March 29, 2024

Morning Coffee: Triton is Ultimate Search Tool

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

The US Navy has the perfect search tool for looking for missing Malaysian Air Flight 370 in the Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton but it is not yet operational. While work continues on the high altitude long endurance (HALE) drone at Edwards AFB and at NAS Patuxent River, the Navy has utilized existing, and far less effective, search resources including destroyers, MH-60R helicopters (both of which have been removed from the search), and P-3 Orion and P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Foxtrot Alpha takes a detailed look at the Triton’s extensive capabilities for broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) including the ability to search 2.7 million square miles of sea or coastline in a single mission. The MQ-4C will be deployed within a few years which will end technically archaic, manpower intensive, international search missions.

Republican lawmakers want to cut the DoD civilian workforce by 15 percent in an effort to save $82.5 billion over five years, reports Defense One. Rep. Ken Calvert, (R-Ca.), who introduced the measure, believes that the civilian workforce has become unnecessarily large over the last decade. He said, “The growth of the civilian workforce within the DoD continues to create a significant budgetary burden but, more importantly, if left unchecked it will negatively impact our men and women in uniform. Many of our civilians at the Pentagon and around the world do a fine job but their growth is unsustainable.”

DefSec Chuck Hagel announced several security clearance policy changes Tuesday as part of the investigation conclusions concerning the Washington Navy Yard shooting incident last year, reports the Military Times. The DoD wants to narrow access to classified information by shrinking the list of 3.5 million people who currently hold active security clearances. “Continuous evaluations” of personnel holding clearances will now be conducted instead of updating background checks only when a security clearance is up for renewal. Mr. Hagel said the Pentagon may reduce the number of people holding secret-level security clearances by at least 10 percent.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jon Greenert said Tuesday that the service will continue to pay sailors’ tuition assistance fully through fiscal year 2015, reports the Navy Times. The Navy had planned to transition to a system where sailors paid 25 percent and the Navy paid 75 percent of tuition costs. Adm. Greenert told an all-hands call in Kings Bay, Ga., “I’ll put the money in, because I want an educated sailor and I want you to leave with all the certifications you can so you can get a good job when you leave the Navy.”

A new Social Security disability claims process for a special category of veterans was announced Tuesday, according to Star and Stripes. Veterans with a VA disability compensation rating of 100 percent Permanent and Total will now have their applications for Social Security disability benefits expedited. The SSA news release stated, “We have reached another milestone for those who have sacrificed so much for our country, and this process ensures they will get the benefits they need quickly. While we can never fully repay them for their sacrifices, we can be sure we provide them with the quality of service that they deserve. This initiative is truly a lifeline for those who need it most.”

The Military Times has provided a reminder to military health care beneficiaries that walk-in  service ends March 31, 2014 at all 189 Tricare offices in US military hospitals and clinics. The cost-cutting measure is part of the reorganization of the military medical system under the Defense Health Agency. A Tricare spokesman said, “Many Tricare Service Centers were seeing small numbers of walk-in customers each day. It didn’t make sense to continue this approach from a customer service perspective or a cost perspective.”

Lockheed Martin announced Tuesday that it is working with Atlantis Resources, Ltd to advance the generation of global tidal energy, according to MarketWatch. The companies will be working on the design of Atlantis’ new AR1500 1.5-megawatt tidal turbine which is designed to operate in highly energetic tidal locations. A Lockheed representative stated, “Lockheed Martin’s technology, development and expertise in ocean systems and global system integration skills will enable the AR1500 to use powerful tides to produce safe, clean renewable energy for homes and businesses around the world.”

The Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) announced this week that four contractors have been selected to compete to build a high-speed, vertical take-off and landing X-plane, reports Flightglobal. Boeing, Sikorsky, Karem Aircraft and Aurora Flight Sciences will submit designs from which DARPA will select one to build a technology demonstrator and perform flight tests by 2017-18.

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