USAF Flies Secret F-X Fighter Jet

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 US Air Force has built and flown a mysterious full-scale prototype of its future fighter jet, reports Defense News. Almost every detail about the aircraft will remain a mystery due to the classification of the Next Generation Air Dominance program, the Air Force’s effort for fielding a family of connected air warfare systems that could include fighters, drones, and other networked platforms in space or the cyber realm.

GEN Mark Kelly, head of Air Combat Command, expects the Air Force to add the Boeing F-15EX, a new version of a half-century-old design, to the service’s fighter-jet shopping list that had been only F-35s. The addition is necessary to be ready for a complex war against China or Russia, reports Defense One.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is investigating whether military electronics might cause pilots to become disoriented and crash, reports Popular Mechanics. The study will look at the relationship between military electronics and spatial disorientation. In one incident, spatial disorientation caused a Japanese F-35 pilot to slam into the Pacific Ocean at nearly 700 miles per hour.

Boeing’s 737 Max crashes were a “horrific culmination” of errors, investigators say, reports The Washington Post. The chief project engineer for Boeing’s 737 Max jet told House investigators that he approved a critical design change to software on the plane even though he was unaware of key details about how it worked or of a previous warning from a test pilot that if the system malfunctioned, the results could be “catastrophic.”

The Army will award the contract for its GPS alternative by the end of September, reports C4ISRNET. Mounted Assured Position Navigation and Timing, or MAPS, is the Army’s solution to ensuring soldiers know where they are even if the GPS signal is denied, degraded, or spoofed. MAPS will be able to fuse PNT data, ingesting information from a variety of sensors providing timing, barometer measurements, and inertial navigation to provide an independent alternative that can validate or replace GPS.

 

 

Hundreds of diplomats, lawmakers, and officials gathered on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday afternoon to witness the normalizing of relations between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates — the first time in more than 25 years that Arab nations have signed agreements with Israel. The Washington Examiner reports that President Donald Trump declared the “dawn of a new Middle East” as he oversaw the signing of pacts between Israel and two Arab nations.

The US Space Force confirmed that its Space Based Infrared System satellites detected more than a dozen Iranian missiles aimed at US war fighters in Iraq in January, giving Americans and their partners crucial warning. C4ISRNET reports that the Chief of Space Operations GEN John “Jay” Raymond specifically credited space professionals assigned to the 2nd Space Warning Squadron at Buckley Air Force Base, CO, with providing that early warning, saving the lives of American and coalition forces.

Task & Purpose has DoD video footage of a test of the military’s vaunted hypervelocity projectile, fired from an Army M109 Paladin-based 155mm howitzer and a Navy deck gun to down a mock cruise missile during a demonstration at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

Proposed rule change for burial at Arlington would exclude more veterans and service members, reports Stars and Stripes. Active-duty service members who die from an incident that was not in support of combat operations would no longer be eligible for burial at Arlington National Cemetery under a new proposed rule. The current burial eligibility states any service member who dies while on active duty can have an in-ground burial at the cemetery

The Trump administration has moved or promoted at least 11 white men to senior positions at the Pentagon in the past three months, even as DefSec Mark Esper has pledged to increase diversity at the department. Politico reports that Esper has initiated a series of efforts designed to increase diversity and inclusion in the Pentagon, including banning the use of photos in promotion review boards, effectively banning the Confederate flag on military installations, and convening an internal board and an external advisory committee on the issue.

The coronavirus has caused a delay in researching alternatives to using cancer-linked chemicals (PFASs) in military firefighting foam, reports The Hill. Herb Nelson, director of the Defense Department’s Strategic Environment Research and Development Program: “Many of the people are out of their laboratories, so maybe they’re six months further behind than we would expect them to be,” PFAS chemicals are a class of cancer-linked substances that are also sometimes called “forever chemicals” because of their persistence in the human body and in nature.

