Restrictions Limit How Ospreys Can Operate
A US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 262 conducts a bilateral formation flight alongside a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force V-22 Osprey with 107th Squadron during a field training exercise off the coast of Kumamoto, Japan, Oct. 18, 2023. (US Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Kyle Chan)
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Despite the V-22 Ospreys being given the OK to fly again, there are still restrictions that limit the tiltrotor aircraft’s ability to operate, reports Military.com. The Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps are barred from flying the Ospreys more than 30 minutes away from a suitable airfield to divert to in case anything goes wrong. For that reason, the Navy continues to rely on other aircraft to accomplish tasks that the Osprey would have taken on.
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA) said last week that in no uncertain terms Congress would force the US Navy to buy two Virginia-class attack submarines in fiscal 2025, reports Defense News. Bill LaPlante, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense panel that the Pentagon stands by the Navy’s decision to request one submarine. “The bottom line: The Navy’s just wrong on this. The Navy is 100% wrong,” Wittman said.
The House Armed Services Committee’s draft defense policy bill would require the US Army to establish a drone corps as a basic branch of the service, reports Federal News Network. Some senior defense officials don’t like the idea. “Having a branch, or a [Center of Excellence], or anything like that — it’s not going to help us buy anything faster or get us more resources against this problem set,” Army Undersecretary Gabe Camarillo said.
The Telegraph says it’s time to bring back the world’s greatest fighter jet – from the 1990s. But despite proving their continuing relevance, and despite the jets being rated for thousands more flight hours apiece, many F-15Es are bound for an early retirement – unless the US Congress intervenes.
The Chengdu J-20, dubbed the “Mighty Dragon,” is China’s $120 million stealth fighter. It is considered one of China’s most advanced military weapons. The jet is meant to rival the US Air Force’s fifth-generation jets. An analysis finds, that as of 2023, the Chinese air force has a fleet of more than 200 J-20 jets — and the figure is only expected to grow, reports Business Insider.
The US military’s floating pier arrived in Gaza last week, reports Navy Times. On Thursday, after weeks of preparation, security planning, and weather delays, the Pentagon announced the pier had been secured on the Gaza beach. Ships carrying screened cargo from Cyprus are being offloaded. The first deliveries of aid have begun, reports The Washington Post.
The USS Ronald Reagan has left its Japan homeport after a nearly nine-year deployment in the Indo-Pacific region, reports The Associated Press. The aircraft carrier served a key role in the US effort to bolster defense ties with Japan and other partners in the region.
The US and Japan have signed a cooperative agreement to co-develop a hypersonic missile defense capability — the Glide Phase Interceptor — designed to neutralize hypersonic threats in the glide phase of flight, reports Defense News. The interceptors will be designed to fit into the US Navy’s Aegis ballistic missile defense-equipped destroyers.
The US Navy has awarded a $54 million contract to BAE Systems to begin developing Dual Band Decoys for the service’s fighter jets, reports C4ISRNET on MSN. The decoy will be one of the most advanced radio frequency countermeasures in the world, according to the company.
Two people who attempted to break onto Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia have been turned over to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, reports Marine Corps Times. They drove up to the gate in a box truck and were stopped. The pair had no affiliation with the Marine base and no credentials from a subcontractor they claimed to work for, military officers said.
CAPT John Robertson, an Air Force instructor at Sheppard Air Force Base, died after he was ejected from an aircraft during ground operations last week, reports The Hill.
The US Air Force selects six US locations where it would prefer to host a trial run of the service’s new approach to deploying troops, reports Breaking Defense. The sites would see just under 50 new personnel arrive around summer’s end to set the Air Force’s experimental Air Task Forces in motion.
The US Army has cut more than 350 hours of redundant online training requirements, reports Army Times. The service will cut distributed learning courses across the ranks.
CPL Gage Barbieri, 21, a Marine Corps truck mechanic received the Meritorious Service Medal, a medal typically awarded to more senior service members, for saving the Defense Department more than $140 million through work he began as a teenage lance corporal, reports Military Times. While serving as the Corps’ representative to Oshkosh Defense as it revised its technical manuals for the joint light tactical vehicle, Barbieri pointed out flaws in the manuals. Barbieri’s discovery will save more than 900,000 person-hours of maintenance production time and more than $140 million throughout the entire life cycle of the platform.
The National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the electrical blackouts on the ship Dali that caused the Key Bridge collapse continues, reports APNews. The electrical blackouts experienced by the container ship Dali before it left Baltimore’s port were “mechanically distinct from” those that resulted in the deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge hours later, an NTSB official said.
The Dali is set to be refloated today, Monday, after nine weeks of salvage efforts requiring the use of giant floating cranes and explosives, reports CBS News. It will be taken 2.5 miles to a local terminal after it is refloated.
Some recent studies show introducing AI software in the workplace benefits less-skilled workers more than highly skilled ones, reports The Hill. This could make lower-skilled work more valuable and send more higher-paid jobs overseas, economists and labor unions believe.
