How Much Is War with Iran Costing the US?
USS Abraham Lincoln conducts US blockade operations in the Arabian Sea on April 16. The ship’s embarked carrier air wing includes eight F-35Cs, F/A-18s, EA-18G electronic attack aircraft, E-2D command and control planes, MH-60 helicopters, and CMV-22B Ospreys for logistics support. (US Navy photo)
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.
White House budget director Russell Vought declined to tell members of the Senate Budget Committee how much the war with Iran has cost American taxpayers so far, reports The Hill. He declined to give senators an estimate of the cost of the military operations when pressed Thursday. He told lawmakers that the cost changes from day to day. Vought also would not confirm reports that the administration is planning to submit a request for $80 billion to $100 billion to fund operations against Iran.
Harvard Kennedy School policy expert Linda Bilmes warned the true cost of the Iran war to US taxpayers will exceed $1 trillion, reports Fortune. The Pentagon told Congress the first week of the war reportedly cost about $11.3 billion alone, according to AP News.
Some of the latest headlines out of the Middle East over the weekend involved confusion on operations in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran restricted ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday as long as the US blockade of Iranian ports remained in place, reports Politico. Confusion persisted over whether sea lane was actually open over the weekend, CNBC reports.
US officials are expected to begin another round of peace talks with Iran possibly as early as today, Monday, reports Business Insider on yahoo!news.
DefSec Pete Hegseth said the US military is “locked and loaded” to attack Iran’s power plants and other energy sites if a US-Iran peace agreement is not met, reports Reuters.
The US government wants to make a version of Anthropic’s AI model Mythos available to some federal agencies despite concerns that the tool could increase cybersecurity risks, Bloomberg News reports on MSN. The chief information officer of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Gregory Barbaccia, said the OMB is setting up protections that would allow their agencies to begin using Mythos, and that top technology and cybersecurity agency chiefs could soon expect more information. An OMB spokesperson clarified to Nextgov/FCW that, as of now, there “are no policy changes and there is no OMB policy process happening on this issue.”
Mythos’ debut also comes as Anthropic and the Trump administration continue litigation filed in March over the Pentagon labeling the company a supply chain risk after it refused to allow its systems to be used in autonomous lethal weapons and in the surveillance of Americans, Nextgov/FCW has reported.
Former White House strategist Steve Bannon believes artificial intelligence company Anthropic “had it right” in demanding its technology not be used in fully autonomous lethal weapons, reports The Hill. Bannon was speaking last week at the Semafor World Economy conference.
US Navy officials carrying out a test in August 2025 of drones realized they had hit a single point of failure: Starlink, reports Reuters. An outage across Elon Musk’s satellite network affected millions of Starlink users and left two dozen unmanned surface vessels bobbing in the Pacific Ocean, disrupting communications and halting operations for nearly an hour. The mishaps, which have not been previously reported, highlight the challenges of the US military’s growing reliance on SpaceX and the risks it brings to the Pentagon.
Precise Systems, a defense solutions provider headquartered in Lexington Park, its affiliate Airtronics, and Seatrec, which designs and manufactures subsea drones, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to deliver Persistent Subsea Autonomous Profiler units in support of the Navy and other customers, the companies announced last week. Precise Systems and Airtronics will anchor the manufacturing and systems integration mission for the PSAP program. “Establishing a dedicated facility in Mississippi reflects our long-term commitment to building scalable, domestic defense production capacity, and our confidence that the PSAP capability we deliver together will meet the Navy’s most demanding operational requirements,” said Scott Pfister, Precise CEO and president.
Among Inc.’s Growth Champions of the Mid-Atlantic in 2026 are two St. Mary’s County firms—Precise Systems and ABSI Aerospace & Defense. The list honors the fastest-growing private companies by region, and they are ranked according to the companies’ percentage growth over two years, from 2022 to 2024. The Mid-Atlantic honorees added 8,399 jobs and $10.6 billion to the regional economy.
The Defense Department’s 2024 Annual Report on Suicide in the Military released last month finds that suicide rates among military families continue to climb, reports Marine Corps Times. Nearly 150 military family members died by suicide in 2023, a drop of 22% in the past six years, according to the report. Despite that decline, however, the rate of suicides among military spouses and dependent children has actually risen slightly, the result of a declining population and continued deaths, according to the DoD report.
USS Gerald R. Ford has broken the record for the longest post-Vietnam deployment, reports Navy Times. The aircraft carrier last week marked 296 days at sea. The USS Abraham Lincoln previously held that record, having deployed for 295 days in January 2020.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower sustained a small fire last Tuesday while it was at Naval Support Activity Portsmouth, VA, for maintenance, reports Navy Times. The Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier arrived at Norfolk on Jan. 8 to begin planned incremental availability following a nine-month deployment.
The US Navy Blue Angels will highlight this year’s NAS Patuxent River Air Show, set for June 20 and 21, reports The BayNet.
The Potomac River is the most endangered river in the country, according to a new ranking done by the nonprofit American Rivers, reports WTOP News. The advocacy group cited two factors in its decision: January’s sewage spill that sent hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage into the river, and the expanding footprint of data centers in the Washington, DC, area that threaten water availability and quality.
St. Mary’s, Calvert, and Charles counties are now facing some pressure as developers eye the region for potential locations for data centers, reports The Southern Maryland Chronicle.
