There were a lot of news stories of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor during the week, including "firsts" for the A320neo and F-22; a job posting for a test pilot in Mobile, Ala.; a magazine story about Mississippi's Stennis Space Center and its role in the Space Launch System program; and a story about a new customer for the F-35.
Here's your week in review:
Airbus
Airbus has posted more positions for its A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. One is for a test pilot. Successful candidates will be test pilot graduates holding a valid license from a recognized test pilot school and have earned a Class 1 medical certificate. (Post)
Airbus is also seeking additional liaison engineers. The three positions include liaison systems engineers for both cabin systems and power plant and electrical as well as liaison engineers for structure. (Post)
The plant at the Mobile Aeroplex will open in 2015 and produce its first aircraft in 2016. It will assemble 40 to 50 aircraft each year when it's producing at full speed. It's Airbus' fourth final assembly line for its A320 family of aircraft.
One of the aircraft the Mobile plant eventually will assemble is the A320neo, the more fuel efficient version of the popular single-aisle Airbus jetliner. That aircraft had a successful maiden flight late in the week in southwest France.
The plane, powered by Pratt and Whitney PW1100G-JM engines, flew for two hours and 22 minutes, kicking off a year of flight trials. The A320neo can also be purchased with LEAP-1A turbofans built by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and Safran. (Post)
Airbus expects to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from the neo version of the plane. Neo is short for "new engine option," and is a more fuel-efficient variant of the "ceo" model, or current engine option. Airbus has received more than 3,000 orders for the new model. Airbus plans to deliver its first one in 2015.
F-22
Speaking of doing something for the first time, the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor jet fighter during the week flew its first combat operation. An Air Force official confirmed that the Raptor was used over Syria during nighttime operations against the Islamic State and other militant groups as part of a joint force of U.S. and Arabian Gulf region allies.
The F-22 fleet is relatively small. While the Pentagon originally planned on a major buy of the Lockheed Martin-built jets, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates pushed to end the plane’s production in the early days of the Obama administration. F-22 pilots are trained at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., which also has an operational squadron of the fighters. (Post)
F-35
Another fighter associated with the Gulf Coast region, the F-35, has won a new customer. The Republic of Korea decided to buy 40 Joint Strike Fighters. Korea opted for the conventional take off and landing variant, the F-35A, which is also used by the U.S. Air Force. Initial deliveries will begin in 2018. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center. (Post)
-- During the week a modification was awarded to Lockheed Martin, $331.4 million, to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for procurement of production non-recurring items, including special tooling, special test equipment items and software lab upgrades in support of F-35 aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, international partners, and foreign military sales.
Work will be done in Fort Worth, Texas; Nashua, N.H.; Orlando, Fla.; El Segundo, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Cameri, Italy; Palmdale, Calif.; Samlesbury, United Kingdom; Irvine, Calif.; Baltimore, Md.; Cheltenham, United Kingdom; East Aurora, N.Y.; and Marietta, Ga. Work is expected to be completed in December 2017.
This modification combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force (34 percent); U.S. Navy (17 percent); the U.S. Marine Corps (17 percent); international partners (19 percent); and foreign military sales (13 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting authority. (Post)
Lockheed Martin also was awarded a $60 million modification to the previously awarded Lot IX F-35 advance acquisition contract to procure long lead parts, materials and components in support of the procurement of four additional F-35A Air Systems for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in February 2015. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Post)
-- Also during the week, Alion Science and Technology Corp., Burr Ridge, Ill., was awarded a $49.9 million order to previously awarded contract for the F-35 program. The contractor will provide the application of materials, manufacturing and testing to increase supportability, survivability, producibility and affordability of the program.
The company also will develop, implement and enhance the analytical capabilities necessary to evaluate system performance, perform root cause analyses and identify failure modes or other support system deficiencies of components and end items modified through the application of advanced material, manufacturing and testing technology.
Work will be performed at Arlington, Va., and Rome, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Space
In addition to all our military activities, this region is also heavily involved in space programs, thanks to Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The October issue of Air and Space Smithsonian magazine has a well-written feature story on NASA's Space Launch System, which will be even more powerful than the Saturn V that played such a huge role in our nation’s space program.
The article focuses on Stennis Space Center, the nation's largest rocket engine test facility. Among the places visited by the writer was the room no larger than a convenience store that houses more than a billion dollars worth of irreplaceable RS-25 engines that will power the core stage of the SLS.
A lot of copy is also devoted to the historic B stand, where the four-engine SLS first stage will be tested in less than two years. This stand, listed as a National Historic Landmark, is where booster tests were done for both the Apollo program and the shuttle. It's a good read. (Post)
Airports/bases
The 801st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is among the winners in the 2014 Department of Defense Maintenance Awards announced Friday. The awards for depot and field-level units are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievements in weapon system and military equipment maintenance. The 801st was one of two award winners of the field-level maintenance award in the medium category. (Post)
-- In Florida, Walton County officials are letting the sun set on a half-cent tourist development tax levied since 2009 to help recruit and promote low-cost air carriers at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The tax, part of the county bed tax, will expire at the end of the month. (Post)
Contracts
A lot of contracts were awarded during the week with some ties to the Gulf Coast aerospace region. In six of them, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. Three of them went to Raytheon.
Raytheon Co. Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $11 million modification to previously awarded contract for GPS-Aided Inertial Navigation System II Phase III. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missiles Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $15 million modification to previously awarded contract for the Advanced Electronic Protection Improvement program. Contractor will provide a schedule extension of the AEPI contract for design, development, integration, test and implementation of performance enhancements to the AIM-120C-7 missile. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. ... Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $12.9 million modification to a previously awarded contract for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile production lot 27. This contract is for Life-of-Type-Buy parts for AMRAAM contract line item number 6020 being produced under the basic contract. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Zodiac Data Systems Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., was awarded a $10 million contract for sustainment of the current Airborne Data Recorder fleet. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 26, 2019. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. ... Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $9 million contract for Subminiature Flight Safety System integration onto the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Armament Directorate, Advanced Programs Division, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … PowerSecure Inc., Wake Forest, N.C., was awarded an $8.3 million contract to repair and relocate an 115 kV transmission line. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 10, 2015. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.
