March 28, 2024

Schmidt New F-35 PEO

Schmidt

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

A new leader takes over at the F-35 program office, reports Defense News. MAJ GEN Michael Schmidt was sworn in as the new program executive officer for the F-35 Joint Program Office. Schmidt, who was previously PEO for command, control, communication, intelligence, and networks at Hansom Air Force Base in Massachusetts, succeeded LT GEN Eric Fick, who is retiring. Schmidt, who on Monday tested positive for COVID-19, teleconferenced into the ceremony at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC.

The DoD is offering $110,000 in bug bounties for flaws in its public-facing systems through July 11, reports FCW. The effort is part of the Hack the Pentagon’s vulnerability disclosure program managed by HackerOne. The company announced on its website that findings of high- and critical severity-level vulnerabilities are eligible for cash payouts.

The Navy is paying $100,000 for tips on smuggling drugs and guns in the Persian Gulf, reports Task & Purpose. When the USS Monterey boarded a small vessel in the North Arabian Sea in 2021, it found a weapons cache so big that it took 36 hours to unload, and the arsenal covered the rear deck of the guided-missile cruiser. In that same year, the Navy seized almost 9,000 weapons, three times what was captured in 2020. These interdictions also seized more than $500 million in illegal drugs, more than the previous four years combined.

The high cost of Russian gains in Ukraine may limit a new advance, reports Military Times. After more than four months of ferocious fighting, Russia claimed a key victory: full control over one of the two provinces in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, but at a steep price. A military analysist in Ukraine noted that Russian units involved with the battle in the Luhansk province lost up to a half their soldiers.

The US Navy is searching for a case of missiles that fell off a helicopter into Pacific Ocean, reports Defense News. A “rigging failure” led to two containers falling off of an MH-60s Knighthawk helicopter over the East Pacific Ocean on June 17, according to Navy spokesman Brian O’Rourke. The two containers had five RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles inside of them. They are missing parts, and it is very unlikely that they’ll detonate underwater, O’Rourke said.

AT&T and 26 other companies join the Air Force’s $950 million JADC2 effort, reports C4ISRNET. The USAF on July 1 selected an additional 27 vendors, both large and small, to compete for work tied to Joint All-Domain Command and Control, or JADC2, which aims to better connect sensors and shooters and enable rapid responses on the battlefield.

The Pentagon has ended its longstanding blocking of abortion-related sites on computer networks, reports Defense News. The Pentagon quietly lifted the ban that prevented troops and civilians from searching for abortion-related terms on the department’s computer networks, a move that follows the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last month.

 

 

The Space Force launches a new intelligence unit as Congress voices concerns over growth, reports Military.com. The Space Force has assumed command of a new unit that will be focused on keeping an eye out for foreign threats in space, but it comes as Congress is warning the small service branch that it has to prepare to slow its growth. Delta 18 and the brand-new National Space Intelligence Center were officially commissioned late last month at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. It will be staffed by nearly 350 civilian and military personnel.

The Army’s education waiver reversal stuns applicants and splits experts on impact, reports Army Times. It’s not clear why the Army suspended the program less than a week after it went public. Unnamed officials say the rollback was influenced by a backlash accusing the service of lowering its standards to fill the ranks, others say the rollback was “more to do with ensuring that we set the recruits … up for success” rather than “perception of a lowered standard” to join.

Russia seems to be preparing the vital Kerch Bridge for missile attacks, reports the Drive. Russia has deployed a number of countermeasures to the Kerch Strait Bridge connecting Russia and Crimea, including decoy barges covered in radar reflectors as well as smokescreen capabilities that were used in test exercises over the weekend. The bridge, which was built between 2016 and 2018 and includes both automotive and rail lanes, is incredibly important to Russia. Its connection between mainland Russia and Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014, is both symbolic and strategic.

Finland seizes nearly a thousand Russian freight cars as EU sanctions bite, reports Reuters. Finnish state-owned rail operator VR spokeswoman Taina Kuitunen confirmed “around 800 units of sanctioned [freight] cars in Finland at the moment” and the company sought to return the non-seized ones to Russia as soon as possible. As Finland’s VR moved to reduce railway traffic with Russia after the EU sanctioned Russian coal supplies in April, 865 rail cars from Russia were seized by bailiffs, according to the June 6 dated letter from Russian Railways to the Ministry of Transport.

The peanut contains the highest amount of protein in a nut per serving, although it is actually a legume, according to TastingTable.com. The US Department of Agriculture’s FoodData Central lists a 100-gram serving of unroasted peanuts as having 25.8 grams of protein; dry-roasted almonds with salt, by comparison, contain 20.4 grams. Protein isn’t the only draw, however — peanuts contain folate (as recorded by Harvard’s School of Public Health) and also have a lot of antioxidants, amino acids, and minerals.

Judges hear an appeal to reinstate manslaughter charges against Chief Petty Officer Eric Gilmet, a member of Marine Special Operations Command, reports Defense News. Three military appellate court judges will decide whether to reverse the ruling of a lower court judge who dismissed manslaughter and related charges against Gilmet in the death of a US contractor in Iraq in 2019, citing unlawful command influence after a top Marine attorney made statements deemed threatening to military defense lawyers.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s decision to lift gun restrictions roils state politics, reports Maryland Matters. One day after mass shootings at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb and a fireworks display in Philadelphia, Hogan (R) announced that he had directed the Maryland State Police, which issues gun licenses in the state, to suspend what’s known as the “good and substantial reason” standard for carrying concealed weapons. Hogan’s directive means Maryland gun owners no longer have to offer a justification for carrying concealed firearms.

