (70%); Maryland (25%); and Virginia (5%) and is expected to be completed by March 2023. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance, (Navy); and fiscal 2022 Navy working capital contract funds in the amount not-to-exceed $24,223,817 for recurring services will be obligated on various task orders and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. After award of this option, the total cumulative contract value will be $220,985,582. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Washington, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.