Jacobs Technology, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded a $171.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract for services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division's Combat Environment Simulation Division. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity. … Exelis Inc., Clifton, N.J., was awarded a $71.5 million contract to provide Countermeasures System Operational Flight Program software deficiency analysis, block cycle software support, enhanced maintenance test set software support, original equipment manufacturer system sustaining engineering services and maintainability and reliability system line replaceable unit-10 final redesign. Hurlburt Field, Fla., will be one of the work locations. ... Fluor Federal Solutions LLC, Greenville, S.C., was awarded a $27.2 million modification under a previously awarded contract to exercise option three for base operations support services at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and the surrounding areas of Saufley Field, Corry Station, and Bronson Field. Work will be performed in Pensacola and is expected to be completed September 2015.
Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $7.3 million modification for extension of services for the C130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System. Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is among the work locations. ... Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $19.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for organizational, intermediate, depot-level maintenance for T-34 and T-44 aircraft, and organization and intermediate maintenance for T-6 aircraft. In addition, this modification provides for logistics support, including labor, services, facilities, equipment, tools, related support equipment, direct and indirect material to support 36 T-34s, 54 T-44s, 42 T-6As, and 207 T-6B aircraft, based primarily at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas; Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla.; and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Work will be performed in Corpus Christi (50 percent), Whiting Field (39 percent) Pensacola (8 percent) and various sites within the continental United States (3 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2014. … Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $78 million delivery order under a basic order agreement for initial Global Hawk Block 40 spare parts. Work will be performed at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and is expected to be complete by Sept. 24, 2018. Gulf Coast note: Central fuselage work on Global Hawks is done in Moss Point, Miss.
PERSPECTIVES: Commentary and analysis on aerospace and defense activities in the Gulf Coast
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Week in review (9/14 to 9/20)
The greater Gulf Coast aerospace corridor region is performing well when it comes to Gross Domestic Product. According to figures released during the week by the U.S. Commerce Department, all but one metro area along the Gulf Coast region had a higher GDP in 2013 over 2012.
The best performer was Alabama's Daphne-Fairhope-Foley MSA, a metro area that encompasses all of Baldwin County. In current dollars, its GDP improved 6.34 percent to just under $6.3 billion. Next best was Louisiana's Baton Rouge MSA, up 5.34 percent to over $52.2 billion.
Florida's two-county Panama City MSA, which includes Bay and Gulf counties, rose 4.9 percent to just over $7.4 billion, while Alabama's single-county Mobile MSA was up 4.25 percent to just under $18.4 billion. In Mississippi, the three-county Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula MSA improved 4.22 percent to just under $16.2 billion.
Alabama's Dothan was next, improving by 4.14 percent between 2012 and 2013 to nearly $4.9 billion. Mississippi's Hattiesburg was up 2.88 percent to over $5.4 billion, Florida's capital Tallahassee was up 2.68 percent to $13.8 billion, Florida's Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent was up 2.15 percent to just over $15.2 billion, and Florida's Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin was up 1.14 percent to over $12.1 billion.
The largest metro area in the region, Louisiana's New Orleans-Metairie, has the 41st largest GDP in the nation. It was down 0.69 percent to over $81.8 billion. (Post)
Airbus
Airbus during the week posted two new engineering positions for the A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. It's seeking a flight test engineer and ground test engineer, both of which require six to nine months training abroad. (Post)
Meanwhile, orders to A320s continue to build up. Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved an order during the week to buy 25 more A320 family aircraft. That includes 15 fuel-efficient A320neo aircraft and 10 A320 current engine aircraft. Also, easyJet placed an order for 27 additional current engine option A320s. (Post)
-- Mexican low-cost carrier VivaAerobus, signed a 10-year contract to have Airbus handle some training. Airbus will provide training for maintenance personnel, flight operations engineers, pilots and cabin crew. The training will be done at the Airbus training center in Miami, and a new facility in Monterrey, Mexico, that opens in early 2016. (Post)
-- In another Airbus-related story during the week, a top GE Aviation executive said the company decided not to use a geared design for its new, more fuel-efficient engine for narrow-body jets because of concerns about weight and reliability.
GE Aviation rival Pratt and Whitney developed a geared turbofan that relies on a gearbox and lets the front fan operate at a different speed than the rest of the engine. In GE's traditionally configured engines the fans run at the same speed.
Through CFM International, GE's joint venture with France's Safran, GE competes against Pratt for customers who buy Airbus' new A320neo single-aisle plane. Both engines are options for those customers. GE has engine parts plants near Hattiesburg, Miss., and in Auburn, Ala. Safran has an engineering center in Mobile. (Post)
-- In one final Airbus item, Airbus Americas and the United Way of Southwest Alabama announced their joint participation in a new national education partnership and awarded four grants totaling $12,000 to Mobile area schools and programs. (Post)
Space
Boeing and SpaceX were chosen by NASA during the week to built the spacecraft that will be used to transport U.S. crews to and from the International Space Station. The spacecraft moving forward are the Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon.
The goal is to end the nation's reliance on Russia for transportation to the ISS in 2017. The contract includes at least one crewed flight test per company, and at least two flights with a crew of as many as six to the space station.
Boeing's contract is for $4.2 billion and SpaceX's is for $2.6 billion. The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA.
Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in NASA and commercial space programs. But this decision will primarily mean new jobs in Texas and Florida. (Post)
-- Blue Origin is teaming up with United Launch Alliance to develop a rocket engine to replace the Russian-built RD-180, a workhorse that powers the ULA heavy-lift Atlas V rocket. A scale model of the liquid natural gas and liquid oxygen BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin was unveiled at a news conference during the week. The engine could be ready in four years. Blue Origin has tested engine components at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
Meanwhile, Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to open a rocket propulsion development office in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Ala., with plans to deliver a new rocket engine, the AR 1, to replace the RD-180. Former Stennis Space Center director Gene Goldman will be involved in the project. Aerojet Rocketdyne has an operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
Unmanned
The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $354 million contract to expand its RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system fleet by three aircraft. That’s good news for Moss Point, Miss., which does the aircraft's central fuselage work.
