March 28, 2024

UAE Clears First US Hurdle to Purchase Chinook Helicopters

chinook

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The US State Department has cleared the United Arab Emirates to purchase 10 Chinook helicopters for $830 million, reports Defense News. Such notifications are not guarantees of final sale; should the request be approved by Congress, quantities and dollar figures can change during negotiations.

Lockheed Martin has used a laser weapon system to engage and shoot down multiple fixed-wing and rotary drones, reports Defense News. The Advanced Test High Energy Asset, or ATHENA, operated in a netted environment with a government command-and-control system and radar sensor.

Submarines don’t have enough billets to meet demand from female sailors, reports USNI News. The Navy has more women seeking to serve on submarines that it has room for, according to both the Atlantic and Pacific submarine force master chiefs.

Quiet and deferential, DefSec Mark Esper is on his way to becoming the Trump administration’s most influential player, reports Foreign Policy.

The Air Force’s new gunship flying “every single night” in Afghanistan, reports Stars and Stripes, providing close-air support and armed watch over US and Afghan operations. The new aircraft’s missions are part of an increase in the pace of the air war following the collapse of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban in early September, and a vow by President Donald Trump “to hit our enemy harder” than ever before.

The chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says about 500 or 600 US troops will remain in Syria to counter Islamic State fighters, reports Military Times. President Trump recently approved an expanded military mission to secure oil fields across eastern Syria, lockingUS troops into a more complicated presence despite his pledge to bring them home.

Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the US president will confront Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about buying Russian air defense system when they meet this week at the White House amid strained relations between the two NATO allies, reports Military Times. The US says the system is not compatible with NATO forces and could compromise the F-35 fighter jet program and aid Russian intelligence.

The Air Force identified the combat controller lost in Gulf of Mexico, reports Air Force Times, as 29-year-old Staff Sgt. Cole Condiff, who was lost after what the Air Force described as an unplanned parachute departure out of a C-130 Tuesday during a training mission.

Israel was hit by rockets from Gaza after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Islamic Jihad leader, reports NBC News, the most serious escalation of violence in months. “The barrage of rockets being fired by Islamic Jihad in #Gaza at Israeli civilians after our surgical strike on their commander shows exactly why he was targeted in the first place,” the Israel Defense Forces said on Twitter.

The Navy’s hospital ship returns to Haiti to provide health care to hundreds, reports Defense News. This marks the sixth Comfort visit to Haiti and the seventh to the region since 2007. This will be the ship’s last stop of a five-month medical mission.

To honor the 47 sailors killed Nov. 11, 1864, NAS Patuxent River held a ceremony at the USS Tulip Memorial in St. Inigoes, reports The BayNet. The Tulip, a Union gunboat assigned to the Potomac Flotilla, suffered an explosion off St. Inigoes due to a faulty boiler. Its mission was to support Union communications; tow, transport, and land soldiers; and maintain the Union blockade of Confederate ports.

Contracts:

Clark Construction Group LLC, Bethesda, Maryland, is awarded a $570,337,000 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center addition/alteration at Naval Support Activity Bethesda. This work consists of constructing a new addition for inpatient and outpatient medical care, renovation of two existing hospital buildings, and demolition of six existing hospital buildings. The contract is incrementally funded with the first increment of $120,000,000 being allocated at the time of award. The second increment will be funded in fiscal 2021 at $150,000,000. The third increment will be funded in fiscal 2022 at $150,000,000. The fourth increment will be funded in fiscal 2023 at $150,337,000. Work will be performed in Bethesda, Maryland, and is expected to be completed by March 2026. Fiscal 2018 military construction, (Defense-wide) contract funds are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Navy Electronic Commerce Online website with one proposal received. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N40080-20-C-0001).

Edifice LLC, doing business as Edifice Solutions, Beltsville, Maryland, is awarded a firm-fixed-price task order N40085-20-F-4066 at $9,572,167 under a small business design-build/design-bid-build general construction multiple award construction contract for the design-build for four new magazines at Naval Air Station Oceana, Dam Neck Annex. The work to be performed provides for construction of four new oval-arch, earth-covered magazines to replace seven obsolete magazines and demolition of the seven obsolete magazines. Construction of the magazines will require work within jurisdictional forested wetlands as well as the 100-year flood plan. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by May 2021. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Navy) contract funds for $9,572,167 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Five proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N40085-18-D-1125).

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