Navy Orders 6 More Presidential Helicopters

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 helicopter aviation experts are ordering six new VH-92A presidential helicopters. Sikorsky will begin deliveries of the helicopters in 2022. The remaining production aircraft will be delivered in 2022 and 2023, reports Fox Business News.

Lawmakers are calling out the Trump administration over its latest plan to shift billions of dollars meant for the Pentagon’s budget to instead pay for the US-Mexico border wall construction, reports The Hill. The top Democrat and Republican on the House Armed Services Committee are among the numerous lawmakers pushing back on the president Trump’s move to divert $3.8 billion from various weapons programs into its counter-drug fund to be used to build the project.

New rules will greet foreign nationals who rely on a common access card to enter naval installations. They must get permission to keep using it as a pass, reports Navy Times. The new requirement comes amid heightened security measures in the wake of the deadly shooting by a Saudi flight student at Naval Air Station Pensacola in December that killed three sailors and injured eight others.

The US and the Taliban have agreed to reduce violence across Afghanistan, reports Military Times, paving the way for both parties to shake hands on a peace agreement later this month.h.

Southern Maryland has had a proposal for a light rail project called SMRT, or Southern Maryland Rapid Transit, for decades, reports Greater Greater Washington. SMRT has already been the subject of five state studies over the past 25 years — first in 1996, and most recently in 2017. And yet, despite the region’s traffic congestion and transit plans, SMRT falls low on the list of the state’s transit priorities.

A Virginia state lawmaker is confident that a study into extending Metrorail service toward Prince William County, VA, will be approved as part of a new state budget, reports WUSA9. The study would investigate extending the Blue Line beyond Franconia Springfield and toward Fort Belvoir and maybe even Quantico.

DoD will soon adopt rules to govern how it develops and uses artificial intelligence, reports Defense One. A draft of the rules was released by the Defense Innovation Board in October as “Recommendations on the Ethical Use of Artificial Intelligence.” Sources say the department’s policy will follow the draft closely.
“The Department of Defense is in the final stages of adopting AI principles that will be implemented across the US military. An announcement will be made soon with further details,” said Lt. Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson of the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center.

The Pentagon is seeking millions for an unmanned flying gun that could handle airborne or ground-based targets, Fox News reports. DARPA is asking for $13.27 million in its 2021 FY budget request for this gun being called Gunslinger.

With one large carrier in service and another on the way, India has become one of the world’s pre-eminent naval aviation powers, reports The National Interest. What is the strategic rationale for India’s big investment in aircraft carriers?

Some Arizona lawmakers intend to fight a plan by the US Air Force to begin retiring parts of the nation’s fleet of A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jets, reports Air Force Times.

The Army is looking to send troops to the Indo-Pacific region for two to three months longer than past rotations — on top of aligning a security force assistance brigade specifically to the theater, reports Army Times.

Nearly 800 paratroopers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division returned home to Fort Bragg, NC, from Iran as the division readies them to deploy once more for a spring training exercise in Europe, reports Army Times.

Lt. Neil Whitesell is Naval Test Wing Atlantic’s 2019 Test Pilot of the Year. (US Navy Photo)

Lt. Neil Whitesell is Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (UX) 24’s test pilot of the year for 2019, reports Southern Maryland Chronicle. For the past two years, Whitesell and his team have been focused on integrating a brand-new radar system into the MQ-8C Fire Scout, an unmanned helicopter that is designed to provide surveillance and targeting data to warfighters.

The Maryland General Assembly is considering Senate Bill 280 and House Bill 349 (Occupational and Professional Licensing — Service Members, Veterans, and Military Spouses — Revisions to Reciprocity Requirements), legislation that would alter requirements for service members, veterans, and military spouses to receive occupational or professional licenses from the Maryland Department of Labor, reports Herald Mail Media.

Contracts:

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Baltimore, Maryland, was awarded a $233,036,890 firm-fixed-price undefinitized contract action for the procurement of Mk 41 Vertical Launching System vertical launcher module assemblies, modernization kits and spare components. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (74%) and the governments of Korea (18%), Finland (4%), and Germany (4%) under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Baltimore, Maryland (40%); Indianapolis, Indiana (36%); Farmingdale, New York (9%); Saginaw, Michigan (5%); Waverly, Iowa (2%); Thomaston, Connecticut (2%); Chaska, Minnesota (2%); St. Peters, Missouri (1%); Hampstead, Maryland (1%); Santa Rosa, California (1%), and Peachtree City, Georgia (1%), and is expected to be completed by March 2025. Fiscal 2018, 2019 and 2020 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) and foreign military sales funding in the amount of $46,607,377 was obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with one offer received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-20-C-5310). (Awarded Feb. 14, 2020)

Dark Wolf Solutions LLC, Chantilly, Virginia, has been awarded a $75,000,000 blanket purchase agreement for cyber innovation services. This award was made from GSA Professional Services Schedule number:  GS-00F-086GA. The contractor is a Phase III, Small Business Innovation and Research program participant. The location of performance is Hill Air Force Base, Utah. The work to be conducted includes software penetration testing and adversarial assessment. The work is expected to be complete by Oct. 19, 2020. Fiscal 2020 research development test and evaluation funds in the amount of $7,093,286 are being obligated at the time of award via task order FA7014-20-F-0041. Air Force District of Washington, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-20-F-0041).

Advantaged Solutions Inc., Washington, District of Columbia, is awarded a $7,366,754 modification to a previously-awarded firm-fixed-price contract issued against blanket purchase agreement N00104-08-A-ZF42 and the underlying a multiple award schedule to provide technical refresh services for the Navy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Navy ERP technical refresh includes transitioning from its current Oracle database to the systems applications products (SAP) high-performance analytic appliance platform, transferring the entire system from on-premises hosting to SAP cloud hosting, migrating to infrastructure as a service under GovCloud impact level 4 security standards and consolidating Navy financial reporting via universe of transactions. Work will be performed in Loudon, Virginia (85%), and Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (15%), and is expected to be completed by June 2020. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $7,366,754 will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This contract was competitively awarded at a total value of $99,974,125, inclusive of options, in June 2018. This $7,366,754 modification is firm-fixed-price and does not increase the $99,974,125 in total value. The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-18-F-0069).

Science Applications International Corp, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $15,314,248 modification (000168) to contract W31P4Q-18-A-0011 for Force Protection Systems (FPS) Integrated Base Defense Operation Inherent Resolve System Engineering, FPS Counter Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (C-VBIED) Systems Engineering, Close Combat Weapon System Foreign Military Sales engineering and analysis, and FPS Combat Outpost Surveillance Force Protection System (COSFPS) System Engineering. Work will be performed in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $15,314,248 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Schuyler Line Navigation Co. LLC, Annapolis, Maryland, has been awarded a contract modification P00004 on contract HTC711-19-D-W001 in the amount of $7,238,365.  This modification provides continued ocean liner service between Jacksonville/Blount Island, Florida, and US Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The option period of performance is from March 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021. Fiscal 2020 transportation working capital funds were obligated at award. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $14,340,299 from $7,101,934. US Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity.