Still Time for Overseas Absentee Ballots for Nov. 8

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.

Service members, their family members, and overseas US citizens voting by absentee ballot still have time to get their votes counted in the Nov. 8, 2022 midterm elections. Military Times reports some specific states as examples but also reports, regardless of the state, if you’ve requested the absentee ballot and have yet to receive it, download the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot, or FWAB, which works as a backup ballot.

Although the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency sees no “specific or credible” threats, CISA Director Jen Easterly said election officials have been alerted to safe-proof their voting systems and be vigilant about political violence amid a “very complex threat environment,” reports Reuters. The agency is concerned about a range of threats, including cyber, insider, physical and disinformation.

Federally-activated National Guard troops are expected to continue to deploy along the US southern border through summer 2023, reports Military Times. The anticipated approval keeps the number of authorized troops capped at 2,500, although currently 2,708 National Guard members are deployed, according to a Pentagon spokesman.

The Biden administration has discussed slow-rolling military aid to Saudi Arabia, including shipments of advanced Patriot missiles, to punish the kingdom for leading OPEC’s decision to cut oil production, reports NBC.

Task and Purpose has video of Russian warships anchored at the Crimean port of Sevastopol targeted by a swarm of armed drone aircraft and boats early Saturday morning.  Russia accused Ukraine of sending the drones, but Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the strike.

The US Coast Guard and two Good Samaritans rescued 13 people off the coast of Virginia on Friday after their 115-foot commercial fishing vessel collided with the 1000-foot Panamanian-flagged container vessel MSC Rita, reports Fox News. a 1,000-foot container ship and began to sink, officials said. The crew of the Tremont, the fishing vessel sent a mayday call  from approximately 63 miles southeast of Chincoteague Island, VA. The crew said their vessel had collided and they were abandoning the sinking ship.

Researchers found remnants this week of a prison camp in York, PA, that housed British soldiers for nearly two years during the American Revolutionary War, reports The Virginian-Pilot.  The camp housed more than 1,000 English, Scottish, and Canadian privates and noncommissioned officers for 22 months during war, starting with a group of prisoners who arrived in 1781, four years after their surrender at Saratoga, NY. By the next year, there were some 1,200 men at the camp, along with hundreds of women and children.

 

 

The United Nations, Turkey, and Ukraine are pressing ahead with a transit plan for 16 ships to continue grain shipments from the Black Sea, despite Russia suspending its participation in the pact that has allowed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets, reports Reuters. Russia halted its role in the Black Sea deal on Saturday for an “indefinite term” because it  said it could not “guarantee safety of civilian ships” traveling under the pact after an attack on its Black Sea fleet. No ships moved through the established maritime humanitarian corridor on Sunday. But the United Nations said in a statement that it had agreed with Ukraine and Turkey on a movement plan for 16 vessels on Monday – 12 outbound and 4 inbound

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first contracts to develop the F-35, reports Military.com. Retired Air Force LTGEN E.G. “Buck” Shuler Jr. opines that it is time for some necessary upgrades to America’s fifth-generation fighter aircraft, advising that modernization and upgrades to the F-35are better investments than building a new system.

US Army garrisons in Europe are set to be colder and darker this winter because of new conservation measures taken in response to the Continent’s energy crisis, reports Stars and Stripes. As part of the measures, buildings are to be heated to no more than 66 degrees Fahrenheit, and unnecessary outdoor lighting is to be turned off.

The Navy was more than halfway through draining its Red Hill fuel pipelines by the end of last week, reports Hawaii News Now.  After three days of draining, crews removed nearly 600,000 gallons altogether from three pipelines, which leaves about 400,000 gallons to go.

A KC-46 tanker from McConnell Air Force Base, KS, flew without a co-pilot last month, part of Air Mobility Command’s push to study limited aircrew operations, reports Air and Space Forces. Two flights took place with just a pilot and a boom operator. When not engaged in boom operations, the boom operator was in the cockpit with the pilot.

Boeing lost $766 million during the third quarter of this year on the project to build two planes that will serve as the next Air Force One, report Business Insider. The figure takes the company’s losses for the project to $1.9 billion since it began. Boeing is liable for the cost of any overruns under a fixed-price deal struck in 2018 with then-President Donald Trump to produce the two VC-25s.

NASA has released the final solicitation for a potential $400 million contract to help operate its shared services center responsible for providing business administration and other back-office support resources across the agency, reports Washington Technology.

Contracts:

DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded a $9,608,036 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0017323C600) for the research, development, and application-oriented activities in the generation, propagation, detection, and use of radiation in the wavelength region between near-ultraviolet and far-infrared wavelengths. The contract does not include options; the cumulative value of this contract to $9,608,036. Work will be performed in Washington, D.C., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 31, 2023. Fiscal 2022 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) in the amount of $200,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured per Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 — only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N0017323C6000).

Beacon Training Services Inc.,* Richardson, Texas (N39430-23-A-0051); Coley & Associates Inc.,* Spring Branch, Texas (N39430-23-A-0052); Elevate USA Inc.,* Ridgeland, South Carolina (N39430-23-A-0053); Gotham Government Services LLC,* Haymarket, Virginia (N39430-23-A-0054); Horizon Strategies LLC,* Winston Salem, North Carolina (N39430-23-A-0055); and Phoenix Technology Solutions LLC,* Columbia, Maryland (N39430-23-A-0056), are awarded a combined-maximum-value $9,500,000 firm-fixed-price blanket purchase agreement under the General Services Administration’s (GSA) multiple award schedule 611430 (professional and management development training) to provide in-person and virtual synchronous/instructor-led non-technical-competency-based training at various Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) activities within and outside the continental U.S. Work will be performed at both continental U.S. and outside the continental US. NAVFAC locations and is expected to be completed by October 2027. The contracts include an option which, if exercised, would extend the period of performance through April 2028. No funding will be obligated at time of award. Task orders will be funded with operation and maintenance (Navy); and supervision, inspection, and overhead (Navy) funds. This contract was competitively procured via GSA’s ebuy website, with seven proposals received. The Naval Facilities Engineering and Expeditionary Warfare Center, Port Hueneme, California, is the contracting activity.

DCS Corp., Alexandria, Virginia, is awarded a $28,078,107 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable modification (P00026) to a previously awarded, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This modification extends services, adds hours, and increases the ceiling to provide continued technical support services, to include full systems integration to all Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s aircraft integrated product teams and their associated aircraft weapons and support systems, to include Foreign Military Sales versions of each aircraft or system. Work will be performed in China Lake, California (87%); Eglin, Florida (7%); Ridgecrest, California (5%); and Point Mugu, California (1%), and is expected to be completed in July 2023. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, Point Mugu, California, is the contracting activity.

Huntington Ingalls Inc. – Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia, was awarded a $16,611,034 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-21-C-2104 for engineering and technical design effort to support research and development concept formulation for current and future submarine platforms. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2023. Fiscal 2023 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,175,000 (99%); and fiscal 2022 research, development, test and engineering (Navy) funding in the amount of $43,000 (1%) will be obligated at time of award, of which $43,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C. is the contracting activity. (Awarded Oct. 27, 2022)