Navy Mulls New Commander for Robotic Forces

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 reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

US Navy Chief of Naval Operations ADM Daryl Caudle says the service is considering establishing a robotic autonomous systems commander to oversee unmanned capabilities, reports Breaking Defense. Caudle was speaking to reporters Feb. 10 at the WEST 2026 conference in San Diego, CA.

Currently, Caudle says, the Navy has organized robotic autonomous systems by the domain they operate–surface, subsurface, and air–but the nature of how the systems could work together may require a new task force commander, reports USNI News.

Earlier this month, Caudle released the service’s “Fighting Instructions,” which outlines how the Navy plans to organize, train, equip, and fight, Breaking Defense reports.

The US military continues its push to move more weaponry into the Middle East for possible strikes on Iran, reports NBC on MSN.

As tensions mount with Iran and the US ramps up its military presence in the Middle East, preparations are being made to withdraw US troops that remain in Syria, reports BBC on MSN. The Syrian government has agreed to take the lead combatting terrorism within its borders, and US military presence is no longer required.

The USS Gerald R. Ford’s extension to the Middle East could break post-Vietnam War deployment records, reports USNI News. If the carrier strike group remains deployed after April 15, it will have broken the 294-day recent record for carrier deployments set by USS Abraham Lincoln in 2020. If Ford remains deployed until early May, it will start to rival the more than 300-day extended deployments of US aircraft carriers to the Gulf of Tonkin.

ArmySec Dan Driscoll has been ordered to oust one of his top advisers, COL David Butler, reports The Hill. DefSec Pete Hegseth directed Driscoll, who is currently in Switzerland as part of the US delegation negotiating to end the war in Ukraine, to remove Butler from his post. Butler also had served as a spokesman for GEN Mark Milley when he was the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Operation Absolute Resolve, the Jan. 3 capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, relied on a little-known cyber center, the Joint Integrated Fire Center, reports Breaking Defense. A JIFC to better integrate cyber and non-kinetic effects was proved out during operations, said VADM Hedi Berg, commander of 10th Fleet/Fleet Cyber Command.

The Pentagon is reviewing its partnership with AI firm Anthropic over alleged artificial intelligence use concerns in the Venezuela operation to capture Maduro, citing potential “supply chain risk” from company practices and policies, reports Fox News.

While speaking to troops at Fort Bragg earlier this month, President Donald Trump revealed that US helicopter pilots were wounded in the Jan. 3 Venezuelan raid, reports Army Times. Trump said the operation left American helicopter pilots wounded “pretty bad in the legs.”

The US military has boarded another oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, reports AP News. The Defense Department said that US forces boarded the Veronica III, conducting “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.”

Boeing will move its defense and space headquarters back to St. Louis, MO, but its global headquarters will remain in Arlington, VA, reports Defense One. The company also recently relocated some engineering work for Boeing’s 737 from Seattle to South Carolina.

Coherent Technical Services Inc. in St. Mary’s County has received a grant from the Maryland Manufacturing 4.0 program, the state’s Department of Commerce reports. The program helps local businesses invest in Industry 4.0 technologies. CTSi’s project deploys AI-enabled autonomous material-handling carts and automated door systems to create an internal logistics network that increases production efficiency, reduces manual transport time, and enhances quality flow across machining, sheet-metal, finishing, logistics, and assembly operations. The grant recipients are listed here.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Webster Outlying Field’s Ship and Air Integrated Warfare division developed and is installing upgrades to aircraft carrier ready rooms across the Navy’s fleet, reports The Southern Maryland Chronicle.

Michelle Passfeld was named the 2025 NAWCAD Patuxent River Supervisor of the Year, reports NAVAIR News. Passfeld is the Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems division’s Expeditionary and Range Systems branch head at Webster Outlying Field. She joined the WOLF ATC&LS division in 1996, where she supported software and hardware development of air traffic control systems.

John Bentivegna, chief master sergeant of the US Space Force, warns that the service’s current force is not big enough to meet growing national security demands, reports Federal News Network. Bentivegna was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month. “To confront the threats of today and tomorrow, doubling the size of the United States Space Force is a national security necessity,” he said.

