March 28, 2024

F-22s Conduct First US Airstrikes in Afghanistan

F-22

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.

Military Times reports F-22s conduct the US’s first airstrikes in Afghanistan, destroying eight Taliban opium production facilities. Air Forces Central Command said the F-22 was used “for a variety of reasons, but primarily to mitigate collateral damage and civilian casualties by employing small diameter bombs carried by the aircraft.”

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requested authorization to investigate the US military and CIA for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, reports The Washington Post. Fatou Bensouda, a Gambian jurist who has been the ICC’s chief prosecutor since 2012, confirmed earlier suspicions that the US would be implicated in the probe.

Washington Examiner reports the Pentagon is headed for another stopgap budget in December. Gen. Mark Milley says the Budget Control Act forcing spending caps and continuing resolutions “are not the way to go here.”

Meanwhile, the massive 2018 defense authorization bill, includes a the biggest military pay raise in eight years, reports Military Times. But the 2.4 percent raise is also the mandated standard pay raise under federal law.

Navy advancement quotas show improving odds for moving up, reports Navy Times. About 25,000 sailors will get the fall advancement results for active duty, reserve full-time support, and selected reserve E-4 through E-6 in time for Thanksgiving.

President Donald Trump’s administration has re-designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terror, reports The Washington Post, nearly a decade after the George W. Bush administration removed the rogue nation from the list.

US Air Force and  Navy join the search for a lost Argentine submarine, reports Air Force Times. Two C-17 Globemaster IIIs and a C-5M Super Galaxy were dispatched to Argentina, bringing with them two underwater rescue systems to aid in the search for A.R.A. San Juan, an Argentine navy submarine that went missing in the south Atlantic Ocean on Nov. 15.

Why are Marines still driving Humvees? asks Marine Corps Times. Facing budget cuts, the Marine Corps in 2015 canceled its program to upgrade 6,700 of its Humvees. The corps plans to start replacing some of the Humvees in 2019 with the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, a faster and better-armored truck with a V-shaped hull to deflect blasts from below.

USNI says the Coast Guard should focus on buying heavy icebreakers, instead of three heavy and three medium icebreakers. Current budget restraints suggest the service would be better off block-buying four ships all of the same design, according to an analysis by the American Society of Naval Engineers.

The Department of Homeland Security plans to cancel a temporary residence program that has allowed nearly 59,000 Haitians to live and work in the United States, report The Hill. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke gave Haitians living with Temporary Protected Status until July 22, 2019, to either leave the country or apply for a different legal immigration category.

Contracts:

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Woodland Hills, California, is being awarded $10,709,752 for firm-fixed-price delivery order 3000 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N00019-15-G-0026). This delivery order provides for the delivery of 54 technical refresh mission computers for incorporation into the production line H-1 aircraft. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland (42 percent); Salt Lake City, Utah (38 percent); and Woodland Hills, California (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in May 2020. Fiscal 2016, 2017 and 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,709,752 are being obligated at time of award, $793,904 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

National Academy of Sciences, Washington, District of Columbia, has been awarded a $30,000,000 cost contract to provide a board that will serve as the convening authority to conduct, facilitate, and manage periodic discussions, workshops and studies on science and technical topics of interest to the Army. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 20, 2022. Army Contracting Command Aberdeen Proving Ground, Aberdeen, Maryland is the contracting activity (W911NF-18-D-0002).

Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $14,744,131 cost-plus-fixed-fee, completion type contract for research and development. The contract provides for applied and advanced research and development where the overall and primary research objective of the virtual combat studies and analysis task is to maintain and improve the virtual combat lab’s virtual and constructive modeling, simulation, and analysis experimental technologies. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; Dayton, Ohio; and McLean, Virginia, with an expected completion date of Feb. 21, 2023. This contract was a competitive acquisition and three offers were received. Fiscal 2017 research and development funds in the amount of $1,003,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-18-C-1010).

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