Navy’s Newest Attack Submarine Joins Fleet
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The Navy’s newest attack submarine, the USS Colorado, joined the fleet in a recent ceremony at Connecticut’s Naval Submarine Base, reports Navy Times. NavSec Richard Spencer calls the submarine a “marvel of technology and innovation.” Oddly enough, this isn’t the first ship to carry the “Colorado” name, Navy Times says. There were three others before it.
Lockheed Martin’s plan to set up a F-16 jet production unit in India will be an exclusive proposition that will help the country in achieving its operational needs as well as its Make It in India initiative, reports The Economic Times. As that country continues to shop around to add new fighter jets to its air force, the company has offered to relocate its entire production line there.
DoD has released the names of seven airmen who were killed last week when their HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in western Iraq. They are Capt. Mark Weber, Capt. Andreas O’Keeffe, Capt. Christopher Zanetis, Master Sgt. Christopher Raguso, Staff Sgt. Dashan Briggs, Master Sgt. William Posch, and Staff Sgt. Carl Enis.
South Korea plans to buy more Apache helicopters to lead the deployment across enemy lines should conflict erupt on the Korean Peninsula, reports Defense News.
Russia appears to be building up its naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean at a time when the US is threatening to intervene against Syrian government forces attacking a rebel enclave near Damascus, reports IHS Jane’s 360. Two Russian naval vessels were photographed passing through the Bosphorus Strait.
Georgia lawmakers are urging military leaders to locate a major US Army project — the Army Futures Command — in Atlanta, reports The Associated Press. Members of the congressional delegation cite the city’s proximity to technology firms, universities, military bases, and the world’s busiest airport.
Navy Times reports lawmakers are criticizing a Navy plan to retire one of its two hospital ships, either the Mercy or the Comfort, in the 2019 fiscal year budget proposal.
The Air Force’s KC-46 tanker program has hit another snag, reports Defense News, adding two deficiencies involving the remote vision system and centerline drogue systems to the list of problems manufacturer Boeing needs to fix.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told Congress recently that he sees the Army fielding hypersonic weapons to counter similar evolving threats from adversaries such as Russia, but said that such efforts are still in the early research phase, reports Military.com.
The Army wants contractors to deliver prototypes of the service branch’s future robotic, optionally manned combat vehicles by 2019, reports ExecutiveGov.com. The head of the Army’s Cross-Functional Team on future ground vehicles said that defense contractors and “non-traditional companies” are currently developing concepts for the next-generation combat vehicle.
Planners for the new national military parade in Washington, DC, have promised to make former service members a key focus of the event and to include heavy involvement from veterans groups, reports Military Times, but VA officials say they’ve had no involvement in the planning.
Contracts:
Gulf Island Shipyards LLC, Houma, Louisiana, is being awarded a $63,560,942 firm-fixed-price and fixed-price with economic price adjustment contract for the detail design and construction of the Towing, Salvage and Rescue Ship (T-ATS). This contract includes options for seven additional vessels which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $522,701,092. Work will be performed in Houma, Louisiana (92 percent); Hampton, Virginia (5 percent); Stord, Norway (2 percent); and New Orleans, Louisiana (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2020. Fiscal 2016 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funding in the amount of $63,560,942 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the Federal Business Opportunities website, with five offers received. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity (N00024-18-C-2207).
