ARLINGTON, Va. — Leonardo DRS Inc. has been awarded an undefinitized contract action initially worth $79.6 million to provide the U.S. Army and Marine Corps with additional TROPHY Active Protection Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. said in a Jan. 9 release. This brings the total funded value of the program to over $200 million.

Developed by long-time partner Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. of Israel, TROPHY provides combat-proven protection against anti-armor rocket and missile threats, while at the same time locating and reporting the origin of the hostile fire for immediate response.

“Leonardo DRS is proud of the confidence shown by the Army in deciding to field TROPHY to even more U.S. combat brigades,” said Aaron Hankins, vice president and general manager of the Leonardo DRS Land Systems division. “Together with our Rafael partners, we are fully committed to meeting our customers’ demands and are working in parallel to further address the urgent protection needs of other U.S. platforms.”

The DRS and Rafael team led a successful demonstration featuring a new, lighter TROPHY VPS variant on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Israel in August. The team will also be participating in the Army’s Stryker Expedited APS demonstration “rodeo” in February.

“Rafael does not stand still. TROPHY VPS provides the same capabilities and performance as TROPHY in a significantly smaller package,” said Moshe Elazar, executive vice president and head of Rafael’s Land and Naval Division. “We are also leveraging our global leadership in both active protection (close to 1,500 TROPHY systems) and medium-caliber remote weapons systems (over 1,000 systems), to offer the mature, reliable, lightweight Samson turret, which combines both capabilities. Given our wide customer base and existing production lines for both, Samson is a capable, affordable, low-risk solution for the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Combat Vehicles, other programs in Israel and other markets.”

MIAMI — The Coast Guard, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) interdicted a sport fisher boat with a suspected smuggler, two migrants, a U.S.-Bahamas dual citizen and 7 kilograms of cocaine Jan. 7 north of Miami, the 7th Coast Guard District said in a release.

At approximately, 5:25 a.m. Coast Guard Sector Miami watchstanders received a report from the Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber crew stating that they spotted an unlit 46-foot sport fisher boat approximately eight miles east of Dania Beach. The Bernard Webber crew interdicted the vessel to find one Bahamian suspected smuggler, two Bahamian migrants and the dual citizen aboard.

The Bernard C. Webber crew embarked the four persons while one of their small-boat crews drove the sport fisher boat to Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale. The Coast Guard, HSI and CBP jointly searched the boat and located 7 kilograms of cocaine. The Bernard Webber crew later transferred the persons to CBP custody.

“Our partnerships with Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations were crucial in the success of this interdiction,” said Petty Officer 1st Class Emily Wilhite, the command duty officer for Coast Guard Sector Miami. “We were able to stop the illegal smuggling of migrants and drugs and will continue to maintain a strong presence in the Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea.”

Federal prosecution has been accepted in the Southern District of Florida.

MIAMI — The U.S. Coast Guard assisted the Haitian Coast Guard in stopping approximately 70 Haitian migrants Jan. 6 approximately 26 miles north of Cap Haïtien, Haiti, the 7th Coast Guard District said in a release.

At approximately 1:30 a.m., the Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant crew sighted a roughly 40-foot Haitian freighter. The Vigilant crew launched a small-boat crew to question the people aboard. Upon detection, the freighter changed course back south to Haiti. The Vigilant crew continued to shadow the vessel while 7th District watchstanders contacted the Haitian Coast Guard. A Haitian Coast Guard marine unit arrived on scene at approximately 9:30 a.m. and relieved the Vigilant crew.

“This case highlights a critical component to the success of curbing illegal immigration in the Caribbean and that is of our international partners, and in this case specifically, the Haitian Coast Guard,” said Capt. Aldante Vinciguerra, chief of response for the 7th District. “The close cooperation between both U.S. Coast Guard and Haitian Coast Guard operational teams in this instance helped prevent a dangerous and ill-advised illegal migrant voyage from potentially capsizing and ending tragically as we unfortunately have seen happen recently.

“The U.S. Coast Guard has maintained a continual presence in the Florida straits and Caribbean basin and will continue to do so to detect, deter, and stop these illegal and unsafe voyages.”

WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer has named a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in honor of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who represented Alaska from 1968 to 2009, the secretary’s public affairs officer said in a Jan. 5 release.

“Sen. Stevens was a staunch supporter of a strong Navy and Marine Corps team who served our nation with distinction as a pilot during World War II, and later as a Senator of Alaska,” Spencer said. “I am pleased that his legacy of service and dedication to national security will live on in the future USS Ted Stevens.”

Stevens served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps from 1943 to 1946 and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross before being discharged in 1946. Stevens was elected as a state representative in Alaska in 1964, re-elected in 1966, and in 1968 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. In 1970, Stevens was elected to the seat in a special election and was subsequently re-elected five times. He left office in 2009 as the then-longest serving Republican U.S. Senator in history.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers conduct a variety of operations from peacetime presence and crisis response to sea control and power projection. The future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously, and will contain a combination of offensive and defensive weapon systems designed to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities.

