Archaeologist Julia King has led a team on a discovery of roughly 1,500 pounds of shells and 200 pieces of ceramics bring new and more concrete evidence of the dominance of Native Americans who once lived at St. Clement’s Island and along the surrounding Potomac River shoreline in Southern Maryland, reports The Washington Post.
No Votes Lost, Lots of Vets Elected
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.
“We have seen no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was any way compromised in any race in the country,” announced Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly in a CISA release. “I want to express my gratitude to the election workers and hundreds of thousands of Americans who served as poll workers yesterday. State and local election workers have already put in long hours and will continue to do so in the days ahead to certify the election results.”
The election results are all but in for the 196 veterans running for Congress this cycle, with at least 81 winning their respective races as of Friday, the largest group of veterans to win office in a decade, reports The Hill. Additionally 12 incumbent senators are veterans not up for reelection and the undecided race between two vets means at least 94 veterans will be a part of the 118th Congress starting January. As the results of 11 more races are called that number could increase.
Ukraine has put out an international call to crowd-fund a fleet of 100 domestically built sea drones like the ones used in a late October attack on Russian Navy ships in the Black Sea, reports USNI. On Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky lent support to the “United24” online campaign to solicit donations to build 100 of the naval drones that cost about $250,000 apiece.
The US military’s X-37B space plane returned to Earth on Saturday after 908 days in orbit, reports UPI. The robotic X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle-6 touched down at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 5:22 am. The 908 days in orbit was four months longer than any previous X-37B flight.
Shares of Lockheed Martin Corp. slipped 5.48% to $463.86 Friday, on what proved to be an all-around favorable trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index rising 0.92% to 3,992.93 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.10% to 33,747.86. Lockheed Martin Corp. closed $30.80 short of its 52-week high ($494.66), which the company achieved on November 8th, reports Market Watch.
Army Criminal Investigation Division agents on Wednesday announced that they had increased the reward to $50,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those involved in the murder of Staff Sgt. Jessica Ann Mitchell, reports Military Times. Mitchell, who was assigned to Joint Base San Antonio, in Texas, was shot and killed with a high-powered rifle after celebrating New Year’s Eve at 4th Quarter Sports Bar in San Antonio in 2021.
Office of Personnel Management is set to publish final rules Thursday that will rescind policies established during the Trump administration aimed at making it easier to fire federal workers, reports GovExec.
Twitter Inc paused its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service on Friday as fake accounts mushroomed, and new owner Elon Musk brought back the “official” badge to some users of the social media platform, reports Reuters. The coveted blue check mark was previously reserved for verified accounts of politicians, famous personalities, journalists, and other public figures. But a subscription option, open to anyone prepared to pay, was rolled out earlier this week to help Twitter grow revenue as Musk fights to retain advertisers.
Multinational companies like Lockheed Martin and Eli Lilly lost billions of dollars because of tweets made by impersonated accounts using Twitter’s new paid verification feature, reports CNBC. The newly launched feature $8 a month blue check subscription had resulted in a deluge of fake accounts.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday that $13.1 million in grants is being awarded to military communities across Texas. The grants assist military communities that may be impacted by any future Base Realignment and Closure process, reports ValleyCentral.com. Funds will be invested in infrastructure projects and other initiatives to increase the value of military installations in Texas and protect jobs in those communities, according to a press release about the grants.
Two vintage military aircraft collided and crashed at an airshow in Dallas on Saturday, killing all on board, reports 19forty-five. Plumes of black smoke could be seen billowing into the sky, while debris from the crash fell onto southbound Highway 67, which was shut down.
An EA-18G Growler that collided with another aircraft near Naval Air Station Fallon, California, in 2017, has returned to the fleet five years later following a painstaking and unprecedented restoration process, reports Navy Times. Assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 136 at the time, the Growler and its aviators landed safely after striking the other aircraft mid-air during an exercise at Fallon on Sept. 14, 2017, according to the Navy
Specialized and Proven Aircraft Program Office’s (PMA-226) Principal Deputy Program Manager Andy Wilkinson with a the Navy’s Acquisition Excellence Award for Acquisition Professional of the Year Nov. 3 at a ceremony held in the Pentagon. Credit: U.S. Navy
The Specialized and Proven Aircraft program office’s (PMA-226) Principal Deputy Program Manager Andy Wilkinson received the Department of the Navy’s Acquisition Excellence Award for Acquisition Professional of the Year on Nov.3 at a ceremony held in the Pentagon, reports Southern Maryland Chronicle.
NAS Pax River CO CAPT Derrick Kingsley LSM ’21 welcomed Leadership Southern Maryland Executive Program Class of 2023 behind the scenes at Naval Air Station Patuxent River with a morning brief about the base, along with Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) Executive Director Stephen Cricchi and NSWC IHD Technology Transfer Program Manager Dr. Cristopher Wilhelm LSM ’22, reports Southern Maryland News Net.
FCW reports, the Defense Information Systems Agency wants to deliver new cloud-based technologies to military service members quickly and is aiming to expand collaboration with industry partners as part of the effort, according to Sharon Woods, director of DISA’s Hosting and Compute Center.
Contracts:
Cardno TEC-AECOM Atlantic JV, Charlottesville, Virginia, is awarded a $75,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity architect-engineering contract for environmental planning and engineering services. Work will be performed within Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Atlantic’s area of responsibility which includes, but is not limited to, Virginia, California, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Washington, and will be completed by November 2027. Fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management website, with four offers received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N62470-23-D-0001).
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $20,126,303 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00013) to a previously awarded contract (N0003022C6001). This modification exercises fiscal 2023 options to provide support services for the U.S. Trident II D5 Strategic Weapon Systems program, Attack Weapon System program, and the Nuclear Weapon Security program. Work will be performed in Rockville, Maryland (59.9 %); Washington, D.C. (23.8%); Saint Marys, Georgia (3.3%); Cape Canaveral, Florida (2.3%); Bremerton, Washington (1.3%); Portsmouth, Virginia (1.0%); and various other locations (less than 1% each; 8.4% total). Work is expected to be completed on Sept. 30, 2023. Fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,540,000; fiscal 2023 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $853,887; fiscal 2023 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,213,970; and shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,268,022 will be obligated at time of award. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was awarded as a sole-source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.
Prime Response Inc., Accokeek, Maryland, has been awarded a $15,475,703 firm-fixed-price contract for research and development logistics support services. The contractor will provide material control, material handling, transportation, maintenance programs, hazardous materials, lab gases and cryogenics, lab safety programs, facility management and lab supply and stock needs of research and development programs at Phillips Research Site, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. Work will be performed in Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, and is expected to be completed Aug. 10, 2027. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition, and three offers were received. Fiscal 2023 research, development, test, and evaluation funds in the amount of $595,547 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9453-23-C-A001).
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $48,603,195 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development. This contract is to research, develop and demonstrate advanced component prototype solutions to evolve and expand emerging open architecture standards and approaches for current and next-generation Air Force and Department of Defense weapon systems. Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Jan. 29, 2027. This is the result of a competitive acquisition and six offers were received. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,850,726 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-23-C-1043).
Riverside Research Institute, Arlington, Virginia, has been awarded a $30,591,985 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research and development. This contract is to research, develop and demonstrate advanced component prototype solutions to evolve and expand emerging open architecture standards and approaches for current and next-generation Air Force and Department of Defense weapon systems. Work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Jan. 29, 2027. This is the result of a competitive acquisition and six offers were received. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $618,000 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-22-C-1043).
