‘Open Mic’ for Defense Spending
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 necessarily reflect those of the Leader’s owners or staff.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, is “open mic” for defense spending at House Armed Services Committee, reports The Hill, the day when every Representative can tell the HASC what they want in this year’s defense policy bill.
Cyberterrorism took 11 French television channels off the air for hours last week and disrupted social media accounts, ISIS took credit, demonstrating an uptick in the extremists’ technical capabilities, reports Forbes.
The bursting drone market pushed the FAA to approve testing in prime air space for Amazon’s delivery drones, reports Top Tech News.
USAA and AIG also gain FAA approval to test drones, hoping to speed review of insurance claims following natural disasters, reports Claims Journal. State Farm has also received testing approval.
UAVs are also making an appearance at the National Association of Broadcasters’ Management Conference in Las Vegas this week, during the panel discussion “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Myths & Realities” about use of drones in broadcasting.
Concerns with North Korean activities proved needless as DefSec Ash Carter’s Asian trip concludes without a hitch, reports Stars and Stripes.
The first meeting last week between leaders of Cuba and the US in five decades was conciliatory. “We might disagree on something today on which we could agree tomorrow,” The Hill quoted the Cuban President Raul Castro during the historic meeting with US President Barack Obama.
It’s still just a few good men who have graduated the Marine Corps’ Infantry Officer Course. The last two female applicants, along with 81 out of 90 male applicants were cut earlier this month, reports the Washington Times.
A slip of the lips sunk the career of the two-star Air Force General who said military officials speaking to Congress in favor of keeping the A-10 would be committing treason, reports USA Today. The Air Force’s ongoing efforts to retire the A-10 to shift support to the F-35 have been thwarted by Congress. Sen. John McCain, (R-AZ), a strong proponent of the A-10 program, praised the firing of the general.
It’s the official last day of the Maryland General Assembly, April 13, but still no budget for fiscal year 2016. The Republican and Democratic legislative leaders left a Saturday meeting without a compromise. Governor Larry Hogan called the meeting “productive,” reports the Washington Post. Speaker of the House Michael Busch said it was “cordial.” Maryland Senate President Mike Miller said the governor is “going to have some decisions to make.”
The first tax filing season for ObamaCare went “swimmingly,” The Hill reports on remarks by IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services, Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is being awarded a $25,518,931 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00421-14-C-0040) for technical and engineering services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Identification Systems Division and the Governments of Japan and Australia. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (80 percent) and various ship/shore locations (20 percent), and is expected to be completed in March 2016. Fiscal 2011 and 2013 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); fiscal 2014 and 2015 other procurement (Navy); fiscal 2014 and 2015 research, development, test and evaluation; fiscal 2015 operations and maintenance (Navy); fiscal 2015 working capital funds (Navy); foreign military sales; and private party funding in the amount of $5,641,300 are being obligated at time of award, $144,147 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchase for the U.S. Navy ($23,477,416, 92 percent); Lockheed Martin Corp. via a Commercial Services Agreement ($1,786,325, 7 percent); and the governments of Australia ($153,114, 0.6 percent) and Japan ($102,076, 0.4 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
