Musk Takes Aim at F-35
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Billionaire Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla and SpaceX and soon to be in charge of cutting federal spending, wrote on X that the US should pull the plug on the Lockheed-Martin’s F-35. “Some US weapons systems are good, albeit overpriced, but please, in the name of all that is holy, let us stop the worst military value for money in history that is the F-35 program!” reports Military.com.
“I would expect, over time, that there will be different priorities in this administration,” Lockheed CFO Jay Malave said, according to Defense One. “It typically happens, [that] the administration prioritizes things that maybe the prior one didn’t. I think the good thing about Lockheed Martin is that we’re accustomed to that. We know how to operate in that environment and how to adjust quickly.”
Family members of an Air Force special operations airman Staff Sgt. Jacob Galliher, who was killed in a CV-22 Osprey crash last year, have filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft’s manufacturers. The lawsuit named the manufacturers Boeing and Bell Textron as well as Universal Stainless and Alloy Products, a subcontractor that provided metal for the aircraft’s gearbox implicated in the crash.
President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate Kash Patel to serve as FBI director, turning to a fierce ally to upend America’s premier law enforcement agency and rid the government of perceived “conspirators,” reports AP News.
AP News reports Trump has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Task & Purpose reports Trump’s picks for top military advisers include veterans of the Global War on Terrorism including some who have shown distrust for the foreign interventionist ideology that started the GWOT, including VP-elect JD Vance; former Army National Guard MAJ Pete Hegseth, DefSec nominee; and Army Reserve LTCOL Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence. Other GWOT veterans include Air Force veteran Doug Collins, nominee for VASec and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) a retired National Guard colonel and Green Beret, appointed as National Security Advisor.
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CN) are calling on President Joe Biden and DefSec Lloyd Austin to issue a directive prohibiting the mobilization of active-duty troops against Americans before Trump returns to power. Stars and Stripes reports the senators said they fear Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act beyond its legal limits in a quest to target political opponents. The law allows the president to deploy military personnel within US borders in narrow circumstances of insurrection, rebellion, or extreme civil unrest.
Trump demanded the immediate release of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza, in a Tuesday post on Truth Social, reports Military.com. “Please let this TRUTH serve to represent that if the hostages are not released prior to January 20, 2025, the date that I proudly assume Office as President of the United States, there will be ALL HELL TO PAY in the Middle East, and for those in charge who perpetrated these atrocities against Humanity.”
Stars and Stripes reports the US Space Force is standing up a new unit at Yokota Air Base, an airlift hub in western Tokyo, to address growing threats from China, Russia, and North Korea, according to the service’s regional commander.
The Navy relieved the commanding officer of Navy Reserve Center Cheyenne, WY, LTCMDR Christopher Bourque, on Tuesday, reports Navy Times. The service announced he was relieved “due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.”
Three American citizens imprisoned for years by China arrived back in the United States late Wednesday, reports AP News, Mark Swidan, Kai Li, and John Leung. The Chinese government announced that the US had returned four people to China, but did not identify them.
Roughly one-third of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ projected 2025 medical budget shortfall is due to the costs of new medications for illnesses found in veterans including a fatty liver disease and for weight-loss drugs. These medications take up $2 billion of the $6.6 billion requested from Congress.
Veterans Affairs officials on Tuesday announced a $1.5 million grant to study MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol use disorder among veterans, the first department-funded research on psychedelic benefits in more than five decades, reports Military Times.
The DoD is eyeing localized quantum sensors as a radical alternative to the increasingly threatened space-based Global Positioning System satellites needed for precision navigation and timing, reports Air and Space Forces Magazine. The Pentagon’s acquisition outpost in Silicon Valley is seeking commercial partners to help develop alternatives that don’t rely on easily jammed signals from thousands of miles above the earth.
Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) departed the Port Klang Cruise Terminal in Malaysia on Wednesday, and is sailing down the Malacca Strait heading to the South China Sea, reports USNI. The Lincoln docked in on Saturday for a four-day liberty call, the carrier’s first visit since the arrest of Leonard “Fat Leonard” Francis in 2013, who previously owned the cruise terminal.