Maine wedding “superspreader” event is now linked to seven deaths. None of those people attended as reported by The Washington Post

Contracts:

L3Harris Technologies Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado, has been awarded a $13,534,278, fixed-price incentive firm modification (P00008) to contract FA8823-20-C-0004 for system sustainment services Option Year 1. This modification updates and revises the maintenance of space situational awareness integrated capabilities sustainment performance work statement requirements for the current option year. Work will be performed in Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Dahlgren, Virginia, and is expected to be completed Jan. 31, 2021. Fiscal 2020 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $21,165,500 are being obligated at the time of award. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $98,994,351. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado, is the contracting activity.

BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Maryland, is awarded a $20,306,232 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification (P00017) to previously awarded and announced contract N00030-19-C-0007 to provide logistics engineering and integration support of the U.S. Ohio-class and UK Vanguard-class Strategic Weapon System (SWS) platforms, including support of future concepts. Work will be performed in Saint Mary’s, Georgia (45.4%); Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania (30.1%); Rockville, Maryland (13.6%); Silverdale, Washington (2.9%); Portsmouth, Virginia (1%); Mount Dora, Florida (1%); New Market, Maryland (1%); Carlisle, Pennsylvania (1%); Mooresboro, North Carolina (1%); Mesa, Arizona (1%), Saint Simons Island, Georgia (1%); and St. Peters, Missouri (1%), with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2021. Subject to the availability of funding, fiscal 2021 operations and maintenance (Navy) contract funds in the amount of $16,641,589; and United Kingdom funds in the amount of $3,664,643 will be obligated. No funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a sole-source acquisition pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1)(4). Strategic Systems Programs, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N00030-19-C-0007).

Leidos Inc. Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $7,090,632 cost-plus-fixed-fee task order issued under a General Services Administration (GSA) One Acquisition Solution for Integrated Services (OASIS) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This task order provides research support services to the chief science executive and the Research Services Directorate at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC), San Diego, California, by conducting high-level technical and programmatic support tasks on various Navy and Marine Corps projects and contractor assistance in program execution. Work will be performed onsite at NHRC in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by September 2024. The base period of performance under this task order will be awarded with fiscal 2020 Navy research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds. Fiscal 2020 Navy RDT&E funding in the amount of $752,337 will be placed on the task order at time of award and the remainder will be incrementally funded. The total aggregate value of the task order for the base period and three option periods is $7,090,632. This task order was competitively solicited to all OASIS Unrestricted Pool 4 large business award holders with one offer received. The Naval Medical Logistics Command, Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N62645-20-F-0263). (Awarded Sept. 14, 2020).

Mount Rogers Community Services, Atkins, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $14,834,277 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for advanced combat shirts. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Florida, and Kentucky, with a Sept. 15, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-N120).

The National Industries for the Blind, Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded a maximum $14,834,277 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for advanced combat shirts. This is a one-year base contract with two one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, and New York, with a Sept. 15, 2021, ordering period end date. Using military services are Army and Air Force. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2020 through 2021 defense working capital funds. The contracting agency is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-20-D-B090).

Amyx Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $10,352,459 modification (P00044) for contract HTC711-17-F-D001 providing continued non-personal advisory and assistance service support providing functional, engineering and resource management services for entire acquisition lifecycles for information technology systems supported and in support of the US Transportation Command and other associated supporting organizations. Work will be performed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. The option period of performance is from Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021. Fiscal 2021 transportation working capital (TWCF) operating funds; TWCF capital funds; and operations and maintenance funds will be obligated on Oct. 1, 2020. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $48,590,167 from $ $38,237,708. US Transportation Command, Directorate of Acquisition, Scott AFB, Illinois, is the contracting activity.

UPDATE: The contract ceiling for the award announced on Sept. 3, 2020, to Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Reston, Virginia (HC1084-20-D-0009), for Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) III for Defense Information Systems Agency’s Operations Center, has been updated to $640,000,000 from $79,452,482. The face value of this action is $70,250,013. The period of performance for the base period has also been revised to Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2025, and the option years follow consecutively through Sept. 30, 2030.