Pilot Wings First; Carrier Landing Later

An F/A-18F Super Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 14, makes an arrested landing on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in the Pacific Ocean last month. Abraham Lincoln, flagship of Carrier Strike Group Three, is underway conducting routine training operations in the US 3rd Fleet area of operations. (Photo by Gage Thomas)

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.

Navy students training to fly F/A-18s, F-35s, and EA-18Gs are no longer required to land on a carrier before receiving their “Wings of Gold,” awarded to naval aviators after they’ve completed aviation training. As of March 2025, US Navy pilots in training can qualify for graduation without landing a jet on an aircraft carrier, reports Military Times. Pilots will instead complete carrier qualifications during follow-on training at the fleet replacement squadron they’re assigned to.

Defending the homeland has leaped ahead of China on the nation’s defense priorities according to the list DefSec Pete Hegseth sent Pentagon leaders and commanders ahead of the expected release of the Trump administration’s National Defense Strategy. According to Defense One, Hegseth turned law enforcement into a core mission with his Aug. 7 guidance memo’s top priority to “seal our borders, repel invasion, counter narcotics and trafficking, and support the Department of Homeland Security mission to deport illegal aliens.”

Hegseth approved sending up to 600 military lawyers to the Justice Department to serve as temporary immigration judges, reports Military.com. This would double the 600 immigration judges remaining after more than 100 were fired or accepted deferred resignation offers by the Trump administration. As the administration ramps up arrests and deportation, immigration courts are dealing with a massive backlog of roughly 3.5 million cases.

Homeland Security Sec Kristi Noem is terminating two dozen employees of FEMA’s IT department for failing basic security protocols that allowed hackers to access its networks. NextGov/FCW reports that agency CIO Charles Armstrong and CIO Security Officer Gregory Edwards were terminated, alongside 22 others.

Noem on Sunday confirmed that immigration operations in Chicago will step up the presence of federal agents in the nation’s third-largest city as President Donald Trump continues to lash out at Illinois’ Democratic leadership, reports AP News.

Despite a 15-year return of nearly 17% annually, publicly traded defense stocks held a limited investment base. But a big shift is underway, says Defense News. The exchange traded funds investing in the sector has grown from four in 2022 to 27, with the assets being managed through these vehicles up nine-fold, to more than $35 billion.

The Labor Department is planning to require states to hand over sensitive unemployment information in the name of fighting fraud and is considering creating a national claims database for oversight and audits, according to an Aug. 29 notice issued by the department. It’s the latest push for states to send more information to the federal government since Trump took office, some of which has been used for immigration enforcement, reports NextGov/FCW.

Trump announced Tuesday that US Space Command’s headquarters will be relocated to Huntsville, AL, following through on a move made in 2021 late in his first term in office that was ultimately overturned by a Biden-era decision to keep it in Colorado, reports Military.com. Trump pointed to Colorado’s existing mail-in voting laws during the press conference, saying they “played a big factor also” in the headquarters-basing decision.

A US Marine Corps CH-53K King Stallion helicopter transported an inoperable F-35B Lightning II airframe from NAS Patuxent River, to MCAS Beaufort, SC, reports UK Defence Journal. This F-35, known as BF-1, was the first aircraft of its type to perform a vertical landing. It had been stripped of its propulsion and mission systems, outer wings, and other equipment before being transferred for use as a permanent static display at MCAS Beaufort.

A portrait of Confederate GEN Robert E. Lee in his Confederate uniform with a slave guiding his horse in the background will be rehung in West Point’s library, reports Military.com.

US Wind, the Baltimore-based developer of a planned Maryland offshore wind farm, said its related steel manufacturing facility in Sparrows Point will move forward, despite the federal government withdrawing a $47.4 million grant for the project, reports Maryland Matters. The US Department of Transportation withdrew $679 million from a dozen previously approved port and rail infrastructure improvements that supported wind power projects. TransSec Sean Duffy said the funds for “doomed” offshore wind farms were “ignoring the dire needs of our shipbuilding industry.” US Wind said that steel manufactured on the site would also fuel the shipbuilding industry.

