F-35s, F-16s Boost Foreign Military Sales

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 US is expected to deliver $61.4 billion in foreign military sales by the end of the fiscal year, reports the Dayton Daily News, compared to $41.9B last year. Some of the big ticket pending sales include 34 F-35s to Belgium, 14 F-16s to Slovakia, and six C-130 aircraft to Germany.

A team of US Air Force engineers, test pilots, and Norwegian government and industry personnel have completed a large phase of testing for the Joint Strike Missile, reports Military Embedded Systems. The JSM is Norway’s advanced anti-surface warfare missile designed for the new F-35A Lightning IIs.

ExecutiveGov.com reports VADM Dean Peters, commander of the Naval Air Systems Command, told the US Naval Institute that NAVAIR will create guidelines for the allocation of fiscal 2018 funds for the upgrade of facilities at Fleet Readiness Centers.

The Marine Corps is being forced to ground commercial drones it has been fielding to infantry units because of a recent DoD policy memo that bans the purchase and use of commercial off-the-shelf drones, citing cybersecurity concerns, reports Marine Corps Times.

Retired admiral and former head of the US Pacific Command Harry Harris said he backs President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend major exercises with South Korea during denuclearization talks with the North Korean government, reports Defense News. Harris has been nominated to be ambassador to South Korea.

China’s navy carried out drills in the South China Sea to simulate fending off an aerial attack, reports Reuters, as the country trades barbs with the US over responsibility for heightened tension in the disputed waterway. The drills involved three target drones making flyovers of a ship formation at varying heights and directions, reports South China Morning Post.

A former member of the US Navy was sentenced to prison for illegally keeping classified national defense information, including that of some US nuclear operations, reports The Associated Press. Weldon Marshall, 43, of Sherman, Texas, was sentenced to 41 months in prison.

The Defense Systems Information Agency will allow 14 large corporations to compete for IT business worth as much as $7.5 billion over the next decade. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract is for the Systems Engineering Technology and Innovation program, reports C4ISRNET.

A federal court on Friday again said the Trump administration cannot implement its ban on most transgender military service while a lawsuit against it proceeds, reports The Hill.

The Navy has accepted delivery of the destroyer USS Hudner, named for a naval aviator who crash-landed his plane to try to save a downed pilot in the Korean War, reports Navy Times.

The NTSB preliminary report on the crash that killed Ken Johansen says the pilot lost control of the World War II-era plane, a North American T-6 Texan, shortly after taking off from Republic Airport in East Farmingdale, NY. It appeared he did not attempt to recover from a downward spiral, according to a witness account included in the report. A team of six planes from the Geico Skytypers had been flying in formation May 30, 2018, on the way to the NAS Pax River for the Air Expo.

Did you miss the Fox 5 Zip Trip to Lexington Park last Friday? Here are several clips from the visit to the area.

Contracts:

Harris Corp., Lynchburg, Virginia (W52P2J-18-D-0008); Motorola Solutions Inc., Linthicum Heights, Maryland (W52P1J-18-D-0009); Icom America Inc., Kirkland, Washington (W52P1J-18-D-0010); E.F. Johnson Co., Irving, Texas (W52P1J-18-D-0011); and Relm Communications Inc., Melbourne, Florida (W52P1J-18-D-0012), will compete for each order of the $495,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for land mobile radio supplies and services. Bids were solicited via the Internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 17, 2023. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $225,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-2100) for economic ordering quantity material associated with the fiscal 2019 through fiscal 2023 Virginia class submarines (SSNs 802 – 811). Work will be performed in Spring Grove, Illinois (21 percent); Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (11 percent); Jacksonville, Florida (4 percent); Tacoma, Washington (4 percent); York, Pennsylvania (3 percent); Warren, Massachusetts (3 percent); Florence, New Jersey (3 percent); Sunnyvale, California (3 percent); Metamora, Ohio (3 percent); Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2 percent); Newport News, Virginia (2 percent); Tampa, Florida (2 percent); San Diego, California (2 percent); Cleveland, Ohio (2 percent); Orrville Ohio, (2 percent); Braintree, Massachusetts (1 percent); Milwaukee, Wisconsin (1 percent); Long Beach, California (1 percent); Groton, Connecticut (1 percent); Monroe, North Carolina (1 percent); Montville, New Jersey (1 percent); Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1 percent); Westfield, Massachusetts (1 percent); Long Beach, California (1 percent); North Hampton, Massachusetts (1 percent); North Branford, Connecticut (1 percent); Salem, Ohio (1 percent), and other efforts performed at various sites throughout the U.S. (21 percent). Work is expected to be completed January 2019. Fiscal 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $225,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The statutory authority for this sole-source award is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii) only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Advanced Acoustic Concepts LLC, Hauppauge, New York, is awarded a $12,193,940 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-reimbursement modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-12-C-6311) for software engineering services to support the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Mission Modules program. Software engineering services will be provided to support the existing software for the LCS Mission Modules program. Incidental other direct cost items are also provided in support of said software engineering services. Work will be performed in Hauppauge, New York (55 percent); Columbia, Maryland (25 percent); and Lemont Furnace, Pennsylvania (20 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2019. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy); and fiscal 2018 research, development, test, and evaluation funding in the amount of $3,161,933 will be obligated at time of award and funds in the amount of 2,169,874 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.