Space War College Goes to Hopkins

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.

Space Force picks Johns Hopkins University as its war college, reports Federal Times. The Space Force becomes the first branch of the US armed forces to leverage a private university rather than create a new war college. Starting next July, Johns Hopkins will offer a 10-month, accredited professional military education program that draws on its world-renowned courses in international studies and engineering.

North Korea says missile tests were practices to ‘mercilessly’ strike key South Korean and US targets, reports Fox News. North Korea  escalated geopolitical tensions by firing dozens of missiles towards the sea last week in defiance of recent US-South Korean air force drills. The North’s missile tests triggered evacuations in some Japanese and South Korean areas.

Marines remain opposed to gender-integrated boot camp platoons despite a $2M study presenting a compelling case to do so, reports Marine Corp Times. Complying with a congressional directive to fully integrate training at Parris Island, SC, by 2025 and San Diego by 2028 the Corps considered recommendations from an independent study it paid $2 million to complete. But the head of Marine Corps Training and Education Command says the Corps is pursuing a different path, amid fears that complete integration will cause the force to lose its competitive edge for making the best warriors.

Almost half of phishing attacks target government employees, reports GNC.com. Government employees were the target of almost half of all phishing attacks last year and are at risk of having their credentials stolen in those attacks, according to a new report. Researchers at cloud security company Lookout found that public-sector employees were the subject of 50% of all credential-stealing phishing attacks in 2021, up from 30% in 2020, as many agencies continued to embrace hybrid work in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A $5 million agreement among regional associations of the NOAA-led US Integrated Ocean Observing System are using small,  affordable ocean buoys and a web-based app to provide vital and understandable ocean data to Indigenous coastal communities and the observing system, reports gCaptain. The Backyard Buoys are strategically placed in the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and the Pacific Islands to be tended by local communities and provide additional information to support their ocean-based economies.

The Navy is readying new tools and training after the November 2021 Connecticut submarine collision, reports Defense News. “Fundamentally that accident should have been avoided,” said VADM William Houston. New procedures, additional training, and new technology to help submarines navigate have been implemmented. Connecticut was damaged when it struck an undersea mountain in the South China Sea.

Military finishes draining fuel from Pearl Harbor’s Red Hill pipelines, reports Navy Times. The fuel storage facility last year spilled jet fuel into the military installation’s tap water and sickened 6,000 people on and off base. About 1 million gallons of fuel had been sitting in the pipelines since the military stopped using the Red Fuel Bulk Fuel Storage Facility after last November’s spill.

 

 

Stick with statins to cut cholestrol, according to a study finding statins ‘vastly superior’ to supplements, reports NPR. Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic tracked 190 adults, ages 40 to 75. Some received a 5 mg daily dose of a statin, others were given supplements, including fish oil, cinnamon, garlic, turmeric, plant sterols or red yeast rice for the same period. “What we found was that rosuvastatin lowered LDL cholesterol by almost 38% and that was vastly superior to placebo and any of the six supplements studied in the trial,” study author Luke Laffin, MD of the Cleveland Clinic’s Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute told NPR.

Analysts predict more vets in Congress next year after midterm wins, reports Military Times. “This is the first significant increase in congressional military service in half a century,” said Seth Lynn, a University of San Francisco adjunct professor and founder of the Veterans Campaign, which studies the participation and impact of veterans in public office.

NASA Wallops scrubbed Sunday’s Antares launch due to a fire alarm in Dulles, VA, reports Delmarvanow.com. The launch,  carrying a Cygnus spacecraft from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, VA, was halted when a fire alarm at the Cygnus mission operations control center in Dulles,VA, led to an evacuation of the building there. The launch has been rescheduled for Monday, Nov. 27, at 5:27 am.

Soldiers are finally getting a ‘robotic mule’ to haul all their heavy sh*t for them, reports Task and Purpose. Last week, General Dynamics Land Systems delivered an initial order of 16 Small Multipurpose Equipment Transport (S-MET) “robotic mule” vehicles, first in the service’s history, according to General Dynamics. The S-MET can haul between 1,000 and 2,500 pounds of gear and equipment at a speed of 8 mph and operate in a 60-mile range over a three-day period, according to the Army.

The Pentagon and Congress have trust issues, according to a budget reform panel. Defense News reports, early work by a congressionally mandated budget reform commission has highlighted an “incredible lack of trust and communication” between the DoD and Congress, according to former Pentagon acquisition chief Ellen Lord, a member of a 14-person commission of former lawmakers, DoD officials, and industry executives tasked by Congress to recommend improvements to the DoD’s budget process.

Bollinger to buy Halter Marine Shipyard and oversee the Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter Program, reports USNI. The Mississippi shipyard that won the contract to build a new class of Coast Guard icebreakers is set to be acquired by a Louisanna shipbuilding group. Bollinger Shipyards has agreed to buy Halter Marine and the adjacent ST Engineering Halter Marine Offshore for $15 million from parent ST Engineering North America.

Cruise demand has returned to its pre-pandemic levels, reports gCaptain. Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. said occupancy has rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, with bookings running higher than the third quarter of 2019. The second-largest cruise operator reported third-quarter results Thursday that surpassed Wall Street estimates and said customer demand met 2019 levels for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down cruises.

The US and Netherlands will share the expense to refurbish 90 more Czech T-72B tanks for Ukraine, reports Military Times. The agreement is part of a $400 million US aid package to Ukraine that includes funding to refurbish and donate an undisclosed number of the US military’s outdated Hawk air defense systems, a mix of US stockpiled equipment, and new contracting under Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

World Series 2022: Astros 1B Trey Mancini goes from cancer to title in 2 years, reports AOL.Com. Of the many interesting stories that make up the Houston Astros’ 2022 World Series title, Trey Mancini’s might be the most heartwarming. The infielder/outfielder spent the first four years of his MLB career as one of the best players on some very bad Baltimore Orioles teams, and then his career was interrupted by a colon cancer diagnosis. After the Orioles announced he had undergone surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his colon, Mancini sat out the entire 2020 season while undergoing chemotherapy. Today, after being traded, he celebrates as a member of the World Series Champion, Houston Astros.

Contracts:

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Elkton, Maryland, is awarded an $8,997,210 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the manufacture of initiating propellant used on the MK48 heavyweight torpedo. This contract includes a three-year ordering period with no options. All work will be performed in Elkton, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by November 2025. Weapons procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,203,980 will be issued for delivery order N00104-22-F-ZN01 that will be awarded concurrently with the contract and funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. One company was solicited for this sole-source requirement under authority 10 U.S. Code 2304 (c)(1), with one offer received. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00104-22-D-ZN01).

GHD Setiadi Kaula AE JV, Honolulu, Hawaii, is awarded a $30,000,000 modification to previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N-62742-18-D-0005) for architect-engineer services for various base infrastructure and other projects. This modification is to increase the total ordering capacity of the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to $70,000,000. Work will be performed at various Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and other government facilities within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific area of responsibility including, but not limited to, Australia (77%), Virginia (13%), Guam (7%), and Philippines (3%). No funds will be obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual task orders and task order modifications as they are issued. The Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Pacific, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.