New F-35 Deal a ‘Historic Milestone’

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.

The Defense Department-Lockheed Martin deal for hundreds of new F-35s will drive the cost per airplane below $80 million for the first time, reports Breaking Defense. Ellen Lord, Pentagon acquisition chief, called the agreement a “historic milestone.”

Transitional Justice Working Group, a human rights group based in Seoul, has identified hundreds of spots where witnesses say North Korea has carried out public executions and extrajudicial state killings meant to intimidate its citizens, reports The Washington Post.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-WA), gave details of his panel’s defense authorization bill, which includes $140 million for new civilian personnel “to provide additional oversight and management of military family housing,” reports Military Times.

The Navy plans to decide by late 2022 how to dispose of the USS Enterprise nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, reports The Virginian Pilot, and likely will turn to the private sector for help.

Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was named Monday as acting director of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, reports US News & World Report.

Negotiations to increase the US military presence in Poland have concluded and were a success, reports Military Times. Poland has been pushing for an increased permanent presence of US troops. Earlier Military Times reports said Poland had offered to contribute at least $2 billion for a base, dubbed “Fort Trump.”

The US military has grounded Turkish pilots training on the F-35 in the US and cut off their access to the aircraft’s restricted information in anticipation of Turkey’s expulsion from the program over its plans to purchase a Russian missile system, report Foreign Policy.

Veterans Affairs is outlawing smoking, vaping, and other forms of tobacco use at its health care facilities across the country in an effort to better treat and protect patients, reports Military Times.

Air Force Times reports that multiple ongoing inspector general investigations convinced Pentagon leadership that Maj. Gen. Dawn Dunlop needed to be removed from her position as director of D0D’s Special Access Programs Central Office. It is not apparent what Maj. Gen. Dunlop is being investigated for.

A Long Island man pleaded guilty to paying nearly $100,000 in bribes to a Navy Exchange employee in order to get the hook up on tax-free alcohol, reports Navy Times.

Space X’s next Falcon Heavy rocket system launch is set for June 24 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Aboard will be two dozen satellites, including the Planetary Society’s Lightsail 2, reports CNET.com. Science celebrities Bill Nye and Neil DeGrasse Tyson helped lead a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to get Lightsail off the ground. More than 23,000 people contributed.

Space News reports Lockheed Martin is now offering new satellite image analysis service. The automated target recognition, or GATR, system detects and classifies objects of interest in satellite imagery.

A Calvert-St. Mary’s Metropolitan Planning Organization study’s goal is to reduce the impact of base traffic on the area, encouraging commuters to find alternative transportation, reports The Baynet.

Contracts:

LB&B Associates Inc., Columbia, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $37,018,357 modification (P0006) exercising the third one-year option period of a one-year base contract (SPE60016D0493) with four one-year option periods for transportation services. This is a firm-fixed-price contract. This was a competitive acquisition with five responses received. Locations of performance are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, with a June 30, 2020, performance completion date. Using customer is Department of Defense. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 procurement and war-stopper funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.