Danish & Navy Ships Collide in Inner Harbor
The Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS 21) stands moored at the United States Naval Academy pier in Annapolis, Maryland, Sept. 4, 2022, one week before a Danish training ship collides into it at Fleet Week Maryland 2022 in Baltimore Inner Harbor. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Juel Foster)
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During Maryland Fleet Week, the Danish training ship Danmark hit the moored USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul on Sunday morning in the Baltimore Inner Harbor, reports Military.com. The Navy reported no personnel were injured on either vessel and there was no serious damage to the Navy ship. CBS reports, The Danmark was being tugged by a smaller boat when it smashed into some wood pilings. The tugboat then pulled the Danmark into the Minneapolis-St. Paul, which was docked on the port side of the west wall in the Inner Harbor at 11:17 am. Ships began arriving for Fleet Week on Sept. 7, an event bringing military vessels from around the world to Baltimore, along with planes and other aircraft.
‘Forever chemicals’ are everywhere. The battle over who pays to clean them up is just getting started, reports Politico. State and local governments across the country are suing manufacturers of toxic chemicals that are contaminating much of the nation’s drinking water, aiming to shield water customers and taxpayers from the massive cost of cleaning them up. These pervasive “forever chemicals,” known as PFAS, are linked to a variety of health hazards, including cancer. Now, as state lawmakers and federal regulators get serious about removing them, scores of governments and water suppliers are in pitched court battles over who is on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars in damage — the companies that created the chemicals or the customers who are drinking them.
The James Webb Space Telescope captures more ‘breathtaking’ images of Orion Nebula, reports UPI/Science News, shedding light on how stars and planetary systems inside the Milky Way formed more than 4.5 billion years ago. “We are blown away by the breathtaking images of the Orion Nebula,” Els Peeters, Western University astrophysicist said. “We started this project in 2017, so we have been waiting more than five years to get these data.”
Get ready for a food fight: High grocery costs are here to stay, reports Politico. The price of food at the grocery store is expected to increase by up to 11 percent this year with the cost of beef, poultry, milk, eggs and fruit driving the surge, says the USDA Economic Research Service. Prices could shoot even higher with droughts affecting crops and a potential rail workers strike halting shipments needed for both food and crop production. The government released its latest Consumer Price Index report, and it’s likely to show a continuing upward trend on food inflation despite prices for gas, fuel oil, automobiles and clothing recently retreating.
F-35As, aren’t arriving fast enough to replace the Air Force’s aging F-16 fighters, says LT GEN Richard Moore. The F-16 Fighting Falcon was the backbone of allied air power in Europe for a generation. Today, Military Times reports, the fourth-generation fighters are aging: The average Fighting Falcon is more than 30 years old, and some started flying in the early 1980s.
Big Navy investigating SEAL basic training, reports Navy Times. Navy leadership has ordered an investigation into “the broader circumstances” of SEAL basic training following the death of a candidate earlier this year and recent media reports that raise questions about the rigors of Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL — or BUD/S — training, as well as the steps sailors are willing to take to get through.
The Biden administration urged railroads and unions to reach a deal to avoid a railroad work stoppage, reports gCaptain. The cost to the US economy could reach $2 billion a day. Railroads, including Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway’s BNSF, CSX, and Norfolk Southern, have until a minute after midnight on Friday to reach tentative deals with hold out unions representing about 60,000 workers. Failing to do so opens the door to union strikes, employer lockouts and congressional intervention.
Marine Embassy Security Guards can now be married and tattooed, a popular shift in embassy personnel requirements, reports Marine Corps Times. The special duty comes with a lot of perks, from financial incentives to added promotion potential and the ability to work at diplomatic facilities around the world, and with restrictions as well. The 2021 change allowing a small number of married Marines to serve on Marine security guard duty has been wildly popular, with available slots filling up quickly.
Incumbent Gov. Denny Tamak of Okinawa, Japan, won reelection calling for the reduction of American troops on that island, opposing Japan’s central government’s call for the exact opposite. Marine Corps Times reports, despite escalating tensions between China and nearby Taiwan, Tamak took 51% of the vote against another opposition candidate and the candidate supported by the prime minister who supports expansion of US troops presence in Okinawa.
