No Budget Bill? Here’s How It Could Affect the Navy

Navy ROTC midshipmen raise their right hands during a graduation ceremony at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, IL, July 22, 2021. A Navy budget expert says the service would have to cut the number of recruits it adds by nearly 10,000 should Congress fail to pass a budget bill. (US Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Nicholas Scott)

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.

RADM John Gumbleton this week explained in greater detail the scope of the cuts the US Navy is prepared to make should the service be forced to live without a budget, reports Military.com. Gumbleton, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget, says the Navy will have to cut the number of recruits, prevent sailor moves, and stop construction of new ships should Congress fail to agree on a budget bill. Gumbleton’s remarks follow Chief of Naval Operations ADM Mike Gilday’s testimony before the House Appropriations Committee. On January 12, Gilday said the unpredictable funding was straining Navy readiness, Defense News reported at the time.

The US Navy is looking at its options for recovering an F-35C fighter jet that fell into the South China Sea this week after a failed landing attempt on the USS Carl Vinson, reports The Drive. The service is almost certain to try to retrieve as much of the jet as possible to prevent sensitive information from falling into the hands of the Russians or Chinese.

Deliveries of military aid to Ukriane continue, reports Defense News. Among the equipment are 300 Javelins and other anti-armor systems, grenade launchers, munitions, and non-lethal equipment. All total, the US will ship $200 million in assistance.

The US Navy has a new base, reports BalticNewsDesk. Sailors were moved last week to the Naval Support Facility Redzikowo in northern Poland on the Baltic Sea coast.

Top Republicans made a push to accelerate Washington’s proposed sale of 250 M1A2 Abrams SEPv3 tanks to Poland in light of the escalating crisis with Russia, reports Defense News. The deal has been pending since last summer.

The Gerald R. Ford will be ready for deployment in the fall, reports Defense News. Navy officials say the aircraft carrier will have all the spare parts it needs, after the service had to cannibalize parts from sister ship John F. Kennedy.

Developing the future Air Force office environment has had some of the challenges in the past few years. The Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center in Joint Base San Antonio, TX, has been shrinking its physical footprint by almost half in the process as part of an initiative called the “office of the future,” reports Defense Systems. Like many other defense and civilian federal government workers, the Air Force has largely been operating in telework status.

 

 

The Federal Trade Commission has blocked Lockheed Martin’s proposed $4.4 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, reports Space News. Lockheed announced in December 2020 its intent to acquire the rocket engine manufacturing company. Politico reports that the FTC says the move would allow Lockheed to “jack up the price the US government has to pay.”

Radian Aerospace is building a spaceplane that could take off from a commercial runway, fly to space, and then return under its own power, reports UPI. The Washington state company says it will be “the world’s first fully reusable horizontal takeoff & landing, single-stage to orbit spaceplane.”

A new executive order will make sexual harassment an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, reports Military Times. The order will strengthen the military’s response to domestic violence incidents and increase penalties for military members who share “intimate visual images” without permission.

A Department of Justice ruling says that National Guard troops can legally organize and form unions while serving on state active-duty orders, reports Army Times.

Government Accountability Office auditors say that students in Department of Defense schools have achieved among the highest scores in the US for fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math, reports Military Times.

The IT and engineering solutions company American Systems announced the formation of a Digital Engineering Lab as part of its Independent Research and Development initiatives in support of advancing its avionics systems prototype development capabilities, reports ExecutiveBiz. The DE Lab, located in Lexington Park, MD, brings together the high-fidelity models (Digital Twins) of aircraft and aircraft systems into a single integrated environment to facilitate faster development of avionics systems at lower costs.

North Korea fired what appeared to be two cruise missiles from an inland area into the sea, reports UPI. Tuesday’s launch is thought to be the North Koreans’ fifth launch this year.

March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, CA, is the “preferred location” to station 12 new Air Force military air tankers, reports Patch.com. The service says the 12 Boeing KC-46A Pegasus aircraft will replace aging Air Force Reserve Command KC-135 Stratotankers. Joint Base Andrews-Naval Air Field Washington in Maryland was one of the candidates for the new aircraft.

The Navy and the Marine Corps are conducting health and safety inspections of more than 62,000 base houses, reports Military.com, a move that will allow the services to meet requirements in the 2020 defense policy law.

The Federal Aviation Administration barred several Boeing aircraft from landing at airports on Tuesday where 5G wireless signals could cause interference, reports UPI.

A Georgia man was sentenced to more than six years in federal prison after defrauding more than 100 disabled veterans and Social Security beneficiaries of over $1 million, reports Military Times. Jamare Mason, 27, was also ordered to pay $1,314,986.45 in restitution.

Contracts:

Gen-Probe Inc., Marlborough, Massachusetts (HT940622D0001), was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, single award contract with a maximum value of $14,999,999 to provide COVID testing supplies for the Hologic Panther System. This effort has an ordering period from Jan. 18, 2022, through June 17, 2022, with no deliveries after Sept. 30, 2022. Work location is delivery order dependent but can occur at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth, Virginia; Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; or Naval Hospital Jacksonville, Florida. Delivery orders will be funded by fiscal 2022 operation and maintenance funds. This contract was awarded on a sole-source basis. The contracting activity is the Defense Health Agency, Falls Church, Virginia. (Awarded Jan. 18, 2022)

Verato Inc., McLean, Virginia (HS0021-22-F-0012), was awarded a $13,399,997 firm-fixed-price task order for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). The contract provides for single employment credit records as part of the background investigation mission. Work will be performed in McLean, Virginia. This contract will be incrementally funded with fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance funds; and fiscal 2022 defense working capital funds. The anticipated period of performance is for one year, from Feb. 1, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2023. This requirement was synopsized on the Government-wide Point of Entry website as a small business set-aside on May 1, 2019. As a result, 13 small businesses were solicited and 1 offer was received, which was then justified in a single source determination. The resultant blanket purchase agreement was awarded from General Service Administration contract number 47QRAA18D00C2. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.