Calvert County is finding itself in the middle of a data center fight, as its residents are pressing commissioners to hold off on proposed projects, reports The Washington Post. County leaders are exploring the potential for the centers but has not made any specific decisions yet. A recent vote on a two-year moratorium was shot down by the commissioners, reports somdnews.com. A week later, the proposal for a one-year moratorium also failed. There have been two proposals in Calvert—one by Amazon at land owned by Constellation Energy Group and a tract near the Appeal Landfill that belongs to Dominion Cove Point.
TeraWulf Inc. has submitted an interconnection request for its Chesapeake Data project in Charles County, according to filings tracked by Cleanview. The project would be located at the former Morgantown Generating Station near Newburg. Here is a map created by Cleanview of operating and planned data centers in Maryland.
The United Way of Southern Maryland provided a $4,000 grant to Pure Play Every Day to offer a 10-session, after-school applied physics program at Arthur Middleton Elementary School in Charles County, reports somdnews.com. “Children learn best by doing,” said Patty Stine, executive director of the nonprofit Pure Play Every Day. “[We] want to give children as much technological information in the real world so they can apply it to a technologically advanced world.”
NAS Pax River recently dedicated a new advanced test hangar intended for future testing of the MQ-25A Stingray in honor of US Naval Test Pilot School alumnus LT CMDR Raymond O’Hare, who died in a training accident nearly 25 years ago, reports The BayNet. O’Hare, a student test pilot, was killed alongside classmate LT CMDR Gareth Rietz when their T-38A Talon crashed on July 11, 2000.
A US Army lieutenant colonel pleaded guilty last week to 17 charges, including smuggling, possessing an unregistered machine gun, and numerous violations of the Arms Export Control Act, reports Army Times. Frank Ross Talbert was most recently with the Army’s Explosives Ordinance Disposal at Fort Campbell, KY.
Contracts awarded in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., April 16-17, 2026:
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Florida, is awarded $9,704,396 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N0001926F0262) against a previously issued basic ordering agreement (N0001925G0003). This order provides the required aircrew, flight test engineering, instrumentation, aircraft maintenance, and test management personnel to support integrated test and evaluation, to include test planning, execution, reporting, and deficiency disposition in accordance with approved test plans for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye for the Navy. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (83%); Melbourne, Florida (14.2%); and Liverpool, New York (2.8%), and is expected to be completed in March 2027. Fiscal 2026 research, development, test, and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,704,396 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract action was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.
Guidehouse Inc., McLean, Virginia, has been awarded a Firm-Fixed-Price, Labor Hours, and time and materials contract (HQ0034-25-A-E008) with a value of $30,730,015. The purpose of this contract is to comply with the fiscal 2024 National Defense Authorization Act mandate to achieve and sustain a department-wide unmodified financial statement audit opinion by the end of 2028. Work will be performed at the Pentagon and the Mark Center. The estimated completion date is Feb. 28, 2031. Funds in the amount of $7,054,230, are being obligated at the time of the award. The contracting activity is the Washington Headquarters Services, Arlington, Virginia.
CORRECTION: The $1,843,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract awarded to Anduril Industries Inc., Costa Mesa, California (FA881926DB0011); Astranis Space Technologies Corp., San Francisco, California (FA881926DB013); BAE Systems, Space Mission Systems Inc., Broomfield, Colorado (FA881926DB006); General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, San Diego, California (FA881926DB008); Intuitive Machines LLC, Houston, Texas (FA881926DB014); L3Harris Technologies Inc., Rochester, New York (FA881926DB003); Lockheed Martin Corp., Littleton, Colorado (FA881926DB004); Millennium Space Systems Inc., El Segundo, California (FA881926DB005); Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Dulles, Virginia (FA881926DB001); Quantum Space LLC, Rockville, Maryland (FA881926DB002); Redwire Space Missions LLC, Littleton, Colorado (FA881926DB012); Sierra Space Corp., Louisville, Colorado (FA881926DB007); True Anomaly Inc., Centennial, Colorado (FA881926DB009); and Turion Space Corp., Irvine, California (FA881926DB010) on April 8, 2026 incorrectly characterized the Andromeda contract vehicle as a program. Rather, Andromeda is a contract vehicle that will be utilized for the procurement of space-based space domain awareness capability, including the RG-XX program.
Aacon – Raven Volt JV LLC,* Louisville, Kentucky (W912QR-26-D-A027); Bering-Weston JV LLC,* Anchorage, Alaska (W912QR-26-D-A028); CAVU Green LLC,* Virginia Beach, Virginia (W912QR-26-D-A029); Fesco CLP JV LLC,* Frederick, Maryland (W912QR-26-D-A030); Reliance Construction Management Co.,* Cary, North Carolina (W912QR-26-D-A031); Brasfield & Gorrie LLC, Birmingham, Alabama (W912QR-26-D-A032); CDM Constructors Inc., Boston, Massachusetts (W912QR-26-D-A033); City Light & Power Inc., Denver, Colorado (W912QR-26-D-A034); Commercial Contracting Corp., Auburn Hills, Michigan (W912QR-26-D-A035); Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Greeley, Colorado (W912QR-26-D-A036); Honeywell International Inc., Duluth, Georgia (W912QR-26-D-A037); Parsons Government Services Inc., Centerville, Virginia (W912QR-26-D-A038); Tutor Perini Corp., Sylmar, California (W912QR-26-D-A039); and Weston Solutions Inc., West Chester, Pennsylvania (W912QR-26-D-A040), will compete for each order of the $2,000,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for design-build and design-bid-build construction services supporting the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program nationwide. Bids were solicited via the internet with 30 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 16, 2036. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District, is the contracting activity.
*Smalll business
