Quarter-Million in Uniform Overseas for the Holidays
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.
A quarter million service men and women in uniform are deployed overseas during this holiday season, reports Defense.gov, which provides a breakdown of where they are serving. Thousands more civilians with DoD will also be working to keep Americans safe, reminds Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey.
The Navy will be revisiting Raytheon’s next generation jammer contract, when a protest from BAE was upheld by the US Government Accountability Office, reports FlightGlobal. The office recommended in November the “Navy document a reevaluation of the proposals.”
While the FAA is coming down to the last hours of 2013 before selecting the UAV testing and development site winners, NASA is holding a contest with a $500,000 prize to negotiate an unmanned aircraft through an airspace obstacle course above the midwestern skies of Indiana and Ohio. Registration began two months ago, Phase 1 begins in Spring 2014 and the winner gets the $500,000. The winner of Phase 2 about a year later is expected to receive up to $1 million in additional prize money, reports Defense Update.
Congress has told DoD to look into using National Guard civilian volunteers as net warfare squads, prepared to serve as the frontline to protect networks controlling oil reserves, subways and other critical infrastructure against a cyber attack or crisis, reports Next Gov. Some states and other nations, including Estonia, use volunteer net warfare squads already.
DARPA’s Robotics Challenge Trials wrapped up last weekend in Homestead Florida, reports DARPA News, and provides video.
Israel called on the US to stop spying on allies and also requested the release of the US spy caught sending information to Israel, reports CNN Security Clearance. Israeli News reported the resignation of a top Israeli defense official after the US expressed “fury” at an Israeli military sale to China.
Pakistan launched its own fighter aircraft last week, the JD-17 Thunder, to be manufactured at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex west of Islamabad. The combat aircraft was co-developed and co-produced with China, reports Defence Talk.
Swedish aerospace maker Saab won a $5 billion contract to equip the Brazilian air force with 36 new fighter jets, reports Defence Talk. Rejection of the F/A-18 Super Hornets, says Reuters, will force Boeing into critical decisions about the jet’s production line in St. Louis, MO, past 2016.
Christmas Eve is a full day for federal employees this year, which isn’t unusual when Christmas falls on Wednesday, reports GovExec. A petition was launched to try for the extra day, but only 5,000 signed. It takes 100,000 to assure a White House reply.
BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services, Rockville, Md., is being awarded a $48,860,666 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable contract for services in support of the Program Executive Office for Ships, Naval Sea Systems Command, PEO C41, and the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division. Services provided will include the design, integration, testing, installation, training, and support of shipboard Command, Control, Communications, Computers, & Intelligence (C4I) electronic communication systems for ships of the U.S. Navy. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Md. (50 percent); California, Md. (48 percent); Bath, Maine (1 percent); and Pascagoula, Miss. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in June 2019. Fiscal 2011 and 2012 shipbuilding and conversion, Navy contract funds in the amount of $48,860,666 will be obligated on this award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00421-14-C-0011).
Northrop Grumman Technical Services, Herndon, Va., is being awarded a $9,531,889 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to provide maintenance services for E-2C, E-2D, and C-2 aircraft in support of the VX-20 Squadron. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Md. (95 percent) and in St. Augustine, Fla. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2014. Fiscal 2014 Navy working capital fund in the amount of $4,175,000 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to FAR 6.302-1. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity (N00421-14-C-0009).
