F-35 Provides 254,000 American Jobs
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Lockheed wants you to know its F-35 provides more than 254,000 jobs to American workers and a map showing where those jobs are. The JSF generates more than $49 billion annually, the Lockheed news release says, and teams with nearly 1,900 US suppliers – including more than 1,000 small business suppliers – in 45 states and Puerto Rico.
Lockheed Martin is withdrawing personnel who support Iraq’s F-16 fleet from Balad Air Base because of threats from militias in the region, a step that will likely limit the fleet’s operations, reports Air Force Magazine. The move comes after some contractors had temporarily left the major operating base in recent months because of the threat from Iranian-backed militias, according to a Defense Department Inspector General report.
The US Coast Guard cutter Maui fired 30 warning shots at Iranian fast-attack boats harassing US ships for the second time in two weeks, reports Navy Times. A total of 13 Iranian fast in-shore attack craft were involved in a high-speed approach, two of the Iranian vessels separated and continued a fast approach with weapons manned. The US fired two sets of warning shots from a .50-caliber machine gun, the first round with the Iranian vessels about 300 yards from the US vessels, the second at 150 yards and the two Iranian vessels turned back.
The White House’s slate of nominees would put familiar faces back in the Pentagon, reports Defense News. Michael Brown, Christine Wormuth, Frank Kendall, and Carlos Del Toro are four nominees for posts.
The 18th Airborne Corps has launched an investigation into the leadership of the 101st Airborne Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade caught in a strip club episode in Poland, reports Army Times. The inquiry by the headquarters at Fort Bragg, NC, follows an investigation involving subordinate battalions visiting a strip club in Gdansk, Poland. The battalion’s executive officer went missing for a day following a drunken nighttime outing in September. He later claimed to investigators that he was drugged at the strip club and charged excessive amounts on his credit card.
The Pentagon wants cheap, ground-launched, and hand-held counter-drone capability, reports Defense News, and asked industry to bring some options to its next demonstration. The request posted May 7 to the federal contracting website beta.sam.gov. An industry day is planned for May 12, today, with submissions due May 28.
The Pentagon has ordered small Israeli drones for indoor special operations, reports Defense News. The Pentagon has awarded Israeli company Xtend a contract to deliver dozens of small unmanned aerial systems for use indoors and in urban environments by the Navy, Marine Corps, and Army. DoD ordered the Skylord Xtender in partnership with the Israeli Defense Ministry.
The Pentagon is exploring tech to convert waste into energy, reports National Defense. The Army Corps of Engineers recently awarded a Tennessee-based startup a contract on behalf of the Navy to convert the service’s waste into renewable energy. Enexor BioEnergy’s technology can divert organic and plastic waste away from landfills and convert it into clean, on-site renewable energy, says company CEO Lee Jestings. The $125,000 contract will demonstrate how it can convert food waste, paper, plastic, and a number of other organic materials into thermal energy.
A $430 million project that aims to curtail 80% of Baltimore City’s sewage overflows into the Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay was formally completed on Monday, reports Maryland Matters.
It’s a hectic two months ahead for defense budget debate on Capitol Hill. Military Times reports. DefSec Lloyd Austin and the military service chiefs are all expected to testify before multiple congressional panels next month. House appropriators plan to mark up their federal budget bills in June, Senate lawmakers haven’t released a timeline for their budget work yet, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jack Reed (D-RI) said his panel will mark up the annual defense authorization bill in July.
The US sends a dozen more warplanes to Afghanistan to protect troop pullout, reports Military Times, as Taliban insurgents step up pressure on Afghan government forces. GEN Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said F-18 attack planes have been added to a previously announced package of air and sea power — including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the North Arabian Sea and six Air Force B-52 bombers based in Qatar. Also part of that previously announced package are several hundred Army Rangers.
Thousands of Afghans who helped the US want to evacuate before the Taliban finds them, reports NBC News. Advocates say tens of thousands of Afghans’ lives are in danger because of their association with the US and Western organizations and propose evacuating thousands to Guam or other safe locations, where officials could vet them for US resettlement.
The Americans are dismantling their portion of Bagram Air Base, their largest remaining outpost in Afghanistan, and anything that they are not taking home or giving to the Afghan military, they destroy as completely as possible, reports Military Times.
Nearly half of female soldiers are still failing the new Army fitness test, reports Military.com, raising the question if the Army’s attempt at a fitter force creates more barriers for women. Internal Army figures from April show 44% of women failed the ACFT, compared to 7% of men since Oct. 1. “Female soldiers continue to lag male soldier scores in all events,” according to a US Army Forces Command briefing obtained by Military.com.
Cannibalized parts, systems that sailors can’t fix: LCS maintenance woes could get worse, a recent GAO report warns. Navy Times reports choices made around efficiencies when procuring Littoral Combat Ships have created maintenance challenges that reduce the number of ships available for operations, according to the Government Accountability Office report.
Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton told House lawmakers Capitol Police must make major cultural shift to confront rising threats, reports The Washington Post, and think of itself as a “protective agency.” In testimony, he recalled how the Capitol Police presence was suddenly depleted during the insurrection when officers scrambled to respond to reports of pipe bombs near the offices of the Democratic and Republican National committees. A better approach for the Capitol Police would have been to establish a perimeter without diverting forces, instead allowing FBI agents or DC police to handle the investigative work off campus.
Contracts:
Aecom Technical Services Inc., Los Angeles, California (W912DY-21-D-0063); Parsons Government Services Inc., Pasadena, California (W912DY-21-D-0062); Jacobs USAE JV, Arlington, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0061); HydroGeologic Inc., Reston, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0060); and APTIM Federal Services Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana (W912DY-21-D-0059), will compete for each order of the $49,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to perform Military Munitions Response Program responses. Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 10, 2023. US Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Baltimore, Maryland, was awarded a $46,375,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction of the Air Force Targeting Center facility at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work will be performed in Hampton, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of May 21, 2023. Fiscal 2017 and 2021 military construction, Air Force funds in the amount of $46,375,000 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W91236-21-C-2005).
ARServices Ltd., Alexandria, Virginia, is being awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee contract providing advisory and assistance services expertise for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) in support of the Research and Development (RD) Directorate in the areas of programmatic, financial and policy expertise across the chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosives spectrum, and in the countering weapons of mass destruction, countering improvised threats, and countering improvised threat networks mission domains that RD supports. The face value of this action is $16,258,032, the total cumulative face value of this not-to-exceed contract is $145,518,032. The period of performance is a six-month base period and four one-year option periods, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 15, 2025. The work will be performed at multiple DTRA locations, primarily at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,117,675; fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $2,744,872; and fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $3,376,391 are being obligated at the time of award. This acquisition is a small business set-aside; competitive proposals were solicited and six offers were received. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HDTRA121C0042).