Norway has agreed to buy at least five new British anti-submarine ships in a deal valued at $13.5 billion, reports Yahoo Finance. Norway also considered ships made by the US, Germany, and France, but chose the UK because of the countries’ historic links, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said.

The UK government and BAE Systems have secured more work for Glasgow’s shipyards after Norway confirmed it will buy the Type 26 frigate, reports UK Defence Journal. Deliveries to the Royal Norwegian Navy are expected to begin in 2030, tying the future of Scottish shipbuilding more closely into NATO’s northern defense.

A grand jury has indicted two civilian workers, John Floyd and Nelson Wu, for giving inaccurate information to the Navy, causing the Navy to misrepresent the size of a jet fuel spill from a Pearl Harbor storage facility. The fuel later seeped into drinking water and sickened 6,000 people over Thanksgiving in 2021. Military.com reports Wayne Tanaka, director of the Sierra Club of Hawaii, said culpability extended beyond the alleged actions of Floyd and Wu, that the Navy’s own investigation showed officials knew some 20,000 gallons were unaccounted for after the May incident and yet it didn’t inform the community or regulators.

A plane carrying European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was hit by GPS jamming as it prepared to land in Bulgaria, with officials pointing the finger of blame at Russia, reports Alazeera. The Financial Times newspaper, which first reported the incident, said the plane was forced to land using “paper maps.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the accusations against Russia in comments to the Financial Times, saying “your information is incorrect.”

Italy is considering keeping state flights secret after the satellite signal was jammed on a charter plane carrying von der Leven, reports The Guardian. Von der Leyen, a fierce critic of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Moscow’s war in Ukraine, was flying to Bulgaria on Sunday when her charter plane lost satellite navigation aids.  GPS jamming and “spoofing,” an electronic warfare tactic causing incorrect navigation information to be displayed, have increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and escalated even more sharply in the past year.

The EU and NATO are separate entities with different sets of member countries, but Europe’s security is a vital issue for both, reports Defense News. “It is taken very seriously,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said about the GPS jamming, “I can assure you that we are working day and night to counter this, to prevent it, and to make sure that they will not do it again.” Neither Russia nor von der Leyen has commented publicly on the incident. Rutte said jamming was part of a complex campaign by Russia of “hybrid threats” like cutting of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, a plot to assassinate a German industrialist, and a cyberattack on the National Heath Service in the UK.

NATO anticipates that all of its 32 members will meet its longstanding target to spend 2% of GDP on defense, reports Aviation Week, though only three meet the revised 2035 target of 3.5%. Poland anticipates 4.48% of GDP into defense in 2025, with Lithuania at 4%, and Latvia at 3.53%. Collectively, the alliance is set to spend $1.4 trillion on defense in 2025, earmarking about $28.4 billion for equipment, similar to 2024. The US is by far the biggest spender on defense, it’s allocation is set to represent about 3.22% of GDP.

The US declined for the first time to send any uniformed military or government personnel to speak at a key security conference organized by the UK and held in Japan this year, even as regional allies seek to strengthen coordination, reports Denver Gazette. The Pacific Future Forum, being held Friday and Saturday on board the UK aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales in Tokyo Bay, features the UK and Japanese defense ministers as speakers, and senior military officials from Japan and Western nations. The US Seventh Fleet commander VADM Fred W. Kacher was among those invited to speak, according to people familiar with the matter, but the organizers received no response.

Israel will not set up a national pavilion at the DSEI UK 2025 exhibition scheduled to take place in London Sept. 9-12. The Israeli Ministry of Defense said, “The British government recently imposed unilateral restrictions on the official Israeli government and military representatives’ participation in the exhibition.” Defense News reports the restrictions include a ban on government and military personnel from attending the exhibition and from placing signage with the name of the Israeli defense ministry or its entities in the national pavilion.

