March 29, 2024

Bracing for Budget Battles on the Homefront

Budget Battles

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.

DefSec Mark Esper has begun preparations for what will likely be a messy budget battle over modernizing the military and getting rid of legacy systems, reports Breaking Defense. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly has made it clear that the Navy is struggling to find an affordable pathway to make a 355-ship fleet happen without hurting the existing fleet. Chief of Naval Operations ADM Mike Gilday has already begun making the case for his service to win a bigger budget than the other branches of the military, saying the usual practice of splitting the defense budget relatively evenly across the Army, Air Force, and Navy won’t support current security strategies, reports Breaking Defense.

ADM Gilday gave the Navy a goal to eliminate lost operational days from overrun maintenance availabilities by next year, reports USNI News. In recent years, a combination of factors has led to on-time completion rates in the 20% range

Lt. Col. Cedar Hinton, commanding officer of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314, made Marine Corps and aviation history when he flew the first F-35 Lightning II to the Miramar Air Station in California, reports The Orange County Register. The Marine Corps has carried out flight operations in the F-35B, which can take off and land vertically on amphibious assault ships, since 2015. This is the first time a Marine squadron has had a “C” variant, which is designed for carrier operations, reports Military.com.

Despite India’s purchase of US military systems such as P-8 Poseidon patrol planes and Apache attack helicopters, The National Interest reports, India still purchases most of its weapons from Russia.

A Polish defense official says that talks over a deal for 32 F-35s “are almost complete” and that Poland expects to receive the first units of the fighter jet in 2024, reports GovConWire.

WJLA reports that Washington Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman spent a day at Joint Base Andrews flying with the Capital Guardians. Mr. Zimmerman said he got a chance to pilot the plane and take it for a loop.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly honored the legacy of World War II hero Doris Miller by bestowing his name on a future aircraft carrier, reports Navy Times. It marks the first time a flattop has paid homage to an African-American, a Navy Cross recipient and an enlisted service member.

 

 

Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff  and retired Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford has been named to Lockheed Martin’s board of directors, reports Defense News.

Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D) wants an explanation as to why medical records of some service members are online and available to anyone with enough tech savvy to look for them, reports FEDWeek. “The exposure of this information is an outrageous violation of privacy and represents a grave national security vulnerability that could be exploited by state actors and others,” states a Jan. 16 letter to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Thomas McCaffrey.

Are manufacturers working on the C-130J Super Hercules being exposed to hazardous chemicals? Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants to know, and he’s asking the DoD to investigate.

The annual Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain 2020 exercise will take place at Naval District Washington installations from Feb. 3 to 14, reports Navy Times, with an emphasis on protecting personnel from terrorists and internal threats.

Military commissaries would rather fill a food bank than a landfill, reports the Defense Commissary Agency as it announced a new milestone in donations – 21 million pounds plus – to local food banks. Included in that number were donations from Maryland installations NAS Pax River, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Andrews Air Force Base, Fort Detrick, Fort Meade, Naval Support Activity Annapolis, and Forest Glenn.

Eleven sailors from Naval Health Clinic Patuxent River have returned home with the USNS Comfort, following a five-month deployment to South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Donna Cipolloni of The Tester talked with some of the personnel as they reflected on their service aboard the hospital ship.

The Arlington County (VA) Board has approved the expansion of Arlington National Cemetery, reports WTOP News.

Contracts:

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $16,851,140 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-only modification to a previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-5218 to produce Technical Insertion-20 Shore Site Systems and provide incremental funding in support of the continued development, integration and production of the Navy’s AN/SQQ89-A(V)15 Surface Ships Undersea Warfare System. This option exercise is for the procurement of shore site systems to further develop TI-20 AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 systems. AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 is the Surface Ship Undersea Warfare combat system with the capabilities to search, detect, classify, localize and track undersea contacts, and to engage and evade submarines, mine-like small objects and torpedo threats. The contract is for development, integration and production of future Advanced Capability Build and Technical Insertion baselines of the AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 USW Systems. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (85%); and the government of the Commonwealth of Australia (15%) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Work will be performed in Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania (73%); Clearwater, Florida (24%); Syracuse, New York (2%); Marion, Massachusetts (1%); and is expected to be completed by June 2021. Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) (35%); 2019 research, development, testing and evaluation (15%); 2020 other procurement (Navy) (15%); 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) (13%); FMS Australia (15%); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) (7%) funding in the amount $16,851,140 will be obligated at the time of award, and $2,617,132 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, is awarded a $14,484,290 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price other transaction agreement (N66001-18-9-4703) in support of prototype project “Artificial Intelligence Enhanced Autonomy for Long-endurance System Operations” to design and implement autonomy software to support long-term, continuous autonomous operation goals of the Office of Naval Research’s Future Naval Capabilities system prototype. This three-year modification includes no options. The period of performance is Jan. 24, 2020 – Jan. 23, 2023. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $626,000 will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. Work will be performed in Edinburgh, Scotland (32%); Cambridge, Massachusetts (26%); Fairfax, Virginia (18%); Woburn, Massachusetts (16%); and Concord, Massachusetts (8%). This other transaction agreement was competed under the authority of Section 815 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 016, Public Law 114-92, and permanently codified in 10 US Code 2371b. The Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-18-9-4703).

Graf Research Corp., Blacksburg, Virginia, has been awarded a $49,500,000 single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee task orders for research and development. This contract provides for applied and advanced research for the advancement of trusted and assured microelectronics technologies; trust assessment strategies in areas related to known and potential system vulnerabilities; development and implementation of mitigation strategies and methodologies to prevent vulnerabilities; development and implementation of mitigation strategies and methodologies to prevent vulnerabilities before mitigation is required. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 15, 2028. This award is the result of a Small Business Innovative Research III request for proposal. Fiscal 2019 research and development funds in the total amount of $5,999,985 are being obligated at the time of award for the first task order (FA8650-20-F-1880). The Air Force Research Lab, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-20-D-1879).

Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $12,847,708 cost-no-fee and firm-fixed-price contract for information technology support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with six received. Work will be performed in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2025. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $12,847,708 were obligated at the time of the award. 411th Contracting Support Brigade, Seoul, South Korea, is the contracting activity (W91QVN-20-F-0157).

PAE Applied Technologies LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded a $32,967,099 modification (P00342) to a previously awarded contract N66604-05-C-1277 to extend the period of performance for six months and increase target cost for Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). AUTEC is the Navy’s large-area, deep-water, undersea test and evaluation range. Underwater research, testing and evaluation of anti-submarine weapons, sonar tracking and communications are the predominant activities conducted at AUTEC. The contractor performs AUTEC range operations support services and maintenance of facilities and range systems. In addition, the contractor is responsible for operating a self-sufficient one square mile Navy outpost. This modification increases the value of the basic contract by $32,967,099. The new total value is $885,984,261. Work will be performed in Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (80%); and West Palm Beach, Florida (20%), and is expected to be completed in September 2020. No funding will be obligated at time of this modification award. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity.

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