Woman Led Most Successful Pirates Ever

“Pirates: An Illustrated History of Privateers, Buccaneers & Pirates from the Sixteenth Century to the Present” (London, 1996). P.230. Book note mentions that, “this fanciful depiction is from History of Pirates of all Nations published in 1836.”

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.

In recognition of Women’s History Month: A Chinese woman living in the early 1800s led the largest and most successful pirate fleet in history, reports Military.com. Ching Shih was anything but your standard pirate. She was a former sex worker who married into the pirate life and turned out to be really, really good at it. She was so good at piracy she negotiated a cushy retirement for herself from the government, merely in exchange for retiring. Which she did, with a title, respectability, and fortune.

The first system designed for a female pilot to pee without unstrapping is being tested by the US Air Force, reports MilitaryTimes.com. The lack of a system anatomically designed for a female results in pilots having to wear diapers or using a bag. To avoid the need, aircrew have been found to practice ‘tactical dehydration’ which can impair health and cognition.

For the first time, ground crews as well as military pilots are found to have high rates of cancer, reports Military.com. A Pentagon study has found high rates of cancer among military pilots and is also showing ground crews who fuel, maintain, and launch those aircraft are also getting sick.

The Navy, this week, disclosed a 2019 toxic spill of up to 1,500 gallons of “forever chemicals” at Red Hill in Hawaii. The disclosure was made to the US Environmental Protection Agency, reports Stars and Stripes. It was not required to report the incident to regulatory agencies or internally within the US Department of Defense at the time, according to the Navy’s press release. The Navy said Friday that a spill on December 7, 2019, did flow outside of the facility and contaminated the soil, requiring the soil to be excavated.

Military and civilian families who drank and bathed in fuel-tainted water after a fuel spill at the Navy’s Red Hill facility in November 2021 contaminated their drinking water, were also exposed to antifreeze, according to an internal Hawaii Department of Health memo that identifies the coolant as potentially posing the biggest health risk, according to Military.com.

An experimental laser beaming technology has arrived at the International Space Station and will spend a year in orbit, reports Stars and Stripes. The Navy sent the project into space on a SpaceX Dragon cargo vehicle that docked at the space station last week.

This week, reports Military.com, Fort Pickett becomes Fort Barfoot, honoring COL Van T. Barfoot, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient with deep Virginia ties. This is the first Army installation to remove commemorative honors from rebels who waged war against the United States.

Storm-weary California is hit with its with 12th ‘atmospheric river’ cloudburst, reports Reuters. The newest onslaught, arriving early on the second official day of spring, was concentrated mostly in Southern California, the state’s central coast and its agricultural heartland, still sodden from a relentless string of storms that began in late December.

The US Space Force seeks more than $1.2 billion over the next five years for a secretive “Long Range Kill Chains” program to track moving targets from space, reports C4ISRNET. An aircraft-based, Air Force target indicator mission will shift to Space Force satellites, according to detailed fiscal 2024 budget documents.

The high-attitude surveillance balloon that traversed the US in late January and early February prompted last-minute additions worth $90 million to the Pentagon’s budget to protect against similar intrusions in the future, reports Air and Space Forces.

Russian fighter pilots involved in crashing a US drone will be given state awards, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Friday. The move appears to signal Moscow’s intention to adopt a more aggressive stance toward future US surveillance flights, reports Military.com.

US Senators voted 68-72 toward repealing two measures that give open-ended approval for military action in Iraq, reports Military.com, as the United States marks the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War. The legislation would repeal the 2002 measure that greenlighted that March 2003 invasion of Iraq and also a 1991 measure that sanctioned the US-led Gulf War to expel Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait. Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the repeal.

The invasion of Iraq 20 years ago has cost more than 550,000 lives, and nearly $1.8 trillion, according to a report released Wednesday. Military Times reports the Costs of War project predicted the dollar amount will swell to $2.89 trillion by 2050, when factoring in the cost of caring for veterans of the Iraq war, and subsequent operations in Iraq and Syria to counter ISIS.

The US government has approved the sale of dozens of Assault Amphibious Vehicles to Greece roughly a year after the Marine Corps barred the tracked vehicles from regular deployments following a fatal sinking incident in 2020. Defense News reports the US State Department approved NATO ally Greece to buy up to 76 Assault Amphibious Vehicles worth $268 million, according to an announcement on Friday. The Marine Corps, which maintains the vehicles are safe, intends to supply the vehicles from its inventory.

The Pentagon is teaming up with the Small Business Administration, reports Breaking Defense, to entice more investment in tech the DoD wants, particularly critical hardware like semiconductors and nanotubes, which have suffered neglect as investment sought higher returns in software.

Widespread Russian attacks continued in Ukraine following the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, says Military.com. Ukraine was attacked by 16 Russian drones on Friday night, the Ukrainian Air Force said in the early hours of Saturday. Writing on Telegram, the air force command said that 11 of 16 drones were shot down “in the central, western, and eastern regions.” Among areas targeted were the capital, Kyiv, and the western Lviv province.

A group of 15 Guardians became the first all-Space Force flight to graduate from the Department of the Air Force’s Officer Training School on March 10 — another milestone as the new service carves out space-specific education, reports Stars and Stripes. The newly graduated Guardians were commissioned as second lieutenants after the standard eight-week training course of OTS — one of three sources the DAF has for commissioning officers, alongside ROTC and the US Air Force Academy.

Japan held off the US for the World Baseball Classic title, reports UPI. Kazuma Okamoto and Munetaka Murakami each homered and Shohei Ohtani took the mound to shut the door on a late rally to lead Japan to a 3-2 win over Team USA in the World Baseball Classic finale Tuesday in Miami.

Contracts:

Corps Solutions LLC, Stafford, Virginia, is awarded a $43,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for US Marine Corps Range Control Facilities support services. This contract provides US Range Control Facilities located within the continental US and outside of the continental US with operational, safety, technical and administrative support services. The contract also contains five option ordering periods. Corps Solutions will perform the work in Prince William County, Quantico, Virginia (24%); San Diego County, California (17%); Mono County, Bridgeport, California (11%); Okinawa, Japan (11%); Honolulu County, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii (9%); San Bernardino County, California (6%); Onslow County, Lejeune, North Carolina (6%); Fuji, Japan (4%); Yuma County, Yuma, Arizona (2%); Beaufort County, Parris Island, South Carolina (2%); Puuloa, Hawaii (2%); Bellows Air Force Base, Hawaii (2%); Craven County, Cherry Point, North Carolina (2%); and Iwakuni, Japan (2%), and is to be completed April 2, 2028. The maximum dollar value is $43,000,000. No funds are obligated at time of award. Funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was a competitive acquisition issued via SAM.gov to all qualified offerors and three offers were received. The Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-23-D-7902).

Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, Baltimore, Maryland, is awarded a not-to-exceed $21,634,132 undefinitized modification to previously awarded contract N00024-11-C-2300 to support the USS Wichita (LCS 13) main propulsion diesel engine replacement. Work will be performed in Mayport, Florida, and is expected to be completed by December 2023. Fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,817,066 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Huntington-Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, was awarded a $140,010,237 cost-plus-award-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-19-C-4313 to exercise options for the accomplishment of the planning yard services for the Littoral Combat Ship in-service ships. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi (68%); Hampton, Virginia (30%); San Diego, California (1%); and Jacksonville, Florida (1%), and is expected to be completed by April 2024. The contract option was exercised March 20, 2023, and no funding was obligated at the time of award. Funding for work requirements will be provided on an incremental basis as needed throughout the period of performance. Supervisor of Shipbuilding Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is the contracting activity.

Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Marlborough, Massachusetts, is being awarded a $7,960,671 firm-fixed-price, undefinitized contract action under previously awarded Basic Ordering Agreement N0002422G5311 to repair and test the AEGIS Weapon System SPY-1D(V) Final Power Amplifiers. Work will be performed in Chesapeake, Virginia (61%); Marlborough, Massachusetts (25%); Mayport, Florida (13%); and Andover, Massachusetts (1%), and is expected to be completed by August 2025. Fiscal 2023 operations and maintenance (Navy) funding in the amount of $3,980,335 will be obligated at time of award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This order was not competitively procured, in accordance with 10 US Code 3204(a)(1) (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N0002423F5306).

SEWP Solutions LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, has been awarded an $8,016,650 modification (P00001) to previously awarded contract FA4890-23-F-0010 for the Air Force Publicly Available Information Toolkit. This modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract is $11,281,986. Work will be performed at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2024. Fiscal 2023 operation and maintenance funds are being obligated at the time of award. The Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Langley AFB, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Salient Federal-SGIS, McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a $7,636,866 option exercise (P00005) to previously awarded contract HS0021-20-F-0023 for the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). This modification exercises Option 04 to continue to provide case processing support services. Work will primarily be performed in McLean, Virginia, with an estimated completion of April 4, 2024. Fiscal 2023 defense working capital funds in the amount of $7,636,866 were obligated at the time of award. The cumulative face value of the contract to date is $26,743,618. DCSA Acquisition and Contracting, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity.