Ship’s Trespass Investigated
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.
A Coast Guard investigation is underway after the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Harmony of the Seas was responsible for Sunday evening’s scrub of a SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, reports Florida Today. The ship veered into the exclusion zone along a Falcon 9 rocket’s flight path just before the scheduled launch forcing a 24-hour turnaround. Harmony of the Seas is the world’s third-largest cruise ship at 226,963 gross tons. It has 2,747 staterooms, a passenger capacity of 6,687 and a crew of 2,200.
The Navy has begun the process of flushing water from its Red Hill Shaft in an attempt to restore it as a source of drinking water for military communities. Navy officials detailed the process to state legislators at a briefing Monday, reports Hawaii Public Radio. The Navy is also looking into whether it can reuse the water instead of discharging it.
About 230 pounds of marijuana was seized near South Padre Island by the US Coast Guard, reports Click2Houston. At 1 am Monday, three people were allegedly seen with bales on their backs attempting to cross the Brownsville Ship Channel on a raft.
Military pilots’ DNA may hold key to what’s causing their prostate cancers, reports Defense One. Radars, magnetrons, and other toxic exposures may leave unique signatures on aviators’ cells, giving researchers the first evidence of cause. Military pilots are getting the first acknowledgment that they are at higher risk of certain types of cancers; they still don’t know why, whether it’s something in the cockpits or on the flight decks — or something completely unrelated — that they were exposed to during their flying careers.
The United States called for the UN Security Council to meet today (Thursday) on North Korea’s most recent test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of reaching Guam, its most significant launch in years that could target American territory, reports Military Times.
Former Pentagon acquisition and sustainment chief Ellen M. Lord will head a new effort to reform the DoD’s budgeting process, reports Air Force Magazine. The commission includes other former Air Force leaders.
Sen Elizabeth Warren is calling on the Pentagon to stop censoring its annual weapons testing report and return to the transparency that marked it for the last 40 years, reports Defense News. In a letter Tuesday to DefSec Lloyd Austin, Warren criticized the omission of data about more than 20 programs from its public report published Thursday while a fuller version, marked “controlled unclassified information,” was given to Congress and DoD officials.
A Japanese F-15 Eagle fighter jet went missing Monday over waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula, according to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, reports Stars and Stripes. “It is believed that the aircraft had crashed,” chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters at a news conference Tuesday morning.
Gold Star Families Day would be celebrated each September under a new proposal, reports Military Times. A bipartisan group of senators want a federal holiday to recognize the sacrifices of these families on the last Monday in September — just about six weeks before Veterans Day which recognizes troops’ service.
The NFL is accused of racial discrimination in a lawsuit brought by Brian Flores, reports MorningBrew.com. Flores’ lawyers said the coach wanted to take his grievances to the legal arena in order to “shine a light on the racial injustices that take place inside the NFL.” Business Insider says Flores’ allegations come after years of criticism that the NFL’s so-called “Rooney rule” has done little to boost the number of coaches of color.
A space weather sensor has passed its final design review, reports C4ISRNET. The US Space Force has signed off on an electro-optical infrared sensor to improve weather forecasting capabilities. It was developed by EO Vista as part of General Atomics’ weather system program to provide military users with crucial weather data. General Atomics is one of three companies awarded EWS prototype contracts in 2020.
AT&T sees progress in the Navy’s 5G smart warehouse experiment, reports C4ISRNET. AT&T claims initial success in setting up a 5G network experiment that could enable “smart warehouses” for the Navy, with its network demonstrating data throughput speeds greater than 4 gigabits per second. The DoD wants to establish a smart warehouse, where autonomous robots, cameras, augmented reality systems, and other Internet of Things applications are connected over a 5G network to revolutionize warehouse operations.
Nearly a third of DoD structures have exceeded their lifespan, reports Military Times, nearly 30% of 550,000 structures, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. At the same time, DoD has a $137 billion “deferred maintenance backlog.” Further complicating matters is the DoD’s failure to implement a maintenance management plan developed by the Army Corps of Engineers in 2013 with a target date for completion of 2019. DoD now states it will not be fully operational until “at least” 2025, making it difficult for the department to estimate, prioritize and implement maintenance.
Here are the military commissaries that will test doorstep deliveries, reports Military Times. Commissary officials have identified the eight stores that will make the agency’s first foray into the world of delivering groceries to the doors of military commissary customers but none in our area.
Contracts:
JF Taylor, Lexington Park, Maryland, has been awarded an $8,007,681 firm-fixed-price contract for F-35 high fidelity crewstations. The contract provides for cockpits, spares, manuals, training, installations and integration in support of High End Advanced Training and Tactics simulator missions. Work will be performed at Edwards Air Force Base, California; and Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and is expected to be completed by Nov. 17, 2023. This award is the result of a white paper solicitation under the Commercial Solutions Opening Pilot Program and five white papers were received. Fiscal 2022 research and development funds will be obligated at the time of award. Air Force Test Center, Edwards AFB, California, is the contracting activity (FA9302-22-C-0014).
Serco Inc., Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $21,987,146 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract action in support of the Program Executive Office (PEO) “SHIPS” PMS 400D mission to design, build, outfit and test all DDG 51 guided-missile destroyer-class ships, increasing the design performance capability of the DDG 51 class ships. Work will be performed at the Washington Navy Yard, Washington, DC, and at contracting site. Work is expected to be completed on Sept. 8, 2022. Fiscal 2022 ship construction (Navy) funds in the amount of $16,490,427 will be obligated at time of award. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1) — only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N00164-22-C-B003). (Awarded Jan. 7, 2022)
Phoenix International Holdings Inc., Largo, Maryland, was awarded an $18,000,000 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-14-D-4102 for worldwide undersea deep ocean search and recovery operations and associated services to support the Director of Ocean Engineering, Supervisor of Salvage and Diving. Work will be performed worldwide and is expected to be completed by July 2022. No funding will be obligated at the time of contract modification. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Jan. 31, 2022)
BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc., Nashua, New Hampshire, has been awarded a $24,939,542 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to support the Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) program. Work will be performed in Burlington, Massachusetts (68%); Santa Barbara, California (12%); Arlington, Virginia (14%); and San Diego, California (6%), with an expected completion date of July 2025. Fiscal 2021 and Fiscal 2022 research, development, test, and engineering funds in the amount of $99,928 and $822,586, respectively, are being obligated at time of award. This contract was a competitive acquisition under Broad Agency Announcement HR001121S0028. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (HR001122C0023).
