Problem With Fuel Tubes Grounds F-35s

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.

DoD grounds its fleet of F-35s, Military Times reported, after the first crash of an F-35B led investigators to suspect a problem with the jet’s fuel tubes. Israel followed the Pentagon’s lead and decided to test all of its fight jets, too, reports Haaretz. The Aviationist reports that almost all of the US’ international partners grounded their fleets after the problem was discovered.

Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida reported extensive damage after Hurricane Michael. Air Force Times reports the base is closed until further notice. The storm delivered a direct hit to the base, bringing down trees and power lines, ripping roofs off buildings and causing significant structural damage.

As Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday, packing 153 mile-an-hour winds, airmen with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron were flying missions into the eye of what would become a Category 4 hurricane, reports Air Force Times.

China is set to sell 48 high-end Wing Loong IIs aerial drones to Pakistan, reports Business Insider.

The Army is calculating the costs of keeping overweight soldiers in the service, reports Army Times. A recent study found that almost one in five active duty male soldiers in 2015 was obese, and one-half were overweight.

Deputy DefSec Patrick Shanahan says that the final figure for a Space Force is unclear and is far from a done deal, even though the Air Force recently threw out a figure of $13 billion, reports Breaking Defense. Much of the talk now revolves around which services or offices will undertake which responsibilities, or if they should establish a new Space Development Agency.

Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project and defense budget analysis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, discusses in his commentary why the US needs a Space Force. Renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn’t think the Space Force is that crazy of an idea. But he has a note of caution, reports Yahoo Finance.

North and South Korea have agreed to start removing land mines to clear a path to a front-line area called Arrowhead Hill, reports Stars and Stripes. That area was the site of several battles during the 1950-53 Korean War. The demining operations will aid in efforts to recover the remains of troops killed there.

POW/MIA Accounting Agency officials believe the remains of nearly half of the 83,000 unidentified service members killed in World War II and more recent wars could be identified and returned to relatives, reports Military Times. The modern effort to identify remains started in 1973 and was primarily based in Hawaii until a second lab was opened in 2012 at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.

Contracts:

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Mississippi (W58RGZ-18-D-0008); AAR Supply Chain Inc., Wood Dale, Illinois (W58RGZ-18-D-0030); Dyncorp International Inc., Fort Worth, Texas (W58RGZ-18-D-0031); Arma Aviation Corp., Tampa, Florida (W58RGZ-18-D-0032); North American Surveillance Systems Inc., Titusville, Florida (W58RGZ-18-D-0033); Pinnacle Solutions Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W58RGZ-18-D-0034); Black Hall Aerospace Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W58RGZ-19-D-0008); and Leidos Innovations Corp., Gaithersburg, Maryland (W58RGZ-19-D-0009), will share in a $25,500,000,000 cost, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract for worldwide logistics support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 10 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 11, 2028. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Marketing Assessment Inc., Sterling, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $48,125,000 firm-fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for medical equipment. This is a five-year contract with no option periods. This was a competitive acquisition with 20 responses received. Location of performance is Virginia, with an Oct. 10, 2023, performance completion date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2019 through 2024 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE2D1-19-D-0002).

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $7,031,737 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-17-C-2103) to exercise an option for the accomplishment of planning and design yard functions for standard Navy valves of nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2019. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $600,000 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.