Marine Casualty. A Marine Corps CH-53 Super Stallion makes a hard landing around 9 a.m. Thursday at Camp Lejeune, N.C., killing one Marine and injuring 11 others, the Pentagon says. The helicopter, assigned to Marine Heavy Aircraft Group 29, 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, was involved in a training exercise when it landed hard and crashed. A hard landing is when an aircraft impacts the ground with a greater vertical speed and force than a normal landing, typically after a rapid or steep descent.


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Submarine Naming. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has a busy week naming ships, beginning with the announcement that SSN-797, a Virginia-class attack submarine is now called the USS Iowa. The submarine is named to honor the history its namesake state has with the Navy.  Iowa is home to former Naval Air Station Ottumwa, one of a few air training stations created to increase the number of trained pilots in response to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Navy said. The future USS Iowa is the fourth naval vessel to bear the name.

… Another Sub. Mabus continues his naming spree with another Virginia-class submarine, giving SSN-794 the title USS Montana. The future USS Montana is the second commissioned naval vessel to bear the name, according to the Navy. The first, commissioned in 1908, was a cruiser that operated largely off the east coast of the United States and the Caribbean until the beginning of World War I, when it began transporting supplies and men. After the war, the cruiser made six round trips from Europe, returning 8,800 American troops. Montana was the only state among the 48 in the union when America was building battleships to never have one named after it.

… And An LCS. Mabus ends the week by naming a Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ship, LCS-21, will be called USS Minneapolis/St. Paul. It is the second ship to bear the name. The first, a submarine, was commissioned in 1984.

F-35 Contract. The Navy on Aug. 31 awards Lockheed Martin a $431 million cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm contract in support of low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 9 F-35 aircraft, according to a DoD statement. The contract is for non-air vehicle spares, support equipment, Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) hardware and software upgrades, supply chain management, full mission simulators and non-recurring engineering services. Contract covers aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-DoD participants and foreign military sale (FMS) customers. The contract is not competitively procured. The F-35 is developed by Lockheed Martin with subcontractors BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman.

Sikorsky FMS. The U.S. Army awards Sikorsky a $46 million modification to a foreign military sales (FMS) contract to Slovakia for four UH060M Backhawk helicopters and other equipment. The original contract is W58RGZ-12-C-0008 . The original FMS is first approved in February 2015. Work will be performed in Stratford, Conn. and has an estimated completion date of May 2017. Fiscal 2015 other procurement funds of the full modification amount are obligated at the time of award. The contracting activity is Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

Vricon, Inc. Chairman. Gilman Louie is appointed the first Chairman of the Board of Vricon, Inc. Vricon is a newly formed joint venture between Saab AB and DigitalGlobe, seeking to produce photo-realistic 3D products and digital elevation models for enterprise and government geospatial markets. Louis is the founder and former CEO of In-Q-Tel. He is recently appointed as a member of the National Commission for Review of Research and Development Programs of the United States Intelligence Community. Louis also chairs the committee on Persistant Forecasting of Disruptive Technologies for the National Academies.

Leidos CIO. Leidos appoints Martin Miner as senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO). In the position Miner reports to Chief Technology Officer Gelu Gambhir. As CIO, Miner is responsible for the direction of the company’s information technology (IT) infrastructure and associated projects, improvement initiatives, and technology investments in support of the business. Miner previously serves as chief strategy officer for the integrated systems group in Leidos’ national security sector, senior vice president for the company’s commercial critical infrastructure operation, CEO/COO/President for former subsidiary CloudShield Technologies Inc., and senior vice president for the company’s IT deployment operation to provide customers with IT infrastructure support.

IT Contract. NetCentrics Corp. is awarded a firm-fixed-price, incrementally-funded contract with options worth over $18 million for information technology (IT) support to the Army Information Technology Agency. The contract is expected to be completed by Aug. 29, 2018. Bids are solicited via the internet and four are received. Fiscal 2015 operations and maintenance (Army) funds of over $11 million are obligated at the time of award. Army Contracting Command in Rock island Arsenal, Ill. is the contracting activity.

Contract Ceiling Increase. The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) awards Microsoft Corp. an increased ceiling modification to the established firm-fixed-price, single award, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the company’s enterprise technical support services. The total contract is increased by nearly $163 million from $412 million to $575 million. The contract is necessary to obtain highly trained Microsoft Blue Badge Cardholder support, the contracting notice says. The performance period remains as a one-year base period with four one-year option periods with a total possible period of five years. Performance will mostly be performed in the continental United States but some support services may be required outside of it. The proposal is solicited via electronic means to Microsoft and received. The contracting activity is the Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization at Scott Air Force Base, Ill.

Anti-IED Alliance. Under the auspices of INTERPOL, the inaugural International Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Leaders’ Forum has created a Global Alliance to unite and focus efforts in combating the IED threat. Under the alliance, a coalition of partners will develop a coordinated international effort based on four pillars: component controls; capacity building; public awareness; and information sharing. “IEDs are the weapon of choice of terrorists and criminals around the world,” says INTERPOL Secretary General Jurgen Stock. “The dangers of IEDs are not confined to the battlefield, they are an issue for every country, a threat to anyone, anywhere at any time.” The forum says a global knowledge bank of IED information will help in dealing with the threat.

New Coast Guard Super Hercules. The Coast Guard has taken delivery of its ninth Lockheed Martin-built C-130J Super Hercules long-range surveillance aircraft. The aircraft will operate in its base configuration until it is missionized with special systems and sensors for the service beginning in Sept. 2016. When the missionization is complete, the aircraft will be designated as an HC-130J.

…Minotaur Mission System. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard expects to award a contract next month for the Minotaur mission system architecture for use on new and existing Super Hercules aircraft. The service has begun standardizing mission systems across its fixed-wing fleet with the Navy’s Minotaur mission control processor. The planned contract is to cover 12 Super Hercules. The Minotaur system will integrate radar, sensors, and other C4ISR equipment. The Coast Guard is developing Minotaur prototypes for its HC-130J and HC-144A aircraft. The Navy is also analyzing missionization options for the C27J medium range surveillance aircraft, which Coast Guard is getting from the Air Force.