UK’s Top Test Pilot Compares F-35, Harrier

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 Royal Air Force’s top test pilot says there is no comparison between the F-35 and the Harrier, reports The Register. Andy Edgell, stationed at NAS Patuxent River, said the F-35 and the Harrier, despite broadly doing the same thing (landing vertically), are “almost incomparable” in flying terms. “The design principle of the F-35 is ‘low effort’ while the Harrier is a challenge to fly,” he said.

Will Roper, the nominee for the Air Force’s next head of acquisition, has set his sights on lowering sustainment costs for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, reports Defense News. “I am deeply concerned about the sustainment issues of the F-35. If I get confirmed, one of the first things I want to look at is the sustainment plan to make sure that there are not optimistic assumptions for this confluence of events that all happen together to get the price down,” he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Michael Griffin, the former NASA administrator up for the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering job at the Pentagon, faced few tough questions during his nomination hearing Thursday, reports Defense News. He supports investing heavily in airborne missile defense and directed energy weapons, as well as new ways of moving technology from theory to production.

Lockheed Martin is moving an F-35 support center for three partner nations from Fort Worth, Texas, to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, reports UPI. A $7.5 million contract is for relocating the F-35 Australia, Canada, United Kingdom Reprogramming Laboratory, or ACURL, which handles packing, shipping, installation, integration, and testing of the aircraft for Australia, Canada, and the UK.

Lockheed Martin’s VP of strategy and business development, Vivek Lall, said the company is proposing to manufacture F-35s in India, reports International Business Times. “We plan to introduce two new words into the lexicon of international fighter aircraft manufacturing: ‘India’ and ‘exclusive’,” he said.

The Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy lays out a world where great-power competition, rather than counterterrorism, will drive the department’s decision-making and force structure, reports Army Times. “Inter-state strategic competition, not terrorism, is now the primary concern in US national security,” the 11-page summary reads. Breaking Defense reports the NDS describes a military that is losing its edge over potential competitors, and urges “increased and sustained investment” for long-term strategic competitions with China and Russia.

The USNS Herschel “Woody” Williams is neither fast nor heavily armed. And while she may look like a commercial cargo ship, the Navy’s new vessel is also one of the most useful ships in the entire military, reports Popular Mechanics.

The USS Fitzgerald destroyer, damaged in a June collision that killed seven sailors, has arrived at a Mississippi shipyard, reports Military Times.  Ingalls, a unit of Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries, was chosen by the Navy to repair the ship in August and awarded an initial $63 million contract in December.

Technical advancements and achievements from across the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division were recognized recently, reports smnewsnet.com. Among the award winners was Dr. Brandi Briggs, a mechanical engineer in the Nondestructive Inspection Branch at Pax River. She was honored for her excellence in research, technology development, and effective results in additive manufacturing.

If you have an idea or have developed a new technology that’s relevant to naval aviation, the Navy wants you to visit Innovation and Modernization Patuxent River in California, Maryland, reports Green Valley News. IMPAX is a new initiative that aims to bring new technology into the Navy, and do it fast.

The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission has given concept site plan approval to a 60-unit apartment complex on Pegg Road in Lexington Park that includes 60 percent low-income housing, reports somd.com. The project — Patuxent Cove Apartments — is on 11 acres, one of the last undeveloped tracts on the road that connects Chancellor’s Run Road and Gate 1 at NAS Pax River.

Contracts:

NAVMAR Applied Sciences Corp., Warminster, Pennsylvania, is being awarded $9,591,043 for cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order N6833518F0041 against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N68335-15-G-0013). This order provides for work associated with Phase III Small Business Innovation Research efforts under Topics N08-008, N08-023, and N101-042 titled “Commandable Mobile Anti-Submarine Warfare Sensor”; “Precision High Altitude Sonobuoy Emplacement”, and “Environmental Wideband Acoustic Receiver and Source”, respectively. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland (65 percent); and Warminster, Pennsylvania (35 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2022. Fiscal 2017 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $300,000 will be obligated at time of award, all of which expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.