The Global Hawk operates multiple sensors simultaneously to gather intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. The newest aircraft will bring the Air Force RQ-4 fleet to 37 aircraft in 2017. (Post)
Meanwhile, the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft – the Navy's version of the Global Hawk – during the week finished a cross-country flight from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., facility to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
The 11-hour, 3,290 nautical took the mile flight was over the southern U.S. border and Gulf of Mexico and across Florida via an approved instrument route. Operators navigated the aircraft up the Atlantic Coast and Chesapeake Bay at altitudes in excess of 50,000 feet. (Post)
F-35
Pratt and Whitney said its contracts with the Pentagon for the next two batches of engines for the F-35 fighter jet will result in combined cost savings of up to 8 percent. The president of Pratt's military engines division told reporters the company had already more than halved the cost of the F135 engine, and the savings from the next two contracts would come on top of that. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is an F-35 training center. (Post)
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $24.9 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in November 2016. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Contracts
Textron Marine and Land Systems, New Orleans, La., was awarded a $15.2 million foreign military sales contract for mobile strike force vehicles, related fielding hardware, and technical services, for the Bulgarian National Military Forces deployed in support of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Work will be performed in New Orleans and Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2015. … Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions, King of Prussia, Pa., was awarded a $7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee for Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) software maintenance. Work will be performed at King of Prussia, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 14, 2015. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lakeview Center Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $12 million contract modification to exercise option year two for the procurement of "Full Food Galley Services" for U.S. Navy galleys at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.; the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, Pensacola; and Naval Construction Battalion Command, Gulfport, Miss. Work is expected to be completed no later than Sept. 30, 2015. The award was issued to Lakeview Center under the AbilityOne Program supporting the blind and severely disabled.
Telspan Data LLC, Concord, Calif., was awarded a $10 million contract for data replay systems for the Air Force Test Center. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Oct. 6, 2014. The Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Calculex Inc., Las Cruces, N.M., was awarded a $9.7 million contract to support existing airborne data recorders for the Air Force Test Center. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Jan. 31, 2015. The Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Northrop Grumman Systems, Amherst Systems Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., was awarded a $9.6 million contract and the first delivery order at $1 million for spares and system engineering support. Work will be performed at Buffalo and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Sept. 15, 2015. Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $12 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for maintenance, repair, and logistics support for the chief of Naval Air Training Aircraft's intermediate maintenance departments located at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. Work will be performed at NAS Pensacola (60 percent), and NAS Corpus Christi (40 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. … Summit Construction Inc., Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was awarded a $10.6 million contract to perform an architectural/refrigeration project on the commissary at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Work will be performed in Hawaii with an estimated completion date of February 2016. … Alion Science and Technology Corp., Burr Ridge, Ill., was awarded a $25 million order on the Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, and Testing Information Analysis Center contract for technical analysis, logistics and sustainment for Headquarters U. S. Marine Corps. The work will be performed at Panama City, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016.
CACI-ISS Inc., Chantilly, Va., was awarded a $14.8 million contract modification in support of the Air Force Expeditionary/Contingency Medical Materiel Program performed at Department of Defense and Air Reserve/Guard installations within the continental United States and in the Pacific theater of operations. In this region, work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; and Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. … The Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $6.9 million modification to exercise the second option for the firm-fixed-price contract FA3010-13-C-0005 for full food services. Work will be performed at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2017. The 81st Contracting Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.
The best performer was Alabama's Daphne-Fairhope-Foley MSA, a metro area that encompasses all of Baldwin County. In current dollars, its GDP improved 6.34 percent to just under $6.3 billion. Next best was Louisiana's Baton Rouge MSA, up 5.34 percent to over $52.2 billion.
Florida's two-county Panama City MSA, which includes Bay and Gulf counties, rose 4.9 percent to just over $7.4 billion, while Alabama's single-county Mobile MSA was up 4.25 percent to just under $18.4 billion. In Mississippi, the three-county Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula MSA improved 4.22 percent to just under $16.2 billion.
Alabama's Dothan was next, improving by 4.14 percent between 2012 and 2013 to nearly $4.9 billion. Mississippi's Hattiesburg was up 2.88 percent to over $5.4 billion, Florida's capital Tallahassee was up 2.68 percent to $13.8 billion, Florida's Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent was up 2.15 percent to just over $15.2 billion, and Florida's Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin was up 1.14 percent to over $12.1 billion.
The largest metro area in the region, Louisiana's New Orleans-Metairie, has the 41st largest GDP in the nation. It was down 0.69 percent to over $81.8 billion. (Post)
Airbus
Airbus during the week posted two new engineering positions for the A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. It's seeking a flight test engineer and ground test engineer, both of which require six to nine months training abroad. (Post)
Meanwhile, orders to A320s continue to build up. Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved an order during the week to buy 25 more A320 family aircraft. That includes 15 fuel-efficient A320neo aircraft and 10 A320 current engine aircraft. Also, easyJet placed an order for 27 additional current engine option A320s. (Post)
-- Mexican low-cost carrier VivaAerobus, signed a 10-year contract to have Airbus handle some training. Airbus will provide training for maintenance personnel, flight operations engineers, pilots and cabin crew. The training will be done at the Airbus training center in Miami, and a new facility in Monterrey, Mexico, that opens in early 2016. (Post)
-- In another Airbus-related story during the week, a top GE Aviation executive said the company decided not to use a geared design for its new, more fuel-efficient engine for narrow-body jets because of concerns about weight and reliability.
GE Aviation rival Pratt and Whitney developed a geared turbofan that relies on a gearbox and lets the front fan operate at a different speed than the rest of the engine. In GE's traditionally configured engines the fans run at the same speed.
Through CFM International, GE's joint venture with France's Safran, GE competes against Pratt for customers who buy Airbus' new A320neo single-aisle plane. Both engines are options for those customers. GE has engine parts plants near Hattiesburg, Miss., and in Auburn, Ala. Safran has an engineering center in Mobile. (Post)
-- In one final Airbus item, Airbus Americas and the United Way of Southwest Alabama announced their joint participation in a new national education partnership and awarded four grants totaling $12,000 to Mobile area schools and programs. (Post)
Space
Boeing and SpaceX were chosen by NASA during the week to built the spacecraft that will be used to transport U.S. crews to and from the International Space Station. The spacecraft moving forward are the Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon.
The goal is to end the nation's reliance on Russia for transportation to the ISS in 2017. The contract includes at least one crewed flight test per company, and at least two flights with a crew of as many as six to the space station.
