March 29, 2024

US Sticks With Policy to Keep Turkey Out of F-35 Program

Turkey

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 new administration is sticking with the policy of keeping Turkey out of the F-35 program, reports Air Force Magazine, since that country purchased the S-400 defense system from Russia. The US urges Ankara not to keep the S-400, which began arriving in 2019. Turkey should instead invest in the American-made Patriot air defense missile system, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

SecState Antony Blinken said Monday that the US will reengage “immediately and robustly” with the United Nations Human Rights Council, NPR reports. The move reverses the position of the Trump administration, which withdrew from the council in 2018.

Chinese warships were seen watching the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain as it conducted a freedom of navigation operation near the disputed Paracel Islands last week. All interactions were safe and professional, reports Fox News. US forces operate in the South China Sea on a daily basis, as they have for more than a century.

Lockheed Martin’s new SPY-7 radar will be sailing to sea on a US Navy ship, reports Seapower Magazine. The SPY-7, which uses gallium nitride modules, initially was developed for the Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar competition.

Fifty years ago, astronaut Alan Shepard took some golf swings on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 14 mission. Space enthusiasts have debated for decades how far the ball traveled, reports Ars Technia. It seems now there is an answer.

SpaceX will launch NASA’s SPHEREx astrophysics mission in 2024, reports Digital Trends. Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer mission will be an astrophysics survey performed from an orbital observatory.

The Federal Aviation Administration said that SpaceX violated the conditions of a launch license for its Starship vehicle during a launch in December, reports Space News, prompting an investigation that delayed tests of another vehicle.

President Joe Biden has said that tackling the climate crisis is one of his top priorities. NASA has created a senior climate adviser position, reports space.com, to report directly to NASA’s administrator and work with other departments that touch on climate. Gavin Schmidt, who has led NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York for 14 years, will be in the position until it is permanently filled.

 

 

A new era of Mars exploration has begun with the expected arrival of the United Arab Emirates’ Hope spacecraft in the vicinity of the Red Planet, reports UPI.

Boulder County, CO, saw significant growth in its space exploration industry last year, reports Daily Camera. Corporations such as Sierra Nevada, Lockheed Martin, and Ball Aerospace and Technologies all involved in NASA’s Moon to Mars have increased their presence there. Some smaller local companies are expanding, too.

Companies all over the world are working on more than 100 new small-rocket ventures, reports The Wall Street Journal, but industry officials anticipate a shakeout eventually might leave just a handful of survivors. “Could the industry support 100 new launch companies? Of course not,” said Chuck Beames, a former Pentagon space official who now chairs a trade association advocating for small spacecraft.

NAS Patuxent River has this reminder for drone operators: Don’t fly over the base, reports The Baynet.

The US Navy’s future destroyer USS Daniel Inouye has completed its acceptance trials, reports UPI, and is ready for delivery, but no date for commissioning has been given.

South Korea’s leader said last week that he and President Biden have agreed to further bolster their countries’ alliance and work together to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula, reports Military Times. South Korea said negotiations with the US on the Special Measures Agreement will end soon. The Biden administration has ordered the suspension of any troop withdrawal until completion of a military review, reports UPI.

South Korea unveiled its $43.2 billion project to build the world’s largest wind power plant by 2030, reports Reuters. The plan is a major component of President Moon Jae-in’s Green New Deal.

Washingtonexec.com has compiled a list of the region’s Top 25 executives to watch in 2021. All are working “in the name of making the federal government more efficient, effective, and secure.”

George Shultz, former secretary of state who spent most of the 1980s trying to improve Cold War relations with the Soviet Union and forging a course for peace in the Middle East, died Feb. 6, reports The Associated Press. He was 100.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan will choose between two recommendations to fill the seat of delegate Michael Jackson (D-Prince George’s, Calvert), who was named to fill the Senate seat of Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., who died in January 2021. Maryland Matters reports the Calvert County Democratic Central Committee recommended Rachel Jones, a field liaison to U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, and the Prince George’s County Democratic Central Committee recommended Jacqueline Steele McCall, a one-time aide to former U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski.

Air Force Global Strike Command bombers perform the Super Bowl LV flyover at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., Feb. 7, 2021. The trifecta was the first of its kind as it included a B-1B Lancer from Ellsworth Air Force Base, SD, a B-2 Spirit from Whiteman AFB, MO, and a B-52H Stratofortress from Minot AFB, ND. (US Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Jacob Wrightsman)

Contracts:

American Petroleum Tankers LLC, Blue Bay, Pennsylvania (N3220517C3502), is awarded a $16,479,750 option (P00021) for the fixed-price portion of a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract with reimbursable elements to exercise a one-year option in support of the Department of Defense Logistics Agency Energy aboard the M/V Evergreen State. This contract includes a one-year-firm period of the performance, three one-year options periods, and one 11-month option period, which if exercised would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $81,048,250. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia, and is expected to be completed, if all options are exercised, by Jan. 8, 2023. Working capital funds (Navy) in the amount of $10,565,100 are obligated for fiscal 2021, and will not expire at the end of the fiscal year. Funds in the amount of $5,914,650 for the remainder of Option Three are to be provided for fiscal 2022 and are subject to availability of funds in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.232-18, availability of funds. This procurement was released under full and open competition, with an unlimited number of companies solicited via the Beta.SAM.Gov website with three offers received. The Navy’s Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 5, 2021)

Birdi Systems Inc., Pasadena, California (W912DY-21-D-0037); 3 Territory Solutions LLC, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (W912DY-21-D-0053 ); Comprehensive Professional & Proposal Services, Fredericksburg, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0050); Futron Inc., Woodbridge, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0051); Evergreen Fire Alarms LLC, Tacoma, Washington (W912DY-21-D-0052); EXP Federal Inc., Chicago, Illinois (W912DY-21-D-0053); M.C. Dean Inc., Tysons, Virginia (W912DY-21-D-0054); Spectrum Solutions Inc., Madison, Alabama (W912DY-21-D-0055); Shearer & Associates Inc., Huntsville, Alabama (W912DY-21-D-0056); and Chinook Systems Inc., Cocoa Beach, Florida (W912DY-21-D-0057), will compete for each order of the $49,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide technical and programmatic support services. Bids were solicited via the internet with 13 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Feb. 7, 2024. US Army Corps of Engineers, Huntsville, Alabama, is the contracting activity.

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia (SPE8EG-21-D-0128); FFI Aerospace and Defense, Westminster, Maryland (SPE8EG-21-D-0129); and Araiza Co. LLC, Tullahoma, Tennessee (SPE8EG-21-D-0130), are sharing a maximum $12,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPE8EG-20-R-0017 for ram assemblies used on military vessels. This was a competitive acquisition with three responses received. These are two-year base contracts with three one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Tennessee, with a Feb. 7, 2023, ordering period end date. Using customer is Defense Department. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2023 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency, Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Technology Service Corp., Arlington, Virginia, received a ceiling increase modification in the amount of $12,000,000 on a Small Business Innovative Research, Phase III contract (H92408-19-D-0001) for the Long Endurance Aircraft (LEA) program. The LEA program provides aircraft, turrets and spare parts required to support an increased multi-intelligence capability for US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). This modification raises the contract ceiling to $75,000,000 to accommodate a longer performance period. The contract is funded at the task order level with operation and maintenance funding and procurement funding. USSOCOM, Tampa, Florida, is the contracting activity.

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