US Hurries Carrier to Mideast, Congress Leery
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The US has moved additional ships and tanker aircraft into the Middle East and hurried a carrier to the region, reports Military.com, as Israel and Iran continue to exchange missile barrages and threaten to plunge the region into war. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) is introducing legislation to prevent the president from taking US military action against Iran without explicit congressional approval. “The American people have no interest in sending service members to fight another forever war in the Middle East,” he said. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz is moving to the Middle East to join the carrier USS Carl Vinson and its strike group. A government official noted that the Vinson is nearing the end of its deployment and the plan was always to be relieved by the Nimitz
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has filed a House resolution seeking to block US involvement in the burgeoning conflict between Iran and Israel, reports Politico. The measure, filed pursuant to the War Powers Resolution of 1973, would block President Donald Trump from engaging in “unauthorized hostilities” with Iran.
Boeing is proceeding with a contract to build two new Air Force One jets amid a pending deal by Trump to accept a donated jet for the mission from Qatar, reports Defense News. Boeing’s jets were originally expected for delivery in 2024 but now are not expected to be done until 2029. Stephen Parker, Boeing’s interim president and chief executive officer, told reporters at the Paris Air Show that the Qatari-donated jet had “no impact at all” on the firm’s Air Force One assignment.
Language requiring health care professionals at the Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated under one of Trump’s executive orders. Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion, and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment, reports The Guardian, but individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law.
The Pentagon is shifting responsibility for Greenland from US European Command to US Northern Command, the combatant command responsible for defending the US homeland, Defense News reports. Trump has repeatedly said that the US should control the territory, now a semi-autonomous part of Denmark. The announcement didn’t suggest that, but DefSec Pete Hegseth, while testifying before the House last week, refused to rule that the US might use force to take Greenland.
House Republican appropriators agreed last week to several checks on recent controversial Pentagon moves in their $832 billion defense budget plan for fiscal 2026, including a ban on using any money for military personnel to conduct law enforcement duties on US soil, reports Military Times. Democratic lawmakers still object to restrictions on abortion care for troops, insufficient funds to support Ukraine, and missing budget details from the administration.
House Republicans are on track to allow job cuts at the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs to proceed, reports Military.com. The House Appropriations Committee’s FY26 defense appropriations bill includes a cut to civilian personnel funds that Republicans said accounts for the Pentagon’s plan to slash about 45,000 civilian jobs. At a full committee debate Tuesday night Republicans rejected a Democratic amendment that would have pumped the brakes on the VA’s plans to fire about 80,000 employees. The full committee is debating the bill Thursday, today.
A group of Democrats are demanding that Palantir provide Congress with additional information about its contracts with the federal government following reports that the tech company is working with the IRS to create a searchable database of information on Americans that would be sharable across federal agencies. NextGov.com reports lawmakers wrote in a June 17 letter to Palantir CEO Alex Karp, that the company “is enabling and profiting from serious violations of Federal law by the Trump Administration.” The missive comes after an article published by The New York Times last month reported the mission creep.
Four Silicon Valley technology executives are joining the Army Reserve as officers to inject speed and expertise into military innovation via the newly established Detachment 201, an Executive Innovation Corps, reports Defense News. These new Army Reserve lieutenant colonels are Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer; Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta; Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s chief product officer; and Bob McGrew, an adviser at Thinking Machines Lab and former chief research officer for OpenAI.
Three months ahead of schedule, the Air Force expects to hit its newly revised recruiting goal of 29,950, reduced from its 32,500 target due to ongoing congressional budget delays, reports Military.com.
Naval Combat Engineers, or Seabees, from Naval Construction Battalion 14 and Marines from the 8th Engineer Support Battalion teamed with troops from the Latvian Army this month to turn a clearing in the woods into a network of trenches designed to survive enemy drone attacks from above, reports Military.com.
Families of US military personnel departed from bases in the Middle East last week, following a barrage of Israeli strikes against Iranian military leaders and nuclear sites, reports Stars and Stripes. Commercial flights across the Middle East were diverted or canceled after Iraq and Jordan shut down their airspaces on Friday. Dozens of military families have arrived at Naval Support Activity Naples from Bahrain on military flights as the strikes continues and concerns linger of potential attacks on US personnel and facilities.
The Paris Air Show, held every two years at Le Bourget Airport northeast of the French capital, kicked off Monday, featuring significantly more defense themes this year compared to two years ago, reports Defense News. About 45% of the show is dedicated to defense and security, a “strong increase” from 2023, with the remainder focused on civil aerospace, according to the general commissioner of the show, Emmanuel Viellard.
