Guard to Remain at Capitol to May 23
Photo by the National Guard/Creative Commons license
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 Pentagon will keep 2,300 National Guard troops at the US Capitol through May 23, reports Stars and Stripes. DoD officials will work with the Capitol Police to continue reducing the Guard’s footprint as conditions allow, the Pentagon said.
Most of the COVID-19 restrictions on economic activities in Maryland will be lifted effective Friday, March 12, at 5 pm, reports Maryland Matters. Masking and distancing requirements remain in place. The order was signed this week by Gov. Larry Hogan (R), a year after the emergency measures were imposed.
A “troubling new gap” based on gender, race, and politics is growing among military officers, reports Stars and Stripes. Previous research shows a conservative mindset predominates in the military, and that service members’ political leanings can affect their military experience and attitude. The clear gaps based on race and gender are found in a new report. “These findings should give senior military leaders and their civilian superiors pause,” according to the study published in Texas National Security Review.
First lady Jill Biden visited NAS Whidbey Island this week on her tour of military bases to meet with service families, reports Navy Times. She got a close look at an EA-18G Growler electronic warfare attack warcraft.
House Democrats reintroduced a bill to restrict gifts of surplus military equipment to law enforcement agencies, reports Stars and Stripes. “Our neighborhoods need to be protected, but Americans and our Founding Fathers opposed blurring the line between police and the military,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA). Military gifts to local police forces include grenades, grenade launchers, and armored military vehicles.
The Navy’s entire T-45 Goshawk fleet will receive a new smart oxygen concentrator, a system crucial in providing pilots with clean air while in flight, reports Military.com. Hypoxia-related events have plagued both the T-45 and F/A-18 Super Hornet communities since 2012.
The closing of the Lockheed Martin plant in Middle River marks the end of the manufacturing era for eastern Baltimore County, reports The Baltimore Sun. The original Glenn L. Martin Co. opened the era more than 90 years ago, helping usher in an era of manufacturing prosperity for the area. Mergers ultimately created the company Lockheed Martin, which recently announced plans to shutter the 465-employee operation, moving production of Navy warship equipment to a plant in New Jersey by the end of 2023. The company is looking for a tenant for the property.
Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Mike Rounds (R-SD) and Congressmen Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) and Troy Balderson (R-OH) reintroduced the Promoting Infrastructure by Protecting Our Subcontractors and Taxpayers Act of 2021. The legislation ensures contractor defaults don’t leave subcontractors, workers, and taxpayers hung out to dry, according to Van Hollen’s announcement.
The jet-pack is on the horizon: DARPA will pay up to $1.5 million in development costs for a powered flight system capable of quickly moving a single person, reports Popular Mechanics. The system would allow troops to zip across the battlefield to fight in cities, rescue downed pilots, or enter or exit the battlefield.
The Center for American Progress calls for a radical overhaul of the US security assistance program, including shifting roughly $7 billion in funding streams from the Pentagon to the State Department, reports Defense News. The report by Max Bergmann and Alexandra Schmitt argues that the current system of funding for foreign militaries is “dysfunctional and bifurcated” and that a reset is needed to strengthen more cohesive oversight.
DefSec Lloyd Austin has cleared out “several hundred” volunteer seats on the Pentagon’s 42-plus civilian advisory boards — every seat he has the power to appoint, reports Air Force Magazine. “The scale of recent changes” in the final weeks of the Trump administration prompted the purge, said a DoD spokesperson. “For example, recent nominations affected half the membership of each the Defense Policy Board and Defense Business Board.” A total count and full list of names will be provided after March 15.
Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) is a Marine Corps veteran and a rising progressive representing a deep-blue district in the Phoenix area. Military.com reports he is quickly becoming one of the most high-profile lawmakers working on military and veterans issues.
Fort Hood adds a new law enforcement liaison, revises sexual assault prevention training, and conducts a crime survey to address base conditions that enabled crime and endangered soldiers, reports Stars and Stripes. A review committee provided 70 recommendations to improve conditions for the more than 37,000 soldiers assigned to the base, said LT GEN Pat White, commander of III Corps and Fort Hood. Nearly 15 are completed.
