Navy Officers Face Criminal Charges for Pacific Collisions
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A four-star admiral recommends commanding officers of the two ships involved in separate deadly collisions last summer should face court-martial, reports Military.com. In all, five officers and a chief petty officer have been recommended for possible criminal charges following the convening of a Consolidated Disposition Authority headed by ADM Frank Caldwell, director of the Navy’s nuclear propulsion program. USNI News first reported the charge recommendations, and a Navy surface boss is expected to step down under pressure in the latest collision fallout, reports Defense News.
President Trump did exceedingly well on a cognitive test, the top White House doctor says, reports The Washington Post. Navy RADM Ronny L. Jackson administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and said the president achieved a score of 30 points on the 10-minute exam designed to detect mild cognitive impairment, such as dementia, generally in older patients.
More than 100 lawmakers call on Trump to include climate change as a security threat, reports The Hill.
Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Handling) 1st Class Paul Hall signals to an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the Fighting Redcocks of Strike Fighter Attack Squadron (VFA) on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on Jan. 15, 2018, in the Arabian Gulf. Theodore Roosevelt and its carrier strike group are deployed to the US 5th Fleet area of operations in support of maritime security operations to reassure allies and partners and preserve the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the region. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alex Corona/Released)
A group of 21 US state attorneys general filed suit to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to do away with net neutrality, reports Reuters. Democrats said they needed just one more vote in the Senate to repeal the FCC ruling. The state attorneys, including those of California, New York, and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, filed a petition to challenge the action, calling it “arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion” and saying that it violated federal laws and regulations.
A US warship capable of operating the F-35B arrives in Japan, reports The Diplomat (paywall). The USS Wasp, following modifications of its flight deck, is capable of operating the Marine Corps’ variant of the supersonic fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. F-35B fighters are expected to embark on the Wasp when it begins scheduled patrols in the coming weeks.
Lockheed Martin is developing a successor to one of the fastest aircraft the world has seen, the SR-71 Blackbird, the Cold War reconnaissance craft the US Air Force retired almost three decades ago, reports Bloomberg. Company officials have say the hypersonic SR-72 — called the Son of Blackbird by one publication — could fly by 2030.
The Navy has tested a Boeing-built P-8 Poseidon aircraft equipped with an identification friend-or-foe technology at the NAS Patuxent River’s anechoic chamber, reports ExecutiveGov.
US Central Command says the number of civilian contractors supporting US and coalition operations in Iraq against the Islamic State is on the rise, reports Military Times, even as major military operations there have ceased.
Think the flu season is bad? It might even get worse, says Bloomberg. “Flu is everywhere in the US right now,” said Dan Jernigan, director of the influenza division at the national Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “This is the first year we have had the entire continental US be the same color on the graph, meaning there is widespread activity in all of the continental US at this point.”
House Republicans coalesce behind a plan to avert shutdown, reports Politico.
A false missile warning was sent out in Japan three days after erroneous message in Hawaii, reports NPR. A switching error is blamed.
Contracts:
M.C. DEAN Inc., Tysons, Virginia, was awarded a $19,614,766 firm-fixed-price contract for recapitalization of uninterruptible power supplies and load centers, Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work will be performed in Aurora, Colorado, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 17, 2020. Fiscal 2016 other procurement (Army) funds in the amount of $19,614,766 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-18-C-0006).
