Pentagon to Expand Defense Innovation Unit

A drone technician sets simulated payloads onto a Perimeter 8 during a Defense Innovation Unit Blue UAS Refresh Challenge at Camp Wilson in California in November 2024. Approved drones may join the Blue UAS list for rapid deployment. (US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Richard PerezGarcia via dvidshub.net)

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 Pentagon said it will expand the Defense Innovation Unit across the US to help it connect with a broader swath of technology companies, reports Defense News. Three new DIU hubs will be located in Kentucky, Minnesota, and Montana. The White House made it clear that it wants to uncomplicate the Pentagon’s acquisition system. But the antiquated process that treats buying quadcopter drones the same as fighter jets is not the only thing that keeps commercial companies from national security work, reports Defense One.

Northrop Grumman reported a $477 million loss on the B-21 Raider in the first quarter of 2025, reports Defense News. Higher manufacturing and materials costs to make the sixth-generation stealth bomber led to the loss, which the company said stemmed from a change it made to the B-21 production process.

The US Space Force said last week that its newest weather satellite built by Ball Aerospace is now operational and will soon be collecting and sharing key weather data, reports C4ISRNET.

Air Force secretary nominee Troy Meink has confirmed that SpaceX founder Elon Musk was present during Meink’s initial interview President Donald Trump, reports Breaking Defense. Meink said that Musk was “one of many” people in the meeting. The disclosure could raise concerns about Meink’s ties to SpaceX and Musk after Reuters reported in February that Musk had recommended Meink for the job after Meink helped push a multibillion-dollar satellite contract toward SpaceX.

Maryland federal contractor layoffs are continuing to increase as the Trump administration cuts federal spending, reports Capital News Service. More than 3,000 employees at companies that contract with the federal government have received layoff notifications this year, according to a Maryland Department of Labor database.

Charles and Calvert have launched surveys to measure the impact of federal government layoffs in their counties. Charles County residents who have recently experienced a change in employment as federal employees or contractors can find support here. In light of recent federal budget cuts and layoffs, Calvert County has compiled a list of resources and services to support affected federal employees. Maryland.gov also offers resources for workers impacted by the transition.

The search and rescue mission has been halted to locate sailor Gabriel D. Holt assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, the Navy said, reports Navy Times. Holt disappeared in Guam on April 18. The efforts were halted Thursday after Holt was deemed “duty status whereabouts unknown.”

A pilot who was preparing for the Air Power Over Hampton Roads air show in an experimental plane died Thursday when the aircraft crashed at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, reports Air Force Times. The pilot, 50-year-old Rob Holland, was scheduled to perform last Saturday and Sunday in the show, reports NBC News.

The price of technology goods and services in the US will likely rise in the next few months, experts say, as the White House continues to shift its strategy on tariffs for imported electronic hardware, reports Maryland Matters. American consumers should prepare themselves for higher prices on smartphones, laptops, and other personal devices.

The Navy said the littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul recently stopped two suspected drug smuggling operations within 72 hours “through a combination of air and surface operations” while deployed to the Caribbean, reports Task & Purpose. The Freedom-variant LCS is “almost perfectly made” for operations against drug smugglers, said Brian Persons, who previously served as the civilian chief engineer and executive director of Naval Sea Systems Command.

The Pentagon announced four new senior advisers had been promoted on Friday, reports NPR. They include Col. Ricky Buria, a former junior military assistant; Justin Fulcher, a member of the DOGE team embedded at the Pentagon, and Patrick Weaver, formerly a Department of Defense “special assistant.” Sean Parnell, who had been the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, has been promoted to assistant to the secretary of defense and senior adviser. Buria is one of the only holdovers from former DefSec Lloyd Austin’s team, reports Defense News.

DefSec Pete Hegseth denied that he ordered a makeup room to be created at the Pentagon after details emerged last week about a green room in the building being refurbished, reports The Hill. He wrote on X that it was a “Totally fake story. No ‘orders’ and no ‘makeup’ — but whatever.” Military Times reports that defense officials confirmed that Hegseth has altered a space behind the Pentagon briefing room to use as a makeup studio before media appearances.

The Army has met or exceeded its retention goal for the seventh straight year, reports Military Times, and did it nearly six months ahead of schedule. The service said it retained 15,600 soldiers eligible for reenlistment, 800 more than the original goal of 14,800.

More than two-thirds of National Guard and Reserve troops are overweight, potentially limiting their readiness and ability to deploy in support of national security, reveals a new study released by the American Security Project, reports Navy Times. To address the problem, the project’s leaders recommended more research and tracking of obesity rates in the Reserve forces, as well as providing some level of medical insurance to all the troops to help address the health issues.

