Week in review (6/1 to 6/7)

More hiring at the Airbus plant in Mobile; more orders for A320s; the arrival of the final F-35A at Eglin Air Force Base; more contracts related to the F-35; and a new assignment at Hurlburt Field were among the news items of interest to the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor during the week.


Airbus
Delta Air Lines is ordering 15 A321 aircraft, and many of them will be built and delivered at the new plant in Mobile, Ala. Delta is going with the current engine option, selecting CFM56-5B engines from CFM International, slated to be delivered starting in 2018. The Mobile plant has begun the hiring process, and aircraft assembly will begin there next year. (Post)

Speaking of hirings, the Airbus plant is looking to fill four logistics coordinator positions for its new A320 final assembly line. Logistics coordinators will be the first contact for operations on any planning and logistics issues, acting as liaisons between production and the logistics service provider company. (Post)

-- Canada's Bombardier suffered a setback to plans to build a jetliner to compete against the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 when a C Series flight test vehicle had an engine failure. The plane was on the ground at an airport near Montreal when one of the two Pratt & Whitney Pure Power engines caught fire. The cause is being investigated. (Post)


F-35
The 58th Fighter Squadron became the Air Force's first complete F-35A squadron with the delivery of the 26th and final F-35A May 28 to the 33rd Fighter Wing. The last F-35A delivered is more capable than the first F-35A delivered three years ago as a result of the F-35 program's concurrency development model. The 33rd FW is home to the F-35 Integrated Training Center responsible for F-35 A/B/C pilot and maintainer training for the Marine Corps, the Navy, the Air Force and, in the future, at least eight international partners. (Post)

-- Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a $113.4 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for operations and maintenance support; non-recurring and recurring engineering sustainment, site activation, and depot activation work in support of Low Rate Initial Production Lot VIII F135 propulsion systems. The F135 powers F-35 fighters. (Post)

-- Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $90.9 million modification to a previously awarded contract to incorporate the updated system architecture into the original Diminishing Manufacturing Sources redesign activity for the Electronic Warfare System in support of the F-35 Lot VII effort for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marines and the governments of the F-35 International Partners. (Post)

-- Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $122 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the procurement of initial aircraft spares for the F-35 aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and international partners. (Post)


Training
A mishap involving a Training Air Wing FIVE TH-57 Sea Ranger helicopter occurred during the week at Naval Air Station Whiting Field's Navy Outlying Landing Field Spencer in Pace, Fla. Both student and instructor have been released from a local hospital, where they underwent routine evaluation for minor injuries. (Post)


Personnel
Col. Kirk W. Smith, selected to the grade of brigadier general, is being assigned from special assistant to the commander, Headquarters United States Special Operations Command, MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., to director, plans, requirements and programs, Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Fla. (Post)

-- Former Blue Angels lead pilot Capt. Greg McWherter has been found guilty by the Navy of violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice in a case of sexual harassment involving the elite flight demonstration team when he commanded it for nearly four years ending in 2012. The probe focused on allegations that he allowed sexual harassment within the Pensacola-based flight demonstration squadron, the Navy said. (Post)


Unmanned
The Navy's X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle will join the fleet in the summer for a new round of testing that includes landing and take offs alongside manned F/A-18 jets and flying in patterns from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. The goal after that is an autonomous aerial refueling. Northrop Grumman operates the Unmanned Systems Center at Moss Point, Miss., where they do fuselage work on all variants of the Global Hawk and final assembly of Fire Scout unmanned helicopters. (Post)


Contract
ESA South Inc., Cantonment, Fla., was awarded a $45 million contract for emergency temporary roof repairs to residential structures in support of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster response.