Boeing's contract is for $4.2 billion and SpaceX's is for $2.6 billion. The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA.
Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in NASA and commercial space programs. But this decision will primarily mean new jobs in Texas and Florida. (Post)
-- Blue Origin is teaming up with United Launch Alliance to develop a rocket engine to replace the Russian-built RD-180, a workhorse that powers the ULA heavy-lift Atlas V rocket. A scale model of the liquid natural gas and liquid oxygen BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin was unveiled at a news conference during the week. The engine could be ready in four years. Blue Origin has tested engine components at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
Meanwhile, Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to open a rocket propulsion development office in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Ala., with plans to deliver a new rocket engine, the AR 1, to replace the RD-180. Former Stennis Space Center director Gene Goldman will be involved in the project. Aerojet Rocketdyne has an operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
Unmanned
The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $354 million contract to expand its RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system fleet by three aircraft. That’s good news for Moss Point, Miss., which does the aircraft's central fuselage work.
The Global Hawk operates multiple sensors simultaneously to gather intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. The newest aircraft will bring the Air Force RQ-4 fleet to 37 aircraft in 2017. (Post)
Meanwhile, the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft – the Navy's version of the Global Hawk – during the week finished a cross-country flight from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., facility to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
The 11-hour, 3,290 nautical took the mile flight was over the southern U.S. border and Gulf of Mexico and across Florida via an approved instrument route. Operators navigated the aircraft up the Atlantic Coast and Chesapeake Bay at altitudes in excess of 50,000 feet. (Post)
F-35
Pratt and Whitney said its contracts with the Pentagon for the next two batches of engines for the F-35 fighter jet will result in combined cost savings of up to 8 percent. The president of Pratt's military engines division told reporters the company had already more than halved the cost of the F135 engine, and the savings from the next two contracts would come on top of that. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is an F-35 training center. (Post)
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $24.9 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in November 2016. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Contracts
Textron Marine and Land Systems, New Orleans, La., was awarded a $15.2 million foreign military sales contract for mobile strike force vehicles, related fielding hardware, and technical services, for the Bulgarian National Military Forces deployed in support of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Work will be performed in New Orleans and Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2015. … Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions, King of Prussia, Pa., was awarded a $7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee for Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) software maintenance. Work will be performed at King of Prussia, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 14, 2015. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lakeview Center Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $12 million contract modification to exercise option year two for the procurement of "Full Food Galley Services" for U.S. Navy galleys at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.; the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, Pensacola; and Naval Construction Battalion Command, Gulfport, Miss. Work is expected to be completed no later than Sept. 30, 2015. The award was issued to Lakeview Center under the AbilityOne Program supporting the blind and severely disabled.
Telspan Data LLC, Concord, Calif., was awarded a $10 million contract for data replay systems for the Air Force Test Center. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Oct. 6, 2014. The Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Calculex Inc., Las Cruces, N.M., was awarded a $9.7 million contract to support existing airborne data recorders for the Air Force Test Center. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Jan. 31, 2015. The Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Northrop Grumman Systems, Amherst Systems Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., was awarded a $9.6 million contract and the first delivery order at $1 million for spares and system engineering support. Work will be performed at Buffalo and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Sept. 15, 2015. Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $12 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for maintenance, repair, and logistics support for the chief of Naval Air Training Aircraft's intermediate maintenance departments located at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. Work will be performed at NAS Pensacola (60 percent), and NAS Corpus Christi (40 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. … Summit Construction Inc., Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was awarded a $10.6 million contract to perform an architectural/refrigeration project on the commissary at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Work will be performed in Hawaii with an estimated completion date of February 2016. … Alion Science and Technology Corp., Burr Ridge, Ill., was awarded a $25 million order on the Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, and Testing Information Analysis Center contract for technical analysis, logistics and sustainment for Headquarters U. S. Marine Corps. The work will be performed at Panama City, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016.
CACI-ISS Inc., Chantilly, Va., was awarded a $14.8 million contract modification in support of the Air Force Expeditionary/Contingency Medical Materiel Program performed at Department of Defense and Air Reserve/Guard installations within the continental United States and in the Pacific theater of operations. In this region, work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; and Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. … The Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $6.9 million modification to exercise the second option for the firm-fixed-price contract FA3010-13-C-0005 for full food services. Work will be performed at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2017. The 81st Contracting Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Week in review (9/7 to 9/13)
An aerospace company with an operation in Mobile inked an agreement to open a second operation in Pensacola; a nod from the Ex-Im Bank chief to apply export financing for any Mobile-built A320 that's sold overseas; a fast-track work program for Dothan's Commercial Jet; a ribbon cutting for a weapons development research institute in Fort Walton Beach; and a visit to the region by NASA's chief were among the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor stories during the week.
Here's your week in review:
Airbus
The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which may or may not last beyond the Sept. 30 deadline, would provide financing for exports of Mobile-built Airbus jetliners, provided they are built with sufficient content from domestic suppliers. That's what Ex-Im Bank President Fred Hochberg said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington during the week.
The bank, which supports loans for U.S. manufacturers selling products to foreign companies, is the subject of a debate over whether Congress should renew its authority to operate beyond the end of this month.
Close to half the bank's financial exposure is for jetliners made by Airbus rival Boeing and sold to overseas airline companies. It became clear once Airbus decided to build an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., that at some point those planes might be sold to overseas customers, and that it might want to get Ex-Im Bank backing.
