DoD: Atlantic Wind Projects ‘Highly Problematic’
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.
The Pentagon is sounding alarms over the Biden administration’s plans to advance offshore wind projects along the central Atlantic US coast, warning that almost all of the new terrain eyed for development conflicts with military operations. Bloomberg News reports that maps show vast red areas that the Navy and Air Force have deemed “highly problematic,” covering prime real estate the Interior Department last year earmarked for leasing off the coasts of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division will conduct range testing April 20 from 8am to 5pm. Testing has potential to produce VERY LOUD NOISE in communities surrounding NSF Dahlgren, according to the NSWCDD Range Schedule. Access to the Potomac River Middle Danger Zone will be restricted during testing.
China revealed new details of sanctions it previously announced against Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies Corp., including a ban on Chinese companies doing business with them, reports Defense News. China imposed trade and investment sanctions in February on the two companies for supplying weapons to Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by China.
Politico reports on who’s in the running for as many as five of the eight members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, scheduled to leave their assignments this year: The heads of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and potentially the head of the Air Force. Three top operational commanders are also changing: The heads of Northern Command, Space Command, and Cyber Command.
Lockheed Martin may not be able to deliver as many F-35s as it had hoped this year due to delays involving the fighters’ upcoming technology upgrade, reports Defense News. Lockheed announced in an earnings call with investors the delay was due to software maturation issues and delays with delivering the hardware.
Military services are experimenting with directed energy weapons for counter-drone and missile defense systems but the Navy and Air Force have no plans to produce them, according to a Government Accountability Office report. Neither service has documented transition agreements or, in some cases, identified transition partners to help them move from prototype to full acquisition programs, reports FCW.
The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman accused of leaking highly classified documents had set his sights on joining the military from an early age. But more recently he had expressed disillusionment about having enlisted, reports Military Times. Jack Teixeira, 21, was charged Friday in US District Court in Boston with unauthorized removal and retention of classified and national defense information — a breach that has caused an international uproar and exposed explicit US assessments on the war in Ukraine and other closely held secrets. A magistrate judge ordered Teixeira held until a detention hearing next week.
As the Department of Justice continues investigating the breadth of the leak, the Pentagon has launched a review of its security policies and procedures and is paring back just who has access to highly classified information, reports Breaking Defense.
The Air National Guard 102nd Intelligence Wing in Cape Cod, MA, where Teixeira served, has lost its intelligence mission as the service reviews how each command handles classified information, reports Air Force Times.
A social media account overseen by a former US Navy noncommissioned officer — a prominent online voice supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine — played a key role in the spread of intelligence documents allegedly leaked by Teixeira, reports Wall Street Journal. A purported Russian blogger, Donbass Devushka, reposted the files from obscure online chat rooms. The blog is the face of a network of pro-Kremlin social media, podcasting, merchandise, and fundraising accounts. But the person who hosted podcasts as Donbass Devushka and oversees these accounts is a Washington state-based former US enlisted aviation electronics technician whose real name is Sarah Bils.
US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) “irresponsible” for defending the air national guardsman charged with leaking Pentagon intelligence documents, reports The Guardian.
Two months after the US military shot down several aerial objects including a Chinese spy balloon, documents attributed to the Pentagon leak reveal there were at least three other spy balloons, including one that flew over an American carrier group, reports Task & Purpose.
One of the leaked Pentagon intelligence documents, obtained by Navy Times, shows that Beijing tested a hypersonic missile this year that could hit targets beyond Japan and the US territory of Guam, where US forces are based, and carry a “high probability” of besting American ballistic missile defenses. House Armed Services Committee members grilled Pentagon leaders Tuesday on why the US military continues to lag behind China in developing hypersonic missiles and defenses that can counter the next-generation ordnance.
Chinese surveillance technology giant Hikvision has denied it is illegally disguising its products sold to the US government to enable Chinese espionage. The company was responding to BBC queries about allegations revealed in a recently leaked Pentagon document. But Hikvision did not answer questions on whether it partners with Chinese intelligence agencies. The company is the world’s largest surveillance camera maker and has close links to the Chinese state.
US officials expressed growing concern this week, reports Air & Space Forces Magazine, about the lack of communication between the Chinese and American militaries in light of increasingly aggressive actions by Beijing.
The Navy has unveiled five design options for the service’s new national museum, to be built outside the Navy Yard’s Tingey Gate in Washington, DC, and slated to open in 2025. Navy Times reports the museum requires approximately 270,000 square feet, including about 100,000 square feet of gallery space. All five design ideas include a ceremonial courtyard and plans to accommodate Navy artifacts including a Corsair aircraft, a Swift Boat, and the sail of a submarine.
