New FAA Rules for Recreational Drones
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.
Among new Federal Aviation Administration recreational drone rules that will go into effect this summer, is one that requires the drones to steer clear of airports and other restricted airspace without prior approval, reports New York Daily News. The FAA highlights the changes for these recreational drones.
Turkey expects F-35 fighter jets will be delivered despite a deal it has with Russia to purchase the S-400 surface-to-air missile system, reports UPI. “Sooner or later, we will receive the delivery of the F-35s, their equipment, and S-400s, too, will come to our country,” said Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Poland is in discussion with the US to buy F-35s, reports American Military News. “They want to deepen their relationship with the United States of America in part by interoperability of advanced equipment,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said.
Second Line of Defense takes a look at the Osprey program and the new challenges it faces. A major challenge is the shortage of amphibious ships from which to operate.
Russia continues to play catchup in its development of unmanned aerial vehicles, reports Strategy Page. Its Korsar UAV is similar to the US Army RQ-7 Shadow 200 and it is expected to be up for sale by the end of this year.
Demonstrations of Joint Precision Approach and Landing System expeditionary variant took place over two days earlier this month at NAS Patuxent River, reports IHS Jane’s 360. Using F-35C Lightning II aircraft carrier variants, Raytheon took JPALS from zero to fully operational in 70 minutes.
BAE Systems electronic warfare experts will demonstrate a new dual-band towed decoy to help US Navy F/A-18E/F pilots avoid enemy radar-guided, anti-aircraft missiles, reports Military & Aerospace Electronics. Dual-band radar is particularly difficult to jam, and poses a serious threat to US aircraft that must operate in contested airspace.
US Army Secretary Mark Esper defended the service’s decision to reduce, cancel, or delay a few hundred programs to free up about $30 billion, reports Army Times. “And as expected, we’ve seen some resistance,” he said. “As many of you know, canceling a program is often harder than starting a new one.”
Equipment officials recently fielded the Army’s first pocket-sized drones to units of the 82nd Airborne Division, part of an effort to eventually equip every squad in the service with that capability, reports Military.com.
The Maryland Department of Commerce has launched STEMConnect, a database of educational, internship, and apprenticeship opportunities in federal agencies and military installations throughout Maryland. The database will promote and provide information on the numerous STEM-related opportunities to students, parents, and educators.
Owners of Pimlico Race Course say the Preakness will remain at Pimlico at least through next year, The Baltimore Sun reports. But there are no promises after that. The Stronach Group wants to move the second leg of the prestigious Triple Crown to Laurel Park. The Washington Post reports that War of Will, the Preakness winner, will likely run in the Belmont on June 8.
US Naval Academy Superintendent VADM Walter “Ted” Carter will leave his post this summer. In a Capital Gazette report, he takes a look back at his five years leading the academy.
University System of Maryland Chancellor Robert L. Caret said he will leave his post next year, reports Maryland Matters. He informed the Board of Regents that he will step down June 30, 2020, and did not wish to be considered for a contract extension.
Contracts:
General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB), Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $497,012,105 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously-awarded contract (N00024-17-C-2117) for a submarine industrial base development and expansion in support of Columbia-class fleet ballistic missile submarines, as well as the nuclear shipbuilding enterprise (Virginia class and Ford class), as part of the integrated enterprise plan and multi-program material procurement and production backup units. This submarine industrial base development and expansion effort utilizes the enhanced acquisition authorities contained in 10 U.S. Code §2218a, National Sea-Based Deterrence Fund, to improve sub-tier vendor stability and gain economic efficiencies based on production economies for major components. The nuclear shipbuilding industrial base is ramping up production capability to support the increased demand associated with the Navy’s force structure assessment. Improved capacity at the sub-tier vendors reduces risk to the Columbia, Virginia, and Ford class programs. This modification supports GDEB’s execution of funding authorized in fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and appropriated by the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019. This contract will be incrementally funded, with $177,155,000 obligated at time of award. In addition to the locations listed above, performance of work is anticipated at additional locations; however, this information is competition-sensitive and is therefore not disclosed. Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (80 percent); Quonset Point, Rhode Island (10 percent); and Newport News, Virginia (10 percent), and is expected to be completed by December 2031. This work is furtherance of the fiscal 2019 NDAA (Public Law 115-232) and the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2019 (Public Law 115-245), which authorized and appropriated additional funds for submarine industrial base development and expansion to ensure second- and third-tier contractors are able to meet increased production requirements. Fiscal 2019 National Sea-Based Deterrence Funds in the amount of $177,155,000 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded an $18,635,961 modification (P00113) to contract W911S0-11-C-0014 for technical services. Work will be performed in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $18,594,132 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Mission and Installation Contracting Command, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
Minburn Technology Group, Great Falls, Virginia (HT0015-19-F-0055), was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract for $11,859,991. This is an enterprise-level order that provides Hewlett Packard end user devices (laptops) for the Military Health System. The Defense Health Agency (DHA) End User Device Services (EUDS) Section requires a total of 18,139 desktop and notebook computers to be installed at 79 DHA-only locations in the contiguous U.S. and abroad. These computers are equipped with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) secure crypto-processor hardware in order to ensure compliance with Department of Defense security guidelines. This is a one-time purchase of Hewlett Packard end user devices under the established DHA’s End-User-Devices National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Solution for Enterprise Wide Procurement (SEWP) Catalog in support of DHA operations. The requirement was competitively solicited as a 100% service-disabled, veteran-owned small business set-aside on the established DHA’s End-User-Devices NASA SEWP catalog. Three technically acceptable quotes were received by DHA. The amount of $11,859,991 was obligated at the time of award from fiscal 2018 procurement funds. The DHA Health Information Technology Contracting Division (HIT-CD), San Antonio, Texas, is the contracting activity. (Awarded May 17, 2019)
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $9,128,465, bilateral modification (P00009) to previously awarded FA8819-18-F-0002 for additional battle management command and control systems engineering architecture modeling space support. The contract modification provides additional support to Option Year 1. Work will be performed at Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, and is expected to be completed by Feb. 7, 2020. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $18,444,803. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funds are being obligated at the time of award. Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity.