The Mobile plant will make its first plane delivery in 2016, and it intends at this point to sell the Alabama-built planes to U.S. airlines. Now the door is open for U.S. export credit support for foreign airlines interested in those planes. Airbus has said the U.S. supplies more than 40 percent of its aircraft-related purchasing, and while Hochberg did not provide a threshhold percentages, that's a significant percentage. (Post)
-- Speaking of suppliers, here's an item from the Mobile paper. It said Airbus Americas chose a Grand Rapids., Mich., company to furnish and provide space design for the A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile. Steelcase Inc. will design a variety of individual and team spaces for all assembly line work areas at the FAL, and then manufacture and provide furniture from its other facilities, including one in Athens, Ala. (Post)
Economic development
The city of Pensacola, Fla., signed a lease with VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering to establish a 300-employee maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Pensacola International Airport. The city will build a hangar complex on 18.66 acres and lease it to VT MAE for 30 years. The complex will be big enough for two wide-body aircraft and is expected to be ready for operations in 2016. VT MAE, a subsidiary of Singapore's ST Engineering, has an larger MRO at Alabama's Mobile Aeroplex. (Post)
That brings me to a comment made during the week by Lee Lawson, executive director of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. According to the Mobile paper, Lawson was speaking at an economic development meeting in Mobile and pointed out that Baldwin County has a lot of lifestyle options, from beaches to rural areas, along with plenty of shovel-ready sites to lure prospects. But Lawson said he really could use large buildings and office space for prospects who aren't interested in building from scratch. (Post)
We've heard that lament before. More than a year ago Neal Wade, the Bay County Economic Development Alliance director, said Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near Panama City needs new hangars to lure aerospace companies. Even earlier, Wade pointed out that Commercial Jet, an MRO company, opened a facility at Alabama's Dothan Regional Airport because they had hangars available.
A good point, and one that's of interest to a lot of economic development officials in the region.
-- Since I mentioned Commercial Jet, there was another story involving that company during the week. Dothan and the company now have a new fast-track work program. Called the CJET Academy, it partners Commercial Jet with Alabama Industrial Development Training, the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and others in a training course allowing selected applicants to complete a free eight-week training course and receive a job offer from Commercial Jet upon graduation. (Post)
-- While we are on the subject of airports, Mobile Regional Airport in Alabama is continuing with facility renovations, and more work will begin Sept. 15. It's a road construction project that will be finished in phases and will involve closing all lanes of traffic on the departures side of the terminal. Departure and arrival traffic will operate on the arrivals side of the terminal. (Post)
-- In another economic development item during the week, three states with a piece of the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor were listed as among the Top States for Doing Business. In the fifth annual survey of site consultants by the publication Area Development, Alabama was ranked No. 4, Louisiana No. 6 and Mississippi No. 10. (Post)
Bases
The Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., had an official ribbon cutting ceremony early in the week at Fort Walton Beach's Doolittle Institute, an organization in the works for several years that brings together military, business and academic experts to collaborate on munitions and weapons research. It’s located at Uptown Station on Eglin Parkway. (Post)
-- The television program "Mysteries at the Museum" is aired a story about a small plane on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The two-seat Cessna was used to evacuate a South Vietnamese family of seven during the fall of Saigon in 1975. What makes the plane noteworthy is the pilot managed to land the single-engine plane on the deck of the carrier USS Midway. If you missed it Friday, no doubt you can see it in repeats. (Post)
-- The Air Force launched its new "I am an American Airman" recruiting campaign this month. One of the commercials features current active duty airmen from Northwest Florida's Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. The commercials will be broadcast on major cable television and prime-time channels. (Post)
Space
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was in New Orleans and South Mississippi at the end of the week for events marking NASA's Space Launch System program. He was at the ribbon cutting for the newly finished Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud Assembly Facility in east New Orleans. It will be used to build the core stage of the SLS.
Bolden also went to Stennis Space Center, Miss., some 40 miles away from Michoud, to talk to the media at the base of the historic B-2 Test Stand. That stand was used to test the S-1C stage on the Saturn V moon rocket and the Space Shuttle engines. The stand will next be used to test the four RS-25 engines. (Post ; Sun Herald update; Times-Picayune letter to the editor update by director of Marshall Space Flight Center)
-- NASA picked 23 proposals from small business and research institution teams to continue the development of innovative technologies that will support future agency missions and may prove viable as commercial products and services. Two proposals involve technology being administered by the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., was awarded a $28 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the Large Aircraft Infrared Counter Measures C-130 Group A Kits and Installations. The contractor will provide the kits and the associated installations to 28 C-130 aircraft (11 AC-130H, 12 MC-130U, and five EC-130J). Work will be performed at Crestview, Fla., and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2017.
Here's your week in review:
Airbus
The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which may or may not last beyond the Sept. 30 deadline, would provide financing for exports of Mobile-built Airbus jetliners, provided they are built with sufficient content from domestic suppliers. That's what Ex-Im Bank President Fred Hochberg said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington during the week.
The bank, which supports loans for U.S. manufacturers selling products to foreign companies, is the subject of a debate over whether Congress should renew its authority to operate beyond the end of this month.
Close to half the bank's financial exposure is for jetliners made by Airbus rival Boeing and sold to overseas airline companies. It became clear once Airbus decided to build an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., that at some point those planes might be sold to overseas customers, and that it might want to get Ex-Im Bank backing.
The Mobile plant will make its first plane delivery in 2016, and it intends at this point to sell the Alabama-built planes to U.S. airlines. Now the door is open for U.S. export credit support for foreign airlines interested in those planes. Airbus has said the U.S. supplies more than 40 percent of its aircraft-related purchasing, and while Hochberg did not provide a threshhold percentages, that's a significant percentage. (Post)
-- Speaking of suppliers, here's an item from the Mobile paper. It said Airbus Americas chose a Grand Rapids., Mich., company to furnish and provide space design for the A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile. Steelcase Inc. will design a variety of individual and team spaces for all assembly line work areas at the FAL, and then manufacture and provide furniture from its other facilities, including one in Athens, Ala. (Post)
Economic development
The city of Pensacola, Fla., signed a lease with VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering to establish a 300-employee maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Pensacola International Airport. The city will build a hangar complex on 18.66 acres and lease it to VT MAE for 30 years. The complex will be big enough for two wide-body aircraft and is expected to be ready for operations in 2016. VT MAE, a subsidiary of Singapore's ST Engineering, has an larger MRO at Alabama's Mobile Aeroplex. (Post)
That brings me to a comment made during the week by Lee Lawson, executive director of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. According to the Mobile paper, Lawson was speaking at an economic development meeting in Mobile and pointed out that Baldwin County has a lot of lifestyle options, from beaches to rural areas, along with plenty of shovel-ready sites to lure prospects. But Lawson said he really could use large buildings and office space for prospects who aren't interested in building from scratch. (Post)
We've heard that lament before. More than a year ago Neal Wade, the Bay County Economic Development Alliance director, said Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near Panama City needs new hangars to lure aerospace companies. Even earlier, Wade pointed out that Commercial Jet, an MRO company, opened a facility at Alabama's Dothan Regional Airport because they had hangars available.