Veterans Affairs has restored gun rights to some disabled veterans, reports Navy Times, ending a practice that prevented veterans who can’t manage their finances from owning guns. Officials say the change will restore constitutional rights to nearly 200,000 former service members.

Two California congressmen are raising concerns over offshore oil and gas leasing near military sites, reports Lassen County Times. Democratic Reps. John Garamendi and Salud Carbajal, both members of the House Armed Services Committee, expressed concerns in a letter to DefSec John Phelan over the Interior Department’s draft proposed oil and gas leasing program, which would open areas of US coastal waters to new offshore drilling.

Three universities in the state are receiving funds through the Maryland E-Nnovation Initiative Fund to create new research professorships, reports CityBiz. The fund was created to spur basic and applied research in scientific and technical fields at higher education institutions. Bowie State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore will share the $5.8 million in grants.

Contracts awarded in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., Feb. 19-20, 2026:

DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a $94,745,601 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development. This contract provides the Air Force with comprehensive tools to model, analyze, assess, and predict mission-level effects based on sensor performance obtained empirically or through modeling, simulation, and analysis across multiple domains to include air, ground, space, and cyber. Work will be performed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 19, 2031. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and six offers were received. Fiscal 2025 and 2026 research and development funds in the amount of $257,589 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA2377-26-C-B005). 

Mathtech Inc.,* Falls Church, Virginia, is being awarded $10,555,868 for a firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of 123 Intercommunication Systems (96 for the Navy, 23 for France and four for Japan) in support of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Airborne Command and Control platform. The contract does not contain an option provision. All work will be performed in Falls Church, Virginia, and work is expected to be completed by August 2027. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to France (20%), and Japan (3%). Fiscal 2026 working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $8,132,019 (77%), FMS funds (France) in the amount of $2,064,760 (20%); and FMS funds (Japan) in the amount of $359,089 (3%), will be obligated at 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 pursuant to the authority set forth in 10 U.S. Code 3204 (a)(1) and one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00383-26-C-LA25).

*Small business

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is being awarded a $78,429,802 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost only contract for engineering labor, program management, engineering other direct costs, travel, and material in support of development, qualification, certification, and integration initiatives required to maintain fielded AN/SQQ-89A(V)15 Surface Ship Undersea Warfare Combat System baselines and perform integration and certification of future baselines. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (82%); and the governments of Japan (13%); and Australia (5%), under the Foreign Military Sales program. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $479,933,956. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (73%); Fairfax, Virginia (12%); Uniontown, Pennsylvania (8%); Reston, Virginia (6%); and San Diego, California (1%), and is expected to be completed by February 2027. If all options are exercised, work will continue through February 2031. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,098,645 (55%); fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,486,759 (33%); fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $516,538 (7%); fiscal 2026 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $250,000 (3%); and fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $115,993 (2%), will be obligated at the time of award and will not at expire the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-26-C-5203).

Oshkosh Defense LLC, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is awarded a $16,858,705 hybrid firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, modification to the delivery order for the procurement of Remotely Operated Ground Unit for Expeditionary Fires carriers for use in the Navy and Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System. Work will be performed in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (60%); Gaithersburg, Maryland (20%); Alexandria, Virginia (10%); and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (10%). Work is expected to be completed in December 2026. Fiscal 2026 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $12,270,247 will be obligated at the time of the modification and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Fiscal 2026 research, development, test and evaluation (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $4,588,459 will be obligated at the time of the modification and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This action is a negotiated modification to the delivery order in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3403(c). Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-22-F-1005-P00008).

Sigmatech, Inc., Colorado Springs, Colardo has been awarded a $10,139,300 firm fixed-price contract for technical support. This contract provides for systems engineering and technical assistance support for Office of the Assistant Secretary for Space Acquisition and Integration. Work will be performed at the National Capital Region and is expected to be completed by Aug. 23, 2026.  This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2026 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $6,100,337 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland is the contracting agency (FA7014-26-C0013).