F-35 Flight Trials on British Carrier Now Complete
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The F-35 Pax River Integrated Test Force finished its flight trials aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth late last month, reports NAVAIR News. Two F-35B jets, four test pilots, and nearly 200 personnel joined the carrier in late September.
Officials at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at NAS Pax River will sponsor a limited-objective experiment in March 2019 Patuxent River NAS to demonstrate ways of using UAVs to deliver cargo to and from ships at sea, reports Military & Aerospace Electronics.
The Army Black Knights football team took an early lead Saturday evening against their longtime rivals from Annapolis and never looked back, reports Army Times. Army beat Navy 17-10 for the third straight year. Army vs. Navy might be college football’s most intense rivalry, but the players always remember they are all on the same team when the game is over, reports USA Today.
Army Gen. Mark Milley will be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reports The Washington Post. Milley currently serves as Army chief of staff. Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr. is scheduled to retire next fall.
US NavSec Richard Spencer warns that funding cuts would stymie the return to readiness the Navy is trying to achieve after nearly 20 years of high operational tempo in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, reports Navy Times. He was speaking at an event hosted by the US Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and HASC Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) are urging the administration to reverse course on a plan to cut the fiscal 2020 defense budget. “There’s no strategic rationale for any cut” to the budget, which stood at $716 billion for 2019, Sen. Inhofe said. Washington Examiner reports a group of 69 House lawmakers, mostly Republicans, are urging President Donald Trump to abandon his plan to slash defense spending by 5 percent. DefSec Jim Mattis said a $33 billion budget cut “would be a dangerous disservice to our troops and the American people they serve and protect,” while suggesting it isn’t a done deal, Breaking Defense reports.
A KC-130T plane crash in Mississippi that killed 15 Marines and a sailor in July 2017 was caused by a deteriorating propeller blade that was corroded when it entered an Air Force maintenance depot in 2011, reports Military Times, but workers there failed to fix it and sent it back to the fleet unrepaired. That worn-down blade finally failed and came loose from the propeller 20,000 feet above Mississippi farmland, as the Marine Corps Reserve plane was on its way to California.
The Navy took delivery of final components of the Littoral Combat Ship Anti-Submarine Warfare Mission Package late last month following rigorous testing, reports UPI. Next up. More testing at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center.
After less than a year in Japan, the USS Wasp will head back to the East Coast, reports USNI News. The Wasp, one of two amphibious warships certified to operate Marine F-35B Lighting IIs, is set to return to Naval Station Norfolk, VA, in late 2019 as part of a previously set plan to balance the F-35B capability across both coasts.
Congress is calling on a DoD review of the US Special Operations Command, reports Military Times, from its operational load to the state of its professionalism and ethics programs. This comes after several high-profile scandals.
A new Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems training facility opened its doors last month for Marines stationed in the Pacific region, smnewsnet.com reports. It will be managed the Navy and Marine Corps Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office at NAS Pax River.
Maryland Matters reports that about 17 percent of Maryland’s schools are operating at the highest level, according to new accountability scores released by the Maryland State Department of Education.
Contracts:
Cloud Lake Technology, Herndon, Virginia, has been awarded an $8,875,620 modification (P00012) to contract FA8075-17-C-0002 for Information Analysis Center Program Management Office (IAC PMO) support. IAC PMO support services provides program management analysis, acquisition management, operations analysis, financial analysis, process improvement, strategic communications and performance measurement support. This modification provides for the exercise of an option for additional services under the basic contract, and brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $21,870,362. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2020. Fiscal 2019 and 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,904,150 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, is the contracting activity.
Emprise Corp. LLC, Ledyard, Connecticut, was awarded a $96,470,026 firm-fixed-price level of effort with a five-year ordering period for Shipboard Automated Maintenance Management Systems (SAMM). Engineering services in this contract will assist Military Sealift Command (MSC) afloat and ashore operations. The engineering maintenance management systems consist of both afloat and ashore systems with various modules and functions that work together to optimize MSC maintenance programs. SAMM is required for shipboard personnel to document maintenance performed on MSC vessels and record daily machinery operational data. The system also provides a consistent maintenance plan for the MSC fleet. This engineering system is a recurring requirement, which will allow MSC to continuously achieve interoperability and maintain and sustain fleet operations. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and work is expected to be completed Dec. 9, 2023. This contract will be funded with Fiscal 2018 working capital funds (Navy and US Transportation Command) funds in the amount of $10,000,000 will be obligated at the time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, having one offer received. The US Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N3220519D1001). (Awarded Dec. 5, 2018)
General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $346,500,311 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-2111 for fiscal 2019 lead yard support and development studies and design efforts for Virginia class submarines. This lead yard support will maintain, update, and support the Virginia class design and related drawings and data for each Virginia class Submarine, including technology insertion, throughout its construction and post shakedown availability period. The contractor will also provide all engineering and related lead yard support necessary for direct maintenance and support of Virginia class ship specifications. In addition, this contract modification provides development studies and design efforts related to the Virginia class submarine design and design improvements, preliminary and detail component and system design, integration of system engineering, design engineering, test engineering, logistics engineering, and production engineering. The contractor will continue development studies and design efforts related to components and systems to accomplish research and development tasks and prototypes and engineering development models required to fully evaluate new technologies to be inserted in succeeding Virginia class submarines. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (91 percent), Newport News, Virginia (8 percent); and at other various sites throughout the US (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2019. Fiscal 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $129,889,865 will be obligated at time of award and no funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
Progeny Systems Corp., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $12,739,130 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-6220) to exercise options for engineering services and Navy equipment. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2020. Fiscal 2017 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $12,739,130 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, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
Intelligent Decisions LLC, Ashburn, Virginia, was awarded a $46,500,000 modification (P00005) to contract W912DY-18-F-0004 for information technology hardware, agnostic parts and accessories. Work will be performed in Ashburn, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 11, 2019. Fiscal 2019 US Army Corps of Engineers revolving funds in the amount of $46,500,000 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Arrowpoint Corp., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $17,022,960 modification (P00012) to contract W9133L-15-F-0011 for the management of the reserve component manpower system. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Dec. 15, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $17,022,960 were obligated at the time of the award. National Guard Bureau, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