A good point, and one that's of interest to a lot of economic development officials in the region.
-- Since I mentioned Commercial Jet, there was another story involving that company during the week. Dothan and the company now have a new fast-track work program. Called the CJET Academy, it partners Commercial Jet with Alabama Industrial Development Training, the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and others in a training course allowing selected applicants to complete a free eight-week training course and receive a job offer from Commercial Jet upon graduation. (Post)
-- While we are on the subject of airports, Mobile Regional Airport in Alabama is continuing with facility renovations, and more work will begin Sept. 15. It's a road construction project that will be finished in phases and will involve closing all lanes of traffic on the departures side of the terminal. Departure and arrival traffic will operate on the arrivals side of the terminal. (Post)
-- In another economic development item during the week, three states with a piece of the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor were listed as among the Top States for Doing Business. In the fifth annual survey of site consultants by the publication Area Development, Alabama was ranked No. 4, Louisiana No. 6 and Mississippi No. 10. (Post)
Bases
The Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., had an official ribbon cutting ceremony early in the week at Fort Walton Beach's Doolittle Institute, an organization in the works for several years that brings together military, business and academic experts to collaborate on munitions and weapons research. It’s located at Uptown Station on Eglin Parkway. (Post)
-- The television program "Mysteries at the Museum" is aired a story about a small plane on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The two-seat Cessna was used to evacuate a South Vietnamese family of seven during the fall of Saigon in 1975. What makes the plane noteworthy is the pilot managed to land the single-engine plane on the deck of the carrier USS Midway. If you missed it Friday, no doubt you can see it in repeats. (Post)
-- The Air Force launched its new "I am an American Airman" recruiting campaign this month. One of the commercials features current active duty airmen from Northwest Florida's Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. The commercials will be broadcast on major cable television and prime-time channels. (Post)
Space
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was in New Orleans and South Mississippi at the end of the week for events marking NASA's Space Launch System program. He was at the ribbon cutting for the newly finished Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud Assembly Facility in east New Orleans. It will be used to build the core stage of the SLS.
Bolden also went to Stennis Space Center, Miss., some 40 miles away from Michoud, to talk to the media at the base of the historic B-2 Test Stand. That stand was used to test the S-1C stage on the Saturn V moon rocket and the Space Shuttle engines. The stand will next be used to test the four RS-25 engines. (Post ; Sun Herald update; Times-Picayune letter to the editor update by director of Marshall Space Flight Center)
-- NASA picked 23 proposals from small business and research institution teams to continue the development of innovative technologies that will support future agency missions and may prove viable as commercial products and services. Two proposals involve technology being administered by the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., was awarded a $28 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the Large Aircraft Infrared Counter Measures C-130 Group A Kits and Installations. The contractor will provide the kits and the associated installations to 28 C-130 aircraft (11 AC-130H, 12 MC-130U, and five EC-130J). Work will be performed at Crestview, Fla., and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2017.
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Week in review (8/31 to 9/6)
A story during the week about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter provided details for the first time on just what happened to the jet that caught fire at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., back in June. In addition, a separate story about the F-35 shows just how critical suppliers – and supplier honesty – is to a multibillion-dollar program.
First, the June 23 fire. Lt. Gen. Christopher Bodgan, head of the F-35 program, said during a Sept. 3 conference that the fire was caused by excessive rubbing of a fan blade inside the plane's Pratt and Whitney-built F135 engine. That we knew from earlier reports.
The Air Force Times wrote that Bogdan went into further detail for the first time on what caused the damage to the F-35 at Eglin, the training center for the fifth-generation fighter. Bogdan said the issue actually began three weeks before the fire when a pilot took the F-35 up and executed a two-second maneuver involving adding Gs, roll rate and yaw to the plane at the same time. That was "well within the envelope of the airplane," he said.
But those two-seconds led to the engine rubbing against a rubber piece at a much higher rate, and at nearly double the temperature than it was designed to do. That, in turn, led to what Bogdan called "microcracks" that over the next few weeks grew.
"And eventually on the day this happened, that fan-blade system just cracked too much, the whole circular part of that engine — through centrifugal force — stretched out and became a spear; that spear went up through the left aft fuselage of the fuel tank and it was the fuel tank that caused the fire," he said, according to Air Force Times.
Bogdan said no microcracks were discovered in other F-35s, but there were marks that indicate potentially similar, if lesser, issues. Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies, will cushion the cost of any retrofit that's necessary to fix the problem.
But that's not the only problem confronting Pratt and Whitney. According to the same article, the company in May discovered what it called "conflicting documentation" about the origin of titanium used in the F-35 engine, supplied from a Massachusetts firm called A&P Alloys. That led Pratt and Whitney to pause deliveries of the F135 while it investigated.
While Pratt has since determined that the titanium in the existing engines does not pose a flight risk – and has no connection to the fire aboard the F-35 – the company purged its supply of titanium and sued A&P Alloys. It dropped the company from its supply chain and also alerted federal authorities of the issue.
Flightglobal reports that the titanium in question came from Russia, and U.S. law prohibits the Defense Department from purchasing titanium from foreign sources.
Another publication, the Hartford Courant, provided a detailed look at the titanium issue, based on information from the suit. The paper covered the issue because Pratt and Whitney is a division of Hartford's United Technologies.
According to the suit, all the hunting for information, testing of titanium and replacement of parts that had already made it into delivered military engines cost Pratt & Whitney more than $1 million. The Courant points out that the case provides unique glimpse into how Pratt & Whitney maintains quality and compliance among its field of suppliers for hundreds of thousands of parts. With production increases on the horizon, the incident shows just how much the company relies on the honesty of its suppliers and redundant testing measures to keep the operation on track.
Commercial aviation
Airbus and Boeing both topped 1,000 new jet orders in the first eight months of the year, but Boeing is far ahead after adjusting for cancellations. Boeing also has delivered more planes this year than Airbus. The planemaking subsidiary of Airbus Group sold 21 aircraft in August, bringing its total gross orders for the year to 1,001 aircraft. Boeing booked 107 orders in the same month, bringing total gross orders for the year to 1,004.
