Pax Test Syncs Manned & Unmanned Growlers

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’s test wing out of NAS Patuxent River flew two unmanned E/A-18G Growlers, with a third manned fighter acting as mission control, reports C4ISRNET. The test was to demonstrate technology allowing F/A-18 Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers to perform combat missions with unmanned systems.

President Donald Trump praises US military buildup but vows overseas troop cuts in State of the Union address, reports Military Times. President Trump hailed the US military as “unmatched anywhere in the world,” vowed to use it to pursue terrorists worldwide, and also vowed to end America’s wars in the Middle East because of the strain they have put on military families.

Pentagon-recommended PTSD therapies don’t help many military patients, reports Military Times. All approaches seem to help some, including focus on a patient’s traumatic experiences versus non-trauma approaches. Treating PTSD “with a single course of trauma-focused monotherapy is not well tolerated by many patients and has limited efficacy,” according to a new report published in JAMA Insights.

DefSec Mark Esper issued talking points to top military brass before the roll-out to Congress of a $740B Pentagon budget, reports Military Times. The talking points include modernizing weapons, strengthening alliances, supporting service members, and ensuring “irreversible implementation of the National Defense Strategy.”

Members of Congress sent a letter to the defense secretary questioning the Pentagon’s efforts to reduce sexual assault at military academies, reports Military Times. Last week the Pentagon reported its annual tally of unwanted sexual contact reports at the Defense Department’s three service academies, showing a jump of over 30% from 2018 to 2019.

A bipartisan group of 42 US lawmakers urge UK Parliament to reject “dangerous” 5G decision to hire Huawei, reports C4ISRNET, and reverse UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to allow Huawei to have a role in its next-generation data network. The rare missive from American lawmakers to their British counterparts comes as PM Johnson is facing a revolt from conservatives, who are seeking greater limits or an outright ban on the Chinese telecom giant’s equipment.

 

 

Now a Pentagon watchdog is raising oncerns over Navy warship readiness, reports Navy Times, noting deficiencies noted by commanders were not addressed. Only 40% of the Navy’s surge sealift feet was found ready to leave port in a September 2019 no-notice test, according to USNI News. The warship audit, according to Navy Times, took place from February 2018 to November 2019 and scrutinized four destroyers forward-deployed to Rota, Spain — Carney, Donald Cook, Porter, and Ross — plus James E. Williams, Mahan, Stout, and Oscar Austin in Norfolk; the San Diego-based Howard and Pinckney; Chafee in Hawaii; and Kidd in Everett, Washington.

The Pentagon confirms Trump’s new nuclear weapon has been deployed, reports Defense News, aboard a nuclear submarine. The deployment of the W76-2, a low-yield variant of the nuclear warhead, is traditionally used on the Trident missile. The first to move out with the new weapon was the USS Tennessee (SSBN-734), deploying from Kings Bay Submarine Base in Georgia at the end of 2019, reported the Federation of American Scientists.

The Defense Intelligence Agency says ISIS took advantage of Turkish invasion of northern Syria, but on the ground fighters say DIA’s information is based on propaganda, reports Military Times. However, both groups agree, the assassination of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi did not degrade the jihadi group.

Top US general in the Middle East visits Iraq for talks to salvage relations, reports Military Times, slipping quietly into Iraq on Tuesday, as the Trump administration works to salvage relations with Iraqi leaders and shut down that government’s push for an American troop withdrawal. Waiting approval from Baghdad are US plans to move a Patriot anti-missile battery to protect US troops in Iraq, reports Military.com.

J. David Patterson, who in an op-ed blamed mass killings on immigrants who failed to “assimilate” into American culture, withdrew his nomination to the Pentagon’s top personnel job after the op-ed surfaced, reports Politico. Patterson, in 2017, co-wrote the op-ed for The Federalist website.