Aviation News provides coverage of the Paris Air Show outside its paywall and offers a synopsis of the changed tenor of this year’s event. The show opened just days after an Air India Boeing 787 crashed. Boeing, usually a playing a major role in the show, scaled back its public appearance. On opening day, reports Defense News, Israeli arms companies found their booths walled off with a black barrier, at the behest of the French government. Officials at the event have criticized the Israeli government’s conduct of the Gaza war.
Denmark has launched four uncrewed robotic sailboats, for a three-month operational trial, surveilling Danish and NATO waters in the Baltic and North Seas, where maritime tensions and suspected sabotage have escalated sharply since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. From a distance, the 30-foot-long vessels look almost like ordinary sailboats, their sails emblazoned with the red-and-white flag of Denmark, reports AP News.
Archaeologists have discovered by chance what they say are the remains of a 16th-century merchant ship more than 1.5 miles underwater off southern France, the deepest such find in its section of the Mediterranean or any other French waters, reports CBS News. Archaeologists believe the ship was sailing from northern Italy loaded with ceramics and metal bars before it sunk. An underwater drone stumbled upon the sunken ship by chance in early March in waters near Saint-Tropez in southeastern France, deputy maritime prefect Thierry de la Burgade said.
Contracts: from 6/16,6/17
American Electronic Warfare Associates Inc., California, Maryland, is awarded a $466,653,786 cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide advanced aircraft research, development, test and evaluation (AARDT&E) support, to include research, development, management, design, documentation, fabrication, installation, integration, test, evaluation, operation and maintenance in support of integrated battlespace simulation and test and associated AARDT&E capabilities, laboratories, and facilities supporting for the Navy and non-US Department of Defense partnering nation programs. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (90%); and Hollywood, Maryland (10%), and is expected to be completed in June 2030. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured with one offer received. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0303).
Reliance Test and Technology LLC, Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $90,202,440 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification (P00059) to a previously awarded contract (N0042120C0033). This modification exercises an option to provide research, development, test, evaluation, engineering, fleet and management support services required to perform aircraft engineering and developmental flight tests, as well as fleet training events for the Navy and Marine Corps air vehicle systems and trainers in support of the Atlantic Ranges and Targets Department. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (78%); Norfolk, Virginia (13%); Dam Neck, Virginia (5%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (4%), and is expected to be completed in June 2031. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $11,230,525; fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $4,019,000; fiscal 2025 working capital (Navy) funds in the amount of $3,198,907; fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Defense Wide) funds in the amount of $649,000, will be obligated at time of award, $7,217,907 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Georgia Tech Applied Research Corp., Atlanta, Georgia, was awarded a $14,157,400 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N6523625C1021) for quantum sensing and electromagnetic warfare research and development in support of the Office of Naval Research; Atomic Scepter. The contract includes a 36-month delivery occurring 12 June 2028. Work will be performed in Charleston, South Carolina (41 %); Washington, DC (21 %); San Diego, California (11 %); Arlington, Virginia (5 %); Boston, Massachusetts (4 %); Chicago, Illinois (4%); Patuxent River, Maryland (4 %); Newport Rhode Island (4 %); Honolulu, Hawaii (4 %); Boulder, Colorado (1 %); and Eglin Air Force Base, Florida (1 %). Fiscal 2025 Research, Development, Test & Evaluation funds in the amount of $520,000 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured because it is a sole source acquisition pursuant to the authority of 10 US Code 3204(a)(3)(B), industrial mobilization; engineering, developmental or research capability (Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-3). Naval Information Warfare Center, Atlantic, Charleston, South Carolina, is the contracting activity.
Signal Systems Corp., Millersville, Maryland, is awarded a $18,792,464 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N6833525F0097) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N6833525G0016). This order provides for ongoing research, development, test, engineering, and acquisition for advanced technology maturation of spread spectrum techniques for sonar ping technologies, target localization using multi-static sonar with drifting sonobuoys, and continuous active sonar signal processing techniques and are critical to the success of the Fleet’s airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare operations and training mission for the Navy. These efforts are in support of Small Business Innovation Research Phase III for Topics N04-007 entitled, “Continuous Active Sonar;” N093-168 titled, “Target Localization Using Multi-Static Sonar with Drifting Sonobuoys”; and N101-005 entitled, “Spread Spectrum Techniques for Sonar Ping Technology.” Work will be performed in Millersville, Maryland, and is expected to be completed in July 2030. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $690,000 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract action was competed. Naval Air Warfare Center, Lakehurst, New Jersey, is the contracting activity.
Textron Systems Corp., Hunt Valley, Maryland, was awarded a $13,155,112 cost-plus-fixed-fee delivery order (N61331-24-D-0006) for mine countermeasures unmanned surface vehicle support services. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland (50%); Panama City, Florida (40%); and Port Hueneme, California (10%), and is expected to be complete June 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $490,595 (4%) will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance 10 US Code 3204(a)(1) and Federal acquisition Regulation 6.302-1-only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Florida, is the contracting activity. (Awarded on June 17, 2025)
Sustainable Design Consortium Inc., Baltimore, Maryland (W911SA-25-D-A011); AC Lopez Construction Inc., San Juan Capistrano, California (W911SA-25-D-A018); Miller Electric Co. Inc., Reno, Nevada (W911SA-25-D-A027); Whelcon Contractors LLC, Tucson, Arizona (W911SA-25-D-A019); and Miami Marine Services LLC, Miami, Oklahoma (W911SA-25-D-A026), will compete for each order of the $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for renovation and construction services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 10 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 17, 2030. Army 419th Contracting Support Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the contracting activity.
Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a not to exceed $96,076,412 firm, fixed price and time and material letter contract for civilian mariner wireless network installation and sustainment services. This was a sole-source acquisition in accordance with Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement 206.001-70, exception for other transaction prototype projects for follow-on production contracts. This is a undefinitized contract action and will be definitized in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 16.603-2(a). Work will be performed worldwide, with an estimated completion date of June 15, 2027. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $30,351,258 are obligated for fiscal 2025 and will expire at the end of the fiscal year. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.
OpenAI Public Sector LLC, San Francisco, California, has been awarded a fixed amount, prototype, other transaction agreement (HQ0883-25-9-0012) with a value of $200,000,000. Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains. The work will be primarily performed in the National Capital Region with an estimated completion date of July 2026. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $1,999,998 are being obligated at time of award. Office of the Secretary of Defense Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office, Washington DC, is the contracting activity.
General Dynamics Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $60,133,061 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-19-C-6407) to exercise options to provide AN/BYG-1 Tactical Control System engineering. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2026. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,407,368 (61%); and fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,510,000 (39%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Vet Con Souza, Farmersville, California (W911SA-25-D-A006); Miller Electric Co. Inc., Reno, Nevada (W911SA-25-D-A007); Sustainable Design Consortium Inc., Baltimore, Maryland (W911SA-25-D-A008); AC Lopez Construction Inc., San Juan Capistrano, California (W911SA-25-D-A009); and Spectrum Builders and Renovations Inc., Sacramento, California (W911SA-25-D-A010), will compete for each order of the $25,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for construction services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 12 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of June 15, 2030. Army 419th Contracting Support Brigade, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the contracting activity.
Echelon Services LLC, Manassas, Virginia, was awarded a firm-fixed-price contract (S5121A23C0007) valued at $22,807,498 for professional consulting and support services to assist with the full range of business intelligence program/project management services necessary to implement the Defense Contract Management Agency data strategic direction, expected to evolve over the contract’s period of performance. This was awarded directly to Echelon Services as a Certified 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Business. This is a one-year contract with three option periods. This report is for the exercise of the second option year. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $5,780,673 are being obligated to this option period. The contractor will provide support and expertise to support a broad range of analytical and data visualization, data exploitation, management consulting and support services for implementation of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning applications in the contract administration field. The work will be performed at the contractor’s facility located in Manassas, Virginia. All work will be done by the prime contractor. The estimated final contract completion date is Sept. 29, 2027. DCMA, Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded November 2023).
Fluor Marine Propulsion LLC, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $560,493,551 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-18-C-2130 for Naval Nuclear Propulsion work at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (47%); Schenectady, New York (45%); and Idaho Falls, Idaho (8%). Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $87,700,000 (54%); fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $39,956,500 (24%); fiscal 2024 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $33,824,878 (21%); fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $1,200,000 (less than 1%); fiscal 2024 research, development, test and evaluation funding in the amount of $800,000 (less than 1%); fiscal 2022 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $266,733 (less than 1%); and fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $733 (less than 1%), will be obligated at time of award, of which funds in the amount of $88,500,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity. (Awarded on May 29, 2025)
HII Unmanned Systems Inc., Pocasset, Massachusetts, is awarded an $85,730,017 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N61331-25-D-1001) consisting of cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price, and cost contract line items for engineering support services of the MK 18 Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Family of Systems. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $85,730,017. Work will be performed in Pocasset, Massachusetts (70%); San Diego, California (19%); Norfolk, Virginia (5%); Panama City, Florida (5%); and various overseas locations (1%), and is expected to be completed by June 2030. If all options are exercised, work will continue through June 2030. This contract will be funded from fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Navy); research, development, test and evaluation; and other procurement (Navy) funds, with a ceiling of $85,730,017. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $251,462 (<1%) will be obligated at time of award of the first delivery order. This contract was not competitively procured via the Sam.gov, in accordance with 10 US Code 3204(a)(1) and Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1 – only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, Panama City, Florida, is the contracting activity.
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $60,000,000 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-25-C-2127 for advance planning and long-lead-time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the USS Nimitz (CVN 68) inactivation and defueling. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $58,645,077 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
cBEYONData, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $19,859,322 modification (P00002) to contract W91CRB-24-A-0001 for functional operations support. Bids were solicited via the internet with one received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 4, 2027. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Environmental Chemical Corp., Burlingame, California (N6247825D4041); Grunley Goodfellow JV, Rockville, Maryland (N6247825D4042); Hawaii-Wake MACC Constructors, Watsonville, California (N6247825D4043); Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (N6247825D4044); Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Honolulu, Hawaii (N6247825D4045); Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., Honolulu, Hawaii (N6247825D4046); The Korte Co., St. Louis, Missouri (N6247825D4047); Nan Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (N6247825D4048); Nordic PCL Construction Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (N6247825D4049); SLSCO Ltd., Galveston, Texas (N6247825D4050); and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Baltimore, Maryland (N6247825D4051), were awarded a combined $8,000,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award, design-build/design-bid-build contract for new construction, repair, alteration, and related demolition of existing infrastructure within the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Hawaii area of responsibility. Each awardee was awarded $3,000 (minimum contract guarantee per awardee) after contract award. The maximum combined dollar value, including the base period of five years and one option period of three years, for all 11 contracts is $8,000,000,000. Work will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Hawaii region, and is expected to be completed by June 2033. Future task orders will be primarily funded by operation and maintenance (O&M) (Navy) and military construction defense agencies contract funds. Fiscal 2025 O&M (Navy) funding in the amount of $33,000 will be obligated for the minimum guarantees and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via SAM.gov website with 15 offers received. NAVFAC Hawaii, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity. (Awarded June 12, 2025)
General Dynamics Electric Boat Corp., Groton, Connecticut, is awarded a $986,785,825, cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-2117 for additional component development, class lead yard support, and Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) supplier development enhancements supporting Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines and the nuclear shipbuilding enterprise (Virginia-class submarines and Ford-class aircraft carriers). This contract combines previously scheduled United Kingdom (U.K.) funding modification in the amount of $16,035,000, as annotated herein, for the continued support of the joint U.S. Columbia-class and U.K. Dreadnought-class common missile compartment program. The industrial base development work is for the furtherance of the Navy’s plan of serial production of Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarines. The Navy and Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE) conducted the fiscal 2025 SIB Study (SIB25) to determine how to successfully complete the once-in-a-generation recapitalization of the submarine force. The SIB projects in this contract modification directly support the direction of OMB, OSD CAPE, and the Navy. Pursuant to the president’s budget for fiscal 2025, the requirements are included for SIB25 investment for strategic sourcing, supplier development, and shipbuilder and supplier infrastructure. Funding is pursuant to the SIB25 and the 2025 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025 (Public Law 119-4). Work will be performed in Groton, Connecticut (70%); Newport News, Virginia (15%); and Quonset Point, Rhode Island (15%), and is expected to be completed by December 2031. Fiscal 2025 national sea-based deterrence fund funds in the amount of $794,112,793 (96%); U.K. funds in the amount of $16,035,000 (2%); fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,208,683 (1%); fiscal 2025 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,400,000 (<1%); and fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $641,000 (<1%), will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year; and fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,200,000 (<1%), will be obligated at the time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
CORRECTION: The contract announced on Nov. 20, 2024, for Bionetics Corp., Yorktown, Virginia (FA8224-25-D-0001); Tyonek Technical Services, Madison, Alabama (FA8224-25-D-0002); SkyQuest Aviation, Glendale, Arizona (FA8224-25-D-0003); Strategic Technology Institute, Rockville, Maryland (FA8224-25-D-0004); and Kay and Associates, Buffalo Grove, Illinois (FA8224-25-D-0005), for $751,000,000 was announced with an incorrect award date. The correct date is June 16, 2025.