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Elbit Systems, Israel’s three largest defense companies, still plan to attend the British Defence Exhibition & Trade Show, reports Breaking Defense, despite the absence of an Israeli government delegation.

The Taliban have called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 1,400 people and left thousands more injured, reports The Guardian. A 6.0-magnitude quake struck on Sunday destroying entire villages across the country’s eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan.

Contracts:

Aviation Systems Engineering Co. Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $26,957,807 modification (P00011) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (N0042120D0123). This modification exercises an option to provide continued program management support for airborne anti-submarine warfare legacy, new acoustic and non-acoustic sensors, systems, and subsystems for naval air platforms in support of improving existing maritime patrol and reconnaissance mission systems for the Navy. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland (90%); and Lexington Park, Maryland (10%), and is expected to be completed in March 2026. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competed. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.

Aviation Systems Engineering Co. Inc., Lexington Park, Maryland, is awarded a $8,109,974 firm-fixed-price contract to provide maintenance and flight operations training support for the P-8A Poseidon aircraft in support of the Republic of Korea Navy, achieving and maintaining operational capability, as well as pilot and maintainer proficiency in addition to pilot currency. Additionally, this contract provides for the development of additional personal qualification standards, updates to outdated maintenance curriculum, and updates to aircrew courseware to include latest mission capabilities. Work will be performed in Jacksonville, Florida (75%); Pohang, South Korea (10%); and Seoul, Korea (15%), and is expected to be completed in September 2028. Foreign Military Sales customer funds in the amount of $8,109,974 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competed. Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0001925C0116).

US Marine Management, Norfolk, Virginia, is awarded a firm-fixed-price modification under contract N3220523C4035, which is contract for the services of the oil tanker MT Badlands Trader. The modification adds a capability to refuel USS and allied vessels at sea. The capability will be installed no later than February 2026. The place of performance is worldwide. Military Sealift Command, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is awarded a $12,411,208 modification (P00022) to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N0001919C0051). This modification adds scope to provide for the integration of required updates to the systems requirements document critical to the functionality of the ALQ-214 system using the Adaptive Radar Countermeasure software in support of enhancing F/A-18 survivability against modern threats Work will be performed in Reston, Virginia (47%); Clifton, New Jersey (40%); and Goleta, California (13%), and is expected to be completed in September 2026. Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $9,349,290 will be obligated at 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.

Robbins-Gioia LLC, Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a maximum $8,793,842 firm-fixed-price follow-on contract, including options, for the program depot maintenance scheduling system. This contract provides services for sustainment, program and status reporting, schedule collaboration, interface sustainment, end-user support at Air Logistic Complexes and the Air Force Sustainment Command Headquarters, and software requirements. Work will be performed at Alexandria, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by July 31, 2027. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds; and working capital funds in the amount of $2,152,766, were obligated at time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA877025CB007). (Awarded Aug. 15, 2025)

Diplomatic Language Services, Arlington, Virginia, was awarded a $41,000,000 time-and-materials contract to provide foreign language instructor training support for the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center through Defense Language Institute Washington. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 5, 2030. Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W911S0-25-D-0004).

International Center for Language Studies, Washington, DC, was awarded a $41,000,000 time-and-materials contract to provide foreign language instructor training support for the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center through Defense Language Institute Washington. Bids were solicited via the internet with four received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 5, 2030. Army Field Directorate Office, Fort Eustis, Virginia, is the contracting activity (W911S0-25-D-0002).

