Congress Considers Slashing F-35 Orders

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.
A proposed House policy bill would slash the number of F-35s the Pentagon would buy in fiscal 2025 as lawmakers’ patience with the program and Lockheed Martin wears thin. Defense News reports the Pentagon’s proposed FY25 budget wants 68 of the jets — 42 F-35As for the Air Force, plus 13 F-35Bs and 13 F-35Cs for the Navy and Marine Corps. The proposal cuts that to 58 jets, 10 of which could not be delivered until the DefSec certifies to lawmakers that several problems with the F-35 are fixed.
Language in the House Armed Services Committee’s fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act represents a continuation of disagreements between lawmakers and the sea service, expressing concerns over the Navy’s aging cruisers, the cost and capability of a planned amphibious ship, development of capability to rearm vessels at sea, and more, reports Defense News. The panel in recent years has clashed with the Navy in regard to balancing readiness, fleet size and the creation of next-generation technology.
USNI reports the Navy predicts it will be 6,200 enlistees short of its 40,600 recruiting goal for fiscal 2024, VADM Richard Cheeseman testified last week before a Senate panel hearing on personnel issues facing the sea services. For the Marine Corps, the biggest recruiting concern is that the starting pool is only 2% of the population.
House and Senate lawmakers could pass within the next few weeks a bipartisan package of veterans bills which would dramatically expand in-home care for aging veterans, boost assistance for homeless veterans, and mandate specific progress points for the department’s electronic health records overhaul. Military Times reports the measure is expected to cost $1.7 billion over the next 10 years and has the support of key leaders from both chambers.
Veterans Affairs Under Secretary Shereef Elnahal said last week the agency is prepared to spend “at least in the millions” of dollars on clinical trials of psychedelic therapies, pending a US Food and Drug Administration decision on midomafetamine, or MDMA, assisted treatments expected later this year, reports Military Times.
Work could finish this week on the floating pier to Gaza for delivery of humanitarian aid, reports Military Times. Improved sea conditions will allow the US Army to anchor a causeway onto the beach. Work has been delayed by bad weather.
Two US Navy destroyers will help protect the pier, reports Military.com. The ships will join thousands of Israeli Defense Forces soldiers — plus Israeli navy ships and Israeli air force planes — dedicated to moving food and supplies into Gaza.
The Biden administration plans to send more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, says Military Times. It’s the first arms shipment to Israel since the administration held up the transfer of 3,500 bombs earlier in the month, saying that pause was to keep Israel from using the bombs in its growing offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The Pentagon is concerned that the United Launch Alliance, a key partner in launching national security satellites, won’t meet the United States’ need to counter China and build an orbiting arsenal. ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has been developing the Vulcan rocket for 20 years. The Washington Post reports Air Force Assistant Secretary Frank Calvelli wrote last week to the heads of Boeing’s and Lockheed’s space divisions, “I am growing concerned with ULA’s ability to scale manufacturing of its Vulcan rocket and scale its launch cadence to meet our needs. Currently there is military satellite capability sitting on the ground due to Vulcan delays.”
House lawmakers are pushing the military to consider alternative sites for sending space payloads to orbit, reports C4ISRNET. In the House Armed Services Committee’s draft fiscal 2025 defense policy bill, lawmakers raised concerns about the ability of DoD’s most in-demand spaceports at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to meet military and commercial capacity needs in the coming years.
Using explosives, a 4,000-ton piece of the Key Bridge collapse from the Dali cargo ship was successfully removed this week, reports CBS News. The removal is a critical piece of the recovery. It comes almost seven weeks since the disaster killed six construction workers, crippled the Port of Baltimore, and cut access to the Beltway
President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan bill this week banning imports of Russian enriched uranium, with waivers for companies to continue bringing it in until 2028, reports Axios. The US spends about $1 billion per year on nuclear fuel from Russia. About 20% of Russia’s enriched uranium goes for US nuclear fuel. The US Congress moved to ban Russian oil, gas and coal soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The legislation could make nuclear fuel supply programs crucial to avoid industry disruptions and obstacles for the next generation of reactors.
House lawmakers’ plans to overhaul military pay tables next year would result in a nearly 20% basic salary boost for troops ranked E-4 and below and a substantial bump for E-5s as well, reports Military Times. House Armed Services Committee members will consider next week language in their annual defense authorization bill draft that includes highly revised military pay tables designed to bring all junior enlisted pay to at least $30,000 a year.
The House’s 2025 National Defense Authorization Act draft would require the DoD study and report on foreign capital investments, reports Washington Technology. That language would direct DoD to hire a federally funded research and development center to study commercial companies backed by private equity or venture capital funds, as well as the level of foreign investment in those funds.
