USN & USAF Extend 50% Work-at-Home Indefinitely

Photo by Mike Kalasnik, licensed under Creative Commons.

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 and Navy have extended 50% work-from-home indefinitely, reports Defense One, suggesting office space occupancy may never return to 100%. The Navy’s fleet-wide guidance suggests occupancy rates will not rise above 50% at any of its shore facilities. No Navy facility will rise above half capacity until COVID-19 infection rates fall in the surrounding area to fewer than two new cases per 100,000 population for seven days in a row.

US trustee opposes the NRA’s bankruptcy petition in a blow to the gun rights group, reports The Washington Post. The bankruptcy filing followed New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) filing of a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the gun rights organization, alleging that senior NRA executives used the organization to benefit themselves and their friends.

F-16s are now getting washed by robots, reports The Drive. The Air Force’s 149th Fighter Wing’s robotic system helps keep the aircraft free of corrosion and extend their lifespan. Robots can wash a plane in one hour versus the two days it can take three to four people. Interesting Engineering shows how it is done.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff GEN Mark Milley drops his opposition to removing decisions on sexual assault prosecutions out of the hands of commanders, reports Defense News.

Turkey will prioritize production of its indigenous TF-X fighter jet, reports Defense News. Turkish industries are estimated to lose $1.4 billion with the loss of its F-35 programs. The US expelled Turkey from the program after it decided to acquire and deploy the Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile system. Turkish Aerospace Industries is designing, developing and will build the TF-X, aiming to fly the aircraft around the 2025-2026 time frame.

Five years since its return to the Middle East with a military base in Syria, Russia is moving into weapons markets left vacant by the United States and boosting sales to traditional clients. Aljazeera gives an accounting of what’s being sold where.

A new report out on the April 2020 murder of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén at Fort Hood, TX, describes months of mismanagement and bungling so extreme that the Army only made its first public statement about its investigation in July, reports Task & Purpose. “I think by that point, it went about as well as it could be expected which is to say it was a train wreck,” one unnamed person told investigators.

 

 

Former Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie is joining the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation as a visiting fellow, reports Military.com.

The US State Department reached $13M deal with Honeywell to settle allegations of violating export laws, regarding technical data concerning fighter jets and other military vehicles to foreign countries, including China, reports UPI. The settlement resolves 34 charges.

With the death of the 25th service member from COVID-19, the White House considers mandatory vaccines, reports Military Times. An active-duty senior non-commissioned officer was the 25th service member to die of COVID-19. From the Aspen Security Forum, US News reports, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the possibility of making the vaccine mandatory was being considered during its current Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization period.

The Supreme Court adamantly rejected a US Military Academy cadet’s rape lawsuit against the US government, reports Military Times. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas strongly dissented to the Monday decision not to hear the case. The majority deferred to the Feres Doctrine, a 1950 decision that ruled service members cannot sue the federal government for injuries sustained while serving.

The Air Force continues an airlift of aid to India, with three C-5Ms and one C-17 delivering COVID-19 testing kits, protective masks, and oxygen to the country. Air Force magazine reports that the deliveries included more than one million N95 masks, more than 440 oxygen cylinders, and more than 1 million rapid diagnostic test kits. The US Agency for International Development in a May 1 statement said one of the flights also carried a Deployable Oxygen Concentration System, donated by the state of California.

President Joe Biden will speak at the US Coast Guard Academy commencement, reports Navy Times, scheduled for May 19. It will be the second time Biden has addressed a graduating class at the academy. He served as the keynote speaker in 2013 while serving as vice president.

The surface Navy plans to roll out this summer a program to track and assess sailors’ combat skills, reports USNI News, promising that commanders can tailor future training and build better watch bills through this effort.

The Marines suspend MajGen Robert Castellvi over a deadly amphibious assault vehicle accident, reports USNI. Castellvi had been suspended from his recent appointment as the service’s inspector general. He led the 1st Marine Division when an AAV sank in the waters near San Clemente Island during training last July. The Navy announced today that it recently launched its own investigation into the AAV accident.

Contracts:

Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., doing business as ADS, Virginia Beach, Virginia (SPE2DS-21-D-0004); W.S. Darley & Co., Itasca, Illinois (SPE2DS-21-D-0006); Owens and Minor Distribution Inc., Mechanicsville, Virginia (SPE2DS-21-D-0003); Regulus Global LLC, Virginia Beach, Virginia (SPE2DS-21-D-0002); and TQM LLC, doing business as Two Rivers Medical, Greer, South Carolina (SPE2DS-21-D-0005), are sharing a maximum $516,953,713 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract under solicitation SPE2DS-17-R-0002 for the Foreign Military Sales Medical and Surgical Tailored Logistics Support program. These were competitive acquisitions with eight responses received. These are one-year base contracts with four one-year option periods. Locations of performance are Virginia, Illinois and South Carolina, with a May 3, 2022, ordering period end date. Using customers are foreign military services worldwide. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2021 through 2022 defense working capital funds and Foreign Military Sales funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Atlantic Diving Supply Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (W81XWH-19-D-0007, P00004); The Lighthouse for the Blind, St. Louis, Missouri (W81XWH-19-D-0008, P00004); and TQM LLC, St. Charles, Missouri (W81XWH-19-D-0009, P00005), will compete for each order of the $45,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, dental, laboratory, veterinary equipment and material sets. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of May 3, 2024. US Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, Fort Detrick, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $12,628,264 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to previously awarded contract N00024-17-C-6259 to exercise options for Navy equipment, long-lead material, and spares. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia (65%); Clearwater, Florida (32%); Syracuse, New York (2%); and Marion, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed by July 2026. Fiscal 2021 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,654,350 (89.86%); fiscal 2021 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $1,177,826 (9.93%); fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $20,000 (0.17%); and fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $5,000 (0.04%) 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, DC, is the contracting activity.