Week in review (10/25 to 10/31)

For those who have been following this weekly summary of aerospace activities in the Gulf Coast I-10 region, you may be interested in a new business publication coming in January.

It's the Gulf Coast Reporters' League Business Quarterly, and it will provide you with business stories covering the Interstate 10 corridor between Baton Rouge, La., and Tallahassee, Fla. There are nine metropolitan areas along the corridor and more than 4.4 million people.

To learn more about the publication and the highly experienced journalists behind it, go to the league's website. Signup to have the free magazine PDF delivered to your email when the first issue is published Jan. 5, or sign up for the blog.

Now for your aerospace week in review:


Airbus
Airbus said at the end of the week that it plans to significantly increase production of its A320 family of jetliners before the end of the decade. The company has reached a compromise with suppliers over the capacity of the supply chain.

Airbus and Boeing have been riding a sustained wave of orders from fast-growing airlines, particularly in emerging markets. There has also been significant pent-up demand from American carriers.

The increase at Airbus would push output of the jet beyond its latest target of 50 a month to 60 of the single-aisle A320 series of jetliners by the middle of 2019. Airbus builds A320 jetliners at four plants, one in Germany, one in France, one in China and now one in the United States in Mobile, Ala. (Post)

Meanwhile, back in Mobile, Airbus is seeking four quality inspectors for its U.S. Manufacturing Facility. The quality inspectors-final assembly line are responsible for the execution and confirmation of quality inspections in the production process in the Final Assembly Line Hangar. (Post)


Unmanned
The Navy expects to begin operations of its unmanned fixed-wing Triton and the larger version of the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter in 2018. That’s according to Pat Buckley, the Navy’s deputy program executive officer for unmanned aerial systems.

He said the MQ-4C Triton, the maritime version of the Global Hawk, and the MQ-8C version of the Fire Scout would reach initial operational capability in 2018. He also said a surface-search radar and possibly a weapons capability would be added to the MQ-8C in 2019.

Fuselage work on Global Hawk variants and finishing work on Fire Scouts is done by Northrop Grumman in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)


F-35
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $120.6 million modification to the previously awarded low-rate initial production Lot IX F-35 advance acquisition contract to procure the non-recurring engineering effort. Work will be done in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in June 2018. (Post)

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. also was awarded a $64.5 million modification to a previously awarded advanced acquisition contract for long lead materials and efforts associated with the production of the low-rate initial production 11 Japanese F-35A air systems for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program.

Work will be done in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in February 2016. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for both the F-35 contracts. (Post)

Also during the week, Pratt and Whitney Military Engines of East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a $104.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract for low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot IX in support of the F-135 engines for the F-35 for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, non -U.S. Department of Defense participants and foreign military sales customers.

Work will be performed in East Hartford and Indianapolis, Ind., and is expected to be completed in September 2018. The contract combines purchases for the Air Force, Navy, Marines, non-U.S. DoD participants and foreign military sales. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)


Bases
Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., hosted the 26th annual Naval Helicopter Association Fleet Fly-In during the week. It included more than two dozen Navy, Marine and Coast Guard helicopters.

The four-day event was designed to show students the aircraft they will fly when they go out in the fleet. Aerospace companies, including Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Bell Helicopter and Sikorsky, had displays. (Post)


Space
The Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce will host a NASA Business Forum at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 4. The cost is $75 per person, includes breakfast and lunch, and is open to all area and regional businesses.

Featured at the forum will be senior procurement experts from four NASA centers in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi, as well as representatives from major aerospace prime contractors. Contact Brenda Rembert at 251-431-8607 to register or for more information. (Post)


Contracts
2H&V Construction Services, Bonifay, Fla., and ESA South Inc., Cantonment, Fla., were among six companies awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award design-bid-build construction contract for construction projects located primarily within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast area of responsibility (AOR). The maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years for all six contracts combined is $75,000,000. All work on this contract will be performed primarily within the NAVFAC Southeast AOR, including Pensacola, Panama City and Whiting Field, Fla., and the remainder of NAVFAC Southeast AOR. … Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $11.2 million contract action for 225 Enhanced Paveway II /Guided Bomb Unit-49 kits. Work will be performed at Tucson and is expected to be complete by Aug. 30, 2016. This contract is 100 percent foreign military sales to Canada. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (10/18 to 10/24)

There was a story during the week in Mississippi that was picked up by the Associated Press about the concern in South Mississippi over a future round of base closings and realignments.

The story said that officials are gearing up to defend the bases: Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, the Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, the Navy's activities at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis and the National Guard's Trent Lott Training Complex in Gulfport and Camp Shelby to the north near Hattiesburg. They are all valuable facilities with unique missions.

But the story had information that made me grimace, and I hope the folks who are trying to protect the bases don't use it as part of the argument. The story said there are 750 companies in the three coastal counties, Harrison, Hancock and Jackson, that have had Department of Defense contracts. It said 321 contracts worth more than $1 billion were awarded in 2014 alone to companies in the three counties. That's true, but to connect this to the presence of the bases is misleading.