The ship will be constructed at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam length of 59 feet and be capable of operating at speeds in excess of 30 knots.

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Capt. Bill Urban released the following statement Jan. 6 on the death of Jamal al-Badawi.

“U.S. Central Command has confirmed that Jamal al-Badawi was killed in a precision strike in Marib governate [Yemen] on Jan. 1.

“Jamal al-Badawi was a legacy al Qaeda operative in Yemen involved in the USS Cole bombing. U.S. forces confirmed the results of the strike following a deliberate assessment process.

“Jamal al-Badawi was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2003, charged with 50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel; was wanted by the U.S. for his role in the Oct. 12, 2000, terrorist attack against USS Cole; and was also charged with attempting with co-conspirators to attack a U.S. Navy vessel in January 2000.”

USS Cole was attacked during a brief refueling stop in the harbor of Aden, Yemen. The suicide terrorist attack killed 17 members of the ship’s crew, wounded 39 others and seriously damaged the ship. After 14 months of upgrades and repairs, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer returned to the fleet, departing Pascagoula, Mississippi, April 19, 2002.

FAIRFAX, Va. — General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) has been awarded the Navy Cyber Mission Engineering Support contract by the U.S. Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWARSYSCEN) Atlantic, the company announced in a Jan. 7 release.

The multiple-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract holds a shared ceiling of $898 million. It includes a five-year base ordering period, with one two-year option ordering period, and one six-month option-to-extend-services option ordering period GDIT will compete for individual task orders to provide state-of-the-art solutions for the Navy and Marine Corps’ warfighting needs.

“This contract offers a new platform to showcase GDIT’s next-generation cyber and electronic warfare solutions to reinforce the Navy’s important mission,” said Senior Vice President Leigh Palmer, head of GDIT’s Defense Division. “As electronic warfare continues to evolve, maintaining relevancy and technological superiority is critical. GDIT will support the Navy by utilizing our decades of engineering and technical experience to build mission-focused electronic warfare capabilities across the Navy’s warfighter domains.”

Through this contract, GDIT will support SPAWARSYSCEN Atlantic by providing complex engineering and technical services in support of national security mission capabilities. This will include research, development, test, evaluation, production and fielding for command; control; communications; computers; combat systems; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; information operations; identity operations; enterprise information services; and space capabilities.

FAIRFAX, Va. — General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) will support the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s (NAWCWD) Joint Electronic Warfare Effects Laboratory through a new $40 million task order, the company announced in a Jan. 4 release.

The U.S. Army Contracting Command recently awarded its Responsive Strategic Sourcing for Services task order to CSRA LLC, a managed affiliate of GDIT. The single-award, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) task order includes a one-year base period with two one-year options. GDIT will provide engineering services support to NAWCWD’s Systems Engineering Department and Electronic Warfare Integrated Laboratories Division.

“This award continues GDIT’s relationship as a key player within NAWCWD,” said Leigh Palmer, senior vice president and head of GDIT’s Defense Division. “Our team offered the right technical capabilities, corporate experience and qualified staff needed for this task order. We are excited to continue this legacy and support the Navy through our next-generation solutions.”

As electronic warfare and information operations continue to evolve, maintaining relevancy and technological superiority is critical in this realm. Through this task order, GDIT will perform engineering services related to electronic, cyber and information warfare, as well as information operations and foreign military sales requirements.

WASHINGTON — Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer named a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer in honor of U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran, Navy Cross recipient and former U.S. Senator from Alabama Adm. Jeremiah Denton, the public affairs office for the secretary said in a Jan. 4 release.

“Admiral Denton’s legacy is an inspiration to all who wear our nation’s uniform,” Spencer said. “His heroic actions during a defining period in our history have left an indelible mark on our Navy and Marine Corps team and our nation. His service is a shining example for our Sailors and Marines and this ship will continue his legacy for decades to come.”

In 1947, Denton graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a test pilot, flight instructor and squadron leader, and developed operational tactics still in use, such as the haystack concept, which calls for the dispersing of carrier fleets to make it more difficult for the enemy to find the fleets on radar.

On July 18, 1965, Denton was shot down over North Vietnam and spent nearly eight years as a prisoner of war (POW), almost half in isolation. During an interview with a Japanese media outlet, Denton used Morse code to blink “torture,” confirming that American POWs were being tortured. He suffered severe harassment, intimidation and ruthless treatment, yet he refused to provide military information or be used by the enemy for propaganda purposes.

In recognition of his extraordinary heroism while a prisoner of war, he was awarded the Navy Cross. Denton was released from captivity in 1973, retired from the Navy in 1977 and in 1980 was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he represented Alabama.

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers conduct a variety of operations from peacetime presence and crisis response to sea control and power projection. The future USS Jeremiah Denton (DDG 129) will be capable of fighting air, surface and subsurface battles simultaneously, and will contain a combination of offensive and defensive weapon systems designed to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities.

