March 29, 2024

Navy Setting Stage for RIMPAC 2022

RIMPAC
Landing Craft Air Cushion 40 assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5 approaches the well deck of amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego while transiting the Pacific Ocean to participate in Rim of the Pacific 2016. More than two dozen nations participate in RIMPAC in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. It is the world’s largest international maritime exercise. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joseph M. Buliavac/Released)

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 said Rim of the Pacific 2022, the world’s largest maritime exercise, will take place from June 29 to August 4 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, reports Breaking Defense. The exercise, dubbed RIMPAC, will feature 26 countries, 38 surface ships, four submarines, 170 aircraft, and approximately 25,000 personnel. The exercise sends a message about the readiness of the democratic world to deter aggression in the Pacific region.

Japan said it will deploy its recently converted aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific region, reports Defense News. Deployments will see Japan forces participate in naval exercises, including the RIMPAC throughout July and the Kakadu exercise in Australia in September. The Philippines also will join the more than two dozen other nations in the maritime exercise, reports Philstar.com.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the United Nations, said the US will push for new UN sanctions against North Korea if it conducts a nuclear weapon test, reports UPI. The UN Security Council has passed a resolution to punish North Korea for its ballistic missile tests.

Fifty-four operational F-35A fighter jets now operate out of Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, reports The National Interest. This increases the US Air Force’s attack range and firepower across the Northern Hemisphere. The fighters there can reach anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere in one sortie.

A US Navy pilot was killed Friday when his F/A-18E Super Hornet crashed in the desert in Southern California, reports Military.com. The jet was based at Naval Air Station Lemoore. No other information was immediately available.

On Thursday, NAS Lemoore Naval Air Forces Public Affairs said a sailor with the Strike Fighter Squadron 97 was performing routine maintenance on an F-35C Lighting II when they were injured, Fox26News reports. The sailor was listed in critical condition at the time. No other updates were available.

Inflation worries have lawmakers questioning whether the next military pay raise will be adequate to keep military families in good financial health, reports Navy Times.

Sixty-five House of Representatives members believe the Department of Veterans Affairs’ home loan program isn’t keeping pace with an increasingly competitive housing market and leaving veterans at a disadvantage against buyers with commercial loans, reports Military.com.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough said the department is behind in its goal of placing 38,000 veterans in permanent housing this year, and coronavirus is to blame, reports Military Times. McDonough was speaking Friday at the annual National Coalition for Homeless Veterans conference.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterans unemployment is continuing its steady recent decline, reports Military Times. In May, the jobless rate was below 3% for the third consecutive month.

 

 

Germany has chosen the Boeing CH-47F Chinook over the Lockheed Martin Sikorsky’s CH-53K as its future heavy lift helicopter, reports Breaking Defense. Boeing will deliver 60 helicopters under the deal. Germany also plans to purchase seven new P-8 Poseidon maritime-surveillance planes in addition to five copies ordered last year, reports Defense News, and 35 F-35s.

Littoral Combat Ship USS Sioux City is now operating in the Persian Gulf, reports USNI News. The deployment marks a first for the Freedom variant.

Chief of Naval Operations ADM Michael Gilday said the Navy could offer retired Littoral Combat Ships to South American countries, reports Breaking Defense. The service has spent much of its time defending its choice to retire nine LCSs, and Gilday floated this option that would keep the ships on active duty, just not for the US.

The situation with baby formula might be a little better in some military stores than in civilian stores outside the gate, depending on the location, reports Military Times. The formula shortage at overseas commissaries has worsened a bit.

The Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Office, or CDAO, reached full operations June 1 as all of its leadership positions have been filled, reports Defense News. Leaders named last week included Chief Operating Officer Dan Folliard, Chief Technology Officer Bill Streilein, and Chief of AI Assurance Jane Pinelis.

CNBC looks at how the US Space Force plans to police outer space, where it’s getting crowded with commercial endeavors and secretive military projects. It’s going to be up to the Space Force to protect American interests there.

A Montgomery County lawmaker called on Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to declare state of emergency on elections, reports WTOP News. State Sen. Cheryl Kagan (D) wants the governor to declare a state of emergency before the state’s primary election to address what she calls an “impending electoral crisis.” She said that local boards of election are struggling with “unprecedented challenges,” citing the delayed approval of the state’s redistricting map, a rescheduled primary election day and mail delays.

Whoever bought the $1 million winning Powerball ticket from the December 20, 2021, drawing has until Monday, June 20, to claim their prize, reports The Southern Maryland Chronicle. The ticket was purchased at New Hampshire Sunoco in Montgomery County at 6360 New Hampshire Avenue in Takoma Park. Winners have 182 days from the date of drawings to claim prizes.