The expeditionary sea base Hershel “Woody” Williams sustained a soft grounding mishap last week, just after getting underway from a port visit in Libreville, Gabon, reports Military Times. The ship, currently on a scheduled deployment, ran aground at approximately 2pm local time Thursday, US Naval Forces Europe-Africa spokesman LT CMDR Jason Tross said. The ship then freed itself at high tide roughly four hours later.
The Air Force has opened preliminary criminal proceedings against Jack D. Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard who was convicted in federal court earlier this year of leaking classified government secrets online, alleging that he also violated military laws, reports The Washington Post. He is accused by the Air Force of obstructing justice and failing to obey orders. Teixeira faces more than 16 years in prison after reaching a plea deal with the Justice Department in March. If convicted by the military also, he could receive additional time in confinement.
The Army would gain a drone branch under proposed language in the 2025 defense authorization bill, says Defense One. The Army currently fields 22 branches, from air defense artillery to transportation. A drone branch is intended to put it on par with the service’s other disciplines. The change is proposed in the version of the 2025 policy bill advanced by the tactical and land forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee.
The US called on Iran on Monday to halt its transfer of an “unprecedented” amount of weaponry to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, enabling their fighters to carry out “reckless attacks” on ships in the Red Sea and elsewhere, reports APNews. US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the UN Security Council that if it wants to make progress toward ending the civil war in Yemen, it should collectively “call Iran out for its destabilizing role and insist that it cannot hide behind the Houthis.” He said there is extensive evidence that Iran is providing advanced weapons, including ballistic and cruise missiles, to the Houthis in violation of UN sanctions.
Contracts:
Foster Fuels,* Brookneal, Virginia (SPE605-24-D-4002, $442,052,621); and La Casa Del Comionero,* Caguas, Puerto Rico (SPE605-24-D-4003, $52,060,709), have each been awarded a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract under solicitation SPE605-23-R-0208 for various types of fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. These are five-year contracts with one one-month option period. Locations of performance are throughout the continental U.S. and territories, with a May 31, 2029, performance completion date. Using customer is Federal Emergency Management Agency. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2024 through 2029 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
J&J Maintenance Inc., Austin, Texas, was awarded an $8,369,610 modification (P00002) to contract W91278-24-C-0010 for operation and maintenance with incidental repair. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of May 14, 2025. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $8,369,610 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia, is awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the command, control, communications, computers and intelligence, training virtual environment (C4I TVE) requirement. The estimated, cumulative value of this award contract is $87,895,529. The C4I TVE contract is for support services to sustain, modernize, and enhance the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES) TVE, as well as expansion to support additional Tactical Networks (TACNET) capabilities and connected and/or hosted applications across the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR) enterprise. This contract has a five-year ordering period up to the contract award amount, with no options. No funding is being placed on the base contract award. Contract actions will be issued, and funds obligated as individual task orders. Fiscal 2024 other procurement, Navy funds will be placed on an initial task order issued at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (68%); Pensacola, Florida (16%); Annapolis, Maryland (3%); North Charleston, South Carolina (3%); Arlington, Virginia (1%); Chesapeake, Virginia (2%); Luray, Virginia (5%); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (2%). Work is expected to be completed by May 2029. The contract was competitively procured by full and open competition bids via the NAVWAR e-Commerce Central and the SAM.gov websites, with three offers received. NAVWAR, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N0003924D9002).
Gannett Fleming, Newport News, Virginia (N4008524D0040); JVW-JMT-Volkert JV, Hunt Valley, Maryland (N4008524D0041); Kimley Horn, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N4008524D0042); and STV-Mott McDonald JV, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N4008524D0043), are awarded a combined-maximum-value $40,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple-award architect-engineer contract for traffic engineering and transportation planning services in support of projects primarily at military installations in the mid-Atlantic area of responsibility. These four contractors may compete for task orders under the terms and conditions of the awarded contract. Work will be performed primarily in the Mid-Atlantic area of responsibility but may be required in other areas worldwide and is expected to be completed by May 2029. Each awardee will be awarded $5,000 in order to satisfy the minimum guarantee. Fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. These contracts were competitively procured via the www.SAM.gov website, with 13 proposals received. The Naval Facilities Systems Engineering Systems Command Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
UPDATE: Meso Scale Diagnostics LLC, Rockville, Maryland (SPE2DE-24-D-0018, $25,000,000), has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract for laboratory equipment, accessories and consumables for the Defense Logistics Agency Electronic Catalog, issued against solicitation SPE2DE-22-R-0006 and awarded Feb. 24, 2023.