Contracts:

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded an estimated $7,729,639,286 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to include all options, if exercised, for the procurement of Department of Navy (DoN) service management, integration and transport used on the Navy Marine Corps Intranet, the outside continental US Naval Enterprise Network and the Marine Corps Enterprise Network. This acquisition will provide the DoN with base network services that are currently provided under the Next Generation Enterprise Networks contract such as electronic software delivery, end user core build, endpoint detection, logistics management, network operations, security operations, service desk, transport and virtualization services. Work will be performed across the DoN and is expected to be completed in February 2025. If all options are exercised, work could continue until August 2028. The first task order will be awarded with the basic contract and fulfills the minimum guarantee of $10 million with fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds. Contract funds for the initial task order will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This requirement was solicited using full and open competition via the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command E-Commerce Central website and the Federal Business Opportunities website, with three offers received. The Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N00039-20-D-0054) and awarded the contract on behalf of the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems.

Advanced Acoustic Concepts LLC, Hauppauge, New York (N00024-20-D-6321); Aerostar Technical Solutions Inc., Arlington, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6322); Arete Associates, Tucson, Arizona (N00024-20-D-6324); Austal USA LLC, Mobile, Alabama (N00024-20-D-6325); Azimuth Inc., Morgantown, West Virginia (N00024-20-D-6326); BAE Systems Electronic Systems, Nashua, New Hampshire (N00024-20-D-6327); BMT Designers & Planners Inc., Alexandria, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6328); Continental Tide Defense Systems Inc., Reading, Pennsylvania (N00024-20-D-6329); The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts (N00024-20-D-6330); General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Fairfax, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6331); Gibbs & Cox, Inc., Arlington, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6332); Gravois Aluminum Boats LLC, doing business as Metal Shark, Jeanerette, Louisiana (N00024-20-D-6333); HII Fleet Support Group LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6334); Hydroid Inc., Pocasset, Massachusetts (N00024-20-D-6335); ICI Services Corp., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6361); L-3 Unidyne Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6336); Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6337); Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey (N00024-20-D-6338); Maritime Applied Physics Corp., Baltimore, Maryland (N00024-20-D-6339); Micro Systems Inc., subsidiary Kratos-MSI, Fort Walton Beach, Florida (N00024-20-D-6340); Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, New York (N00024-20-D-6341); Oasis Systems LLC, Rockville, Maryland (N00024-20-D-6342); Oceaneering International Inc., Hanover, Maryland (N00024-20-D-6343); Peraton Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6344); Q.E.D. Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6345); Raytheon Co., Portsmouth, Rhode Island (N00024-20-D-6346); Reliable Systems Services Corp., Melbourne, Florida (N00024-20-D-6347); Rolls-Royce Marine North America Inc., Walpole, Massachusetts (N00024-20-D-6348); Science Applications International Corp., Reston, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6349); System Engineering Associates Corp., Middletown, Rhode Island (N00024-20-D-6350); Sedna Digital Solutions LLC, Manassas, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6351); Serco Inc., New London, Connecticut (N00024-20-D-6323); Spatial Integrated Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6352); Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (N00024-20-D-6353); AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland (N00024-20-D-6354); The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Missouri (N00024-20-D-6355); The Columbia Group Inc., Washington, District of Columbia (N00024-20-D-6356); Tridentis LLC, Alexandria, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6357); Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems (UEOS), Braintree, Massachusetts (N00024-20-D-6358); and W R Systems Ltd., Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-20-D-6360), are awarded a firm-fixed-price, fixed-price-incentive-firm-target, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost only indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract (IDIQ-MAC) to support the Unmanned Surface Vehicle Family of Systems. The IDIQ-MACs have a five-year base period and one five-year ordering period option, which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $982,100,000. These businesses will have the opportunity to compete in the awarded functional area for individual delivery orders. Work will be performed in various locations in the contiguous US in accordance with each delivery order and work is expected to be completed by February 2025, and if the one option is exercised, completed by February 2030. Fiscal 2019 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $1,000 ($40,000 total) is being obligated under each contract’s initial delivery order and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. These contracts were competitively procured via Federal Business Opportunities with 42 offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Aptim Federal Services LLC, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded an $80,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for environmental remediation services and response actions in support of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 4, 2027. US Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska, is the contracting activity (W9128F-20-D-0022).