March 28, 2024

CEO Says Lockheed Can Get F-35 Cost Down

F-35 jets

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.

President-elect Donald Trump met with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson on Friday, The Washington Times reports. Hewson indicated she will get the cost of the F-35 down. Trump says the stealth fighter jet program in over budget and behind schedule. Hewson said, “I certainly share his views that we need to get the best capability to our men and women in uniform, and we have to get it at the lowest possible price,” Reuters reports.

Trump’s tweet about the cost of the F-35 is likely little more than a negotiating tactic, says Popular Mechanics. But it asks these questions: Could Trump really replace the F-35 with the Super Hornet? What would this souped-up Super Hornet look like?

The Marine Corps delivered a squadron of F-35B fighter jets to Japan, marking the first operational overseas deployment for the controversial aircraft, todayonline reports. The deployment of the 10 planes to USMC Air Station Iwakuni Island marks a major milestone for the F-35.

John Brennan, outgoing CIA director, said on Sunday that Trump lacks a full understanding of the threat Moscow poses to the US, The Associated Press reports. Brennan was speaking on “Fox News Sunday.”

The situation in the South China Sea could be a potential flashpoint in 2017 for Trump, Voice of America reports. Trump’s secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson voiced a tougher tone with China at his Senate confirmation hearing, telling lawmakers that China’s island-building in the disputed waters was illegal and “akin to Russia’s taking of Crimea.”

Congress has passed legislation that bypasses a law that mandates a seven-year cooling off period between military service and assuming the top civilian defense job, Defense News reports. This paves the way for retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis to serve as the next defense secretary.

The Air Force held a demonstration at Joint Base Andrews to give a sneak peek of the support it will provide during Trump’s inauguration on Friday, Air Force Times reports.

Rudy Giuliani has been selected to advise the president-elect on cybersecurity challenges, ExecutiveGov. com reports. Giuliani is the CEO of security consulting firm Giuliani Partners. He will initiate efforts to gain private sector leaders’ input on cybersecurity matters.

Vice Chief of Naval Operations ADM William Moran said last week that the Navy needs more ships, but first, it should fix the ones it already has, Breaking Defense reports. Moran was speaking to the Surface Navy Association.

USMC Commandant Gen. Robert Neller believes the corps will grow by 3,000 Marines this year, reports Marine Corps Times. The fiscal 2017 National Defense Authorization Act enacted in December calls for increasing active-duty end strength from 182,000 to 185,000 Marines, but the military is operating on a temporary budget that keeps spending at 2016 levels until April.

The 50th P-8A Poseidon aircraft has been delivered to the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, FL, Military Embedded Systems reports. The P-8A program of record calls for a total requirement for 117 of the 737-based anti-submarine warfare jets. The fleet is expected to convert to the P-8A by fiscal 2019.

Maj. Maxime Renaud, a Royal Canadian Air Force CF-188 Hornet pilot who attended the US Naval Test Pilot School at Pax River, received the Commander Willie McCool Outstanding Student Award, Skies magazine reports. Renaud was a member of Class 150. The award is given to the top student in each graduating class in recognition of his or her academic and flying achievements.

On Saturday, SpaceX ended a four-and-a-half-month hiatus in its operations by successfully launching a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Yahoo.com reports. The launch delivered 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit.

Contracts:

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Connecticut, is being awarded $24,025,000 for modification P00218 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N00019-06-C-0081) to provide additional funding for the CH-53K system development and demonstration effort. This modification includes the ongoing efforts and the current work focusing on the flight testing of the CH-53K engineering development models. Work will be performed in Stratford, Connecticut (40 percent); West Palm Beach, Florida (40 percent); and Patuxent River, Maryland (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2018. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $24,025,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Telephonics Corp., Farmingdale, New York, is being awarded a $9,284,737 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems Division. Services to be provided include establishing and maintaining a comprehensive program to provide hardware systems development, maintenance, training, and repair services.  Work will be performed in Farmingdale, New York (90 percent); and St. Inigoes, Maryland (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2022. Funds are not being obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated on each task order as they are issued. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0020).

Bell-Boeing JPO, Amarillo, Texas, is being awarded $138,616,043 cost-plus- fixed-fee modification to delivery order 0112 previously issued against a basic ordering agreement N00019-12-G-0006 in support of the V-22 aircraft. This modification provides for the procurement of non-recurring engineering in support of the development, qualification test, integration, airworthiness substantiation, flight test demonstration, validation/verification and incorporation of the government of Japan (GOJ) configuration into MV-22B Block C aircraft and the MV-22 containerized flight training device. Additionally, kits for the government of Japan unique configuration will be procured as part of this effort. Work will be performed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (46.2 percent); Tokyo, Japan (19.8 percent); Fort Worth, Texas (14.5 percent); Chantilly, Virginia (8 percent); Mesa, Arizona (4.7 percent); Huntsville, Alabama (1.8 percent); St. Louis, Missouri (1.1 percent); Red Oak, Texas (0.8 percent); Corona, California (0.5 percent); and various locations within and outside the US (2.6 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2019. Foreign military sales funds in the amount of $138,616,043 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is being awarded a $120,922,810 cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost reimbursement modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-15-C-6222) for procurement of Technical Insertion 16 Acoustic-Rapid-Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Insertion (A-RCI) engineering services and the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System (IUSS). A-RCI is a sonar system that integrates and improves towed array, hull array, sphere array, and other ship sensor processing through rapid insertion of COTS-based hardware and software. IUSS provides the Navy with submarine detection, identification, and classification.  Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (95 percent); and Clearwater, Florida (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2017. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 shipbuilding conversion (Navy); fiscal 2016 and 2017 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $12,580,386 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

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