Global Technical Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia, is being awarded $9,515,178 for firm-fixed-price delivery order N0002418F5258 under a previously awarded (N00024-14-D-5213) for 18 technical insertion 12 hybrid (TI-12H) common processing system (CPS) water-cooled production units. The CPS is a computer processing system based on an open architecture design. CPS consists of the CPS enclosure assembly and three subsystems the processing subsystem, the storage/extraction subsystem, and the input/output subsystem. It is intended to support the computer requirements of various Navy combat systems. Work will be performed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by December 2018. Fiscal 2017 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $9,515,178 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

J.E. Dunn Construction Co., Kansas City, Missouri, was awarded a $52,180,590 firm-fixed-price contract to provide critical space needed to accommodate the 25 percent staffing growth (in specialty medicine and surgical staff) at Langley hospital. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Work will be performed in Hampton, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 28, 2021. Fiscal 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2018 military construction; and operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $52,180,590 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Norfolk District, is the contracting activity (W91236-18-F-0014).

Advance Technology International, Summerville, South Carolina (N00174-18-D-0009); and PAE National Security Solutions LLC, Fredericksburg, Virginia (N00174-18-D-0008), are being awarded a cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for support services for the Demonstration and Assessment Team. This requirement will provide support services to the Demonstration and Assessment Team for coordination of operation forces to include; warfighter workshops and other engagement activities; preparation and facilitation of technology demonstration and assessment planning and readiness meetings; analysis and reporting of warfighting/warfighter inputs and concepts. Advance Technology International will be awarded an $8,456,914 contract that includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $43,912,146. PAE National Security Solutions will be awarded an $8,014,685 contract that includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $41,642,821. The location of the work will be determined by individual task orders and is expected to be completed by January 2023. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $10,000 ($5,000 per contract) will be obligated on the first delivery order at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with two offers received. In accordance with 10 US Code 2304 (a), this contract was competitively procured full and open competition. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

DigitaliBiz Inc, Rockville, Maryland is being awarded a $45,276,907 single award, performance-based, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee services contract (N6523618D8002) for engineering and operational support to the National Science Foundation, Division of Polar programs to deliver systems necessary for the safe execution of airspace management and control, quality operational meteorology, reliable aviation ground systems, and secure/compliant information systems. The contract includes a five-year ordering period and a six-month option period. The option period, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to an estimated $48,996,600. Work will be performed at Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina (57 percent); McMurdo Station, Antarctica (42 percent); and Christchurch, New Zealand (1 percent). The work is expected to be completed by January 2024. If the option is exercised, work could continue until June 2024. A task order utilizing no year funds, other federal government in the amount of $7,230,521 will be placed on contract and obligated at the time of award. This requirement was solicited using full and open competition via the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command E-Commerce Central website and the Federal Business Opportunities website, with four timely offers received. The Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, San Diego, California, is the contracting activity.

Epsilon Systems Solutions Inc., Portsmouth, Virginia (N50054-18-D-1802); Walashek, Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-18-D-1803); and L-3 Unidyne, Norfolk, Virginia (N50054-16-D-1804), are each being awarded a fixed-price, multiple award indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide Landing Craft, Air Cushion/Fleet Modernization program post-service life extension, post-shakedown availability Fiscal 2018/2022 maintenance and repair support to include ship repair, maintenance, and modernization in support of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia. Epsilon Systems Solutions Inc. will be awarded $34,094,700; Walashek will be awarded $35,310,913; and L-3 Unidyne will be awarded $37,983,940. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative ceiling value of the respective contract to $37,983,940. Work will be performed in Little Creek, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by December 2018. Fiscal 2018 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $799,998 ($266,667 minimum guarantee per contract) will be obligated at time of award. Funding in the amount of $800,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This multiple-award contract was procured on an unrestricted basis via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with five offers received. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.