An effort is underway in Congress to mandate the VA to vaccinate all US veterans against the coronavirus, as well as their spouses and caregivers, reports Stars and Stripes. The legislation would expand the population that the VA can vaccinate. The department is currently vaccinating employees and veterans enrolled into VA health care, as well as some veteran caregivers.
The stealth destroyer Zumwalt aced its rough seas testing, reports Defense News. Engineers from the Naval Surface Warfare Centers Carderock Division and Philadelphia Division carried out tests late last year. The ship held its own through the high end of Sea State 6, which means 20-foot seas.
A B-1B Lancer’s pit stop at Norway’s Bodo Air Force Station this week marked the first time the bomber landed inside the Arctic Circle, reports Stars and Stripes.
Military Times reports DoD spent more than $800 million deploying troops to the US-Mexico border between 2018 and 2020, according to a recent Government Accountability report, which found that DoD bungled cost analyses when it came to both the amount of money and readiness it would expend in supporting the Trump administration’s national emergency declaration.
Contracts:
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Illinois, is awarded an $115,504,295 modification (P00013) to previously awarded, fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract N00019-19-C-0011. This modification exercises an option to procure the necessary Weapon Replaceable Assemblies (WRAs) hardware, systems engineering technical support, analysis and studies to integrate the Department of Navy Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures system onto aircraft for the Navy, Air Force and the government of Australia. WRAs hardware procurements are as follows: 228 advanced threat warning (ATW) sensors; 79 control indicator unit replaceable (CIURs); 25 2103 signal processors; 54 infrared missile warning sensors (IRMWSs); 101 Guardian laser transmitter assemblies (GLTAs); seven multi-role electro-optical end-to-end test sets; 83 GLTA shipping containers (JPACs); 60 high capacity cards (HCCs); nine large aircraft system processor replacement (LSPR) smart connector assemblies (SCAs) and 282 personal computer memory card, international association cards for the Navy; 65 ATW sensors; three CIURs; six GLTAs; 12 HCCs and six LSPR SCAs for the Air Force; two GLTAs; 12 IRMWSs; two GLTA shipping containers JPACs; and two LSPR SCAs for the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Rolling Meadows, Illinois (34%); Goleta, California (30%); Longmont, Colorado (11%); Columbia, Maryland (3%); and various locations outside the continental US (22%), and is expected to be completed in June 2023. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $67,792,213; fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $12,567,298; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,408,527; fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $22,240,967; and Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $2,495,290 will be obligated at the time of award, $22,240,967 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Raytheon Co., Dulles, Virginia, has been awarded a $178,000,000 firm-fixed-price, cost-reimbursable contract for field support across the Distributed Common Ground System Enterprise. This includes transitional mission support from legacy to open architecture infrastructure as the system completes open architecture modernization. Work will be performed in Dulles, Virginia, and is expected to be completed March 8, 2026. Fiscal 2026 operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $2,300,000 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Warner Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8527-21-D-0003).
Chenega IT Enterprise Services LLC, Lorton, Virginia, is awarded a $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity single award contract to provide professional information technology support services to the deputy commandant of the Marine Corps for installations and logistics. Work will be performed in Stafford, Virginia, and is expected to be completed March 2024. Fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $4,931,549 is being obligated under the contract’s initial task order to fund the minimum guarantee and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was awarded on a sole-source basis as authorized and in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Small Business Act (15 US Code 637(a)(1)). The Marine Corps Installations Command, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M95494-21-D-0003).
Azure Summit Technology Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is awarded a $22,341,683 modification to previously awarded, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00164-17-D-JT09 for production, repairs, engineering services and integration of the Common Chassis AN/ZLQ-1 V2 Derivative Systems digital signal processor, digital tuner modules, switches, as well as maintenance, product improvement and testing. The contract value will increase from $48,234,184 to $70,575,867. This action supports an increase in the contract maximum for continued support under a Small Business Innovative Research Phase III. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida (67%); Fairfax, Virginia (30%); and Snohomish, Washington (3%), and is expected to be completed by January 2022. No funding will be obligated at time of award. This contract action was not competitively procured via the beta SAM.gov website. This is a sole-source action in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5, authorized or required by statue. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity.
