March 28, 2024

Clutch Issues Ground Some V-22 Ospreys

V-22 Ospreys

A US Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey approaches the flight deck of the Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary sea base USS Hershel “Woody” Williams on January 6, 2023. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Conner D. Blake/Released) 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 Naval Air Systems Command grounded a subset of V-22 Osprey aircraft last week due to hard clutch engagement issues with the tilt-rotor aircraft, reports…

DoD $1.4B Short on Next F-35 Contract

'Lightning Carrier' Deployed to Pacific

The Pentagon is $1.4 billion short for its next major F-35 contract with Lockheed. If more money isn’t found, the pending three-year contract, valued at as much as $30 billion, will yield fewer aircraft for the US’s costliest weapons program, which is now estimated at $412 billion.

Navy Makes Changes to Basic Training

Training

The US Navy is revamping its boot camp basics to include 10 weeks of training instead of eight and adding more mentorship, life skills, and personal and professional development portions to the curriculum.

Navy Bests Army in Annual Football Matchup

Navy

The US Naval Academy Midshipmen beat the Army Black Nights in the annual football matchup Saturday 17-13. Navy now leads the historic series 62-52-7.

Report: Presidential Helicopter ‘Unreliable’ in Emergencies

Presidential Helicopters

A Pentagon report says the new presidential helicopter is unreliable in emergency situations and not “operationally suitable.”

Italian F-35B Lands on Carrier for 1st Time

Italian Sea Trials

An Italian Navy F-35B Lightning II landed on the ITS Cavour aircraft carrier for the first time Friday. The landing follows the compatibility testing in the US earlier this year, when two F-35Bs from NAS Pax River were deployed on the ship to test every aspect of the aircraft operations.

Navy Implements New Fire Safety Practices

VADM Roy Kitchener said he is encouraged by new fire safety protocols for ships undergoing maintenance in port. He said among the changes the Navy has invested in fire detection systems and added industrial-environment safety training at surface officer school.

55 Marylanders in Naval Academy’s Class of ’21

Naval Academy

The US Naval Academy held its commencement Friday in Annapolis with Vice President Kamala Harris giving the keynote address. There were 1,084 graduates and 55 of them were Marylanders.

F-35 Provides 254,000 American Jobs

Lockheed wants you to know its F-35 generates more than $49 billion annually and teams with nearly 1,900 US suppliers, including more than 1,000 small business suppliers, in 45 states and Puerto Rico.

Biden Proposes $715B Defense Budget

Defense Budget

President Joe Biden has rolled out his defense budget for the next fiscal year. He is asking $715 billion for the Pentagon. The FY22 proposed budget represents a 1.6% increase over this year.