NASA Plans Reactor on the Moon
Transportation Secretary and interim NASA administrator, Sean Duffy. Photo by US Dept of Transportation –
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.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy will announce expedited plans this week to build a nuclear reactor on the moon, the first major action by the former Fox News host as the interim NASA administrator, reports Politico.
Veterans Affairs has moved to end all abortions at department facilities, undoing current regulations allowing VA medical personnel to conduct abortions in cases of rape, incest, and pregnancies that endanger the life or health of an individual. Military Times reports, VA officials called policies that provided these services at federal hospitals them “legally questionable” and unnecessary.
Hundreds of Marines slated to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement were called off the mission after Pentagon officials determined the work required close contact with detained migrants. Instead, reports Stars and Stripes, the governors of 20 states are being asked to provide up to 1,700 National Guard troops to work within that state conducting case management, logistics and clerical work in ICE detention facilities.
The Senate confirmed Sean Cairncross to serve as national cyber director in a 59-35 vote on Saturday night, making him the first Senate-approved cybersecurity official of President Donald Trump’s second term, reports NextGov/FCW. Cairncross is a former Republican National Committee official.
The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division flew a solar-powered, unmanned drone for 73 hours straight, recharging the plane’s batteries during the daytime on solar power to fly through night hours without coming back to earth, reports Task & Purpose. The Skydweller drone flew from the Mississippi coast for nearly 220 hours, or over nine days, with breaks on the ground for inclement weather. The longest single flight was 73 hours, or about three days straight and engineers think the plane can fly longer.
The Pentagon has scheduled its first major test of the multibillion-dollar Golden Dome missile defense system for just before the 2028 election, according to two sources familiar with the matter, setting an aggressive deadline for military officials to prove they can turn Trump’s vision for a space-based shield that can protect the entire US into a reality, reports CNN.
Lockheed Martin has launched a prototyping hub in Suffolk, VA, to develop solutions to be offered for the Golden Dome project, reports Defense News.
With hundreds of billions of dollars potentially at stake, Lockheed hopes to achieve a historic first: the test of a satellite weapon capable of destroying a highly-maneuverable hypersonic missile, within the next three years, reports Defense One. Although few details are known about what the Golden Dome missile defense shield plan will look like, it is likely to feature space-based satellites designed to destroy adversary missiles before they hit their target.
The Pentagon awarded $7.8 billion in contracts to Lockheed Martin and RTX Corporation at the end of July to produce thousands of new missiles for the Air Force and Navy, as well as a host of international allies, reports Defense News.
A proposed $8 billion missile defense system for Guam could have “long-term, significant and major” effects on the island’s housing market and health care system, according to the final Environmental Impact Statement. Stars and Stripes reports, the decade-long project — intended to protect Guam from cruise, ballistic and hypersonic missiles potentially launched by China or North Korea — could begin affecting residents as early as this year, when construction crews begin arriving, said the report released July 25. The Missile Defense Agency and the Army will wait until at least Aug. 24 before acting on the report’s findings.
For three days, the National Transportation Safety Board grilled the Federal Aviation Administration and Army officials about what went wrong for a Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet to collide over DC, killing 67 people. The biggest revelations, reports Military.com, were that the helicopter’s altimeter gauge was broken and controllers had warned the FAA years earlier about the dangers
A bipartisan group of senators have introduced legislation to exempt numerous positions at the Navy’s four public shipyards from the workforce reductions that have proliferated across the federal government since January, reports Breaking Defense. The bill, dubbed “Protecting Public Naval Shipyards Act,” is co-sponsored by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH); Susan Collins (R-ME); Maggie Hassen (D-NH) and Angus King (I-ME).
Defense technology startup Anduril has become the third US supplier of solid rocket motors, breaking into a market dominated by two defense primes, Aerojet Rocketdyne, which was bought by L3Harris, and Northrop Grumman, reports Defense One. Anduril, which announced their new capacity on Tuesday, invested $75 million alongside a recent Defense Production Act investment from the DoD to expand the US solid rocket motor industrial base.
