March 28, 2024

MQ-25 Stingray Arrives for Carrier Trials

Stingray
(Screenshot of NAVAIR Facebook Video)

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The US Navy’s new MQ-25 Stingray carrier-based tanker drone demonstrator is now aboard the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier for the first time to begin deck-handling trials, reports The Drive. USS George H.W. Bush is the first of four Navy flattops set to be modified with the Unmanned Carrier Aviation Mission Control System necessary to operate the MQ-25.

“If it doesn’t threaten China, why are we doing it?” Air Force Sec Frank Kendall said at the Reagan National Defense Forum, referring to aging aircraft like the MQ-9 Reaper, some C-130s, older tankers, and the A-10 Warthog, reports Defense News. The service needs to retire outdated air frames so it can focus on developing modern aircraft to counter a rapidly modernizing Chinese military.

GEN David Thompson warned that China is on a rapid pace in space development, reports Politico, adding to mounting concerns that it could outpace the US in space and gain military advantage. Thompson, the US Space Force’s vice chief of operations, was speaking on “Fox News Sunday” where he said China has the potential to take out US sensors and have first strike capability in space.

The US military interest in the moon is ramping up, reports space.com. Parallel to air, land, and sea skirmishes between nations on Earth, is cislunar space, and perhaps the moon itself, an emerging military “high ground.”

President Joe Biden has pledged to make it “very, very difficult” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to take military action in Ukraine, reports The Associated Press, and said new US initiatives are intended to deter Russian aggression. A video call is being planned for today, December 7, between the two leaders. Biden will press US concerns about Russian military activities on the border, reports AP.

DefSec Lloyd Austin told the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday that the US is “very concerned” about Russia’s massing of troops near the Ukrainian border, reports Military.com.

The National Nuclear Security Administration says that it has completed the first production unit of the B61-12, an updated version of the warhead used on weapons dropped from fighters and bombers, reports Breaking Defense. Currently there are four B61 variants in the nuclear stockpile: the 3, 4, 7, and 11.

The Marine Corps has added a foraging class to The Basic School’s curriculum, reports Marine Corps Times, where new officers will learn how to catch and prepare their own food.

Winners of the 2021 Army Partnership Awards have been announced, reports the Department of the Army. The Army selected seven installations and neighboring communities for demonstrating partnerships that improve quality of life, enhance Army readiness and modernize Army processes, while building stronger community relationships.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) says US leaders should do a better job of insulating the troops from politics, reports Defense News. The military’s credibility with the public has been harmed by the withdrawal from Afghanistan and by politicians’ tendency to use them as “props,” Ernst says.

 

 

 

 

The US Army will start using a new version of its Persistent Cyber Training Environment, or PCTE, early next year, reports C4ISRNET. The service runs PCTE on behalf of the joint cyber force and Cyber Command. Key to the new version is a more user-friendly engine for discovering training events, exercises, or modules available to units.

Navy officials confirmed that petroleum has contaminated a well serving the Navy water system in Hawaii — including housing areas for hundreds of military families who have reported smelling fuel and seeing oily film in their tap water, reports Navy Times. Preliminary tests have found petroleum contaminants in water samples from a school in the Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam water system serving primarily military children, reports Military Times.

Colorado has recently launched two programs, one aimed at removing firefighting foam containing so-called “forever chemicals” from fire departments, military bases, and other properties and an emergency grant program aimed at helping communities where the chemicals have appeared in drinking water, reports The (Colorado) Gazette.

Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh raised a warning flag about the safety of the state’s drinking water systems, reports wbaltv.com. A report commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency finds that the state doesn’t have enough water system inspectors. Staffing in the Maryland Department of the Environment safety program fell from 47 employees to 34 between 2016 and 2020, according to the report.

Twenty members of the US House sent a letter to DefSec Lloyd Austin urging the Pentagon extend a temporary increase in the basic housing allowance for some service members, Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) wrote in a Twitter post. The hike is set to expire at the end of the year.

On Capitol Hill this week, the House Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity will livestream a hearing December 8 on “Removing Barriers to Veteran Home Ownership.”

NASA astronaut candidate Jessica Wittner. (NASA photo)

Six men and four women are the new class of NASA astronaut candidates announced Monday, reports UPI. One of the candidates, Jessica Wittner, graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School in Class 150 at NAS Pax River in 2016.

The Maryland Department of Health website went offline over the weekend, reports WTOP News, and instead redirected visitors to the state’s general government website after a network security breach.

A 79-foot Norway spruce grown on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is now sitting in front of Rockefeller Center in New York City, serving as the centerpiece for the city center celebration, reports Cecil Whig. The tree is not only 79 feet tall, but also 45 feet wide at its lowest branches and weighs about 12 tons. It was grown on Devon and Julie Price’s Glen Farms near Elkton.

This year’s White House Christmas tree might have been grown on Rusty and Beau Estes’ Peak Farms in Jefferson, NC, but it was delivered by a Clydesdale-driven carriage to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue by Suttler Post Farm in Mechanicsville, MD. “Look how beautiful this is,” first lady Jill Biden said of the 18 1/2-foot Fraser fir that was delivered by wagon to her doorstep by Clydesdale horses named Ben and Winston, reports NBC4 in Washington, DC.

Contracts:

AMENTUM Services Inc., Germantown, Maryland, was awarded a $461,792,969 cost-plus-award-fee, cost reimbursement and firm-fixed-price contract for the operation and maintenance of the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC). Work will be performed on Andros Island, Commonwealth of the Bahamas (64%); and West Palm Beach, Florida (36%), and work will continue through December 2031 with all options exercised. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation, Navy in the amount of $50,000 will be obligated at time of award. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the Federal Business Opportunities website with six offers received in response to solicitation number N66604-18-R-0881. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity (N66604-22-C-0102). (Awarded Dec. 2, 2021)

BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $11,647,645 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification (P00003) to a previously awarded and announced contract N00030-22-C-6001 to provide support services for the US Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon Systems program, Attack Weapon System program, and the Nuclear Weapon Security program. Performance will be located at Rockville, Maryland (91.4%); Groton, Connecticut (4.4%); Cape Canaveral, Florida (2.2%); and Saint Mary’s, Georgia (2%), with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2022. Fiscal 2022 ship construction (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,137,816 will be obligated at the time of award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a sole-source acquisition in accordance with 10 US Code 2304(c)(1). Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N00030-22-C-6001).

iWorks Corp., Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $17,020,185.24 firm-fixed-price modification (P00006) to previously awarded contract HS002121C0002 to exercise an option for continued services for seamlessly vetting personnel for access, preserving the adjudicative decision, and identifying and mitigating insider threat risk for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). Work will be performed in and around Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. This option period will be funded with fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance funds. The period of performance for this option is Jan. 5, 2022, through Jan. 4, 2023. This contract modification brings the cumulative value of this contract to $33,706,325. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Chenega Infinity LLC, Chantilly, Virginia, has been awarded a $9,085,775 modification (P00010) to previously awarded contract HR001118C0151 for physical security support services. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $37,503,446 from $28,417,671. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, with an expected completion date of December 2022. Fiscal 22 research and development funds in the amount of $2,007,150 are being obligated at time of award. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

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