Search Ends For Sailors After C-2 Crash

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 US Navy called off the search for three sailors missing in the western Pacific, reports CBS News. The three remained missing after a C-2 Greyhound carrier onboard delivery aircraft carrying 11 crew and passengers crashed into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday while on the way to the carrier USS Ronald Reagan, reports Army Times. Those sailors have been identified, reports USA Today. They are Lt. Steven Combs, a Florida native; Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) Airman Matthew Chialastri, a Louisiana native; and Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Bryan Grosso, a Florida native. This latest accident in the Japan-based 7th Fleet, on top of two ship collisions that killed 17 sailors this summer, raises concerns about how overworked, under-trained, and ill-maintained much of the force has become, reports Breaking Defense. It also reminds of a more eternal truth: Military service is hazardous, even in peacetime.

AARP tells the story of how Art Nalls, a former Marine pilot bought and refurbished a legendary Sea Harrier jump jet and how he convinced the Federal Aviation Administration to let him fly it. Nalls keeps his historic aircraft at St. Mary’s County Airport and is the first private citizen to own a Harrier. “Badass Pilot: The Series” is a non-scripted series published on the AARP You Tube channel. Watch the video here.

It is the end of the line for the Fort Worth F-16 production line. To make way for growing production of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin is moving the F-16’s assembly line to Greenville, South Carolina. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports on how the F-16 fighter jet put the Texas city on the aerospace map.

The US Air Force’s first operational overseas deployment of the F-35A Lightning II is up and running in Okinawa, IHSJane’s 360 reports.

There has been no sign of the Argentine submarine lost in the South Atlantic since Nov. 15 despite a massive international search effort, reports Reuters. CNN reports the Argentine Navy said a noise detected near the last known location of the submarine on the day it vanished was consistent with an explosion.

The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies in its latest push to isolate the nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue, Military Times reports.

North Korea has issued a veiled threat of a nuclear strike on Japan, vowing to make the country “disappear at once” if Tokyo continues with what Pyongyang termed “war hysteria,” reports The Japan Times.

DoD accidentally exposed an intelligence-gathering operation, thanks to an online storage misconfiguration, reports Fox News. DoD was reportedly collecting billions of public internet posts from social media, news sites, and web forums and storing them on Amazon S3 repositories. But it neglected to make those storage servers private. So anyone with a free Amazon AWS account could browse and download the data.

Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas has temporarily suspended all flying operations after a T-38 Talon crash last week that killed one pilot and injured another, reports Air Force Times. An AF news release said the base’s planes were to be grounded through the Thanksgiving weekend.

Contracts:

The Louis Berger Group Inc., Washington, District of Columbia, was awarded an $860,000,000 modification (P00011) to contract W911WN-15-D-0001 to support critically needed temporary power for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2018. US Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity.
 
LEIDOS Innovations Corp., Gaithersburg, Maryland, was awarded a $22,626,937 modification (P00022) to contract W911W4-16-C-0002 to provide service to Intelligence and Security Command G-3 Foundry Service in Korea. Work will be performed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 30, 2018. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $22,626,937 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Michigan, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Nov. 21, 2017)

L-3 Unidyne Inc., Norfolk, Virginia, is being awarded a $19,816,901 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N66604-17-C-3107) to continue services for the Naval Array Technical Support Center (NATSC). The Naval Undersea Warfare Center’s Newport Division NATSC facility provides lifecycle support for Navy towed arrays. Services are required on a continuing basis to ensure sufficient inventory levels to serve the Navy’s missions. This modification increases the value of the basic contract to a new total value of $26,193,258.  Work will be performed in Newport, Rhode Island, and is expected to be completed by July 2018. Service cost center funding in the amount of $9,316,901 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport Division, Newport, Rhode Island, is the contracting activity.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia, was awarded an $8,029,299 modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-4314 to exercise option contract line item number 0008 for Headquarters Nuclear Alteration Planning and Execution in support of USS Boise (SSN 764) engineered overhaul. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by February 2021. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,891,530 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, US Navy, Newport News, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Nov. 21, 2017)

Lockheed Martin Corp., Baltimore, Maryland, is being awarded a $22,748,516 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-11-C-2300) to exercise an option for class services in support of foreign military sales for the Littoral Combat Ship program. Work will be performed in Hampton, Virginia (41 percent); Moorestown, New Jersey (38 percent); and Washington, District of Columbia (21 percent), and is expected to be completed by July 2018. Foreign military sales funds for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the amount of $22,748,516 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Pittsfield, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $9,500,217 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-15-C-6228) to exercise options for the engineering service and production of technology insertion 16 multipurpose processors and total ship monitoring systems. Work will be performed in Fairfax, Virginia (53 percent); and Pittsfield, Massachusetts (47 percent), and is expected to be completed by May 2019. Fiscal 2018 other procurement (Navy); fiscal 2018 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy); and fiscal 2017 and 2018 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $9,500,217 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

Elta North America Inc., Annapolis Junction, Maryland, has been awarded a not-to-exceed $39,270,867 undefinitized contract action for counter unmanned aerial system supplies. This contract provides counter unmanned aerial system in support of US Strategic Command joint emergent operational needs. Work will be performed at Annapolis Junction, Maryland, with an expected completion date of March 27, 2018. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2016 and 2018 procurement funds in the amount of $19,242,725 are being obligated at time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, is the contracting activity (FA8730-18-C-0007).