Memorial Day Video ’22

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.

Military Times honors the fallen in the Memorial Day Video 2022, which gives the names and shows the faces of the 19 US service members who have died since last Memorial Day in support of their nation.

In high school, Rishi Sharma made it his mission to meet as many World War II combat veterans as possible, record their stories, and give the recordings to their families, CBS News reports. In five years, Sharma said he has interviewed 1,400 World War II veterans. “I’m still doing interviews almost every day across the US and Canada, the UK and Australia … I’m going to be interviewing World War II veterans every day until there are none.”

A researcher’s avatar was sexually assaulted on a metaverse platform owned by Meta, making her the latest victim of sexual abuse on Meta’s platforms, reports Business Insider. A new report published by the nonprofit advocacy group SumOfUs on Tuesday, details the researcher’s violent encounter in Meta’s Horizon World.

An automated maintenance tool tracker won the top $225K prize at the Air Force’s iChallenge competition, reports Defense News. Donald Mitchell, an aircraft fuel systems flight chief at the 97th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, won first place and the accompanying $225,000 for his automated tool control and accountability idea.

According to Army Times, the Army locked public access to its overdue report on suicide regulations after the publication referenced the report in an April 1 story on how the service has failed to publish a long-awaited regulation that will coordinate its suicide prevention programs. The removal of the status report appears to be the latest in a long pattern of anti-transparency actions the service has taken in recent years in response to accountability reporting.

US Army signs a deal to backfill Stingers sent to Ukraine, reports Defense News. The Army awarded a $624.6 million contract to Raytheon Technologies to build Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to restock its own supply after sending roughly 1,400 Stingers to Ukraine to bolster the nation’s defense against the Russian invasion. “Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2026,” reads the Pentagon’s contract announcement.

NAVAIR announced May 30 its intent to order Harpoon Coastal Defense Missiles from Boeing, reports Naval News. The announcement doesn’t indicate which country is to receive coastal Harpoon missiles, but Ukraine or Taiwan are the most likely. The anticipated contract provides for the design, production, testing, and delivery of a mobile coastal defense cruise missile capability supporting Building Partner Capacity.

 

 

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) on Tuesday reiterated America’s support for Taiwan on her second visit in a year to the self-governing island claimed by China, reports AP. Duckworth, meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, emphasized the close economic, political, and security relations between Taipei and Washington.

Duckworth is pushing to enshrine the military services’ climate change plans into law, reports Military.com. She will be introducing a bill this week setting  renewable energy goals for the DoD that match targets the military services have announced in recent months.

Lawmakers and advocates are pressing the Department of Defense to protect access to abortion for servicewomen as the Supreme Court appears poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, reports The Hill.

Navy releases promotion quotas for Reserve petty officers — and it’s good news, reports Navy Times. The quotas for E-4, E-5, and E-6 sailors in the Selected Reserve gives these sailors a greater chance of promotion this year than last for qualifying seamen meeting the requirement to move up to petty officer third class there is a 100% advancement opportunity.

As cases surge in the US, Army units in South Korea are commended for fighting COVID, reports Task & Purpose.

The EU agrees to a compromise deal on banning Russian oil imports, reports BBC. The EU-wide ban will affect oil that arrives by sea — around two-thirds of imports — but not pipeline oil, following opposition from Hungary. Poland and Germany have also pledged to end pipeline imports, meaning a total of 90% of Russian oil will be blocked. European Council chief Charles Michel said the deal cut off a huge source of financing for the Russian war machine. It is part of a sixth package of sanctions approved at a summit in Brussels, which all 27 member states have had to agree on.

The new Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud calls for reconciliation as US troops return, reports Defense News. Mohamud elected by lawmakers, faces drought and insurgency. He is meeting former rivals and regional leaders as US President Joe Biden authorizes the return of US troops to fight al Shaba.

The Coast Guard’s small IT programs suffer from inconsistent oversight policy, GAO finds. FCW reports the Government Accountability Office found inconsistent evaluations of baseline goals, which led to inaccurate estimates of cost increases. Efforts to improve oversight of its IT systems continues to be hampered by the inconsistencies in management of programs under $300 million.

Air Force LT GEN Timothy Haugh was confirmed as US Cyber Command deputy, reports Defense News, on May 26 by voice vote, days after his nomination glided through the Senate Armed Services Committee. He replaces LT GEN Charles Moore as the No. 2 at CYBERCOM, one of 11 unified combatant commands. Haugh most recently commanded the Air Force’s information warfare branch, the 16th Air Force (Air Forces Cyber). Air Force MAJ GEN Kevin Kennedy, the CYBERCOM operations director, was selected to succeed Haugh, but lawmakers have not yet moved on the nomination.

USNI has video of the attack submarine USS Oregon commissioning in Connecticut. The commissioning of Oregon is the first for a Virginia-class attack submarine since the 2020 administrative action that brought USS Vermont (SSN-792) — the first Block IV boat — into the fleet during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last Block III boat, USS Delaware (SSN-791), was commissioned underway shortly before Vermont. “This is the first in-person commissioning ceremony of a submarine in more than three years, and that’s a long time to delay celebrations like this one,” Tommy Ross, performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition said during the ceremony.

Contracts:

Sabre Systems Inc., Warminster, Pennsylvania, is awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee $8,586,857 modification (P00011) to a previously awarded contract (N0042122C0004). This modification adds scope to procure continued engineering and technical services in support of software development, test and acquisition that includes software program generation, software and hardware integration, along with development of test devices and systems such as weapon system simulators and trainers. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (83%); China Lake, California (5%); Point Mugu, California (5%); Jacksonville, Florida (2.5%); Orlando, Florida (2.5%); various locations within the continental US (CONUS) (1%); and various locations outside the CONUS (1%), and is expected to be completed in August 2022. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,318,600; fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $655,620; Foreign Military Sales funds in the amount of $493,919; fiscal 2022 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $166,934; Foreign Cooperative Project funds in the amount $109,805; and working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $39,347 will be obligated at the time of award, $2,318,600 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $23,378,642 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C6258 to exercise options for technical insertions and support additional requirements of the Integrated Submarine Imaging System program. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (52%); Orlando, Florida (24%); Gainesville, Virginia (18%); and Newport, Rhode Island (6%), and is expected to be completed by October 2025. Fiscal 2022 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,306,235 (27%); fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,958,376 (26%); fiscal 2022 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,368,000 (23%); fiscal 2021 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,585,088 (15%); and fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,160,943 (9%) will be obligated at time of award, of which, funds in the amount of $2,160,943 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

UPDATE: MJL Enterprises LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (SPE2D1-22-D-0011, $31,491,105), has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract for medical equipment and accessories for the Defense Logistics Agency Electronic Catalog, issued against solicitation SPE2DH-16-R-0002 and awarded Oct. 6, 2016.