Contracts:

GEO Consultants Corp.,* Kevil, Kentucky (W91237-22-D-0010); Kenall-hana JV,* North Chesterfield, Virginia (W91237-22-D-0011); and KSWA-AEI JV LLC,* Nashville, Tennessee (W91237-22-D-0012), will compete for each order of the $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for geotechnical services. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of July 5, 2027. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington, West Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems Inc., Braintree, Massachusetts, is awarded an indefinite-delivery requirements contract in the amount of $42,099,961. The contract contains firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost reimbursable contract line items supporting the production and delivery of Acoustic Device Countermeasure (ADC) MK 2 and ADC MK 2 training devices used on surface vessels and submarines. This contract has a five-year ordering period from fiscal years 2022 to 2027, and potential deliveries of Foreign Military Sales units and services in support of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Work will be performed in Braintree, Massachusetts (96%); Chantilly, Virginia (2%); and Wake Forest, North Carolina (2%), with an ordering period through July 2027. Fiscal 2022 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,245,494 (39%); fiscal 2022 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,194,266 (38%); and fiscal 2021 weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,357,542 (23%) will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively solicited via the System for Award Management website, with one offer received. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Keyport, Keyport, Washington, is the contracting activity (N00253-22-D-0002).

Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, is awarded a $15,542,959 firm-fixed-price modification (P00014) to previously awarded contract M67400-18-F-0065 to exercise Option Year Four for analysis support services for III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Installations Pacific (MCIPAC). Work will be performed in Okinawa, Japan, and is expected to be completed July 7, 2023. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance (Marine Corps) funding in the amount of $15,542,959 will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The MCIPAC Regional Contracting Office, Marine Corps Base Camp Butler, Okinawa, Japan, is the contracting activity.

Albatrosses Global Shipping Services LLC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (N68171-22-D-H001); Fine Foods Logistics WLL, Manama, Bahrain (N68171-22-D- H002); Gelasakis Tourism Hotel Services S.A., Piraeus, Attica, Greece (N68171-22-D- H003); Medmar Tramp SRL, Genoa, Italy (N68171-22-D- H004); National Shipping Agency S.A., Souda, Crete, Greece (N68171-22-D- H005); Norton Lilly International Inc., Mobile, Alabama (N68171-22-D- H006); Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia (N68171-22-D- H007); and Ziya Göksel Shipping Agency Ltd., Istanbul, Turkey (N68171-22-D- H008), is awarded an estimated $1,061,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract under previously awarded request for proposal N68171-20-R-0005 adding new husbanding service provider contractors to an existing 2020 global multiple award contract (GMAC) for the remaining three years and two months within the initial GMAC. The existing GMAC included a five-year base ordering period with one five-year option with individual requirements performed under task orders when specific dates and locations are identified. The GMAC is to provide husbanding, management and integration services consisting of general charter and hire, utilities, force protection, communications, and land transportation services to support maritime forces of the Department of Defense, other U.S. government agencies, and other nations to include: Navy ships, Marine Corps, Military Sealift Command (MSC), Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, NATO, and other foreign vessels participating in U.S. military or NATO exercises and missions. If the option period is exercised, the total estimated value of the contracts combined will have a ceiling value of $2,122,000,000. The ordering period of the contract is expected to be completed by October 2025; if all options are exercised, the ordering period will be completed by October 2030. The contracts will run concurrently, and work will be performed in thirty geographic regions: United Arab Emirates (14%); Philippines (10%); Djibouti (7%); Eastern U.S. and U.S. territories (6%); Southeastern Asia 2 (5%); Indian Ocean (5%); South Korea (5%); South America (5%); Singapore (4%); Western U.S. California (4%); Southeastern Asia 1 (3%); Bahrain (3%); Oman (3%); Oceania (2%); China and Russia (2%); United Kingdom/Western Europe (North Sea) (2%); Italy (2%); Eastern Europe/Black Sea (2%); Western Europe (Mediterranean) (2%); Northern Atlantic (2%); Panama (2%); North America (2%); Japan (1%); Greece (1%); Africa (1%); Middle East (1%); Central America (1%); Caribbean and Bermuda (1%); Eastern U.S. territories (1%); and Western U.S. territories (1%). Due to the fact that the specific requirements for husbanding support cannot be predicted at this time, more specific information about where the work will be performed cannot be currently provided. Fiscal 2022 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $24,000 will be obligated ($3,000 on each of the eight contracts to fund the contracts’ minimum amounts), and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Additional funds will be obligated at the task order level with the appropriate fiscal year funding as issued by the main type commanders for each area of responsibility. Typical funding issued by each of the customers include operations and maintenance (Navy) funds from U.S. Fleet Forces Command and working capital funds (Navy) from MSC. The requirement was competitively procured for the award of multiple contracts with the solicitation posted on SAM.gov with 30 offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella, Naples Detachment, Italy, is the contracting activity.

 

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