Can US Secure Its Telecom Hardware?
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 Government Accounting Office is considering a cost assessment to rip out and replace huge amounts of at-risk or compromised telecommunications equipment owned by small communications providers around the country, reports NextGov.com. The deliberations are fueled by an ongoing Chinese espionage intrusion into US and allied telecommunications networks by Salt Typhoon, a hacking unit tied to Beijing’s Ministry of State Security that likely had unfettered access to key elements of America’s telecommunications backbone for around two years.
The Pentagon’s strategic capital office will focus its 2025 investments on 15 industry segments it thinks could most support US national security needs, including spacecraft, microelectronics materials and manufacturing, and biochemicals. Defense News Times reports the office released its fiscal 2025 investment strategy last week, offering a snapshot of its priorities for the coming year.
Meta is ending its fact-checking program in the US and replacing it with a “Community Notes” system similar to that on Elon Musk-owned X, reports Reuters. The Community Notes model will allow users on Meta’s social media sites Facebook, Instagram, and Threads to call out posts that are potentially misleading and need more context, rather than placing the responsibility on independent fact checking organizations and experts.
Nearly 8,000 National Guard troops have been requested by the US Secret Service to provide support for the presidential inauguration Jan. 20, reports Stars and Stripes. The Secret Service is the lead agency for the inauguration and will join 500 National Guards troops previously approved during the counting and certification of electoral votes on Monday.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is being blamed for the sensational suicide of active-duty Green Beret Master Sgt. Matthew Livelsberger who detonated a rented Cybertruck and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Military.com reports FBI agent Spencer Evans told reporters at a press conference late Friday, “Although this incident is more public and more sensational than usual, it ultimately appears to be a tragic case of suicide involving a heavily decorated combat veteran who is struggling with PTSD and other issues.”
Diagnoses of mental health disorders among active-duty service members increased by nearly 40% over the last five years, according to a new Defense Health Agency report. Military Times reports the findings showed anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder accounted for the largest increase in diagnoses. Specifically, diagnoses of these disorders nearly doubled during the five-year period, according to the report.
President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, as he declared US control of both to be vital to American national security, reports Military.com.
Former Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) is asking the Biden administration to withdraw or release some 20 legal opinions regarding presidential war powers after Trump indicated that he was open to using military force to take Greenland or the Panama Canal, reports Politico.
The State Department has informed Congress of a planned $8 billion weapons sale to Israel, Military.com reports. Some of the arms in the package could be sent through current US stocks but the majority would take a year or several years to deliver.
The Biden administration is set to announce a massive, final weapons aid package for Ukraine as part of DefSec Lloyd Austin’s visit to Germany today, Thursday, reports AP News. The exact dollar amount was not released, but the package was called “substantial,” although it would likely leave “more than a couple of billion dollars” remaining of the roughly $4 billion left in the congressionally authorized funding for Ukraine, according to senior defense officials briefing reporters traveling with Austin.
Trump said on Tuesday he sympathized with the Russian position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO, and he lamented that he will not meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before his inauguration, reports Reuters.
A Chinese-owned vessel is suspected of severing an undersea cable off the Taiwanese coast recently, reports The WarZone. Taiwan’s coast guard requested that the cargo ship return to shore for an investigation, but it eventually continued its passage. Last Friday’s incident is the latest to have affected Taiwanese cables and is part of a pattern of similar events that have also occurred recently around Europe.
The UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a military partnership of 10 northern European countries, has activated an AI-powered system to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the so-called Russian shadow fleet, consisting of hundreds of often poorly maintained vessels used to circumvent sanctions and possibly for spying and sabotage, reports Defense News.
In a New Year’s Day speech on a national television channel, Honduras President Xiomara Castro said that if Trump goes ahead with massive deportations, Honduras would reconsider military cooperation with the US. Her comments have generated political heat at home, even as the US government has remained silent, says AP News.
It isn’t only Pax River. All US military bases across North America are initiating heightened security measures, including suspending the Trusted Traveler Program, following violent attacks last week in New Orleans and Las Vegas. Task and Purpose reports the order directs bases to initiate a full identification check at all entry points. Anyone 18 and older must present their IDs to security at gates. The military’s Trusted Traveler Program is suspended until further notice.
