March 28, 2024

Defense Experts Continue to Call for BRAC

BRAC

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.

Defense experts continue call for closing excess military bases, reports The Hill from an open letter to the House and Senate Armed Services committees. “Congress should grant our military the authority to eliminate waste and ensure that vital defense resources flow to where they are most needed.”

Military Times reports US forces shot down an Iranian drone in southern Syria on Tuesday, the second such air-to-air encounter this month as opposing forces converge around a key American training garrison near the border with Jordan and Iraq.

Russia and Iran ratchet tensions in the wake of the US downing of a Syrian warplane Sunday, reports Military Times. Russia threatened to target US aircraft and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions. Iran fired several ballistic missiles Sunday night at ISIS positions in eastern Syria in what it said was a message to arch-rival Saudi Arabia and the United States.  The White House responded to Russian threats saying the US is committed to its “self-defense,” but hopes to de-escalate the situation by keeping lines of communication open with the Russians, reports the Washington Examiner. The Long War Journal reports on Iran’s press release announcing its missile strike and confirmation of the type of missile Iran fired: the Zulfiqar.

Sen. John McCain threatens to hold up the Trump administration’s nominee for deputy secretary of defense, Patrick Shanahan, raising questions about the Boeing executive’s industry ties.

Luke Air Force Base to resume F-35 flight ops after oxygen deprivation incidents, reports Air Force Times, after an 11-day pause after specific concerns were eliminated as possible causes. The Air Force is experimenting with a handful of new sensors made by a British company that could offer clues about what caused recent cases of hypoxia reported by F-35 pilots, reports Defense News.

In its debut flight at the Paris Air Show, US Air Force and Lockheed aim to prove the F-35 can dogfight, reports Defense News, partially to counter allegations that the F-35 had difficulty outmaneuvering an F-16. Drones are also plentiful at the air show, including the unmanned Nightwarden by Textron Systems, which is highlighted in one of multiple air show reports by Defense News, including a digital daily coverage of the full range of aircraft at the 2017 Paris Air Show.

Navy Times has snapshots of the seven US Navy sailors who died in the Saturday collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-flagged container ship off Japan. Navy Times further reports Japan’s coast guard is investigating why it took 50 minutes for the  collision to be reported and what the crew of the ACX Crystal was doing before reporting the collision.

The Navy has found the $500 million needed for a second Littoral Combat Ship by delaying the overhaul of an aircraft carrier and shifting funds from its Infrared Search and Track program for installation on its F/A-18E/F fighters and other smaller programs, reports Bloomberg. The second LCS was not in President Donald Trump’s proposed FY18 budget.

DW reports President Trump will receive Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ahead of his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, and speculates this could signal a new US policy in Ukraine.

Defense News reports Senate Armed Services Committee Chair John McCain has called for the Trump administration to produce a strategy for Afghanistan as the US prepares to send 4,000 more  troops into America’s longest war.

TrendingTech reports more than just amazing sights from the Hubble Space Telescope, the latest again proving Einstein’s general theory of relativity by showing light bending due to the gravity of a close by white dwarf star. Images captured so far from the Hubble Space Telescope  are already pretty amazing.

Democrats will begin slow-walking Senate business  as part of their opposition to Republican attempts to overturn the Affordable Care Act, reports USA Today. The New York Times reports on the Democrats’ efforts to run out the clock on the GOP  health bill.

Bloomberg offers advice, six mistakes you are making when pairing food with wine.

Contracts:

Parsons Government Services Inc., Pasadena, California (W91278-17-D-0040); Amec Foster Wheeler Environment and Infrastructure Inc., Blue Bell, Pennsylvania (W91278-17-D-0041); Jacobs Government Services Co., Arlington, Virginia (W91278-17-D-0042); Tetra Tech Inc., Pasadena, California (W91278-17-D-0044); CH2M-Burns and McDonnell JV, Englewood, Colorado (W91278-17-D-0063); Cardno GS Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia (W91278-17-D-0065); and HDR Engineering Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado (W91278-17-D-0067), will share in a $150,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect and engineering services. Bids were solicited via the Internet with seven received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 19, 2022. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Leidos Innovations Corp., Gaithersburg, Maryland, is being awarded a $27,440,459 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-only modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-16-C-5202) to exercise options for the material travel, other direct cost and direct cost for integrated logistic support, core waterfront support and the installation of the Navy’s AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 surface ship undersea warfare systems.  The AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 is a 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. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (43 percent); San Diego, California (28 percent); Yokosuka, Japan (9 percent); Bath, Maine (7 percent); Pascagoula, Mississippi (4 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (3 percent); Everett, Washington (3 percent); Mayport, Florida (2 percent); and Rota, Spain (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by August 2018.  Fiscal 2016 and 2017 other procurement (Navy); foreign military sales; 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and 2017 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $4,160,640 will be obligated at the time of award and $258,285 in funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Mymic LLC, Portsmouth, Virginia, is being awarded a $22,933,387 an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract that will include terms and conditions for the placement of both cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price task orders for information technology (IT) services in support of the Joint Staff, J8 Directorate’s IT Next Program.  The contract will include a five-year ordering period.  Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, and the ordering period of the contract is expected to be completed by June 2022.  Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance (defense) funds in the amount of $950,000 will be obligated at the time of award and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website as a 100 percent small business set-aside requirement, with five offers received.  Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia Office, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-17-D-Z030).

Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, is being awarded $14,618,697 for modification P00042 to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-15-C-0027) to exercise an option for services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division’s Special Communications Mission Solutions Division.  Services include development of a new Communications-Electronics Advanced Technology (CEAT) system and upgrading current CEAT systems.  Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland (98 percent); Bethesda, Maryland, (1 percent); and Richmond, Virginia (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2017.  Fiscal 2017 working capital funds (Department of Defense); 2017 operations and maintenance (Air Force, National Guard, Air National Guard and defense-wide), and 2017 procurement (defense-wide) funds in the amount of $2,571,653 will be obligated at time of award, $968,104 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.  The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Abacus Technology Corp. (Abacus, Corp.), Chevy Chase, Maryland, has been awarded an estimated $48,015,125 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, and cost-reimbursable modification (71) to exercise the option on previously awarded task order (0002) on contract FA8721-15-D-0009 for engineering and technology acquisition support services. Contractor will provide advisory and assistance services to the command, control, communications, intelligence and networks directorate. Work will be performed at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, and is expected to be complete by Aug. 31, 2018. Fiscal years 2015, 2016, and 2017 funds have been awarded, to include operations and maintenance; research, development, test, and evaluation; and other procurement in the amount of $19,299,860, at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8721-15-D-0009-0002).

The Boeing Co., Defense, Space & Security, St. Louis, Missouri, has been awarded a $20,751,618 firm-fixed-price contract modification (P00007) for mission training center services on contractor-furnished, high-fidelity simulation equipment. Contractor will provide the simulation capability to train pilots and weapons system operators for F-15C and F-15E aircraft platforms. Work will be performed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina; Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; Langley Air Force Base, Virginia; Kadena Air Base, Japan; and Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2018.  This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8621-16-C-6397).

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