F-35s Made for Modern Electronic Warfare

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 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is building the foundation for US global air dominance in the decades ahead. Forbes explains electronic warfare and the capabilities of the F-35. Modern warfare is waged largely on the electromagnetic spectrum, and the F-35 is built to exploit that.

The Marine Corps’ F-35B will deploy on a ship with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, marking the first time the fifth-generation fighters are deploying with a stateside unit, reports Marine Corps Times.

The Government Accountability Office has dismissed Raytheon’s JSTARS recap protest, reports Defense News, cementing Northrop Grumman as the radar provider to one of the three prime contractors competing for the contract.

US Cyber Command has quietly reorganized its hierarchy to include a second deputy, a three-star general who reports to the commander, reports Fifth Domain. The move comes after President Donald Trump directed Cyber Command to elevate to a full unified combatant command out from under Strategic Command.

The Navy’s next-generation frigate comes with a big price tag, reports Defense News, costing just shy of a billion dollars per hull. USNI News was first to report the Navy’s cost estimate.

Old Man Winter keeps the littoral combat ship Little Rock stuck in Canada after commissioning, reports Navy Times. The homeport of Mayport, Florida, will have to wait for the arrival of the ship after it got stuck in the ice during a visit to Montreal. Plans to proceed are on hold until conditions improve, reports The Buffalo News.

The Defense Enterprise Science Initiative announced a competition for basic science grants, American Military News reports. The objective is to build “new paradigms for autonomous flight, with a focus on highly maneuverable platforms and algorithms for flight control and decision making.” An accompanying Broad Agency announcement gets more specific: basically, they’re looking for bat-like drones that can be powered with directed-energy beams.

The Air Force grounded 28 of its A-10s in November after hypoxia incidents, reports Air Force Times. Two A-10 Thunderbolt II pilots at Davis-Monthan base said they experienced hypoxia-like symptoms, where an oxygen deficiency can cause impairment and loss of consciousness. This was at least the third case of Air Force aircraft being grounded last year because of reported physiological incidents.

SpaceX’s launch Sunday of a spy satellite may have failed. C4ISRNET reports on what happens next. SpaceX is denying it played any part in the apparent failure.

The Navy’s top surface warfare officer says that to fix the fleet, reduce commitments and give the service more ships, reports Defense News. VADM Thomas Rowden said the military must ease the burden on the service if it’s to fix issues that came to light after a pair of collisions that took the lives of 17 sailors last summer.

Army Brig. Gen. Anna Mae Hays, the first female general in US history, died Sunday at a retirement home in Washington, DC, reports Army Times. She was 97.

Contracts:

Rockwell Collins Simulation and Training Solutions, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is being awarded $21,464,672 for modification P00002 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N61340-17-C-0014) to exercise options for the E-2D Hawkeye integrated training systems (HITS)-III effort for maintenance and flight trainer aircraft concurrency, technology refresh, aircraft obsolescence, and associated technical data. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia (50 percent); and Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, California (50 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2021. Fiscal 2018 aircraft procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $21,464,672 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Florida, is the contracting activity.

Amee Bay, Hanahan, South Carolina (N32205-18-D-4700); Auxiliary Systems Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4701); Continental Tide Defense Systems, Reading, Pennsylvania (N32205-18-D-4702); Custom Panel and Controls LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4703); Glenmount Global Solutions, Portage, Indiana (N32205-18-D-4704); Intech Marine Services, Chesapeake, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4705); Mid Atlantic Eng. Tech Services, Chesapeake, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4706); Powergen Controls, Pearland, Texas (N32205-18-D-4707); Talon Electrical Mechanical Group, Park Ocean Springs, Mississippi (N32205-18-D-4708); The GBS Group, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4709); The McHenry Management Group, Chesapeake, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4710); Trantecs Corp., Arlington, Virginia (N32205-18-D-4711); and MSCorp, Boston, Massachusetts (N32205-18-D-4712), are being awarded a not to exceed $8,500,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for a one year requirement to provide worldwide shipboard engineering and electrical services to Military Sealift Command. The contract includes option years which, if exercised, would bring the total contract maximum value to $44,520,000. Work will be performed worldwide, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $44,500 are being obligated at the time of award. Funding will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with proposals solicited via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with 15 offers received. The US Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Merrimack, New Hampshire, has been awarded a $7,859,853 contract with an option for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency research program. Fiscal 2017 research and development funds in the amount of $1,300,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Work will be performed in Columbus, Ohio (2 percent); Basking Ridge, New Jersey (2 percent); Quincy, Massachusetts (5 percent); Arlington, Virginia (5 percent); Reston, Virginia (28 percent); and Merrimack, New Hampshire, (58 percent) with an estimated completion date of July 2019. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.