Adjusting for cancellations, Airbus reported 722 net orders between January and August. That compares with 941 net orders for Boeing from Jan. 1 to Sept. 2, after accounting for 63 cancellations. Both companies have operations in the Gulf Coast aerospace region, including an Airbus A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
In another story, Boeing projected a demand in China for 6,020 new airplanes over the next 20 years. That information was in the company’s annual China Current Market Outlook. It shows Chinese carriers will take delivery of nearly 45 percent of the total demand for airplanes in the Asia Pacific region during the forecast period. (Post)
Airbus
Speaking of China, the Airbus assembly line in Tianjin during the week received parts for the 200th A320 family aircraft, which will be delivered to China Eastern Airlines in December. Sections included the forward and aft fuselage, horizontal and vertical tail, main landing gear doors, inner flaps and engine pylons.
Those parts and components were produced at different Airbus sites in Europe and carried by a commercial cargo vessel from Hamburg to Tianjin. The wings for the jetliners assembled in Tianjin are produced in Tianjin by Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co., while the engines will arrive at a later date directly from the engine supplier. (Post)
-- Airbus posted three new positions during the week for its A320 final assembly line being built at Alabama's Mobile Aeroplex. The company is seeking power plant systems coordinator, engine quality inspector and paint quality inspector. The $600 million plant will open next year and produce its first plane in 2016. It expects to have 1,000 workers when it reaches full production. (Post)
Meanwhile, Airbus awarded a $10 million contract to Alaska's Alutiiq Pacific to provide security services at the Mobile plant. Alutiiq Pacific, a subsidiary of Afognak Native Corp., is providing security officers, fire and rescue services, surveillance, control center operation, entry and exit control, reception and more. Open positions will be posted at the Alutiiq jobs site. (Post)
Economic development
Three utilities that serve the I-10 region were among 10 singled out by Site Selection magazine for their economic development teams. The companies are Alabama Power of Birmingham, Ala., Entergy of New Orleans and Gulf Power of Pensacola, Fla. They were singled out for, among other things, job creation, innovative programs and incentives for businesses. (Post)
Airports
The Pensacola City Council will vote Tuesday on a proposed lease of Pensacola International Airport facilities to VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering. The company, which has had a maintenance, repair and overhaul operation in Mobile, Ala., since the 1990s, is expanding into Pensacola where it plans an MRO that will employ about 300 people at two hangars. The project is being funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, Escambia County, the city of Pensacola and BP oil spill money. (Story)
-- Southern Airways Express plans to shift its service at Florida's Destin Airport from seasonal to year-round this fall. Southern Airways Express will provide daily service from Destin to Memphis, Tenn., Atlanta and Jackson, Miss., and weekend service to Oxford, Miss. The Memphis, Tenn.-based airline launched its first flight in June 2013. The company operates a fleet of three, 10-seat Cessna Caravans. (Post)
-- Nearly a year after the groundbreaking, the Baldwin County school system's $2.7 million aviation training facility is still under construction at the H.L. "Sonny" Callahan Airport in Fairhope, Ala. If there are no weather delays, the building should be completed by the end of December and students will begin classes at the site in January. (Post)
Testing
The Rolls-Royce composite carbon/titanium (CTi) fan system for the Advance and UltraFan engine designs has completed its most recent phase of testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The fan system underwent crosswind testing on a Trent 1000 Advanced Low Pressure System technology engine, ahead of flight testing on the 747 flying test bed based in Tucson, Ariz.
The CTi fan system includes carbon/titanium fan blades and a composite casing that reduce weight by up to 1,500 pounds per aircraft. Opened in 2007 and expanded in 2013 to include a second test stand, the 50-employee Rolls-Royce Outdoor Jet Engine Testing Facility at SSC is one of three Rolls-Royce test sites in the world. It conducts specialist development engine testing including noise, crosswind, thrust reverse, cyclic and endurance testing on all current Rolls-Royce large engine types. Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi is NASA's rocket engine test center. (Post)
Testing of a very different type was done recently at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., by Boeing and the U.S. Army. It involved the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD). In the test in maritime conditions, HEL MD targeting a variety of aerial targets. The 10-kilowatt, high energy laser was installed on an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle for the tests. Earlier HEL MD tests were done at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The next step is with a higher kilowatt unit. (Post)
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $42.9 million
modification to a previously awarded contract for dual band telemetry, tracking and communications capability for the Space-Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting 5-6 space vehicles. The work will be done in Sunnyvale, but work on the internal propulsion system for the SBIRS is done by Lockheed Martin at Stennis Space Center, Miss. … Integrated Solutions for Systems Inc., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded a $10 million contract for enhanced lethality ordnance and modeling. Contractor will provide research and development in three research weapons core competencies: weapon effectiveness, damage mechanisms and energetic materials. Work will be performed at Huntsville. Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
First, the June 23 fire. Lt. Gen. Christopher Bodgan, head of the F-35 program, said during a Sept. 3 conference that the fire was caused by excessive rubbing of a fan blade inside the plane's Pratt and Whitney-built F135 engine. That we knew from earlier reports.
The Air Force Times wrote that Bogdan went into further detail for the first time on what caused the damage to the F-35 at Eglin, the training center for the fifth-generation fighter. Bogdan said the issue actually began three weeks before the fire when a pilot took the F-35 up and executed a two-second maneuver involving adding Gs, roll rate and yaw to the plane at the same time. That was "well within the envelope of the airplane," he said.
But those two-seconds led to the engine rubbing against a rubber piece at a much higher rate, and at nearly double the temperature than it was designed to do. That, in turn, led to what Bogdan called "microcracks" that over the next few weeks grew.
"And eventually on the day this happened, that fan-blade system just cracked too much, the whole circular part of that engine — through centrifugal force — stretched out and became a spear; that spear went up through the left aft fuselage of the fuel tank and it was the fuel tank that caused the fire," he said, according to Air Force Times.
Bogdan said no microcracks were discovered in other F-35s, but there were marks that indicate potentially similar, if lesser, issues. Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies, will cushion the cost of any retrofit that's necessary to fix the problem.
But that's not the only problem confronting Pratt and Whitney. According to the same article, the company in May discovered what it called "conflicting documentation" about the origin of titanium used in the F-35 engine, supplied from a Massachusetts firm called A&P Alloys. That led Pratt and Whitney to pause deliveries of the F135 while it investigated.