President Joe Biden signed a bill giving DC control of the RFK Stadium campus. The federal government will continue to own the surrounding land but the law gives DC administrative control of the property for 99 years. The Washington Post reports that this allows the city to redevelop the more than 170 acres for a slate of purposes including retail, housing, recreation, and a sports stadium, opening the possibility of returning the Washington Commanders to the site.
In response to the winter storm across the Midwest and into the mid-Atlantic states, DC National Guard soldiers and high mobility multipurpose vehicles staged across multiple police districts on Monday, to provide mobility support operations until normal operations resume, reports Stars and Stripes. National Guard units in Delaware, Missouri, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky were also mobilized to support to state and local responders, including with helping stranded motorists and to support other types of weather emergencies.
Contracts:
Compunetix Inc., Monroeville, Pennsylvania, is awarded a $9,994,076 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract fulfills a safety of flight requirement established by the Atlantic Test Range’s Range Safety Officer. It provides support for the Mission Voice Platform, which serves as the real-time internal communication system, providing communications between the flight team and the aircraft pilot during flight testing. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in December 2029. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0049).
Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, was awarded a $70,971,132 cost-plus-incentive-fee, and cost only modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-18-C-5218) to exercise options and provide funding for engineering labor, program management and engineering other direct costs, travel, and material, in support of continued AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Surface Ship Undersea Warfare Combat System development, integration, manufacture, production, and testing. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (70%); Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania (15%); Syracuse, New York (13%); Clearwater, Florida (1%); and Owego, New York (1%), and is expected to be completed by March 2026. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (69%); and the governments of Japan (16%) and Australia (15%), under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,324,664 (49%); FMS (Japan) funds in the amount of $3,527,937 (16%); FMS (Australia) funds in the amount of $3,120,000 (15%); fiscal 2021 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,765,402 (13%); fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $601,427 (3%); fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $458,480 (2%); fiscal 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $270,542 (1%); and fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $83,871 (1%), will be obligated at the time of award, of which $2,765,402 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Jacobs/B&V, a JV (Federal Services), Arlington, Virginia, is awarded $80,000,000 for a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity modification to previously awarded contract N62478-20-D-5036. This contract modification provides for design and engineering services for various utility projects within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii area of operations. Work will be performed in Hawaii (95%); and other South Pacific Islands (5%), with an expected completion date of June 2025. This award brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $250,000,000. No task orders are being issued at this time. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. Task orders will be primarily funded by operation and maintenance, Navy, and military construction funds. NAVFAC Hawaii, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.
Airbus U.S. Space & Defense Inc., Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $315,043,393 modification (P00171) to contract W58RGZ-22-C-0022 for UH-72 Lakota contractor logistics support and engineering services. Work will be performed in Grand Prairie, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2025. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $85,621,324 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Dec. 30, 2024)
RMC 2021 LLC, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N62470-25-D-0003) for professional services for mission assurance assessments of installation/facilities infrastructure and facility-related control systems (FRCS) for the Department of the Navy, worldwide. The contract has a maximum value of $95,000,000 and has a base period of up to twelve months with four one-year option periods. The term of the contract is not to exceed 60 months with an expected completion date of Jan. 7, 2030. $10,000 is awarded at the time of award using fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance, Navy funds. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operations and maintenance, Navy; and operations and maintenance, Marine Corps funds. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management (SAM) Contract Opportunities website with three offers received. Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command, Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
The Navy has awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract to 1,023 businesses in multiple locations across 43 of the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, and Washington, DC, for future competition of support service requirements to be solicited by Department of the Navy activities under Rolling Admissions of the SeaPort Next Generation (SeaPort-NxG) multiple-award contract vehicle. All work under the contracts will fall under two categories (engineering support services and program management support services), which are further divided into 23 functional areas. The government estimates approximately $5,000,000,000 of services will be procured per year via orders issued under the SeaPort-NxG multiple award contracts. These contracts have a four-year period of performance and were competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOps), with 1,106 offers received. No contract funds will be obligated on the basic awards. Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00178-24-R-7000). (Awarded Jan. 2, 2025)
