Good News for Contractors in Defense Bill

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 grab-bag $610 billion defense policy bill now at the halfway point in its journey through Congress has the contracting community upbeat about some procurement and small business reforms while wary of debate about the extent to which defense contractors will be subject to President Obama’s Fair Pay Safe Workplaces executive order, Government Executive reports.

Even with an estimated 12 million more workers now eligible for overtime pay under President Obama’s new rule announced last week, millions still remain ineligible, largely because of decades-old exemptions that have not been updated to reflect changes in the economy, says a Politico analysis.

NASA contractor Wyle is being acquired by Houston-based KBR Inc. under a deal announced May 23, Space News reports. KBR, a construction and engineering firm well known for its oil industry work, is paying $570 million for Wyle, a Top 25 NASA contractor that currently holds the agency’s $1.5 billion space medicine contract. Wyle also provides specialized engineering, scientific, and technical services to the US Department of Defense and other government agencies.

The first 27 of the US Naval Academy’s cyber operations majors graduate May 27 as part of the Class of 2016, Defence Talk reports. The major provides a basic foundation in computer architecture, programming, data structures, networks, the Internet, database systems, information assurance, cryptography, and forensics. The technical aspects of the program are balanced with courses and electives in areas such as policy, law, ethics, and social engineering. Almost doubling the graduating cyber majors, 51 plebes, or freshmen, declared cyber operations as their major earlier this year.

The European Union needs to modify its defense spending methods to achieve greater efficiencies and eliminate waste and duplication among its member nations, Breaking Defense says. The 28 countries of the European Union spend in aggregate roughly half of the roughly $600 billion that the US spends. “But we can only field 15 percent of what you get can as output from your defense effort,” Jorge Domecq, CEO of the European Defense Agency, says in an interview. “What is missing or really killing our defense effort is, we do it in an isolated and fragmented manner.”

More storm clouds in Jerusalem and Washington? From a New York Times editorial: “Avigdor Lieberman’s previous stints as Israel’s foreign minister under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were a disaster for Israeli-American relations. Mr. Lieberman’s ultranationalist positions on Palestinians, settlements, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rendered him effectively unwelcome in Washington and toxic to Palestinians. Yet to shore up his coalition in the Israeli Parliament, Mr. Netanyahu has now offered Mr. Lieberman the office of minister of defense — widely considered to be the second most powerful position in the Israeli government, with a critical role in dealing with the United States and the Palestinians.”

It’s back to the gym for the Super Hornets: With the US Navy using its F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets more rigorously than initially expected, Boeing has started preliminary assessments of what is needed to overhaul the aircraft, increase its combat life, and keep it relevant much later into this century, Aerospace Daily reports. To get an idea of what will be needed to whip the Super Hornets back into shape and help prepare them for future work, Boeing is using its Service Life Assessment Program to put together a Service Life Extension Program that will boost the plane’s life to 9,000 hours from its current 6,000.

The first Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft due for the Royal Australian Air Force has completed its maiden sortie. The aircraft, which is based on the 737 commercial airliner, flew from Boeing’s Renton production facility to nearby Boeing Field, says the RAAF in a statement reported by FlightGlobal.

Efforts continue in a years-long fight by senators to take the decision-making process for prosecuting cases of military sexual assault outside of the military chain of command, The Hill reports. A group of bipartisan senators lead by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) will offer the Military Justice Improvement Act as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Gillibrand released a report Monday that found the Pentagon’s handling of sexual assault cases shows a “troubling command culture.”

Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries is negotiating with Pakistan to upgrade 74 Pakistani Air Force F-16 fighters, company officials said. If finalized the deal will involve upgrades on a batch of 74 PAF F-16 aircraft, including 14 fighters Pakistan will acquire from Jordan, Defense News reports. But for any Turkish-Pakistani deal a US go-ahead is required. In an earlier upgrade program for 41 F-16s, Pakistan wanted the job to be done locally but failed to win US permission. But the US agreed that TAI could carry out the upgrade work.