The mother of Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, who has been in jail in Russia since May 2, believes her son was lured there by intelligence officials trying to capture a politically valuable prisoner, reports Navy Times. Black was accused of theft after traveling to Vladivostok without informing his military chain of command.
Shipbuilder General Dynamics recently christened USNS Robert E. Simanek (ESB 7), the fifth ship for the Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Base program, reports MarineLink. The ceremony took place in San Diego, CA. The 784-foot ESB ships are configured with a 52,000 square-foot flight deck to support MH-53, MH-60, MV-22 tilt-rotor, and H1 aircraft operations. Simanek was awarded the Medal of Honor for shielding fellow Marines from a grenade at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the Korean War, reports Navy Times. The Medal of Honor was presented to him by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a White House ceremony in 1953.
The Sentinel Landscapes program, a partnership between the US departments of Defense, Agriculture, and Interior, is helping buffer military bases with multiple benefits, reports Bay Journal. The program directs funding to landscape conservation that the departments prioritize for various reasons. Undeveloped buffers of land around military installations help prevent conflict between residential areas and noisy aircraft or training exercises, while also protecting working rural landscapes, such as farms, and preserving areas for wildlife and water filtration. The Chesapeake Bay region already includes the Middle Chesapeake Sentinel Landscape, established in 2015 to protect land and waterways near Naval Air Station Pax River.
Contracts:
Al Jazy Shipping and Forwarding, Amman, Jordan (HTC71124DR003); APL Ceva Government Logistics, Arlington, Virginia (HTC71124DR004); ARC Logistics LLC, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida (HTC71124DR005); Crowley Government Services Inc., Jacksonville, Florida (HTC71124DR006); Depth Logistics Pty. Ltd., Coolangatta, Australia (HTC71124DR007); Dongwon Loex Co. Ltd., Seoul, South Korea (HTC71124DR008); Eighty Shipping S.R.L. Ceatalchioi, Tulcea, Romania (HTC71124DR009); EMS Shipping & Trading GmbH, Leer, Germany (HTC71124DR010); Global Defense Logistics S.R.L., Constanta, Romania (HTC71124DR012); Geranoi Arapis EE, Aspropyrgos, Greece (HTC71124DR011); Global Logistics Providers St. Thomas LLC, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (HTC71124DR013); International Container Terminal Services Inc., Manila, Philippines (HTC71124DR014); Inchcape Shipping Services, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (HTC71124DR015); Insignia Shipping Services Ltd., London, United Kingdom (HTC71124DR016); Intrepid Eagle Logistics Inc., Bethesda, Maryland (HTC71124DR017); KVG LLC, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (HTC71124DR018); MLS Gulf LLC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (HTC71124DR019); North Star Terminal & Stevedore Co. LLC, Anchorage, Alaska (HTC71124DR020); The Pasha Group, San Rafael, California (HTC71124DR021); S&D International Transportation Logistics GmbH, Augsburg, Germany (HTC71124DR023); Carolina Linkages, doing business as Safe Ports, Aiken, South Carolina (HTC71124DR024); Sanford Federal Inc., Stafford, Virginia (HTC71124DR025); Seven Seas Marine Services Co., Aqaba, Jordan (HTC71124DR026); S.C.A. – Shipping Consultants Associated Ltd., Chatham, United Kingdom (HTC71124DR027); Strategic Technology Institute Inc., Rockville, Maryland (HTC71124DR028); Toll Remote Logistics Party Ltd., Melbourne, Australia (HTC71124DR029); Trailer Bridge Inc., Jacksonville, Florida (HTC71124DR030); TranLogistics LLC, Denver, Colorado (HTC71124DR031); and Verbrugge Zeeland Terminals B.V., Ritthem PC, Netherlands (HTC71124DR032); have been awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price contract, with an estimated combined value of $710,000,000. This contract is to obtain commercial port operations and related transportation services in locations outside the continental US (OCONUS). The contract provides commercial seaport operations and transport services (e.g. stevedoring and related terminal services) at all OCONUS seaports located within one of six designated regions (US Africa Command, US Central Command, US European Command, US Indo-Pacific Command, US Southern Command, and US Northern Command OCONUS, and US territories). The contractor shall provide all personnel, equipment, tools, materials, supervision, and services necessary. The period of performance is from June 1, 2024, to May 31, 2029. Working Capital Funds (Transportation) will be obligated for fiscal 2024 to 2029. The US Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
Foster Fuels, Brookneal, Virginia (SPE605-24-D-4002, $442,052,621); and La Casa Del Comionero, Caguas, Puerto Rico (SPE605-24-D-4003, $52,060,709), have each been awarded a fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract under solicitation SPE605-23-R-0208 for various types of fuel. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. These are five-year contracts with one one-month option period. Locations of performance are throughout the continental US and territories, with a May 31, 2029, performance completion date. Using customer is Federal Emergency Management Agency. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2024 through 2029 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Virginia.