Cherokee Nation Defense Solutions LLC, Tulsa, Oklahoma, will be awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity and firm-fixed price contract with time-and-material contract line items for travel (H9821025DE002). The contract value is $27,426,387, which includes a five-year ordering period. The purpose of this is for the contractor to provide administrative and customer support services to ensure operational effectiveness. Service and support provided include, but are not limited to, project management oversight and administrative support, office clerical assistant support, and information management support. Work will be performed in Alexandria, Virginia; Seaside, California; and Fort Knox, Kentucky, with and period of performance of Sept. 8, 2025, through Sept. 7, 2030. The government’s requirement for enterprise administrative services was solicited as a direct 8(a) sole-source award to Cherokee Nation Defense Solutions LLC. The task orders issued under this contract will be funded with operations and maintenance dollars. As defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation 17.1, this is not a multiyear contract. Defense Human Resources Activity, Alexandria, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

Guardian Defense Group, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, was awarded a ceiling $9,324,226 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (H9223925DE003) for psychological assessment support services for US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) for a base period of 10.5 months and four 12-month ordering periods. These services shall be conducted in support of, and in coordination with, major command elements and USASOC subordinate units that include, but are not limited to, the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, the 1st Special Forces Command, the 75th Ranger Regiment, and the 160th Special Operations Regiment, as well as other Army Special Operations Forces units as required. The contractor may also provide psychological services in support of and in coordination with other U.S. Special Operations Command components. This award consists of a guaranteed minimum of $100,000 during the base period. Fiscal 2025 Major Force Program 11 funds in the amount of $1,107,700 are obligated at the time of the award. The work will be performed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington; Fort Benning, Georgia; Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia; Camp Merrill, Georgia; Richmond, Virginia; Fort Walker, Virginia; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Elgin Air Force Base, Florida; Fort Carson, Colorado; and other continental US locations. This contracting action was a competitive service-disabled veteran-owned small business set-aside, best value trade-off source selection. USASOC, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the contracting activity.

Advanced Integrated Technologies LLC, Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4325); Auxiliary Systems Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4326); BAE Systems Norfolk Ship Repair Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4328); Colonna’s Shipyard Inc., Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4329); Delphinus Engineering Inc., Newtown Square, Pennsylvania (N00024-25-D-4330); East Coast Repair & Fabrication LLC, Newport News, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4331); Epsilon System Solutions Inc., Portsmouth, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4332); General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4334); Metro Machine Corp., Norfolk, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4335); GI Industrial Marine LLC, Portsmouth, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4336); HII Mission Technologies Corp., McLean, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4337); IMIA LLC, Spanish Fort, Alabama (N00024-25-D-4338); MIKEL Inc., Middletown, Rhode Island (N00024-25-D-4339); MOOG Military Aircraft LLC, Elma, New York (N00024-25-D-4340); Neal Technologies Innovation LLC, Daphne, Alabama (N00024-25-D-4341); Oceaneering International Inc., Chesapeake, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4342); Pacific Armada NW LLC, San Diego, California (N00024-25-D-4344); Pacific Shipyards International LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii (N00024-25-D-4345); Propulsion Controls Engineering LLC, Everett, Washington (N00024-25-D-4346); QED Systems Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4347); Riley Power Group LLC, Rock Hill, South Carolina (N00024-25-D-4348); Southcoast Welding & Manufacturing LLC, Chula Vista, California (N00024-25-D-4349); Standard Inspection Services, National City, California (N00024-25-D-4350); Tecnico Corp., Chesapeake, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4351); and VT Milcom Inc., Virginia Beach, Virginia (N00024-25-D-4352), are awarded a combined $1,123,590,000 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed-fee, and cost-only, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, multiple award contract for discrete production, non-discrete production and other production work to support the public shipyards in accomplishing repair, maintenance, and modernization of nuclear-powered attack submarines undergoing scheduled Chief of Naval Operations maintenance availabilities. These contracts include options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value to $1,906,010,000 over an eight-year period to the 25 vendors combined. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (35%); Bremerton, Washington (25%); Kittery, Maine (20%); and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (20%), and is expected to be completed by August 2030. If all options are exercised, work will continue through August 2033. No funds will be obligated at the time of the award; funds will be obligated at the delivery order level as contracting actions occur. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management website, with 29 offers received. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC, is the contracting activity.