General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a not-to-exceed $188,000,000 undefinitized contract action modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-2100 for Construction Spares associated with the Virginia Class Block V submarines. Work will be performed in Sunnyvale, California (36%); South Yorkshire, United Kingdom (7%); Westfield, Massachusetts (6%); Staffordshire, United Kingdom (4%); McKeesport, Pennsylvania (3%); Manchester, New Hampshire (3%); Tacoma, Washington (3%); Newport News, Virginia (2%); Warren, Massachusetts (2%); Farmingdale, New York (2%); El Cajon, California (2%); Tucson, Arizona (1%); Chesapeake, Virginia (1%); Tampa, Florida (1%), Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1%); and other locations less than 1% (26%), and is expected to be completed by September 2035. Fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $188,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The statutory authority for this sole source award is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii)-only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems Inc., Sacramento, California, was awarded a $59,338,010 modification (P00008) to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N0001923C0021). This modification exercises options to procure full rate production Lot Six of the BQM-177A Subsonics Aerial Targets system to include 65 BQM-177A targets, 65 Rocket-Assisted Takeoff (RATO) attachment kits, three replacement in kind (RIK) BQM-177A targets, and three RIK RATO attachment kits for the Navy; and two BQM-177A targets and two RATO attachment kits for the Republic of Korea to support weapons system test and evaluation and fleet training. Work will be performed in Sacramento, California (50%); Dallas, Texas (20%); Fort Walton Beach, Florida (5%); Blacksburg, Virginia (4%); Santa Ana, California (2%); Newton, Kansas (2%); Concord, California (2%); Milwaukie, Oregon (2%); Chatsworth, California (2%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (11%), and is expected to be completed in July 2027. Fiscal 2025 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $55,099,581; fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,543,057; and Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $1,695,372, will be obligated at the time of award, of which $2,543,057 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The contract being modified was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $41,646,305 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001925F0137) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001924G0010). This order procures engineering, integration support, hardware, and installation support for flight test instrumentation modifications to F-35 production aircraft. This flight test instrumentation will support test and evaluation flight tests. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (81%); Orlando, Florida (7%); Linthicum, Maryland (3%); Nashua, New Hampshire (3%); San Diego, California (2%); El Segundo, California (2%); Samlesbury, United Kingdom (1%); and other various locations within and outside of the continental U.S. (1%) and will be completed in March 2028. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test, and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $1,850,000; fiscal 2025 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $925,000; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $925,000; and non-U.S. Department of Defense F-35 Cooperative Program Partners funds in the amount of $3,559,793, will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland is the contracting activity.
Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded a $18,962,231 hybrid firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to the delivery order for the procurement of Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires carriers for use in the Navy and Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Virginia (18%); Gaithersburg, Maryland (15%); and Oshkosh, Wisconsin (67%). Work is expected to be completed in September 2026. Fiscal 2023 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $12,124,406 will be obligated at the time of the modification and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2024 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $6,989,425 will be obligated at the time of the modification and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This action is a negotiates modification to the delivery order in accordance with 10 US Code 3403(c). Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-22-F-1005-P00004).
Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, was awarded a $10,778,861 firm-fixed-price modification to the delivery order for the procurement of Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires carriers for use in the Navy and Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Virginia (18%); Gaithersburg, Maryland (15%); and Oshkosh, Wisconsin (67%). Work is expected to be completed in December 2026. Fiscal procurement 2024 (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $10,778,861 will be obligated at the time of the modification and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This action is a negotiated modification to the delivery order in accordance with 10 US Code 3403(c). Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-24-F-1004).
Guardian Defense Group Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, was being awarded a $10,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract with a five-year ordering period for behavioral analysis support in the areas of behavioral assessment, leadership development and training, and assessment and selection board support services to various assessment and selection programs for the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group Recruiting, Assessment and Selection (RASS) Program. Work will be performed on Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, with an expected completion date of Jan. 16, 2030. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $153,870 will be obligated at the time of award for task order one and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Subsequent task orders will utilize fiscal operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds available at time of task order award. This contract was competitively procured via the SAM.gov website, with two proposals received. The Marine Corps Installations National Capital Region-Regional Contracting Office, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M00264-25-D-0001).
Raft LLC, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $25,065,514 time-and-materials contract for cloud computing and IT integration 2.0. This contract provides for technical engineering services in platform engineering, secure application delivery, application migration, and services development in support of Kessel Run operations. Work will be performed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, and is expected to be completed by Jan. 13, 2026. This contract was a sole source acquisition from the Platform One Software DevSecOps services basic ordering agreements. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $4,513,314; and fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,260,000, are being obligated at time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-25-F-B003).
