Visibility Technology Testing @ Pax

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.

Two prototype landing aids for helicopters, touted as taking the danger out of low-visibility flying, are under development by NAWCAD. USNI News has video of the technology on simulators at Pax River that allowed LT McMillan Hastings and LT Ethan Hahn survive a “suicide mission” landing of their MH-60R Seahawk on a moving destroyer in a fog that brought visibility down to practically zero.

More than 155,000 military family members and retirees will be moved from the military hospital system to civilian health providers starting later this year, reports Military.com. The process is expected to last through mid-2026. The effort, begun in 2017, to slow rising health care costs sends more patients to the private sector, paid for by Tricare, and focusing military providers mainly on active-duty personnel and training. Dozens of hospitals and clinics have been downsizing and closing, including, in Maryland, at Pax River, Indian Head, and Aberdeen Proving Grounds and in Virginia: Fort Lee, Fort Detrick, and Dahlgren.

The Air Force has zombie F-35s it keeps using long after they’re dead, reports Task & Purpose. At Hill Air Force Base, UT, airmen are refurbishing into training aids two F-35s involved in accidents and condemned to the scrap yard. Running on F-35 time, after several years of inaction, the airmen determined enough was left over to create a set of training aids for all the maintainers who keep the remainder of the fleet of the country’s most expensive airframe working.

President Joe Biden is poised to sign two directives that would allow the Department of Defense to invest in its hypersonic weapons industrial base as adversaries demonstrate advanced capabilities, reports C4ISRNET. The directives enable the Pentagon to invest Defense Production Act Title III funds to bolster hypersonic engine and guidance and control subsystem suppliers. The department’s five-year spending plan for hypersonic programs is just under $25 billion for efforts ranging from early research to prototyping to fielding.

The Washington Post explains why it matters that the euro has fallen nearly equal to the dollar. The euro has been losing ground since the start of the year, when its value hovered near $1.13. As of Tuesday, it stood near $1.0040. The stronger dollar is good news for Americans considering a European vacation or buying goods abroad. And it could lower the price of commodities, such as grain, and potentially ease inflation. But experts say the euro’s retreat also hints at the slower pace of global trade, adding to recession worries.

 

 

Turkey to host four-way Russia, Ukraine, and UN talks over grain, reports Al Jazeera. The four-way meeting with Turkish officials comes as food prices soar around the world due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the world’s largest grain supplier, which has fueled concerns about food security. Turkey has played a key role in talks between the UN, Russia, and Ukraine on a potential Black Sea corridor to export grain from Ukraine.

Turkey is changing the face of modern warfare with its TB2 drone. As the weapon spreads across the globe, some US lawmakers seek to crack down on the country, saying it’s exploiting its NATO status to obtain key parts from Western manufacturers, reports ProPublica. The technology offers even the smallest militaries the capacity to inflict the kind of damage that was once the exclusive province of wealthy, Western nations, and Turkey seems eager to expand global sales of the weapon.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that the US has killed a leader of the Islamic State in Syria in a drone strike, reports Military Times. US Central Command said in a news release that Maher al-Agal was killed Tuesday and an unidentified senior official in the Islamic State was seriously injured. The Pentagon says there were no civilian casualties, though it wasn’t possible to immediately confirm that information.

The Israeli company Rafael plans to unveil its once-secret Ice Breaker missile, reports Defense News, at the Farnborough Airshow. Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ new air-launched missile operates at a standoff range of up to 300 kilometers (186 miles).

Ilona Khomenko, 29, widowed when her husband died in fighting in eastern Ukraine, is now helping to train soldiers and civilians in combat first aid as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, reports APNews. The training is mostly based in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv. Up to 100 people attend each day. So far, Khomenko and others have taught more than 5,000 people simple rules that can save their lives.

Don’t underestimate impact of reaching out to friends, reports UPI, they’ll likely appreciate it more than you think. A series of experiments involving nearly 6,000 adults found people underestimated the value of “reaching out” to someone in their social circle they hadn’t contacted in a while. Experts say the findings from the American Psychological Association aren’t necessarily surprising: It feels good, after all, to know someone is thinking of you and cared enough to check in.

Army BRIG GEN George Owen Squier transformed the US Army, as well as being a notable inventor and aviation enthusiast, and the founder of Muzak, the background music heard in restaurants, shops and other public places, reports Military.com. He was granted 65 patents, reports Engineering and Technology, including the floraphone, which allowed him in World War I to use the tree as a huge antenna and intercept enemy transmissions.

Military Times’ 2022 Coast Guardsman of the Year selects a heroic rescue swimmer. Aviation Survival Technician 2 Joshua Carlson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, saved nine people in disabled boat from freezing to death after another migrant vessel mishap off the coast of Southern California. It seems there’s a history of heroism in the area. Naval Aircrewman (Helicopter) 1st Class Cale Foy, also a rescue swimmer, also saved lives, these in May 2021, after witnessing a boat capsize in San Diego, reports Navy Times. While hiking at Point Loma, CA, seeing a migrant boating mishap occur in the Pacific, Foy said he felt well-prepared to seize the moment that Sunday morning.

West Point grad David Kim’s charity provides college grants to Gold Star families, reports Navy Times. His charity, Children of Fallen Patriots, brought in more than $11 million in donations in 2021, about $6.5 million of which was paid out to students. Funds are raised through individual donations, corporate partners, and events.

Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, charged with posing as a sick Marine vet will plead guilty, reports Military Times. Authorities say the Rhode Island woman pretended to be a decorated Marine Corps veteran with cancer to fraudulently collect about $250,000 in veterans benefits and charitable contributions. She has agreed to plead guilty, according to federal prosecutors. She will admit to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, forgery, and fraudulent use of medals, US Attorney Zachary Cunha said in a statement.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes claimed to be running a veteran support group but in reality was running a dangerous militia and aspired to be a paramilitary leader, Jason Van Tatenhove, a former member testified Tuesday to a House panel investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, reports Military.com.

The US has charged two bankers in sprawling $1.2B Venezuela laundering conspiracy, reports UPI. The indictment was returned Tuesday in the Southern District of Florida, charging Ralph Steinmann, 48, of Switzerland and Luis Fernando Vuteff, 51, of Argentina with one count each of money laundering.

Contracts:

Raytheon Co., Andover, Massachusetts, was awarded a $353,930,171 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to procure additional lower tier air and missile defense sensor radar prototypes. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work will be performed in Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal, Alabama; Tuscon, Arizona; Anaheim Hills, El Segundo and San Diego, California; Fort Walton Beach, Indiatlantic and St. Petersburg, Florida; Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana; Aberdeen Proving Ground and Fulton, Maryland; Andover, Burlington, Cambridge, Marlborough, Tewksbury, Waltham and Woburn, Massachusetts; Saginaw, Michigan; Nashua and Pelham, New Hampshire; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Lawton, Oklahoma; Chambersburg, Pennsylvania; Portsmouth, Rhode Island; El Paso and San Antonio, Texas; and Arlington and Sterling, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of May 1, 2025. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $104,805,154 were obligated at the time of the award. US Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity (W9124P-19-9-0001).