While Pratt has since determined that the titanium in the existing engines does not pose a flight risk – and has no connection to the fire aboard the F-35 – the company purged its supply of titanium and sued A&P Alloys. It dropped the company from its supply chain and also alerted federal authorities of the issue.
Flightglobal reports that the titanium in question came from Russia, and U.S. law prohibits the Defense Department from purchasing titanium from foreign sources.
Another publication, the Hartford Courant, provided a detailed look at the titanium issue, based on information from the suit. The paper covered the issue because Pratt and Whitney is a division of Hartford's United Technologies.
According to the suit, all the hunting for information, testing of titanium and replacement of parts that had already made it into delivered military engines cost Pratt & Whitney more than $1 million. The Courant points out that the case provides unique glimpse into how Pratt & Whitney maintains quality and compliance among its field of suppliers for hundreds of thousands of parts. With production increases on the horizon, the incident shows just how much the company relies on the honesty of its suppliers and redundant testing measures to keep the operation on track.
Commercial aviation
Airbus and Boeing both topped 1,000 new jet orders in the first eight months of the year, but Boeing is far ahead after adjusting for cancellations. Boeing also has delivered more planes this year than Airbus. The planemaking subsidiary of Airbus Group sold 21 aircraft in August, bringing its total gross orders for the year to 1,001 aircraft. Boeing booked 107 orders in the same month, bringing total gross orders for the year to 1,004.
Adjusting for cancellations, Airbus reported 722 net orders between January and August. That compares with 941 net orders for Boeing from Jan. 1 to Sept. 2, after accounting for 63 cancellations. Both companies have operations in the Gulf Coast aerospace region, including an Airbus A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
In another story, Boeing projected a demand in China for 6,020 new airplanes over the next 20 years. That information was in the company’s annual China Current Market Outlook. It shows Chinese carriers will take delivery of nearly 45 percent of the total demand for airplanes in the Asia Pacific region during the forecast period. (Post)
Airbus
Speaking of China, the Airbus assembly line in Tianjin during the week received parts for the 200th A320 family aircraft, which will be delivered to China Eastern Airlines in December. Sections included the forward and aft fuselage, horizontal and vertical tail, main landing gear doors, inner flaps and engine pylons.
Those parts and components were produced at different Airbus sites in Europe and carried by a commercial cargo vessel from Hamburg to Tianjin. The wings for the jetliners assembled in Tianjin are produced in Tianjin by Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co., while the engines will arrive at a later date directly from the engine supplier. (Post)
-- Airbus posted three new positions during the week for its A320 final assembly line being built at Alabama's Mobile Aeroplex. The company is seeking power plant systems coordinator, engine quality inspector and paint quality inspector. The $600 million plant will open next year and produce its first plane in 2016. It expects to have 1,000 workers when it reaches full production. (Post)
Meanwhile, Airbus awarded a $10 million contract to Alaska's Alutiiq Pacific to provide security services at the Mobile plant. Alutiiq Pacific, a subsidiary of Afognak Native Corp., is providing security officers, fire and rescue services, surveillance, control center operation, entry and exit control, reception and more. Open positions will be posted at the Alutiiq jobs site. (Post)
Economic development
Three utilities that serve the I-10 region were among 10 singled out by Site Selection magazine for their economic development teams. The companies are Alabama Power of Birmingham, Ala., Entergy of New Orleans and Gulf Power of Pensacola, Fla. They were singled out for, among other things, job creation, innovative programs and incentives for businesses. (Post)
Airports
The Pensacola City Council will vote Tuesday on a proposed lease of Pensacola International Airport facilities to VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering. The company, which has had a maintenance, repair and overhaul operation in Mobile, Ala., since the 1990s, is expanding into Pensacola where it plans an MRO that will employ about 300 people at two hangars. The project is being funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, Escambia County, the city of Pensacola and BP oil spill money. (Story)
-- Southern Airways Express plans to shift its service at Florida's Destin Airport from seasonal to year-round this fall. Southern Airways Express will provide daily service from Destin to Memphis, Tenn., Atlanta and Jackson, Miss., and weekend service to Oxford, Miss. The Memphis, Tenn.-based airline launched its first flight in June 2013. The company operates a fleet of three, 10-seat Cessna Caravans. (Post)
-- Nearly a year after the groundbreaking, the Baldwin County school system's $2.7 million aviation training facility is still under construction at the H.L. "Sonny" Callahan Airport in Fairhope, Ala. If there are no weather delays, the building should be completed by the end of December and students will begin classes at the site in January. (Post)
Testing
The Rolls-Royce composite carbon/titanium (CTi) fan system for the Advance and UltraFan engine designs has completed its most recent phase of testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The fan system underwent crosswind testing on a Trent 1000 Advanced Low Pressure System technology engine, ahead of flight testing on the 747 flying test bed based in Tucson, Ariz.
The CTi fan system includes carbon/titanium fan blades and a composite casing that reduce weight by up to 1,500 pounds per aircraft. Opened in 2007 and expanded in 2013 to include a second test stand, the 50-employee Rolls-Royce Outdoor Jet Engine Testing Facility at SSC is one of three Rolls-Royce test sites in the world. It conducts specialist development engine testing including noise, crosswind, thrust reverse, cyclic and endurance testing on all current Rolls-Royce large engine types. Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi is NASA's rocket engine test center. (Post)
Testing of a very different type was done recently at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., by Boeing and the U.S. Army. It involved the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD). In the test in maritime conditions, HEL MD targeting a variety of aerial targets. The 10-kilowatt, high energy laser was installed on an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle for the tests. Earlier HEL MD tests were done at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The next step is with a higher kilowatt unit. (Post)
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $42.9 million
modification to a previously awarded contract for dual band telemetry, tracking and communications capability for the Space-Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting 5-6 space vehicles. The work will be done in Sunnyvale, but work on the internal propulsion system for the SBIRS is done by Lockheed Martin at Stennis Space Center, Miss. … Integrated Solutions for Systems Inc., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded a $10 million contract for enhanced lethality ordnance and modeling. Contractor will provide research and development in three research weapons core competencies: weapon effectiveness, damage mechanisms and energetic materials. Work will be performed at Huntsville. Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
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