Hegseth sounded the alarm over the readiness of reserve troops after the American Security Project study was released, calling the results “completely unacceptable,” reports The Hill on MSN.

The Army is cutting certified athletic trainers from fitness training teams across the service, Army Vice Chief of Staff GEN Jim Mingus said, reports Task & Purpose. The trainers will be replaced with strength coaches. Regular medics might get extra training to deal with fitness-related injuries when the trainers are gone.

Taiwan has charged the Chinese captain of a cargo vessel for damaging an underwater communications cable connecting Taiwan to the Penghu Islands near the Chinese coast, reports Defense News. Taiwan has reported five cases of seabed cable damage this year already.

Dolphin expert Jamie Testa at the University of Maryland’s Center for Environmental Science says more dolphin sightings in the Chesapeake Bay means the bay is recovering, reports WTOP News. Dolphin sightings are becoming more common, especially as the water gets warmer.

Contracts:

Silver Lake – TMG JV2, LLC, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; HSU Development, Gaithersburg, Maryland; APC DB JV LLC, Harvey, Louisiana; Athena Construction Group, Inc., Fredericksburg, Virginia; PEM-Harkins JV LLP, Columbus, Ohio; Stampede Ventures, Inc., Nome, Alaska; and Signature Renovations LLC, Capitol Heights, Maryland, were awarded a $30,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award construction contract. The cumulative total of the contract is $75,010,000. No funds are being obligated at time of award. The total, if all options are exercised, is $150,000,000. The purpose of this contract is to exercise Option One to provide design-build and design-bid-build construction in the National Capital Region. The ordering period is up to 10 years if all options are exercised. The work will be performed in Arlington, Virginia; Alexandria, Virginia; Washington, DC; Fairfield, Pennsylvania; and Frederick, Maryland. The estimated contract completion date is May 23, 2032. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Sunnyvale, California (N66001-25-D-0030); Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Boulder, Colorado (N66001-25-D-0031); and Peraton Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N66001-25-D-0032), are awarded a combined $244,174,056 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract with cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-with-no-fee, and firm-fixed pricing for the development of the U.S. Space Command’s (SSC’s) Relay Ground Station (RGS). The RGS will enable the SSC Next Generation Space Based Infrared Systems (SBIRS) Ground System to operate the SBIRS Geosynchronous (GEO) space vehicles. This effort requires the design, procurement, development, integration, and testing of advanced RGS hardware and software capabilities to provide uplink and downlink capability to the SBIRS GEO, Defense Support Program, Next Generation GEO, and Next Generation Polar space vehicles. Work will be performed in various contractor facilities (75%); the United Kingdom (10%); Colorado Springs, Colorado (10%); and Guam (5%). Work is expected to be completed in April 2030. Awardees will have the opportunity to compete for task orders during the ordering period. No funds will be obligated at the time of award. Funds will be obligated as task orders and will be issued using research, development, test and evaluation funds. This contract was competitively procured via the SAM.gov website and the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command E-Commerce Central website, with three offers received. Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity (N66001-23-R-0030).

Huntington-Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, was awarded an $80,739,428 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-19-C-4313) to exercise options for the accomplishment of the Planning Yard Services for the Littoral Combat Ship in-service ships. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (83%); McLean, Virginia (10%); San Diego, California (4%); and Jacksonville, Florida (3%), and is expected to be completed by April 2026. No funding was obligated at time of award. Funding for work requirements discussed above will be provided on an incremental basis as needed throughout the period of performance. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. (Awarded April 18, 2025)

Cottrell Contracting Corp., Chesapeake, Virginia, was awarded a $9,110,750 firm-fixed-price contract for maintenance dredging. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Kings Bay, Georgia, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 18, 2026. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, defense-wide funds in the amount of $9,110,750 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity (W912EP-25-C-A001).

Marine Hydraulics International LLC, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded an $89,676,030 firm-fixed-price contract for USS New York (LPD 21) Fiscal 2025 Selected Restricted Availability. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $111,422,163. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2027. Fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $86,610,224 (97%); fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,974,530 (3%); and fiscal 2023 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $91,276 (<1%), will be obligated at the time of award, of which $3,065,804 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the System for Award Management website, with three offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N0002425C4431).

Direct Viz Solutions, Chantilly, Virginia, was awarded a $10,085,262 modification (P00049) to contract W91RUS-19-C-0014 for information management services. Work will be performed in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2025. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $10,085,262 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.