Pentagon & Congress Must Cooperate to Survive

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.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says the D0D and Congress must quickly work together if the Pentagon is to survive the next round of massive budget cuts under sequestration.  DoD faces $500 billion in mandatory spending cuts under sequestration. Lawmakers must consider military pensions and benefits, base closures and cancellations of weapon systems programs, reports the Hill.

Senior military officials are considering removing US Cyber Command from the NSA director’s authority, reports the Hill.  Plans would put a military officer heading up Cyber Command, a team of military hackers that trains for offensive cyber attacks and protects US computer systems.

The “Early Bird,” stories compiled by DoD public affairs officials and dispersed each morning and posted on the military’s intranet,  ceased distribution this month, according to Military.com.  It won’t be entirely scrapped, but will return with a trimmed distribution list of only 300 recipients.

The Wall Street Journal reports, Lockheed Martin, the US Navy and the Missile Defense Agency  declared the Aegis Ashore missile defense system ready to ship to Romania beginning in 2014 after full acceptance testing.

Sikorsky  to  scale up its X2 high-speed rotorcraft design for the Army’s planned Joint Multi-Role (JMR) technology demonstrators competition reports Aviation Week.

Drones will be delivering pizza and performing personal shopping functions says venture capitalist Tim Draper whose firm is investing in DroneDepoy, which is building software to operate and manage multiple drones, according to DefenseTech.

The Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert announced Flag Officer assignments, according to the Department of Defense.

The 52nd annual Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) charity drive launched at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, reports dcmilitary.com.  The federal government fund raiser was delayed due to the government shutdown.

DRS C3 & Aviation Co., Gaithersburg, Md., is being awarded a $50,892,583 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-priced contract (N00019-11-C-0011) to exercise an option for logistics services in support of the E-6B Mercury program, including the procurement and repair of operational, depot and Military Standard Requisitioning and Issue Procedures spares and associated shipping and data. Work will be performed at Tinker Air Force Base (AFB), Okla. (70 percent); Offutt AFB, Neb. (10 percent); Travis AFB, Calif. (10 percent); and Patuxent River, Md. (10 percent); and is expected to be completed in November 2014. Fiscal 2014 operations and maintenance, Navy contract funds in the amount of $13,325,899 will be obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting activity.

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Herndon, Va., is being awarded an $18,533,888 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-12-C-0096) to exercise an option to build, install and test modifications to the Multi-Role Tactical Common Data Link Ku Line-of-Sight and Ka satellite communications systems for incorporation into the E6-B aircraft. In addition, this modification provides systems integration laboratory and aircraft development and operational test support. Work will be performed in Greenville, Texas, (50 percent), Patuxent River, Md. (35 percent), and San Diego, Calif. (15 percent), and is expected to be completed in November 2015. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy contract funds in the amount of $18,533,888 are being obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.