International SOS Government Services Inc., Trevose, Pennsylvania, was awarded $143,056,809 for Option Period Five of the TRICARE Overseas Program indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, fixed-price task order contract (HT940220D0002) for health care support services. This contract supplements the healthcare capabilities and capacities of overseas military medical treatment facilities and provides healthcare in remote overseas locations. The program is a mission to provide TRICARE services to eligible beneficiaries in locations outside the U.S. and Washington, D.C., pursuant to Title 10 U.S. Code, Chapter 55, Section 1074(c)(1); and Title 32 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 199. The option period of performance is Sept. 1, 2025, to Aug. 31, 2026. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds were obligated at the time of award. The Defense Health Agency Managed Care Contracting Division, Aurora, Colorado, is the contracting activity. (Awarded July 30, 2025)

General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Falls Church, Virginia, was awarded a sole-source Federal Supply Schedule General Services Administration firm-fixed-price order (HT003825FE001) with a maximum value of $15,828,800. The contract includes the continued operation, maintenance, and sunsetting support of the Armed Forces Billing and Collection Utilization Solution, a Software as a Service cloud-based solution for military medical treatment facility billing and collections. The task order’s period of performance includes a six-month base period and two six-month optional periods, between Aug. 1, 2025, to Jan. 31, 2027. The primary work location will be in Falls Church, Virginia. The base period has been fully funded with fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds. The Defense Health Agency, Defense Healthcare Management Systems Contracting Division, Rosslyn, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded July 30, 2025)

Western Door Federal LLC, Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded $11,637,792, to exercise Option Period Two of a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (HT001123C0099), to provide financial analysis, accounting, and program management support services for the Defense Health Agency Direct Care Financial Management Division. Work will be primarily performed at San Antonio, Texas and Falls Church, Virginia. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance funds are obligated at the time of award. The contract was an 8(a) sole source award through the Small Business Administration 8(a) program, in accordance with 15 U.S. Code 637, as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5(b)(4) and was executed on Sept. 22, 2023. The period of performance for this option period exercise is Sept. 30, 2025, to Sept. 29, 2026. The Defense Health Agency, Professional Services Contracting Division, Falls Church, Virginia, is the contracting activity. (Awarded Sept. 2, 2025)

Western Door Federal LLC, Chantilly, Virginia, is awarded $8,593,763 for Option Year Four of a firm-fixed-price contract (HT001121C0021) to provide programming, budget development and execution, accounting, administrative, and training support services to the Defense Health Agency Direct Care Financial Management Division. Work will be primarily performed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funding was obligated at time of award. The contract was an 8(a) sole source award through the Small Business Administration 8(a) program in accordance with 15 U.S. Code 637 as implemented by Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-5(b)(4) and was executed on Sept. 27, 2021. The period of performance for this option period is Sept. 30, 2025, to Sept. 29, 2026. The Defense Health Agency, Professional Services Contracting Division, Falls Church, Virginia, is the contracting activity.

General Dynamics Mission Systems Inc., Manassas, Virginia, is awarded a $91,211,004 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, and firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for engineering and technical support and production of submarine tethered expendable buoy systems on new construction and in-service submarines. Work will be performed in Manassas, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by August 2030. Fiscal 2025 other procurement (Navy) fund in the amount of $2,000,000 (67%); and fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) fund in the amount of $1,000,000 (33%), will be obligated to satisfy the minimum guarantee and begin engineering efforts under delivery order (N00024-25-F-6233) and the funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The requirement was competitively procured through full and open competition with three offerors received. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-25-D-6231).

Fulcrum Concepts LLC, Mattaponi, Virginia, was awarded a $14,853,953 modification (P00007) to contract W911W6-21-C-0041 for the Modular Effects Launcher Phase III. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $29,731,217. Work will be performed in Mattaponi, Virginia, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2027. Fiscal 2010 research, development, test, and evaluation, Army funds in the amount of $1,443,876 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.