March 29, 2024

Morning Coffee: Hoyer Supports Wind Farm Limits

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.Morning Coffee logo

Congressman Steny Hoyer spoke to the Maryland Senate Finance Committee on Monday in support of a bill that would place limits on the proposed Eastern Shore wind farm because it may interfere with NAS Patuxent River flight testing radar, reports delmarvanow.com. Rep. Hoyer said limiting the height of turbines while an MIT study is completed would be in the best interest of clean energy and NAS Pax River which generates $7.5 billion annually for the state’s economy.  Maryland US Sens. Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin back the bill which passed the House of Delegates in mid-March. However, it requires Gov. Martin O’Malley’s signature to become law and he does not support it as currently written.

House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wis.), released the House Republican fiscal 2015 spending plan on Tuesday which would increase the amount federal employees would pay toward retirement with no increase in benefits, reports the Washington Post. Rep. Ryan’s staff said  employee contributions would increase to 6.35 percent of salary for most federal workers, an increase of more than 5.5 percent for the majority. The plan was unanimously denounced by federal employee organizations.

DefSec Chuck Hagel commented on the importance and future of security efforts in the Asia-Pacific region, provided in its entirety in Defense One. “In a world where security challenges do not adhere to political boundaries and our economies are linked as never before, no nation can go it alone and hope to prosper. Achieving sustained security and prosperity in the 21st century requires nations to work together and to meet common challenges with uncommon unity and purpose. This kind of unity is increasingly visible in the Asia-Pacific, one of the most critical regions for global security and the global economy.”

Northrop Grumman will present a media briefing at the Navy League’s 2014 Sea-Air-Space Exposition which will be held April 7-9 at the Gaylord National Resort, National Harbor, Md., reports the Wall Street Journal. The presentation will highlight new ways to reduce costs and improve the performance of current and future US Navy systems including unmanned, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization. The company will also display a full-scale model of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS), a tailless, strike fighter-sized unmanned aircraft developed by the company for the Navy’s UCAS program.

The Navy is considering using Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) aircraft as an aerial refueling tanker to relieve its fleet of Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornets from refueling duties and allow them to conduct more strike missions, reports USNI News. But some industry sources are skeptical and say that there will not be enough UCLASS aircraft in the Navy arsenal to perform the refueling mission, especially as the Super Hornet aircraft ages.

March was the first month in 11 years without American troop casualties in Afghanistan or Iraq, according to Time Magazine. The deadliest year in Iraq for US troops was 2007, when 904 died, and 2010 in Afghanistan with 496 dead. A total of 4,486 US troops were killed in Iraq, including in accidents and other non-hostile events while the toll in Afghanistan stands at 2,315.

A six-year-old boy was a Navy SEAL for a day last weekend, according to the Navy Times. Mason Rudder, who was born with a neuromuscular condition that also affects his bones and joints, shot guns and set off explosions under the guidance of Jared Ogden, a retired SEAL.

Lockheed Martin officials warned last year of sequestration induced layoffs, furloughs, and a disastrous impact to its supply chain but things worked out on a positive note, according to the Washington Times. Lockheed saw a $7 billion increase in contracts from federal agencies in 2013 and the company’s stock closed Tuesday near its 52-week high, up nearly 75 percent from the beginning of April 2013. Partly fueled by huge orders including billions for Navy F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, Lockheed remains the top federal contractor.

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