LTCOL Nicholas D. Goshen, a 101st Airborne intelligence official, dies on Europe deployment, reports Military Times. During deployment to Eastern Europe, Goshen died Sept. 6 of “natural causes.” He had recently completed a tour with the Joint Staff at the Pentagon and returned to the Fort Campbell, KY-based division where he began his career as an infantry officer in 2004.
A US pair arrested when thinking they were headed to fight for ISIS, plead guilty to trying to help the terror group, reports NBS News. A married couple who were arrested in New Jersey boarding a cargo ship that they believed was taking them to fight for the Islamic State, have pleaded guilty to trying to provide material support to the terrorist group. James Bradley, 21, and Arwa Muthana, 30, entered the pleas Friday and Monday in US District Court in Manhattan.
An Afghan interpreter saved my life — now we must return the favor, reports Marine Corp Times.
Online promotion tests for enlisted airmen are coming soon. The Air Force’s top enlisted leader, Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force JoAnne Bass, told Air Force Times she wants to give a select group of airmen access to digital exams in a pilot program at the end of 2022.
Carrier Harry S Truman concludes a nine-month deployment to US 6th Fleet, reports Navy Times, and returned to Naval Station Norfolk, VA, on Monday. It had been scheduled to move on to US 5th Fleet/US Naval Forces Central Command in the Middle East. But shortly after its arrival in the Mediterranean Sea, DEFSEC Lloyd Austin ordered the carrier to remain there due to Russia’s build up of forces on Ukraine’s border.
The Army’s new exosuit aims to reduce back injuries among soldiers, reports Army Times. A new lightweight exosuit designed to reduce injuries among troops is now one step closer to being adopted by the Army. The 3-pound, unpowered, prototype suit – the Soldier Assistive Bionic Exosuit for Resupply, SABER — is the product of a partnership between the Army and Vanderbilt University. It is built with weight-bearing technology that relieves the burden of back strain and endurance among troops.
Contracts:
General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, was awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (HT001422C0016) in the amount of $15,445,423 to provide scientific leadership, traumatic brain injury (TBI) subject matter experts and high-performing subject matter support, including personal and non-personal services staff, to advance the mission of the Defense Health Agency Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence (TBICoE). The contractor will provide expert staff to conduct pilot and large-scale evaluation studies with human subjects to inform the state of science and ensure translation of key findings into clinical decision-making tools to support improved patient care; provide senior technical development of TBI clinical practice management and clinical recommendation tools; and dissemination, implementation, and training of TBI related clinical tools and clinical recommendations. The contractor will continue current and future Department of Defense (DOD)/Defense Health Agency database evaluation and development of past, current, and future studies to facilitate TBI data analysis; and development and execution of TBI outcome metrics within available data sources, unless otherwise directed. The contractor will support TBICoE’s mission services to include advising on and being responsive to dynamic TBI and brain health focused congressionally-directed mandates and DOD assigned missions, such as the congressionally-directed 15-Year Longitudinal Studies of TBI; current and future programs or strategies as outlined in National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2018, Section 734; the 2018 Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandum, “Comprehensive Strategy and Action Plan for Warfighter Brain Health”; and the subsequent 2019 memoranda specifying lines of efforts and their leads, and any future projects, queries or reviews to be named. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance funds were obligated at the time of the award. The place of performance is Silver Spring, Maryland. The period of performance is Sept. 7, 2022, to May 6, 2023. The Defense Health Agency, Northeastern Markets Contracting Division, Falls Church, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Sept. 7, 2022)
DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $12,728,868 modification (P00001) to contract W56HZV-22-C-0069 for technical and engineering support services. Work will be performed in Warren, Michigan, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2023. Fiscal 2010 research, development, test and evaluation, defense-wide funds in the amount of $12,728,868 were obligated at the time of the award. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Detroit Arsenal, Michigan, is the contracting activity.
