Milley: Respecting Legacy of D-Day Soldiers
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gives the order of the day — “Full victory: nothing else” — to paratroopers in England just before they board their airplanes to participate in the first assault in the invasion of the continent of Europe. (US Army photo courtesy of DoD)
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US Army GEN Mark Milley, speaking Monday at the American Cemetery of Colleville-sur-Mer in France, overlooking Omaha Beach, told a group of World War II veterans gathered for the 78th anniversary of D-Day that the ongoing war in Ukraine is about “honoring” them as the world has come together “against a determined invader,” reports Fox News.
Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the US and its allies will continue to provide “significant” support to Ukraine out of respect for the legacy of D-Day soldiers, whose victory over the Nazis helped lead to a new world order and a “better peace,” reports Navy Times.
Test your knowledge of D-Day, June 6, 1944. See how much you know about the largest amphibious assault in history, a turning point for the US and Allied forces in World War II, with this Defense Department quiz.
The Marine Corps Reserve has operated much like the active corps in years past. Commandant GEN David Berger has launched Force Design 2030 which will have the reserve side take on operational, experimental and capabilities and roles at a level not seen before, reports Marine Corps Times. “As we move aggressively to modernize the force, it is also important to make clear what is not changing. The Marine Corps’ congressionally mandated role as a balanced combined arms team that is ‘most ready when the Nation is least ready,’ our ethos, our discipline, and our maneuver warfare approach is not changing,” Berger wrote in the annual update released last month.
NavSec Carlos Del Toro laid the keel for the future USS District of Columbia (SSBN-826) submarine on Saturday, reports Breaking Defense. The ceremony took place at the General Dynamics Electric Boat facility in Quonset Point, RI.
Fort Worth, TX, is keeping an eye on the competition to build US Army helicopters, reports Fort Worth Report. Three companies — Bell Textron, Sikorsky, and Boeing — are competing for two contracts to build the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Long-Range Assault Aircraft. Bell, headquartered in Fort Worth, employs more than 4,000 people. An aerospace industry expert at the University of Texas at Arlington said losing the bids could be devastating for the companies. “It could be the life and the death of a company,” Dudley Smith said.
Boeing and several Canadian industry partners are collaborating to provide the capability and sustainability of the P-8A Poseidon for the Canadian Multi-Mission Aircraft requirement, reports Seapower Magazine. Team Poseidon, consisting of CAE, GE Aviation Canada, IMP Aerospace & Defence, KF Aerospace, Honeywell Aerospace Canada, and Raytheon Canada, forms the cornerstone of a Canadian P-8 industrial footprint.
CEO Jim Taiclet said Lockheed Martin wants to fund a hypersonic wind tunnel, but the company hasn’t been able to get a revenue commitment from the Defense Department that would allow it to obtain the financing, reports Breaking Defense.
Palantir Technologies’ Alex Karp is the first western CEO to visit Ukraine, reports C4ISRNET. Karp met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other leaders in Kyiv to discuss defense cooperation and the opening of an office for the data analytics company in the war-torn country.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparks renewed interest in the US Army’s Stryker combat vehicle protection system, reports Defense News. In 2016, the Army evaluated its Active Protection Systems that could provide increased protection for Stryker. It decided in 2019 to place the effort on hold after evaluating several possible solutions.
British DefSec Ben Wallace said the United Kingdom will send long-range missiles to Ukraine, reports The Hill. The UK will join the US in bolstering Ukraine’s defensive systems despite threats from Russia that it would target those types of weapons.
The US and South Korea militaries launched ballistic missiles into the sea Monday in a show of force matching a North Korean missile display a day earlier, reports The Associated Press. The live-fire exercise involved eight Army Tactical Missile System missiles.
A GAO review of the US Air Force’s selection for the new Space Command’s headquarters location said the process had “significant shortfalls,” reports Air Force Times. The Government Accountability Office measured the service’s selection method against 21 best practices for analyzing alternatives, grouping those practices into four categories. The agency said the Air Force did not follow best practice in three of the four areas. This comes after the Pentagon Inspector General’s Office said in May that the service followed the law and policies when Alabama was chosen over Colorado as the likely permanent home of the command headquarters.
The US Air Force dominated in the first-ever, service-wide video game tournament, “Halo Infinite,” in San Antonio, TX, reports Military.com. Around 1,000 people watched the first showdown last month as the military seeks to capitalize on the growing interest in electronic sports and gaming, also known as esports.
LT GEN Darryl Williams will be the next commander of US Army Europe and Africa, reports Defense News. Williams has been the superintendent of West Point since 2018.
The Center for Strategic & International Studies said that food insecurity among US veterans and military families is a national security concern, reports Stars and Stripes. The report said that food insecurity issues might hinder recruitment efforts for the armed services.
The US Navy has released the name of the pilot killed Friday when his F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed in the Southern California desert, reports NBC News. LT Richard Bullock was assigned to the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 113. He was flying a routine training mission at the time.
A US naval officer in Japan faces prison time over a deadly crash that killed two people, reports The Associated Press. The Navy lieutenant lost consciousness while driving his car and veered into cars and pedestrians in a parking lot.
Coast Guard Cutter William Tate’s crew set the historic Francis Scott Key Memorial Buoy in the Patapsco River May 25, 2022, near the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. The specially designed star-spangled buoy marks the approximate location where Francis Scott Key witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 and was inspired to write lyrics that would later become the US national anthem. (US Coast Guard photo by Julia Muller)
Homeschoolers at Fort Belvoir, VA, will be allowed to use the gymnasium for physical fitness activities and classroom space for STEM instruction and research on base, InsideNova reports. There is a similar arrangement with the homeschooling community and the military at Joint Base Andrews in Camp Springs, MD.
A new pilot program has begun in the United Kingdom. Thousands of UK workers started a four-day work week from Monday with no cut to their pay, reports CNN Business. The program involves 3,300 workers spanning 70 companies. The workers receive 100% of their pay for working 80% of their usual week, in exchange for promising to maintain 100% of their productivity.
The US Coast Guard suspended the search for a missing man in the Chesapeake Bay over the weekend, reports WTOP News. A 20-foot Boston Whaler fishing boat had been found on a beach near Factory Point, VA. Crews had been looking for 63-year-old Christopher Martin Young.
As demand rises, the Maryland state park system is continuing to grow, reports WTOP News. The state recently opened two new parks in April, bringing the total number of state parks to 53.
Contracts:
Berger Cummins JV, Washington, DC (W912BU-22-D-0009); IAP Worldwide Services Inc., Cape Canaveral, Florida (W912BU-22-D-0010); Inglett & Stubbs International LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (W912BU-22-D-0011); and Texas Power & Associates LLC, Palm Harbor, Florida (W912BU-22-D-0012), will compete for each order of the $249,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide power construction and services support. Bids were solicited via the internet with 11 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 5, 2027. US Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $83,594,365 firm-fixed-price contract to assess energy vulnerabilities and assist in determining the best approach to addressing security threats by performing energy security assessments. Bids were solicited via the internet with three received. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of June 5, 2027. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $2,071,360 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers’ Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W912DY-22-F-0001).
