Antarctic Break Out. The Coast Guard’s lone heavy polar icebreaker, the Polar Star
, arrived at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on Jan. 22 in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the annual joint military mission to resupply U.S. Antarctic stations operated by the National Science Foundation. The 399-foot ship arrived at McMurdo after cutting a 23-mile channel through the ice, allowing three trailing supply ships to reach the scientific outpost with over 19.5 million-pounds of dry cargo and 7.6 million gallons of fuel. The aging Polar Star, which will undergo a phased service life extension program while the Coast Guard begins taking delivery in 2024 of the first of at least three new Polar Security Cutters, departed its homeport of Seattle on Nov. 26.
New Border Patrol Chief. Rodney Scott, a 27-year veteran of the Border Patrol, has been selected as the new chief of the agency responsible for securing the nation’s borders between ports of entry. “Chief Scott brings an exceptional depth and breadth of experience and knowledge about the border security mission and a commitment to service to the nation and the Border Patrol workforce,” according to Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Scott previously led the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, overseeing 2,200 agents and 60 miles of border with Mexico and 931 miles of coastal border.
First DoD EIS Award. CenturyLink won a potential $75 million task order to provide secure connectivity to the Defense Department’s Education Activity’s learning network, the first award by DoD under the General Services Administration’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions program. CenturyLink said it was the first supplier to receive authority to operate under the GSA’s 15-year, $50 billion, multiple award program last March. Under the DoD task order, CenturyLink will provide virtual private networking, internet, voice and video services to more than 85 DoDEA locations worldwide.
NNS Renovation. Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) held a groundbreaking on Jan. 23 to renovate Dry Dock 4. The Navy said the renovation effort will cost $200 million and take almost three years. This makes it the largest NNSY initiative under the larger $21 billion 20-year Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP). The Navy said this renovation will meet the service’s needs for submarine overhaul in the 2020s and beyond for Ohio, Virginia, and Columbia-class vessels. Dy dock 4 first opened in 1919.
CVN-81. Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly named the fourth Ford-class carrier the future USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) during a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day ceremony in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Jan. 20. This will be the second ship named after Miller, a Mess Attendant 2nd Class who manned a .50 caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II.
Sea Dragon. Maritime forces from the U.S. Navy, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand started the second annual Sea Dragon 2020 exercise on Jan. 20 in Guam. The exercise will have maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft from Commander Task Force 72 train with other U.S. and international units. The exercise aims to improve and evaluate interoperability elements needed to effectively respond to the defense of a regional contingency in the Indo-Pacific theater. This year added South Korea and New Zealand as participants. “Sea Dragon is specifically constructed to allow participating nations to pursue individual and shared maritime patrol ASW objectives, all against a backdrop of friendly competition and camaraderie,” Capt. Matthew Rutherford, commodore of Task Force 72, said in a statement.
NRO Mission. Rocket Lab announced Jan. 20 that it will launch a dedicated mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, with a launch window scheduled to open Jan. 31. The NRO competitively awarded the contract for Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle under the Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket contract vehicle. The mission, dubbed “Birds of a Feather,” will launch from the company’s complex in New Zealand.
DARPA Spaceplane. Boeing will no longer continue developing the Experimental Spaceplane for DARPA, agency and company officials said this week. DARPA first confirmed to Space News Jan. 22 that the company had notified DARPA of its decision to withdraw from the XSP program “indefinitely,” while Boeing spokesmen subsequently confirmed plans to redirect funding for the program to other priorities following a detailed review.
FY ’21 Budget Release. Pentagon’s spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said Friday that the ongoing impeachment trials on Capitol Hill have had no impact on the FY ’21 budget cycle and the department still anticipates submitting its budget to lawmakers Feb. 10. He added that the lack of a Senate-confirmed DoD comptroller has not hampered the process either. “We’ve got a wonderful team in place. The CMO and CAPE team are working on the budget … and that hasn’t had an impact,” he said.
New AFRL Commander Nominated. Brig. Gen. Evan Dertien has been formally nominated to lead the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Dertien was selected by AFMC Commander Gen. Arnold Bunch to take over for former commander Maj. Gen. Bill Cooley, who was fired while under investigation for “alleged misconduct,” AFMC said in a Jan. 16 statement. Dertien was previously AFMC’s director for air, space and cyber operations.
New PEO Aviation. The Army has a new head aviation acquisition official after holding a change of charter ceremony on Jan. 14 to promote Patrick Mason from the deputy to the lead role. Mason succeeds Maj. Gen. Thomas Todd, who has moved onto his next assignment as deputy commander for Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in Afghanistan. Mason, who has served as the deputy PEO since June 2017, is now responsible for managing the Army’s full portfolio of current and future aviation platforms, including the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and Future Long Range Assault Aircraft.
LAV Comms System. The Marine Corps has approved the initial procurement of a new intercom system for its Light Armored Vehicles, with plans to reach initial operational capability in FY ’21 and full operational capability in FY ’22. The new TOCNET-G4, or G4 ICS, tactical communication system is built by SCI Technology and is designed to control the LAV’s entire communication suite, to include radios and GPS systems. The G4 ICS will begin to replace legacy intercom systems, which frequently experience shutdowns and lengthy reboot times, according to Marine Corps officials. “The G4 ICS is a modern ICS that is more fault-tolerant to LAV electrical fluctuations that cause ICS shutdowns and subsequent reboots. In the unlikely event that the G4 ICS does reboot, the G4 ICS will reboot in a few seconds,” Dan O’Conner, project lead for C4ISR payloads and capabilities for PM LAV, said in a statement.
SAIC Exec: Contractor Challenge of Mature Prototypes. The head of SAIC’s defense systems group said on Jan. 23 the move toward more major modernization programs built around delivering fully-formed, mature prototypes presents challenges for non-traditional prime contractors looking to compete for major platform contracts. “We were seeing firm fixed-price efforts, bid samples, where industry was required to make substantial investments upfront to bring a capability forward,” SAIC’s Jim Scanlon said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “On one level I see you want a mature capability that you’re evaluating, but usually to get to the requirements these are not things that are right off the shelf. They’re off-the-shelf with an iteration or a modification. So it gets very difficult for the non-traditional [vendors] to go forward in that.” Scanlon added that development efforts built around designing in virtual environments or prototyping with experimental capabilities would open up more opportunities for non-traditional primes looking to enter areas such as the combat vehicle space.
…Views of CMMC. Scanlon also added his thoughts on the department’s impending rollout of the new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification standards that would require vendors to ensure the cyber resiliency of their full supply chains. SAIC is currently considering blockchain technologies and “smart contracts” that would help ensure their supply chain is employing adequate security measures, such as multi-factor authentication, according to Scanlon. “It’s not there yet, but leveraging those technologies are areas that we’re focused on as we work with customers across the spectrum,” Scanlon said.
Dunford Joins Lockheed Board. Retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, nearly fresh out of the service, has been elected to Lockheed Martin’s board of directors effective Feb. 10. Dunford retired from the military last September after serving four years as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “General Dunford’s service to the nation at the highest levels of military leadership will bring valuable insight to our board,” says Marillyn Hewson, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin. “His experience in complex, global operations and risk management, including cybersecurity threats, is a tremendous asset and will enhance board oversight in key business areas.”