Aviation Market on Display at Singapore Airshow

The F-35B was on display this week at the Singapore Airshow 2022. Here, a Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211 F-35B sits aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth in the North Sea in October 2020. (US Marine Corps photo by 1st Lt. Zachary Bodner/Released)

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.

More than 110 American companies, high-level officials, and cutting-edge military aircraft were welcomed to the Singapore Airshow 2022, the US Embassy in Singapore reports. The show is the preeminent defense exhibition and biennial international aviation trade show in the Pacific region. The three-day event began Tuesday, reports Defense News.

The defense industry has complained for decades that the US government moves too slowly in approving sales and implementing policies, reports Breaking Defense. The publication caught up with Jim Hursch, the new director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, who talked about his plans to pursue incremental improvements to the agency’s responsibility of coordinating the export of US weapons. “So, you know, there have been many reform efforts for military sales over the last 20 to 30 years. And in each case, you know, usually marginal improvements are made; some things get better. But I don’t see it worthwhile to expend a huge amount of energy in the short term on a full-scale review,” Hursch said Tuesday from the Singapore Airshow.

Air forces around the globe are looking to balance quality and quantity, reports Defense News. Range and speed are the major focus of next-generation aircraft and weapons, driven by the US’ increased focus on the Indo-Pacific region, according to the 2022 Military Balance report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Forty-five minutes after an F-35C struck the back of aircraft carrier Carl Vinson while landing and careened across the flight deck and fell into the South China Sea on January 24, the flight deck crew responded within seconds to begin firefighting efforts, reports Navy Times. In less than an hour, the ship had recovered and was ready to launch and land aircraft again.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division and Fort Campbell in Kentucky have started deploying to Europe in anticipation of a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine, reports Nashville Public Radio.

Russian government hackers have likely broadly penetrated Ukrainian military, energy, and other critical computer networks, reports The Washington Post, to gather intelligence and potentially have the ability to disrupt those systems should Russia launch a military assault on Ukraine.

The Russian military earlier this week deployed long-range, nuclear-capable bombers and fighter jets carrying hypersonic missiles to its air base in Syria for naval drills in the region as tensions rise over Ukraine, reports Military Times.

New DoD’s acquisition and sustainment office recommendations to boost defense industrial base competition make clear the Pentagon is concerned about industry consolidation, reports Defense News, particularly around hypersonic weapons. The report says that consolidation poses a national security risk.

Lockheed Martin has terminated its $4.4 billion agreement to acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne, reports Breaking Defense, weeks after antitrust regulators sought to unravel the deal.

 

 

Some lawmakers are asking President Biden to prioritize funding to combat per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the fiscal 2023 budget request to Congress, according to a news release from US Sen. Gary Peters’ office. In a letter with other colleagues, Peters and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, both of Michigan, asked for funding to support agencies and programs that will help close gaps in PFAS research, protect public health, and the environment from PFAS contamination and support testing and cleanup of contaminated sites.

The US District Court for the Middle District of Georgia granted a preliminary injunction to an Air Force officer that temporarily allows her to remain unvaccinated against COVID-19 without punishment, reports Air Force Times.

Oracle announced this week that assessors have cleared the Defense Department to use Oracle National Security Regions — cloud systems that are isolated from the internet and only connected to secure government networks — to process secret US Air Force information, reports Defense News.

The Marine Corps’ amphibious combat vehicles have resumed their water operations from USS Anchorage after a five-month operation pause after problems with the tow-rope systems, reports USNI News.

A sonic boom “like an earthquake” shook homes in the United Kingdom as a Typhoon Apollo11 fighter jet was scrambled into action, reports The Mirror. At the same time, a Boeing Poseidon MRA1 (P-8A) flew over Guernsey and the English Channel – having taken off from Scotland. “We can reassure people that the noise reported in the Southport area today was a supersonic boom from one of our Typhoon aircraft, which was undergoing flight testing in an offshore range area,” a BAE spokesman said, alleviating fears that there had been an earthquake.

Miss Maryland USA nearly got “crowned” Monday morning when she was involved in an automobile crash in New Jersey, reports New York Post. Rachel LaBatt, 26, told The Post she was headed home after strutting the catwalk during Fashion Week in New York. She is also a flight test engineer for the Navy, where she works on the P-8 Poseidon. LaBatt told Southern Maryland News in 2021 that she would love to graduate from the US Naval Test Pilot School.

Registration for the 47th Marine Corps Marathon on October 30 is open, reports WTOP News. This year’s race will be the first in-person version of the event in three years.

The US Postal Service’s regulatory agency hired its first chief data officer and is seeking feedback on a dashboard it is creating to track USPS delivery performance, reports Federal News Network. Russell Rappel-Schmid, a former data analyst with the USPS inspector general’s office and the state of Alaska’s first chief data officer, will serve as its first CDO.

The US Census Bureau says that retail sales rose 3.8% in January, much higher than economists had expected, reports The Hill.

Contract:

CMS Corp., Bargersville, Indiana (N69450-17-D-0506); EMR Inc., Niceville, Florida (N69450-17-D-0507); Leebcor Services LLC, Williamsburg, Virginia (N69450-17-D-0508); MOWA Barlovento LLC JV, Gautier, Mississippi (N69450-17-D-0509); Whitesell-Green Inc., Pensacola, Florida (N69450-17-D-0510), are awarded a combined $64,800,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract modification to previously awarded contracts for construction projects located within the Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida Panhandle area of operations (AO) managed by the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southeast. This modification provides for the new construction, renovation, alteration, demolition, repair work, and any necessary design including: industrial, airfield, aircraft hangar, aircraft traffic control, infrastructure, administrative, training, dormitory, and community support facilities. The contract modification increases the contract maximum not-to-exceed capacity from $99,000,000 to $163,800,000. After award of this modification, the total cumulative value for all five contracts will be $163,800,000. Work will be performed in Florida (49%); Mississippi (35%); Tennessee (15%); and the remainder of the NAVFAC Southeast AO (1%). The term for all five contracts combined will not exceed 60 months, with an expected completion date of June 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Future awards will be primarily funded with operation and maintenance (Navy) and military construction (Navy) funds. NAVFAC Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity.