3 Carriers from 3 Countries Train in Philippine Sea
Posted by Java Joe on Thursday, February 20, 2025 · Leave a Comment
Aircraft from the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and French Carrier Strike Group fly in formation over the Philippine Sea with ships from VINCSG, French CSG, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF), and US Military Sealift Command during Pacific Steller 2025 on Feb. 12. (US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Apprentice Pablo Chavez)
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Elements of the US Navy’s 7th Fleet are sailing through the Philippine Sea with French and Japanese vessels in a joint exercise meant to train crews and show just how much force they can project at sea. Some newly released photos capture just how much force that is, says Task & Force Magazine.
A Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet of a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, prompting the Filipino pilot to warn by radio: “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous.” AP News reports the Chinese helicopter was attempting to force a Cessna Caravan turboprop plane belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources out of what China claims is its airspace over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.
The three-person Army Black Hawk helicopter crew may not have received accurate altitude readings in their cockpit or an important transmission from air traffic control before the deadly crash with a passenger aircraft over Washington, DC, late last month, according to investigators. Military.com reports the details were the first revealed by the National Transportation Safety Board since the crash between Flight 5342 and the helicopter out of Fort Belvoir, VA, on Jan. 29, which killed the three soldiers and all 64 aboard the airplane.
Investigators have determined parts of two messages from a controller in Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport’s tower may not have been heard by pilots in the UH-60H Black Hawk, reports Aviation Week.
Personnel from the downsizing team DOGE visited the FAA’s Air Traffic Control command center on Monday, reports Reuters, the day after Elon Musk said, “Safety of air travel is a nonpartisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer.” The administration reversed course and denied air traffic controllers and security officers of the TSA participation in a government incentive program to quit. However, several hundred FAA probationary employees were among thousands fired in the administration’s campaign to slash bureaucracy. The Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union said the “draconian action will increase the workload and place new responsibilities on a workforce that is already stretched thin.
The Trump administration has directed defense agencies to turn over a list of their probationary employees by the end of Tuesday, with the expectation that many could be fired as soon as this week, Stars and Stripes reported from a Washington Post story.
The Air Force will send an inspection team to Space Development Agency facilities in mid-March, to comb through records and interview employees, according to Defense One, over concerns with the new agency’s procurement procedures operating outside of legacy acquisition systems. SDA director Derek Tournear was placed on “investigative administrative leave” on Jan. 16 and ultimately replaced by temporary SDA chief William Blauser, a longtime acquisition official currently serving as deputy director of the Air Force’s rapid capabilities office.
More than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees were fired last week as part of efforts to slash the size of the federal government. Military.com reports the VA announced Thursday that roughly 2.3% of its “probationary” workforce — those who competed for jobs but had less than a year at the VA or employees appointed to specific positions without going through the standard federal hiring process and have served less than two years — were dismissed effective immediately.
The DoD plans to decommission the online portal patients use to access old military health information and recommends patients download their digital medical records if they want to retain copies, reports Military.com.
Personnel terminations occurred Tuesday at the National Science Foundation, with 168 employees told they would be fired, according to NextGov/FCW. NSF is the nation’s leading agency that funds scientific and engineering research, education, and training.
President Donald Trump toured a Boeing aircraft parked at Palm Beach International Airport to highlight the company’s “failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised,” said Steven Cheung, White House communications director. Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747, reports Military.com. Two exist, both more than 30 years old. Delivery initially set for 2024 was pushed to 2027 for the first and 2028 for the second plane.
China’s Foreign Ministry took issue Monday with a revised US government fact sheet that removed a line on American opposition to independence for Taiwan, reports Military.com. The State Department removed the phrase in May 2022 but restored it a few weeks later after a strong protest from China. It’s unclear if the change signals a policy shift under the Trump administration.
China’s escalating military demonstrations of force toward Taiwan are “not exercises; they are rehearsals” for forced reunification with the mainland, the United States’ top military commander in the Indo-Pacific warned last week. USNI.org reports ADM Samuel Paparo told the Honolulu Defense Forum that the People’s Liberation Army is showing “clear intent and capability” to attack Taiwan. Most recently, China conducted a massive simulated air and sea blockade of Taiwan in October as Taipei marked its National Day.
Trump lamented on Thursday the hundreds of billions of dollars being invested in rebuilding the nation’s nuclear deterrent and said he hopes to restart nuclear arms control talks with Russia and China and eventually get all three countries to cut their massive defense budgets in half, reports Military.com.
StateSec Marco Rubio on Sunday fully endorsed Israel’s war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying Hamas “must be eradicated” and throwing the future of the shaky ceasefire into further doubt. Military.com reports Rubio met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem at the start of a regional tour, where he is likely to face pushback from Arab leaders over Trump’s proposal to transfer the Palestinian population out of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it under US ownership.
Egypt is developing a plan to rebuild Gaza without forcing Palestinians out of the strip in a counter to Trump’s proposal to depopulate the territory so the US can take it over. AP News reports Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said the proposal calls for establishing “secure areas” within Gaza where Palestinians can live initially while Egyptian and international construction firms remove and rehabilitate the strip’s infrastructure.
When US officials began preliminary talks in Riyadh with Russian counterparts this week about a ceasefire in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a Paris summit of European defense powers to demand the US ends the lockout of Europe and Kyiv from the process. Rubio and Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov held the first such meeting between the two countries in over two years. The Guardian reports Europe fears the US talks will spur Russia to relaunch its plan for imposed Ukrainian neutrality and a joint US-Russia carve-up with agreed spheres of influence.
European markets are betting that a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine would take the sting out of heightened US trade tensions and ease pressure on energy prices and the euro, according to Reuters. Expectations for defense spending have already sent stocks in the sector surging. Although US officials met with Russian officials without inviting Ukraine or European nations, the meeting spread hope into European markets, despite the US tariffs hurting the euro zone growth outlook.
Ironically, reports Barrons.com, any peace deal will likely herald increased government spending on defense–even if it’s not necessarily the US government making the outlays. While Trump said, last Thursday, he wanted to cut military spending in half, sending the likes of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, L3Harris Technologies, and other contractors lower, those stocks were climbing Tuesday as the US and Russian counterparts discussed ending the war in Ukraine.
Defense News reports Russia’s defense companies are sensing an opening to get back into the global arms market, with Moscow’s state-owned firms afforded a prominent display of weaponry at the IDEX and NAVDEX defense fairs at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Mexico President Claudia Scheinbaum has warned US gunmakers they could face fresh legal action as accomplices of organized crime if Washington designates the country’s cartels as terrorist groups, reports The Guardian.
The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman arrived Sunday at a US naval base in Greece for repairs following last week’s collision near the Suez Canal, reports Stars and Stripes. The Truman collided with the Panama-flagged bulk cargo carrier Besiktas-M at 11:46pm Feb. 12, 2025, as the carrier was transiting a congested area near the Suez Canal. The ship was presumably waiting to head south into the Red Sea.
Contracts:
Cruz Associates Inc., Yorktown, Virginia, is awarded a $20,827,861 cost-plus-fixed fee contract for manufacturing and technical expertise services in all areas relative to energetics development. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $60,911,615. Work will be performed at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Indian Head (IHD) at Indian Head, Maryland (98%); and detachment Naval Weapons Station (NWS) Yorktown, Yorktown, Virginia (2%), and is expected to be completed by February 2026. If all options are exercised, work will continue through August 2027. Fiscal 2025 Working Capital Fund in the amount of $20,827,861 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract 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. NSWC IHD, Indian Head, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0017425C0001).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, was awarded a $13,010,593 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-only modification to previously awarded contract N00024-21-C-5105 to exercise options for combat system ship integration and test on Littoral Combat Ships and unmanned surface vessels. Work will be performed in Moorestown, New Jersey (32%); Seattle, Washington (32%); Pascagoula, Mississippi (8%); Jacksonville, Florida (7%); San Diego, California (7%); Camden, New Jersey (6%); Pittsfield, Massachusetts (6%); Virginia Beach, Virginia (1%); and Marinette, Wisconsin (1%), and work is expected to be completed by February 2026. Fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $85,000 (18%); and fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $400,000 (82%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems Inc., Braintree, Massachusetts, is awarded a $10,976,004 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N0002425C4127 for engineering support in connection with the production of AN/SPS-73(V) Next Generation Surface Search Radar systems. Work will be performed in Braintree, Massachusetts (60%); Waker Forest, North Carolina (35%); and Chantilly, Virginia (5%), and is expected to be completed by August 2027. If all options are exercised, work will continue through September 2031. Fiscal 2024 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $2,014,897 (91%); and fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $200,000 (9%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity (N00024-25-C-4127).
AECOM-B&V Middle East JV, Roanoke, Virginia (W912ER-25-D-0001); Baker Jacobs JV, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (W912ER-25-D-0002); EXP Federal Inc., Chicago, Illinois (W912ER-25-D-0003); Mason & Hanger-CDM Smith, a JV, Lexington, Kentucky (W912ER-25-D-0004); Page Southerland Page Inc., Washington, DC (W912ER-25-D-0005); Tetra Tech Inc., Marlborough, Massachusetts (W912ER-25-D-0006); and Stanley Consultants Inc., Muscatine, Iowa (W912ER-25-D-0007), will compete for each order of the $240,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for architect-engineer design and related services. Bids were solicited via the internet with eight received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 17, 2030. US Army Corps of Engineers, Middle East District, is the contracting activity.
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $37,744,650 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to a previously awarded contract (N00024-21-C-2106) for the USS John C Stennis (CVN 74) Refueling Complex Overhaul for emergent and supplemental work. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by October 2026. Funding will not be obligated at time of award. Huntington Ingalls Inc. is the only source with the knowledge, experience, and facilities required to accomplish this effort in support of the refueling and overhaul of CVN 74 without an unacceptable disruption of Navy-wide overhaul and repair schedule. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, is awarded a $32,546,921 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract N00024-21-C-2104 to exercise options for research and development of advanced submarine technologies for current and future submarine platforms. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by September 2025. Foreign Military Sales (FMS) (United Kingdom) in the amount of $1,515,000 (99%); and FMS (Australia) funds in the amount of $15,000 (1%), will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.
Northrup Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded an $8,255,632 modification (P00009) to a cost-plus-incentive-fee order (N0001923F2625) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001920G0005). This modification adds scope to provide integration of the single board computer in support of the complete technology refresh for the cockpit, mission computer, and operations station (Block II upgrade) for the E-2D Hawkeye aircraft for the Navy. Work will be performed in Melbourne, Florida (49.7%); Cedar Rapids, Iowa (17.3%); Bloomington, Maryland (15.7%); St. Augustine, Florida (2.3%); Rolling Meadows, Illinois (2%); Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (1.7%); Greenlawn, New York (1.6%); Falls Church, Virginia (1.6%); Woodland Hill, California (1.4%); Laval, Quebec, Canada (0.01%); and various locations within the continental U.S. (6.69%), and is expected to be completed in September 2028. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,255,632 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year. This order was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., McLean, Virginia, was awarded a $44,282,998 firm-fixed-price contract (HQ0034-21-F-0077-P00014). The cumulative total of the contract is $34,424,095. The total, if all options are exercised, is $44,282,998. The purpose of the contract is to provide Department of Defense (DOD) Chief Information Officer (DCIO) technical support services for cybersecurity (CS) reporting and scorecards, cybersecurity research and analysis, cybersecurity policies, guidance, strategies, and procedures, risk assessment and operational integration, supply chain, public key infrastructure, mobility and wireless networking, defense cyber workforce framework, cyber phishing analyses, network penetration and vulnerability analyses, acquisition systems support; and DCIO CS looks to enhance DOD-wide CS strategies and policies to prevent damage, increase protection, and promote restoration of DOD IT information, systems, networks, and devices. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $12,198,570 are being obligated at the time of the award. The work will be performed at the Pentagon, Washington, DC. The estimated completion date is Nov. 30, 2025. Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Feb. 18, 2025)
