Gilday, New Navy CNO, Takes Command

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.

ADM Michael Gilday took over as the highest uniformed office in the sea service last week. “We will question our assumptions,” the new chief of naval operations said. “We will think differently about the competition we are now in. We will be the Navy the nation needs now, and we will build the Navy the nation needs to fight and win in the future, always guided by our core values of honor, courage, and commitment.”

Turkey is expected to accept another delivery of Russian S-400 missiles, Reuters reports. The initial purchases were delivered in July. The US says the Russian system is incompatible with NATO and poses a threat to the US-led F-35 program, reports The Washington Post.

Japan has requested US Marines deploy F-35B fighters aboard that country’s largest warships, USNI News reported.

The Washington Post takes a look at the recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against small neighbors in several disputes over islands there. Vietnam has reached out to Australia for its support in the region, reports The Diplomat.

North Korea test-fired a “newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher,” reports The Associated Press, another demonstration of the North’s expanding weapons arsenal apparently aimed at increasing its leverage ahead of a possible nuclear talks with the US.

A new report says the US Army, Navy, and Marine Corps could do a better job monitoring access to their installations as a way of preventing mass shootings like the one at Fort Hood, Texas, in 2009, reports Military.com. The Government Accountability Office report was released Aug. 22.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Benjamin Orloff conducts a supersonic pass in an F/A-18E Super Hornet over the guided missile destroyer USS Gridley during a training exercise in the Atlantic Ocean, Aug. 23, 2019. US Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cameron Stoner

Several business from around the country received awards in a Pentagon ceremony for their work in supporting staff members who deploy as part of the military reserves for National Guard units, reports Military Times.

United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV medium-class rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Thursday, reports Air Force Times, delivering a GPS satellite into orbit. This is the last time the Delta IV will be used. The rocket ended its 17-year run with 29 launches.

Before SpaceX launched its Starhopper, a Mars rocket ship prototype, on Monday in south Texas, nearby residents were warned of potential risks to health and safety, reports Business Insider.

Dorian, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, formed as a tropical depression on Saturday and quickly gathered strength, reports Tampa Bay Times. Dorian could become a hurricane as it nears Puerto Rico later in the week.

Commuters in the Washington, DC, area continue to endure some of the most grueling commutes in the nation, reports Maryland Matters. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2019 Urban Mobility Report found that commuters in the capital region spend 102 hours a year, on average, in bumper-to-bumper traffic. That’s the third worst in the nation, behind Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Contracts:

AECOM International Inc., Neu-Isenburg, Germany (W912GB-19-D-0028); Atkins-UC JV, Alexandria, Virginia (W912GB-19-D-0029); Exp-Onyx JV LLP, Chicago, Illinois (W912GB-19-D-0030); HDR Engineering Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado (W912GB-19-D-0031); Jacobs Government Services Co., Arlington, Virginia (W912GB-19-D-0032); Louis Berger US Inc., Washington, District of Columbia (W912GB-19-D-0033); Michael Baker-Cardno JV, Moon Township, Pennsylvania (W912GB-19-D-0034); Parsons Government Services Inc., San Antonio, Texas (W912GB-19-D-0035); and Woolpert-Black & Veatch JV, Beavercreek, Ohio (W912GB-19-D-0036), will compete for each order of the $94,500,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect, engineering, master planning and design services. 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 Aug. 25, 2024. US Army Corps of Engineers, Wiesbaden, Germany, is the contracting activity.

QED Systems LLC, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, was awarded a $9,616,948 modification (P00041) to contract W15P7T-14-C-C012 for program management, engineering, logistics, business, administrative, operations and security services. Work will be performed in Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 26, 2020. Fiscal 2019 Foreign Military Sales; and operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $9,616,948 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Missions Systems Inc., McLeansville, North Carolina, is awarded a $44,595,146 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously-awarded contract N61331-11-C-0017 for low-rate initial production of the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (SMCM UUV), also known as Knifefish. The Knifefish program is an ongoing effort to provide a UUV that detects and classifies undersea volume, bottom and buried mines in high-clutter environments.  The Knifefish system is part of the Littoral Combat Ship Mine Countermeasures Mission Package and can also be deployed from vessels of opportunity.  The low-rate initial production effort will provide the initial systems for the Navy to test and operate. Work will be performed in Quincy, Massachusetts (35%); Taunton, Massachusetts (23%); Braintree, Massachusetts (19%); a location to be determined (15%); McLeansville, North Carolina (6%); Reston, Virginia (1%); and Ann Arbor, Michigan (1%), and is expected to be completed by August 2021. Fiscal 2018 and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $44,595,146 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, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Airborne Tactical Advantage Co. LLC, Newport News, Virginia, is awarded $13,495,999 for modification P00020 to previously awarded firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-15-D-0026. This modification provides for contractor-owned and operated Type IV supersonic aircraft for airborne threat simulation capabilities in support of the Contracted Air Services Program. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia (44%); Point Mugu, California (37%); and various locations outside the continental US (19%), and is expected to be completed in May 2020.  No funds will be obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual delivery orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.