Contracts:

C4 Planning Solutions LLC, Blythe, Georgia, is awarded a $236,685,372 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award contract for the procurement of services to support Tactical Systems Support 3 (TSS-3). The TSS-3 contract will be used to issue task orders to provide professional engineering support services to provide U.S. forces worldwide with continuous support of fielded tactical command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) programs of record to ensure that Marines can successfully set up and operate fielded C4I tactical systems. This five-year contract includes five one-year option periods which, if exercised, would bring the overall potential of this contract to an estimated $249,000,000. Work will be performed at Camp Pendleton, California (58%); Okinawa, Japan (18%); Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (10%); Stuttgart, Germany (6%); Pentagon/Navy Yard, Washington, DC (5%); Naval Support Activity Bahrain (2%); and New Orleans, Louisiana (1%). The period of performance for the base award is from June 23, 2022, through March 6, 2027. If all options are exercised, the period of performance would extend through March 6, 2032. No funds will be obligated at time of award. Fiscal 2022 funds will be obligated as task orders, and issued using operations and maintenance (Marine Corps and Navy); and research, development, test and evaluation funds (Marine Corps and Navy). This contract was competitively provided via a request for proposal (M68909-22-R-7602) published on the beta.sam.gov website. Three offers were received. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Cardno GS Inc., Charlottesville, Virginia, is awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering (A-E) contract for encroachment management implementation and mission readiness, sustainment, and compatibility A-E services within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Southwest area of operations (AO). The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, land use planning, air installation compatible use zones studies, range air installation compatible use zones studies, encroachment action plans, encroachment control plans, strategic engagement and communication plans, outreach planning materials and electronic databases. The maximum dollar value, including the base period and option period, is $30,000,000. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations in the NAVFAC AO to include California (87%); Arizona (5%); Nevada (5%); Colorado (1%); New Mexico (1%); and Utah (1%), and is expected to be completed by June 1, 2027. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000 will be obligated at time of award, and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.sam.gov website with five offers received. NAVFAC Southwest, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N62473-22-D-1203).

Textron Systems Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland, is awarded a $12,348,580 firm-fixed-price modification (P00003) to an order (N0001921F0315) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001921G0008). This modification exercises an option to provide continued unmanned aircraft systems intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data collection support services for the Department of Defense, other government agencies, and domestic and overseas contingency operations. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland (20%); and various locations outside the continental US (80%) and is expected to be completed in June 2023. Fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $12,348,580 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland (HQ033419D0006), has been awarded a $637,564,048 modification to an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide support to the Office of the Secretary of Defense to establish and maintain essential engineering, research, development, test and evaluation, and analytic capabilities using operational knowledge of the national defense, intelligence, and security environments. These services and capabilities are essential to a variety of critical Department of Defense programs that are managed by various components and offices internal and external to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Executive and Legislative Branch, and the Intelligence Community. The work will be performed in contractor facilities in Alexandria, Virginia; Laurel, Maryland; and at US government facilities within the National Capital Region. This action increases the contract ceiling from $873,000,000, to $1,510,564,048. The estimated contract completion date is March 25, 2024. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., McLean, Virginia (HQ0852-22-D-0001); and Owl Cyber Defense Solutions LLC, Columbia Maryland (HQ0852-22-D-0002), are being awarded competitive multiple-award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity firm-fixed price and cost-reimbursement contracts with a five-year ordering period ending on June 2, 2027. The ceiling value is $249,130,000 and will be shared across all contract awardees. Each awardee will be provided a fair opportunity to be considered for each order unless an exception applies. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is the implementing agency for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Cross Domain Solutions (CDS) for the Department of Defense. MDA is the lead organization for FMS CDS development, testing, and implementation. The FMS CDS is a means of information assurance that will provide the ability to manually or automatically access or transfer information between two or more differing security domains. These contracts were competitively procured via publication on the SAM.gov website. FMS funds will be used to fund subsequent task and delivery orders. MDA has received FMS CDS cases with Qatar and Morocco for a FMS CDS solution. An amount of $10,000 will be obligated on two delivery orders ($5,000 each) for a contract kick off meeting to meet the contract minimum order requirement. The MDA, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Q.E.D. Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, is awarded a $39,955,973 modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-18-C-4312). The modification is for the execution planning efforts to support West Coast, East Coast and outside the contiguous US maintenance and sustainment execution contracts for littoral combat ships. The exercise of this option will bring the cumulative value of this contract to $133,427,919. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (80%); and Virginia Beach, Virginia (20%), and is expected to be completed by June 2023. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $4,590,291 (97%); and fiscal 2022 other procurement (Navy) in the amount of $157,445 (3%) will be obligated immediately after option exercise 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, DC, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-4312).

CORRECTION: The contract announced May 31, 2022, to Assured Information Security Inc., Rome, New York (FA8750-22-D-1001); CNF Technologies Corp., San Antonio, Texas (FA8750-22-D-1002); Global Infotek Inc., Reston, Virginia (FA8750-22-D-1003); Invictus International Consulting LLC, Alexandria, Virginia (FA8750-22-D-1004); and Radiance Technologies Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (FA8750-22-D-1005), for technical documentation, technical reports, software and hardware, was actually awarded on June 3, 2022.

Leave A Comment