An Industry Loss. Longtime CACI International Leader J. Phillip “Jack” London, who spent 49 years with the company and managed its growth from a small consulting firm to a high-end, $6 billion government information technology company, died last week at the age of 83. London, who served as a Navy officer from 1959 to 1971, joined CACI in 1972 as its 35th employee (it has 23,000 employees currently) and became president in CEO in 1984, roles he held until 2007. He became chairman in 1990 and added the title of executive chairman in 2007. “He was a true pioneer in the federal contracting industry, drawing from his military service to set the standard for leading with ethics and integrity,” John Mengucci, CACI’s president and CEO, said of London. “He set the bar high for business leaders across our industry, developing a successful business that continuously excelled and stayed strong through more than 50 years of changes in the federal landscape.”
…New Chair. Following London’s passing, CACI’s board elected Michael Daniels as its new chairman. Daniels, who had been on CACI’s board as an outside director, is also chairman of the government technology company Two Six Labs, former chairman and CEO of Network Solutions and of Mobile365, and a former vice president at Science Applications International Corp. He also serves on the boards of Blackberry and Mercury Systems.
Board Appointments. Space technology and satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies has appointed Heather Wilson to its board of directors. Wilson is the president of The University of Texas at El Paso, served as Air Force Secretary for the first two years of the Trump administration, and is a former Congresswoman, having represented Albuquerque, N.M., from 1998 to 2009. Huntington Ingalls Industries has elected Stephanie O’Sullivan to its board. O’Sullivan has been a business consultant since 2017 and before that spent six years as deputy director of the Office of National Intelligence. She is also on the boards of The Aerospace Corporation, Battelle Memorial Institute, HRL Laboratories and is on advisory boards at Noblis, Peraton and Booz Allen Hamilton.
Pardon for an Ace. Donald Trump, in one of his last acts as president, granted pardons to dozens of individuals, including a conditional pardon to Randall “Duke” Cunningham, a former California congressman who resigned from the U.S. House in 2005 after pleading guilty to bribery, fraud and tax evasion. Cunningham served in the House beginning in 1991. Cunningham was an ace pilot for the Navy during the Vietnam War and later became a TOPGUN instructor at the Navy’s Fighter Weapons School. He spent eight years in prison, during which “Mr. Cunningham tutored other inmates to help them achieve their GED,” Trump’s statement said. “Although combat-disabled, he continues to serve his community by volunteering with a local fire department and is active in Bible Study.”
Military Service Cutter. The Coast Guard last Thursday commissioned its first of six 154-foot Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters that will be homeported in Manama, Bahrain, in support of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA). The USCGC Charles Moulthrope (WPC 1141) is the Coast Guard’s 41st FRC of a planned buy of 64 cutters. PATFORSWA supports Operation Enduring Freedom, providing U.S. Central Command combat ready forces. The Moulthrope will transit to Bahrain later this year with the FRC Robert Goldman (WPC 1142), which will be commissioned in February. The FRCs are replacing legacy 110-foot Island-class cutters that are also supporting PATFORSWA.
Oshkosh Completes Deal. Oshkosh Corp. last week completed its $115 million acquisition of the vehicle engineering and product development company Pratt Miller, which will operate as a subsidiary of Oshkosh’s defense business. Oshkosh said it will leverage Pratt’s expertise in artificial intelligence, robotics, autonomous and connected systems. Pratt Miller, which will retain its brand and management, is best known for its products and support in the motorsports market.
Jolly Green Reception. Moody AFB, Ga., was to host a reception the evening of Jan. 22 to welcome the first two Lockheed Martin HH-60W Jolly Green II combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopters. Due to COVID-19, in person attendance at the reception on Jan. 22 was “extremely limited,” Moody said, and the base planned to stream the reception on Facebook. The base’s 41st Rescue Squadron received the helicopters on Nov. 5 and also is to continue to fly legacy HH-60G Pave Hawk CSAR birds until a transition to an all HH-60W fleet is complete. The Air Force may buy up to 108 HH-60Ws. Beside the 41st Rescue Squadron, the 512th Rescue Squadron at Kirtland AFB, N.M., is to be the first unit to receive the HH-60W. Last February, the Air Force revealed that the HH-60W would be named the Jolly Green II in honor of the Vietnam-era HH-3E Jolly Green and HH-53 CSAR helicopters.