The ship will be constructed at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The ship will be 509 feet long, have a beam length of 59 feet and be capable of operating at speeds in excess of 30 knots.

NORFOLK, Va. — The Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine, USS South Dakota (SSN 790), will be commissioned at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, Feb. 2 as the 17th Virginia-class submarine to join the fleet, commander, Submarine Forces Public Affairs, said in a Jan. 2 release.

Deanie Dempsey, wife of retired Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, who served as the 18th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the ship’s sponsor. After spending several decades of service in support of just the Army, Deanie became a champion for all of the services in her role as the chairman’s spouse. She remains actively engaged in countless activities in support of military families and participates in dozens of private and charitable organizations in support of military spouses and their families.

Designed to operate in both coastal and deep-ocean environments, South Dakota will present leadership with a broad and unique range of capabilities, including anti-submarine warfare; anti-surface ship warfare; strike warfare; special operation forces (SOF) support; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; irregular warfare; and mine warfare missions. South Dakota is a part of the Virginia-class Block III contract, in which the Navy redesigned approximately 20 percent of the ship to reduce acquisition costs.

South Dakota features a redesigned bow, which replaces 12 individual Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes (VPTs) capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles each.

South Dakota has special features to support SOF, including a reconfigurable torpedo room which can accommodate a large number of SOF and all their equipment for prolonged deployments and future off-board payloads. Also, in Virginia-class SSNs, traditional periscopes have been replaced by two photonics masts that host visible and infrared digital cameras atop telescoping arms. Through the extensive use of modular construction, open architecture, and commercial off-the-shelf components, the Virginia class is designed to remain at the cutting edge for its entire operational life through the rapid introduction of new systems and payloads.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The 26th National Fire Control Symposium (NFCS) is scheduled to meet at the Shades of Green Resort in Lake Buena Vista Feb. 4-7. The NFCS is a tri-service event with technical program advisory rotating among the services.

NFCS is under the lead technical advisorship of the U.S. Army for the 2019 event. Heralded as the premiere forum for discussing the entire kill chain, NFCS has served the Integrated Fire Control Community of Interest (IFC-COI) for over two decades. Due to its restricted format, the NFCS is in a unique forum to cultivate relationships among the forward operators, service communities, warfare centers, laboratories and industry partners.

The 2019 theme is “Extending the Reach of the Multi-Domain Kill Chain.” The event will feature more than 130 speakers, in 20 technical sessions including:

■ Advanced Technologies

■ Combat ID

■ Cyber Warfare (Threat, Exploitation, Assurance, Attack and Defense)

■ Directed Energy

■ Electronic Warfare

■ Enabling Joint Fire Control: Warfighter Challenges and Operational Lessons Learned

■ Fire Control Platform Capabilities

■ Hypersonics/Conventional Prompt Strike and Hypersonic Threat Defense

■ Joint Integrated Air & Missile Defense

■ Kill Chain & Distributed Lethality

■ Live, Virtual and Constructive Modeling and Simulation

■ Multi-Domain Command and Control and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance

■ Rapid Transition of New Technology to the Warfighter

■ Sensor Resource Management/Sensor and Data Fusion

■ Unmanned and Autonomous Systems (Sensors, Weapons and Platforms, including Counter-UAS)

■ Utilizing Space as a Force Enhancer or Force Applier

■ Weapons, Munitions and Engagement Alternatives

The 2019 NFCS will provide a continued opportunity for dialogue that will resonate with the challenges the front-line commanders face. The Plenary Session will be moderated by Richard De Fatta, director of the Future Warfare Center U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command. Lt. Gen. James Dickinson, commanding general, U.S. Army Space & Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, will kickoff the Plenary Session as the keynote speaker.

Lt. Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr., military deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics; Rear Adm. Jon A. Hill, deputy director, Missile Defense Agency; Rear Adm. James Kilby, director, Warfare Integration, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; and James Faist, director of Defense Research & Engineering for Advanced

Capabilities, also will speak at the 2019 event. Event features include a technical poster session, an exhibit show, and many networking and collaboration functions.

Launched in 1992 by the Air Force, and subsequently supported by the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, the NFCS is now an industry-sponsored event. With continued reduction in budgets, the government has an increasing need for cooperative research efforts. The size and focus of the NFCS promotes a greater number of productive contacts and collaborative relationships and provides an overview of a larger number of external research efforts while providing U.S. researchers with a deeper understanding of the state-of-the-art and the warfighter’s perspective.

Sponsors, poster presentation abstracts, and tabletop exhibit applications will be accepted until full or in January, whichever comes first. Because attendance at the 2019 NFCS will be limited to the first 400 that sign up, the symposium organizers encourage early registration to take full advantage of the technical and networking opportunities this event will offer.

More information is available at https://www.usasymposium.com/nfcs/default.php.