Furloughed Get Full Benefits; Defense Stocks Up, for Now
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 necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.
It’s all retroactive for federal workers: vacation, holidays, delayed raises and lost leave, reports GovExec.
The X-47B and UCAS-D program made history in 2013 with catapult launches, touch-and-goes, and arrested landings and this month became the first Navy program to win a Popular Mechanics’ 2013 Breakthrough Award, reports The Tester.
Capital Business reports a good year for defense stocks, but says this is as good as it gets.
The Pentagon is girding for round two of sequestration, few hold hope of a reprieve and anticipate fewer civilian jobs and fewer uniformed military, reports Politico.
The DoD is not just juggling budgets for three different futures, reports Aviation Week, the different forces operate under different procurement laws. Breaking Defense reports sequestration has reduced the Army to two combat-ready brigades. Nevertheless, Army leaders say they haven’t lost focus on 2020 and future demands, reports Defense Tech.
Sequestration demands a 45 percent reduction in military community and outreach activities with civilians, examples of these activities include the jet and parachute demonstration teams, band and ceremonial unit appearances, port visits, service weeks, and nonprofit and corporate leader outreach, reports Defense.gov. The Navy Times reports that the Navy announced the reduction for FY14 would still permit the Blue Angels a full schedule of air shows.
Funds are flowing enough to reinstate industry and trade shows and even some conventions. Daily Defense has a rundown of some defense related shows coming up.
DoD reaped one good savings last week, securing a deal with Romania to use an airbase there as a transit point for US soldiers leaving Afghanistan. This allows the US to end its use of a base in Kyrgyzstan with costly rental fees, reports Defence Talk.
The government shutdown delayed a report of the investigation into the Navy Yard shooting of Sept. 16, 2013 and also the Senate hearing on the security clearance process, the hearing has not been rescheduled and no word on the investigation status either, says FCW.
Bucking trends, the VA reduces its backlog in October despite the shutdown, reports DefCon Hill.