European states are looking to autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, to safeguard critical infrastructure, reports C4ISRNET.
Boeing has halted deliveries of some 737 MAXs as it grapples with a new supplier quality problem by Spirit AeroSystems that could stretch back to 2019, reports Reuters.
Iraq this week offered to mediate between Ukraine and Russia toward an end to the war in Europe, but Ukraine’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, rejected the offer during a rare visit to Baghdad. Military Times reports Kuleba said his country would not engage in any peace talks unless Russia withdraws from all Ukrainian territory.
Breaking Defense reports Moscow’s military hackers may be spread thin, new research suggests. Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine and its allies surged last fall only to decline again in early 2023, said experts at cybersecurity shop Mandiant, part of Google Cloud.
Russia’s quest to sabotage Ukrainian forces’ internet access by targeting the Starlink satellite operations appears to be more advanced than previously known, according to a classified US intelligence report obtained by The Washington Post.
CNN reports the US has sensitive nuclear technology at a nuclear power plant inside Ukraine and is warning Russia not to touch it, according to a letter the US Department of Energy sent to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy firm Rosatom last month.
More than 6,000 British military personnel will take part in the coronation of King Charles III, the UK forces’ biggest ceremonial deployment in seven decades, reports Fox29.
A second apparent suicide March 13, 2023, by a female soldier assigned to Fort Hood, TX, has only now been disclosed, by Military.com. When PVT Ana Basaldua Ruiz was found dead in an apparent suicide after telling her family about sexual harassment she had faced in the Army, it set off immediate scrutiny as it echoed that of SPC Vanessa Guillén three years prior, and which turned out to be murder. Bracing for another firestorm, reports Military.com, Fort Hood officials did not disclose SPC Katerina Weikel, who served in 64th Military Police Company, 720th Military Police Battalion, 89th Military Police Brigade, was also found dead March 13. Weikel’s death was initially reported as a suicide off-base, but the circumstances of the incident are still being investigated, a person familiar with the case told Military.com.
Contracts:
Jaria LLC, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a task order (P00005) valued at $16,568,920 on a firm-fixed-price contract (HQ0034-22-F-0131) to provide business administrative management and consulting services to the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). The contractor will support DIU technology advancement efforts in the following areas: artificial intelligence, human systems, autonomy, cyber, advanced energy and materials, information technology, and space. The contractor will provide executive administration, program management, network support, security operations, business development, commercial executive support, and engineering services support. The work will be performed at the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia, and at satellite DIU offices in Mountain View, California; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Austin, Texas. The estimated contract completion date is April 18, 2024. Fiscal 2023 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,924,829; and fiscal 2023 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $4,773,806 are being obligated at the time of award, for a total of $7,698,635. The cumulative total of the contract is $27,523.217. The total value of the contract if all options are exercised is $62,752,865. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded an $8,811,028 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-20-C-6117 to exercise an option for Navy equipment and spares. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (65%); Clearwater, Florida (32%); Syracuse, New York (2%); and Marion, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed by July 2027. Fiscal 2023 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,423,000 (84%); and fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,388,028 (16%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Akima Data Management LLC, Herndon, Virginia, is awarded a single-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (HQ0034-23-D-0026) with firm-fixed-price contract line-item numbers. The contract ceiling is $90,000,000. The contractor will provide an integrated, structured approach to operating, managing, and maintaining the current information technology infrastructure across Washington Headquarters Services’ Facility Services Directorate’s facility related controls systems and network. The contractor will assist in defining requirements for future upgrades and enhancements based on operational and customer trends and provide hardware, software, and equipment. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. Work will be performed at the Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia; the Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia; and at other government sites within the National Capital Region. The estimated contract completion date is April 16, 2028. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is being awarded a $64,087,795 hybrid cost-plus award fee, cost-plus fixed fee with a special performance incentive, and cost only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-21-C-4205 to exercise options for planning yard support for LPD 17 amphibious transport dock ships, LHD 1/LHA 6 amphibious assault ships, LSD 41/49 dock landing ships and LCC 19 amphibious command ship. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, with on-site technical support for Chief of Naval Operations availabilities at Mayport, Florida; Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego, California; and Sasebo, Japan. Work is expected to be completed by May 2024. No funding will be obligated at the time of award. This contract was competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