Boeing on Monday was hit with its second strike in less than a year, as 3,200 hourly machinists walked off their aerospace jobs in St. Louis and St. Charles, MO, and Mascoutah, IL. CNN reports, these sites build F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets, the T-7A Red Hawk trainer, and the MQ-25 Stingray unmanned refueler. The F-47 stealth fighter jet, the Pentagon’s next-generation fighter plane, is due to be built at a Boeing plant in the St. Louis area, though the company has not said which plant will build it or when production will start. Boeing also operates some nonunion plants in the area.
US forces in Syria have departed three military bases that for years supported efforts to defeat Islamic State militants, a new Pentagon report has confirmed. Stars and Stripes reports, US forces “either dismantled and removed or handed over infrastructure” to the Syrian Democratic Forces, part of the anti-ISIS coalition led by the US.
South Korea’s military began removing propaganda loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone on Monday in a bid to ease tensions with the North, reports Stars and Stripes.
Recently emerged imagery largely confirms that China is now test-flying another tailless stealthy combat jet, reports TMZ, although it isn’t clear if this is a crewed design or one of its new advanced drones.
Upon the 80th anniversary of the first use of a nuclear weapon, on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, the planet is closer to using them again than has been the case for decades, reports CNN. The US dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 and three days later destroyed nearby Nagasaki with a second atomic bomb. More than 110,000 were killed instantly, hundreds of thousands more perished from injuries and radiation-related illness. So far, these remain the only times nuclear weapons were used in warfare.
Contracts:
Deloitte Consulting LLP, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a ceiling $115,000,000 firm-fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the Department of Defense (DOD) Cyber Crime Center Cyber Training Academy follow-on. This contract provides for cyber training to Air Force and other DOD entities and personnel whose duties include defending DOD information systems from illegal, unauthorized, or counter-intelligence activities. Work will be performed at the National Capital Region and is expected to be completed by Aug. 5, 2030. This contract was a competitive acquisition and ten offers were received. The Air Force District of Washington, Enterprise Support Division, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, is the contracting activity (FA7014-25-D-0007).
Systems Planning & Analysis Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a $11,866,132 firm-fixed-price modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-23-C-2103) for procurement of a supply chain improvement effort. Work will primarily be performed in Alexandria, Virginia and is expected to be completed by July 2026. Foreign partner funds in the amount of $11,866,132 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Awarded Aug. 1, 2025)
BAE Systems Land & Armaments LP, Sterling Heights, Michigan, was awarded a $181,107,842 firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract (M67854-16-C-0006) for Amphibious Combat Vehicles (ACV). The total value of the contract, if all options are exercised, is $3,845,631,512. This contract modification provides for the exercise of options for the procurement of 31 full rate production ACV medium caliber cannon mission role variants and associated production, fielding and support costs, and spares. Work will be performed in York, Pennsylvania (60%); Aiken, South Carolina (15%); San Jose, California (15%); Sterling Heights, Michigan (5%); and Stafford, Virginia (5%) with an expected completion date of September 2027. Fiscal 2025 procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $181,107,842 will be obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico, Virginia, is the contracting activity (M67854-16-C-0006).
JJR Solutions LLC,* Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a $9,231,910 modification (P00004) to contract W519TC-25-F-0192 for Small Business Innovation Research Phase III. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $38,486,892. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Nov. 17, 2026. Fiscal 2023 and 2025 other procurement, Army funds; and 2025 research, development, test and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $1,013,097, were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity.
B.L. Harbert International LLC, Birmingham, Alabama (W91278-25-D-0033); Brasfield & Gorrie LLC, Birmingham, Alabama (W91278-25-D-0034); Caddell Construction Co. LLC, Montgomery, Alabama (W91278-25-D-0035); Hensel Phelps, Orlando, Florida (W91278-25-D-0036); Korte Construction Co., St. Louis, Missouri (W91278-25-D-0037); and The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., Baltimore, Maryland (W91278-25-D-0038), will compete for each order of the $245,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract for general repair and construction. The total cumulative face value is $245,000,000. Bids were solicited via the internet with 19 received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 3, 2030. Army Contracting Command, Mobile, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