A California man has been charged with shipping weapons and ammunition to North Korea and told investigators they were to be used for a surprise attack on South Korea, authorities said Tuesday. Military.com reports Shenghua Wen came to the US from China on a student visa more than a decade ago after meeting with North Korean officials who instructed him to procure goods for the North Korean government, according to the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
Reuters reports, on Tuesday, China banned exports to the US of the critical minerals gallium, germanium, and antimony that have widespread military applications, escalating trade tensions the day after Washington curbed exports to 140 Chinese companies, the US’s third crackdown in three years on China’s semiconductor industry. Also on Tuesday, four of China’s top industry associations warned Chinese companies to be wary of buying US chips as they are “no longer safe” and to buy locally instead.
Russia conducted a “massive” attack against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure last week, firing nearly 200 missiles and drones and leaving more than a million households without power, Military.com reports. Russia’s second major aerial attack on Ukraine’s power grid in less than two weeks amplified fears that the Kremlin aims to cripple the country’s power generation capacity before winter.
The world’s 100 largest defense companies increased their combined revenues from sales of arms and military services by 4.2% last year, totaling $632 billion, according to a report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, reports Stars and Stripes.
Included in 2024 holiday movies is a WWII drama about the women who cleared a backlog of 17 million undelivered letters in 90 days. Tyler Perry’s film, The Six Triple Eight, follows real-life events of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the US Army, the only battalion of women of color who served during that war. Stationed in Europe with the arduous mission, the battalion exceeded all expectations and deadlines. Collider.com reports The Six Triple Eight premiers in select theaters Friday, Dec. 6, followed by its streaming debut Dec. 20 exclusively on Netflix.
Sodexo Management Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, has been awarded a firm-fixed-price requirements-type contract valued at $13,085,902 for in-store delicatessen and bakery resale operations, including sushi (where applicable), for 10 commissaries situated in the Central and East Area of the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA). The initial performance period will last for 24 months, commencing on Feb. 1, 2025, with an option for one additional year of performance. Should all option periods be exercised, the contract is set to conclude on Jan. 31, 2028. The solicitation was conducted under Federal Acquisition Regulation 13.5 Streamlined Acquisition Procedures as a result of the independent government cost estimate, targeting the three current DeCA continental US commissary contractors. Two proposals were received. This is not a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) buy. The contracting activity is managed by the Defense Commissary Agency, Resale Contracting Division, Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia (HDEC02-25-D-0002).
Argon St Inc., Fairfax, Virginia, is being awarded $17,911,288 for a ceiling-price delivery order (N00383-25-F-ST00) under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement (N00383-22-G-ST01) for the repair of the communications interface unit for the support of operations of the MQ-4C Triton aircraft. All work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by November 2026. Working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,776,531 will be obligated at the time of award, and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this sole-source requirement under authority 10 US Code 3204 (a)(1), with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
Anduril Industries Inc., Costa Mesa, California, is being awarded a fixed amount production other transaction agreement (HQ0883-25-9-0001) with a value of $100,000,000. Under this award, the performer will scale its edge data integration services capabilities. The work will be primarily performed in the National Capital Region with an estimated completion date of November 2028. Fiscal 2024 and 2025 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $33,000,000 are being obligated at time of award. The production other transaction agreement was previously competed as a prototype other transaction under the authority of 10 US Code 4022(a)(1). The production agreement is authorized under 10 US Code 4022(f). Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
UPDATE: Nationwide IT Services Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (SP4709-25-D-0002, $11,930,670,028) has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract for J6 Enterprise Technology Services 2.0, issued against solicitation SP4709-23-R-0001 and awarded Sept. 17, 2024. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Contracting Services Office, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $35,000,000 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-16-C-2116 to establish an Advanced Weapons Elevator Center of Excellence. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2025. Fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $35,000,000 (100%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Ghostrock Systems Development LLC, Anchorage, Alaska (N64498-25-D-0001); Goldbelt PRISM LLC, Juneau, Alaska (N64498-25-D-0002); Mills Marine & Ship Repair LLC, Suffolk, Virginia (N64498-25-D-0003); O&A Technical Services LLC, Chesapeake, Virginia (N64498-25-D-0004); and Solvere Technical Group LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N64498-25-D-0005), are awarded a combined $25,182,488 cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for a machinery alteration program to develop and execute various ship changes to upgrade and maintain various Navy hull mechanical and electrical systems. Each awardee will be awarded $500 (meeting the $500 minimum contract guarantee per awardee) at contract award. Work will be completed at various homeports, including Norfolk, Virginia; San Diego, California; Everett, Washington; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; and Mayport, Florida, and is expected to be completed by October 2030. Fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $2,500 will be obligated at time of award which will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. All other funding will be made available at the task order level as contracting actions occur. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management (SAM) website, with six offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
