JSF Scrutinized; Red Tape Is Cut for Aircraft Exports

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.

Incentives and leverage sought after a five-hour meeting on JSF accountability.  Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition wants accountability details from contractors and quality assurances from the Pentagon office that runs the $392 billion F-35 program.

Bureaucratic red tape was reduced on foreign sales of aircraft, parts for military aircraft, gas turbine engines and other items. Daily Finance calls it a huge win for defense contractors.

It’s insult to injury for federal employees who broke into their retirement funds during the shutdown and thus lost the ability to contribute to those accounts for six months and thus will lose those months of their employer contributions as well, reports GovExec. Furloughed  employees could not contribute to their savings plans during the shutdown, but those who did not receive the withdrawal penalty of a six-month frozen account will receive employer contributions retroactively along with back pay.

Drone strike in Somalia killed two suspected Al Shabaab members, CNN Security Clearance reports. Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the September shopping mall attack in Nairobi.

On the heels of the drone opponents, the campaign to ban autonomous lethal weapons, dubbed “killer robots,” is gaining traction, reports Time Magazine.

Who knew and when they learned about NSA eavesdropping isn’t clear with regard to the White House or Congress, but classified leaks revealed by former agency contractor Edward Snowden are clearly angering world leaders discovering they have been targets;  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies today before the House Select Intelligence Committee about the extent of the spying program, reports CNN Security Clearance. Defense Industry Daily runs down reports in European media suggesting some nations’ leaders were not only targets, but participants in the eavesdropping.

A UK man was arrested last week accused of hacking US government computers, reports Defense Tech. Top defense industry officials were targeted in a cyber-attack, Defense News reports that Israel suspects the attack was launched from China.

Put generals and admirals on two tracks, one for management one for combat, said Lt. Gen. David Barno, lead author of “Building Better Generals,” reports Breaking Defense. Now they are swapped out every two years without training and with near abandon.

National Naval Aviation museum got its  X-47B display once government reopened, reports Gulf Coast News Today.

Republicans move from Obamacare to sequestration as their primary focus in the upcoming round of budget negotiations, reports The Hill.  The second year of sequestration will be worse than the first, reports UPI. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., said negotiators should think small.

Military services get unequal shares of the budget, Intercepts reports, but who gets the most varies.

Senators seek to increase compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities as well as the rates for dependents and survivors of disabled veterans, reports The Hill, and says the House set up a commission to examine the VA backlog. The Navy Time reports that the Veterans of Foreign Wars are encouraging veterans to attend the upcoming budget hearings on the pay and benefits vets receive.

Verizon’s cloud service crashed HealthCare.gov again Sunday night and returned it to service by Monday morning, reports FCW. The Washington Post’s Wonk Blog compares the JSF and HealthCare.gov and it isn’t pretty.

The blimp-like airships are losing favor, reports Defence Talk.

All six moon landings by YouTube user “lunarmodule5” at a 45 degree angle as the astronauts saw the landing. Audio is synched as well.

ManTech Systems Engineering Corp., Fairfax, Va., is being awarded an $11,788,957 modification to a previously awarded  contract  for engineering and technical support for all naval aircraft platforms and their systems. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Md. (90 percent), China Lake, Calif. (5 percent), and Lakehurst, N.J. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2014. No funds are being obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated against individual task orders as they are issued.