Thunderbolt, F-15E Lead Fight Against ISIS

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.

Older US Air Force jets — the A-10 Thunderbolt II and the F-15E Strike Eagle — are leading the air war against the Islamic State, reports military.com. US military fighter-attack jets, bombers, and drones have dropped more than 67,000 bombs since the 2014 start of Operation Inherent Resolve, the Defense Department’s mission against the Islamic State, according to information provided by Air Force Central Command.

A leaked NSA document, which found that hackers connected to Russian military intelligence tried to breach US voting systems days before the 2016 election, has national security experts and former intelligence officials reeling, reports businessinsider.com. Russian military intelligence, according to the document, launched an attack on at least one US voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to at least 100 local election officials shortly before the election, reports The Intercept.

Turkey and Kuwait try to mediate Middle East rift over Qatar, reports The Washington Post. Qatar’s neighbors Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain were joined by Egypt on Monday cutting ties with Qatar and denouncing it for supporting terrorism in the region. Defense News reports this rift shows why a military union to fight terrorism and push back against Iran is easier said than done. President Donald Trump has speculated that he would discuss an “Arab NATO” military alliance.

Veterans Affairs administrators announced plans to shift veterans’ electronic medical records to the same system used by the Defense Department, potentially ending a decades-old problematic rift in sharing information between the two bureaucracies, reports the Military Times. VA Secretary David Shulkin announced the decision Monday as a game-changing move, one that will pull his department into the commercial medical record sector and, he hopes, create an easier to navigate system for troops leaving the ranks.

DefSec James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with Australian officials, stressing that despite the Trump administration’s withdrawal from key environmental and trade agreements, the relationship between their countries will remain strong, The Washington Post reports.

The Government Accountability Office has denied a protest from firearms manufacturer Glock that sought to have the government reconsider its award of a 10-year, $580 million contract for the Army’s new handgun to Sig Sauer, reports Army Times reports.

Seven veterans of the Battle of Midway on Monday joined about 1,000 people aboard a retired US Navy aircraft carrier to mark the 75th anniversary of the turning point in World War II’s Pacific Ocean theater, reports Navy Times. The Navy carrier USS Midway that was commissioned in 1945 and was decommissioned in 1992 and has been in a military museum in San Diego since 2004.

A US Marine Corps photographer recently took some portraits of Marines assigned to the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, reports the Business Insider. The photographer, Sgt. Matthew Callahan, took portraits of Marines assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Kuwait and in Romania, as well as the Marines’ Romanian counterparts with whom they were training.

Artificial Stupidity: Fumbling the handoff from artificial intelligence to human control, reports Breaking Defense. The challenge is for the humans to be ready to actively direct a system instead of just monitoring it. “How do you establish vigilance at the proper time?” wrote Army Maj. Gen. Michael Vane after automated Patriots shot down two friendly aircraft in 2003. “[It’s] 23 hours and 59 minutes of boredom, followed by one minute of panic.”

The National Interest asks, “Who Will Win the T-X Advanced Jet Trainer Competition?” Boeing believes it has the edge over Lockheed Martin. While the Lockheed’s T-50A offering is based on an existing South Korean aircraft that was designed using technology from the F-16 Fighting Falcon, Boeing’s concept is custom-designed for the US Air Force’s specific requirements, according to the report.

Contracts:

BAE Systems, Rockville, Maryland, is being awarded $13,166,281 for firm-fixed-price task order modification P00007 under a previously awarded contract (N00604-16-F-3004) to exercise the second option year for services of operation and maintenance of Navy communication, electronic, and computer systems. The exercise of this option will bring the estimated cumulative value of the total contract to $34,186,921. Work will be performed at various locations on the island of Oahu, Hawaii (94 percent); and Geraldton, Australia (6 percent). Work will be completed by June 2018. Fiscal 2017 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,292,045 will be obligated at time of award and funds will not expire before the end of the current fiscal year. This task order was competitively procured with proposals solicited from General Services Administration (GSA) Alliant awardees via GSA’s eBUY portal with two offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.