March 29, 2024

Carter Opens Boston Brainiac Unit

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.

DefSec Ash Carter opened Tuesday, the Boston location of Defense Innovation Unit-Experimental, or DIUx,  DoD’s ground-breaking effort to strengthen connections to the American innovation economy and speed technologies into the hands of the warfighter, the Pentagon said. In May, Secretary Carter announced that the department would establish an East Coast office for DIUx, complementing the Silicon Valley office that opened in 2015. He also announced new luminaries joining the Defense Innovation Advisory Board, including Amazon CEO (and The Washington Post owner) Jeff Bezos and science superstar Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Special operations troops will test a high-tech headset that “uses noninvasive electrical stimulation” to help the brain learn better marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat skills, DefSec Ash Carter said at the Boston DIUx launch, Breaking Defense reports. This cutting edge example of “enhanced human operations” — a highly controversial field — is just the first commercial project funded by Mr. Carter’s recently reorganized DIUx. Both the Silicon Valley and Boston branches of DIUx will fall under F-16 pilot turned tech entrepreneur Rajiv Shah, the man Carter tapped to lead in June.

DARPA’s Gremlins program seeks to develop a means of using existing large aircraft, transports, or bombers, to launch and recover swarms of small UAS that would then cooperate to perform missions in contested airspace. The plan would offset the disadvantage of small UAVs – range, Aviation Week reports.  Another UAS capability stretcher is the AirStation, an airship that acts as an airborne carrier for UAS, a concept of Science Applications International Corp. and ArcXeon.

As wildfires rage in the American West, the Interior Department is addressing a new challenge for aerial firefighters: drone intrusions into firefighting spaces. A new prototype smartphone app provides real-time alerts and geofencing alarms to drone pilots if they approach zones where aerial firefighting operations are in progress, FCW reports. Drone intrusions over wildfires more than doubled from 2014 to 2015, with 21 drones spotted, according to an Interior Department statement released July 25. Fifteen intrusions have complicated aerial firefighting efforts in California, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Alaska, Minnesota, and Montana.

The first aircraft powered solely by the sun made its landing into history, reaching Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and completing a 25,000-mile, round-the-world journey that began more than a year ago, CNN reports. The Swiss-engineered Solar Impulse 2 was piloted by Bertrand Piccard on the final part of the epic expedition that took off from Cairo earlier this week. The final stop completes its 17-leg, milestone journey that used only the power of the sun’s rays.

While some US Air Force officials have begun thinking about replacing the A-10 Warthog, including a new proposal that would involve buying two aircraft types, the service’s top civilian leader on Tuesday questioned the affordability of such an endeavor, Defense News reports. During a Defense One event Tuesday, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said she had not been briefed on any potential options or an acquisition strategy. “Where would we get the money?” she asked. “Not at all clear to me.”

The White House warned Tuesday of a “revolution” of computer-generated threats to the US stoked by growing cyber aggression by traditional US foes such as Russia and North Korea, and issued a color-coded response plan for the federal government to use after major cyber attacks, Navy Times reports.

The Defense Information Systems Agency’s Rapid Innovation Fund, a research and development project that supports critical defense acquisitions programs, is seeking an additional $9 million in fiscal 2016 to pursue “mature prototypes” of cybersecurity technologies that could be operationalized within two years, NextGov reports. In fiscal 2016, DISA plans to pursue Transport Layer Security inspection, cyber intelligence as a service and credential misuse detection.

Israel is considering contracting out the heavy maintenance of its future Lockheed Martin F-35As, FlightGlobal reports. Tel Aviv has repeatedly insisted that it will perform the majority of maintenance tasks in-country, including at the depot level. However, with the delivery of its initial F-35 Adir fast approaching, finding a solution to the MRO issue is gaining priority.

Amazon has partnered with the British government to significantly expand drone testing, a move that could allow the devices to deliver packages to British homes far earlier than in the US, reports The New York Times. Under the partnership, Britain’s aviation regulator will let Amazon immediately begin testing several aspects of drone technology — such as piloting the machines beyond the line of sight of its operators — that the Federal Aviation Administration in the US has not permitted.

Contracts:

Bell Boeing Joint Program Office, California, MD, is being awarded $80,250,156 for modification of delivery order 0006 under a previously awarded contract (N00019-09-D-0008) for repair of various parts on the V-22 aircraft. This is the final year of performance on a five-year, no option performance based logistics contract. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, TX (80 percent); and Ridley Park, PA (20 percent). Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2017. Fiscal 2016 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $80,250,156 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this non-competitive requirement in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) and one offer was received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapons Systems Support, Philadelphia, PA, is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, NY, is being awarded a $19,004,290 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-15-C-6311, to provide integration services for mission packages that will deploy from and integrate with the Littoral Combat Ship. This is in support of the Littoral Combat Ships Mission Modules Program Office, Program Executive Office Littoral Combat Ships. Work will be performed in Bethpage, NY (43 percent); Oxnard, CA (18 percent); San Diego, CA (14 percent); Washington, DC (7 percent); Dahlgren, VA (6 percent); Panama City, FL (5 percent); various places below one percent (totaling 5 percent); and outside the continental US (2 percent), and work is expected to be completed by January 2017. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation; fiscal 2015 other procurement (Navy); fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Navy); and fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,770,824 will be obligated at time of award and funds in the amount of $4,200,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

Datum Software Inc., Johns Creek, GA (FA8771-12-D-1001); Digital Management Inc., Bethesda, MD (FA8771-12-D-1002); Diligent Consulting Inc., San Antonio, TX (FA8771-12-D-1003); Diversified Technical Services Inc., San Antonio, TX (FA8771-12-D-1004); DSD Laboratories Inc., Sudbury, MA (FA8771-12-D-1005); Excellus Solutions LLC, McLean, VA (FA8771-12-D-1006); Exeter Government Services LLC., Gaithersburg, MD (FA8771-12-D-1007); IndraSoft, Reston, VA (FA8771-12-D-1008); Segue Technologies, Arlington, VA (FA8771-12-D-1009); SI Systems Technologies, Folsom, CA (FA8771-12-D-1010); Array Information Technology Inc., Greenbelt, MD (FA8771-12-D-1011);and  ActioNet Inc., Vienna, VA (FA8771-12-D-1012) have been awarded a combined $88,000,000 modification to previously awarded contracts for information technology network-centric solutions-2 application services. This modification increases the administrative monetary ceiling agreed to under the basic contract. Work will be performed at locations specified in specific tasking orders and is expected to be completed by June 20, 2022. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Maxwell-Gunter Annex, AL, is the contracting activity.

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