Organizational Changes Likely in Pacific Fleet

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 Navy is pressing toward a major organizational change that could strip US Pacific Fleet of some or all of its manning, training, and equipping functions and consolidate that power under US Fleet Forces Command on the East Coast, reports Defense News. DefSec Jim Mattis is expected to nominate the head of US Fleet Forces Command, ADM Phil Davidson, to be the top military officer in the Pacific, Defense News also reports. ADM Davidson is set to relieve ADM Harry Harris, who was nominated last week to be the US ambassador to Australia, reports Navy Times. Last week, VADM John Aquilino was named as the new US Pacific Fleet commander, reports Defense Times. He currently commands the US 5th Fleet operating out of Bahrain.

The Trump administration released its proposed budget for fiscal 2019 on Monday, reports FCW, calling for a total of $4.4 trillion in spending, including significant increases for military and infrastructure investments. As expected, the administration put a heavy emphasis on supporting IT modernization and cybersecurity initiatives.

It takes a million dollars and at least 50 technical experts just to get a carrier strike group’s networks working right before a deployment, reports Breaking Defense. ADM John Richardson, speaking at the AFCEA-USNI WEST conference last week, said, “It would be terrific if we could just take a time-out in the world and stop and get everybody onto the same level of technology.”

Lockheed Martin’s F-35 will expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific region this year, reports Aviation Week, as Australia, Japan, and South Korea begin populating their first Joint Strike Fighter bases.

When the Marines’ first forward-deployed F-35 fighter squadron sets sail with the amphibious ship Wasp this year, reports Marine Corps Times, it will be the first opportunity for many of the pilots to carry out the jet’s distinctive vertical landing aboard a ship.

The future of aviation is on display at the Singapore Airshow. Sure there are fighter jets and missiles, but there are drones everywhere, reports Stars and Stripes. “Autonomy will completely reshape the world economy,” Guillaume Thibault, partner at management consultant Oliver Wyman, told a packed conference room at the show, while discussing “The Autonomous Revolution – The Race Is On.”

Army generals were questioned by a Senate Armed Services subcommittee on how the Army’s future UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter replacement is going to deal with new threats such as sophisticated air defenses from countries like Russia and China, reports Military.com. The Army’s next workhorse helicopter must have an active protection system capable of shooting down incoming surface-to-air missiles, Congress was told.

General Dynamics announced plans to acquire government information technology solutions giant CSRA, reports Defense News, in a deal worth $9.6 billion.

Military Times reports the incident report on the Oct. 4 firefight in Niger that left four US personnel dead could be out in a matter of weeks, DefSec Mattis said.

Check out this video on Air Force Times. It shows what happens when an A-10 Thunderbolt II’s GAU-8 Avenger 30mm cannon takes out a Taliban vehicle.

Contracts:

LEIDOS, Reston, Virginia (W5J9CQ-18-D-0001); and General Dynamics One Source, Fairfax, Virginia (W5J9CQ-18-D-0002), will share in a $200,000,000 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for non-commercial technical services to assist in coordination, integration, and synchronization of geospatial information requirements and standards across the Army; develop geospatial enterprise enabled systems to the Army, the Department of Defense (DoD) and non-DoD entities; and provide direct geospatial support to the warfighter. Bids were solicited via the Internet with five received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 11, 2023. US Army Corps of Engineers Army Geospatial Center, Alexandria, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Wiley & Wilson Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $40,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to perform studies, investigations, design, and repairs for new construction in support of the US Army Intelligence and Security Command, headquartered at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and its major subordinate commands within the contiguous US. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 9, 2023. US Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore, Maryland, is the contracting activity (W912DR-18-D-0001).

ASM Research LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, was awarded a $19,937,826 hybrid (cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price) contract for configuration design, operation, programmatic support, and maintenance of the Army Training Requirements and Resources System. One bid was solicited with one bid received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 12, 2021. US Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-18-D-4003).