March 29, 2024

Navy Offers Early Shipping Bonuses to Recruits

Recruits

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 is offering early shipping bonuses to new recruits, reports Navy Times. These recruits could get at least $25,000 to enlist active duty and ship out before the end of June. Some bonuses could be even higher, for example, for submarine information systems technicians.

The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford is set to get underway again this month, reports Navy Times. The Navy says F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, E-2D Hawkeyes, and MH-60S Nighthawks completed more than 400 day and night catapult launches and trap recoveries as part of the certification process. Deployment is scheduled for the fall.

Ukraine and its allies are bracing for the worst as Russian forces are regrouping in eastern Ukraine, reports The Hill. Civilians there are being urged to evacuate. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley warned last week that there is a “significant battle yet ahead.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pleading for more Western aid, reports The Associated Press. He told “60 Minutes” that his forces need heavier firepower to resist the coming onslaught and push Russian forces back. The coming week could be crucial, with Western support to his country — or the lack thereof — proving decisive, he said.

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer is heading to Europe this week with a bipartisan group of lawmakers to demonstrate solidarity with the US’ NATO allies, reports The Hill. The group will begin in Germany and then travel to Denmark before going to Poland.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) led a group of bipartisan lawmakers to Poland to meet with its prime minister and officials from Ukraine to discuss the ongoing war, reports UPI.

President Joe Biden was expected to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, reports The Associated Press. India has remained neutral on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Biden was expected to push the prime minister to come out against the war.

China is believed to have delivered HG-22 surface missiles to Serbia, an ally of Russia, reports Military.com. Six Chinese Air Force Y-20 reportedly landed in Belgrade. “The Y-20s’ appearance raised eyebrows because they flew en masse as opposed to a series of single-aircraft flights,” according to The Warzone. “The Y-20′s presence in Europe in any numbers is also still a fairly new development.”

The US Space Force will test an experimental navigation satellite in the US Army’s upcoming annual PNT Assessment Exercise (PNTAX), reports C4ISRNET. The Air Force awarded L3Harris an $84 million contract in 2018 to develop the NTS-3 satellite.

 

 

Erik Raven is the new undersecretary of the Navy, and Bill LaPlante will assume the role of the Pentagon’s top weapons buyer, reports Defense News. Both were confirmed by the US Senate late last week. Raven had served as the majority clerk for the Senate’s defense appropriations subcommittee. LaPlante was the former Air Force acquisition chief from 2013 to 2015 who most recently has served as chief executive of Draper.

Dirk Lesko, president of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, unexpectedly retired last week, reports USNI. Robert Smith would be the interim president. Smith for the past several years has been the executive vice president for marine systems for General Dynamics.

Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion posts are seeing their memberships dwindling, reports Military.com. The VFW had a record 2.1 million members in 1992. By last year, that number was just a little more than 1 million, meaning it has lost half its members in a generation. The aging membership continue to lose veterans, and the generation of retired service members from two decades of combat this millennium haven’t shown up to fill their shoes.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched Friday carrying retired NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria and three civilians on the first all-commercial flight to the International Space Station arrived Saturday, reports CNN. They will stay for a week.

Among the experiments that the crew on the all-private mission will take part in is one that could help NASA build larger space telescopes, reports space.com. The Ax-1 mission, is being coordinated by Houston company Axiom Space.

VinFast, the largest automaker in Vietnam, said it is bringing its electric cars to the United States, reports Hawaii Public Radio. The company is hoping the cars will be popular in the US market.

Contracts:

CACI INC.–FEDERAL, Chantilly, Virginia (FA564122D0001); and M.C. Dean Inc., Tysons, Virginia (FA564122D0002), have been awarded a $91,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for U.S. European Command integrated base defense security systems. This contract provides for streamlined delivery of electronic security and emergency management deliverable products in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility. The product solutions will be provided to various locations throughout the U.S. European Command area of responsibility with delivery locations concentrated in Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Belgium, and Kosovo. The initial three-year ordering period for the contract ends April 6, 2025, with four optional one-year ordering periods ending April 6, 2029, and potential performance through April 6, 2030. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with three offers received. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $5,000 total will be obligated to the guaranteed minimum delivery orders, which will be issued concurrently with the basic contracts. Air Force Installation Contracting Command, 764th Enterprise Sourcing Squadron, Ramstein Air Base, Germany, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 7, 2022)

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $12,541,060 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00001) to a previously awarded contract (N00014-22-C-1004) for the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory Autonomous Littoral Connector (ALC) project. The ALC project integrates autonomy onto connectors (vessels) to deliver equipment, fuel or supplies from ship-to-shore and throughout the littoral environment; improves autonomous beaching, well deck ops, payload integration; conducts an Amphibious Assault Direction System spiral; and adds autonomous navigation to multiple vessels. This modification provides for the execution of Option 7, Contract Line Item Number 0015, for an additional vessel (AV) and design, build and test of AV #1. Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by April 10, 2026. This action brings the cumulative value of the contract to $15,924,605. The total potential amount for the contract, including unexercised options, is $40,694,536. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $100,000 are obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Office of Naval Research, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded an $11,159,678 firm-fixed-price modification to previously-awarded contract N61331-20-D-0006 for maritime armor systems, to support the Antiterrorism Afloat Equipage Program. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by May 2023. If all options are exercised, then performance will be completed May 2025 and not exceed $19,329,230. No funding will be obligated at time of award. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida, is the contracting activity.

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