March 28, 2024

Italian F-35B Lands on Carrier for 1st Time

Italian Sea Trials
A US F-35B Lightning II performs an aft-facing vertical landing aboard the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour in the Atlantic Ocean on March 15, 2021. The aircraft was conducting flight tests during sea trials for the fifth-generation fighter aircraft and the upgraded Italian Navy flagship. An Italian Navy F-35B landed on the Cavour for the first time last week. (US Navy photo by Dane Wiedmann)

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

An Italian Navy F-35B Lightning II landed on the ITS Cavour aircraft carrier for the first time on July 30, reports The Aviationist. This landing follows the “Ready for Operation” compatibility testing in the US earlier this year, when two specially instrumented US F-35Bs belonging to NAS Pax River’s VX-23 (Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 23) were deployed on the ship to test every aspect of the aircraft operations.

During a multidomain exercise Talisman Sabre last month, US Marine Corps F-35B jets carried out air warfare training with Australian counterparts over the Coral Sea, reports Defense News. The F-35Bs had not participated before in the exercise. Other nations joining included Canada, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and New Zealand.

The USS Carl Vinson deployed on Monday into the waters of the Indo-Pacific, reports Navy Times. It will be the first carrier strike group to deploy with the F-35C Lightning II, as well as the CMV-22 Osprey.

The US Navy Large Scale Exercise 2021, starting today, Aug. 3, is a return to similar Cold War exercises in the 1980s, reports Military.com. The two-week exercise is expected to include units in 17 time zones.

The newest Virginia-class attack submarine, the future USS Hyman G. Rickover, was christened over the weekend, reports The Associated Press. The ceremony took place at the General Dynamics-Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, CT. Rickover is considered the “Father of the Nuclear Navy,” reports Navy Times. The first Hyman G. Rickover was commissioned on July 21, 1984.

Lockheed Martin’s High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance, or HELIOS, is being tested at the US Navy’s Wallops Island, VA, facility, reports Seapower Magazine. The system is scheduled to be installed on the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Preble.

US Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) is calling on the Navy to develop a new maritime strategy in the Indo-Pacific region, reports USNI News. She believes that the recent focus on the Middle East has strained America’s naval forces and worn out its fleet of carriers.

Japan is undergoing a shift in its stance on one of the most contentious issues in Asia: Taiwan, reports NPR. In recent weeks, top officials have said that if mainland China attacks the island, Japan should join the US in defending it.

Reuters reports that Germany sent a warship to the South China Sea for the first time in almost two decades, joining other Western nations in expanding its military presence in the region amid alarm over Chinese territorial ambitions.

 

 

The Biden administration is expanding eligibility for at-risk Afghans looking to come to the US as refugees, citing increased Taliban violence, reports The Hill.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani says the US’ withdrawal from his country has worsened violence there, reports Military Times. He said his administration would now focus on protecting provincial capitals and major urban areas in the face of the intensifying war between the Taliban and Afghan government forces.

The United States has joined the United Kingdom and Israel in putting the blame on Iran for a drone attack last week on an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, reports CBS News. Iran has denied responsibility for the attack that killed two people.

The Society for Human Resource Management released the results of a survey of supervisors and employees, reports WTOP News, that might give those pushing to keep working remotely pause. Among the findings: 67% of the supervisors surveyed consider remote workers more easily replaceable and 72% would prefer the employees back in the office.

A Department of Defense educational grant for outdoor learning and STEAM has made an Outdoors While Learning, or OWL, project possible at Fort Belvoir Elementary in Virginia, reports InsideNOVA. The program provided five raised gardens for the students. “Our focus is science and outdoor learning, and we’ll be orienting students with the new gardens, and they’ll learn why gardens are important,” STEAM coach Kara Fahy said.

Chirag Parikh will serve as executive secretary of the National Space Council, reports Breaking Defense. Parikh was head of space policy at the National Security Council during the Obama administration.

The commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center, LT GEN John Thompson retired last week, reports Defense News, ahead of an organizational shakeup for SMC, with the US Space Force planning to replace SMC with a new field command called Space Systems Command.

The US Senate confirmed new bosses for the Air Force Global Strike Command and Air Mobility Command, reports Air Force Magazine. LT GEN Anthony Cotton is the new head of Air Force Global Strike Command and LT GEN Mike Minihan will receive his fourth star to lead Air Mobility Command.

Families of service members who died Dec. 7, 1941, in the bombing of Pearl Harbor want the US military take advantage of advances in DNA technology to identify 85 sailors and Marines from the Arizona who were buried as unknowns, reports The Associated Press.

Severe weather hit Maryland from a tornado in Howard County on Thursday to a waterspout on the Chesapeake Bay, reports Patch.com. On Sunday morning, a waterspout was reported offshore of Deale in Anne Arundel County.

Contracts:

Weeks Marine Inc., Covington, Louisiana, was awarded a $15,697,708 firm-fixed-price contract for berm reconstruction at Ocean City, Maryland. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Ocean City, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of April 11, 2022. US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-21-C-0020).

Seemann Composites LLC, Gulfport, Mississippi, is awarded an $74,922,276 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for design engineering and manufacturing support. Work will be performed in Gulfport, Mississippi (60%); Chesapeake, Virginia (20%); and Horsham, Pennsylvania (20%), and is expected to be completed by July 2026. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funding in the amount of $18,842 will be obligated at time of award for the first order and not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Beta.Sam.gov website, with three offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division, Bethesda, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0016721D0010).

Soliel LLC, Vienna, Virginia, was awarded a competitive 8(a) hybrid (firm-fixed-price/cost-plus-fixed-fee) contract for National Bureau of Investigation Service (NBIS) Development, Deployment and Sustainment (DD&S-II). The face value of this action is $22,407,525, funded by fiscal 2021 operation and maintenance; and research, development, test and evaluation funds. The total cumulative face value of the contract is $22,407,525. Performance will be at both the government’s facilities and the contractor’s facilities. Proposals were solicited from 8(a) companies identified during market research, and five proposals were received from seven proposals. The period of performance is Aug. 5, 2021 – Aug. 4, 2022, with four three-month option periods. The Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity (HC108421C0005).

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