UAE THAAD. The Missile Defense Agency awarded Lockheed Martin a $255 million contract under a Foreign Military Sales case to the United Arab Emirates to provide maintenance and sustainment for two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries in the country. The contract, awarded Jan. 15, covers a scope of work including providing logistics management, logistics product database, training, missile and ground repair and return, hardware/software development and sustainment, hardware in the loop, engineering services, a missile field surveillance program and country unique specialty engineering for the FMS client. The contract performance period lasts from Jan. 15, 2021 to Jan. 14, 2026.
LPD-26. The Navy Southwest Regional Maintenance Center (SWRMC) delivered the USS John P. Murtha (LPD-29) from its selected restricted availability on time on Jan. 8, the service said Jan. 19. The work included the complete overhaul of the Kelly Crane, and install of the Hull, Mechanical, and Electrical/Navigation Critical Distribution System (NAVCRIT), and Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES). The work also included repairs to the main propulsion diesel engines, ship service diesel generators, exhaust bellow, and ballast tank. For this availability, SWRMC worked with Serco, Raytheon, Delphius, VT Milcom and Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific.
PEO-EIS Industry Day. The Army’s Program Executive Office for Enterprise Information Systems is holding an industry on Feb. 25 for the new Enterprise Business System-Convergence program, or EBS-C, aimed at developing a platform for streamlining the service’s Enterprise Resource Planning processes. Officials said the industry day is intended for suppliers of Enterprise Business System-Convergence (EBS-C) software solutions that work in this space and system integrators capable of “implementing standardized processes and solutions that are as commercial as possible.” The EBS-C modernization effort will be a multi-year effort, according to the Army, as it looks to “develop enterprise requirements for a converged ERP solution, identify and conduct business process reengineering, and establish corresponding business process and data architectures.”
A Contested Frontier. In a paper for the Biden administration last month, the National Security Space Administration (NSSA) argued that U.S. leadership in space is in jeopardy because of advances made by other nations, particularly China, and that “in the coming decade, the U.S. will face as great a challenge to its leadership in space as at any time since the launch of Sputnik.” The NSSA recommended that the Biden administration retain the White House National Space Council and bolster the space industrial base.
…Space Management. In addition, NSSA said that the administration should finalize the implementation of changes to national security space organization and management. “Historic changes to the management structure of the U.S. defense and intelligence space program, including creation of the U.S. Space Force as an independent armed service and reestablishment of U.S. Space Command as a Unified Combatant Command, are well underway on the basis of bipartisan action,” NSSA said in its report, Sustaining U.S. National Security Space Leadership: Considerations for the Biden Administration. “The ongoing reorganization addresses longstanding concerns by successive administrations and Congresses regarding national security space leadership, management, and stewardship. NSSA strongly encourages the Biden administration to finalize their implementation to adapt the national security space enterprise to today’s security environment and ensure the U.S. is prepared to address the challenge posed by foreign powers deploying and operating space and weapons systems that threaten the freedom of space, jeopardize U.S. military forces, and put the U.S. homeland at risk.”
Nuclear Succession. Donald Trump appointee Charles Verdon has taken over as acting administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the semi autonomous Department of Energy nuclear-weapons agency confirmed Friday. Meanwhile, David Huizenga, NNSA’s No. 3 and the top career official there, will take over as acting Secretary of Energy until the Senate confirms President Joe Biden’s nominee for the post, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D). Granholm is scheduled for a Jan. 27 confirmation hearing before the Senate Energy Natural Resources Committee.