The vast majority of the money, $968 million, awarded in 2014 to companies in those three counties went to contractrors in just one county, Jackson County. And of that amount, $906 million was awarded to Huntington Ingalls, builder of expensive, massive ships for the Navy and Coast Guard. The bases in South Mississippi had nothing to do with the awarding of that money.

And there's another point to consider. Of the remaining amount awarded to companies in the three counties, a lot of it is for work outside of South Mississippi. True, the money awarded to South Mississippi companies benefits the local economy, but to make the connection to the local bases is a fallacy and detracts from the argument for keeping the bases.

What I don't know is if this is part of the argument South Mississippi officials plan to use or if the reporter simply put in the additional information about contracts to show the value of military spending to South Mississippi. I would hope it's the latter.

Now for your week in review:


Space
Last week we went to see the movie "The Martian," in part because I've been a space nut since I was a kid and watched our early efforts in space. I've come to expect us to be the leader in exploring the final frontier.

NASA's Space Launch System program, which is the space agency's effort to send astronauts deeper into space then ever before, recently reached a major milestone when it completed its Critical Design Review.

This is the first time since the 1970s that NASA has completed CDR on a major new launch vehicle. Major subsystems such as Orion’s launch abort system and the SLS RS-25 engines have recently completed successful testing. Experts from NASA and industry validated that the SLS, as designed, meets all system requirements and is within cost and schedule constraints. It's a way of giving a "go" for production, assembly, integration and testing of the vehicle as a whole.

Boeing, Orbital ATK, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Lockheed Martin are building the SLS and Orion spacecraft for NASA’s crewed exploration missions that will travel beyond the moon and into deep space. And our region is a major player.

Boeing and Lockheed are using Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to build the SLS core stage and Orion, respectively, and Aerojet Rocketdyne is using engine test facilities at Stennis Space Center, Miss., for the RS-25 tests. (Post)


Unmanned
Workers in Moss Point, Miss., are currently building the fuselages for Global Hawks that will be going to South Korea. Northrop Grumman will deliver the first pair of South Korea's four RQ-4B Block 30 Global Hawks in 2018. The second pair will be delivered in 2019. South Korea's $657 million acquisition of the Global Hawks was announced in December 2014. (Post)


Bases
Naval Air Station Whiting Field has been named one of two Navy Region Southeast nominees for Commander Navy Installation Command's national "Installation Excellence Award" in the small base category for 2015. The Santa Rosa base, along with NAS Pensacola, was CNIC's excellence award winner last year. The second base selected was Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga. (Post)


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded two contracts during the week that are of interest to the Gulf Coast region. It was awarded a $13 million modification to exercise the option on a previously awarded contract for F-22 air vehicle sustainment. Work will be performed at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2015. The company also was awarded a $7.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract. It will provide F-22 sustainment for Reliability and Maintainability Maturation Program Project SE21, Stores Management System wrap around tester cable sets (quantity of 20) and self testers (quantity of 2). Work will be performed at Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be complete by Nov. 30, 2017. Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., is home of F-22 training and an operational squadron. … Jacobs Technology Inc., Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded a $45 million modification to a contract for global logistics and support services to the Army Sustainment Command Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) and Army Contracting Command-Rock Island (ACC- RI) LOGCAP and Reachback Divisions. Funding and work location will be determined with each order with an estimated completion date of Oct. 20, 2016. … L-3 Communications Corp., Systems Field Support, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $12 million modification to exercise the option on a previously awarded contract for C-12 contractor logistics support. Work will be performed in Maryland, California, Alaska, New Mexico, Texas, Ghana, Turkey, Thailand, Columbia, Brazil, Hungary, Argentina, Egypt, Botswana, Pakistan, the Philippines, Kenya, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Honduras, and Japan and is expected to be complete by March 31, 2016.

Week in review (10/11 to 10/17)

We've been getting a lot of indications for a while now that the Airbus A320 plant in Mobile, Ala., which had its official inaugural last month, will end up building more than four planes a month.

Now Mayor Sandy Stimpson has added his voice to the discussion. He told Reuters that Airbus is likely to increase aircraft output in Mobile beyond its current target. He said he based his view on public statements by Airbus and conversations with Airbus officials, not special knowledge of Airbus plans.

Airbus has said it could produce up to eight single-aisle jetliners a month at the plant at Mobile Aeroplex, but plans to build four a month by 2017. An Airbus spokeswoman said there were "currently no plans to change that rate."

Airbus has a backlog of 5,502 orders for its A320 family of jetliners. That's nearly 11 years of production. (Post)

Not surprisingly, Airbus came up during the 19th annual Gulf Power Symposium held early in the week at Sandestin resort. The two-day symposium had some 650 people registered, a number that keeps growing every year. This year the theme was "Think Big, Think Northwest Florida."

The symposium covers a range of economic topics, from tourism to ports and more. One talk focused on aerospace, a key growth area for Florida and the rest of the Gulf Coast I-10 corridor.

Kevin Michael, vice president of ICF International, discussed the Southeast and its growing role in the aerospace supply chain. He said a combination of factors, including increasing labor costs overseas and new technologies, has made the United States, and particularly the Southeast, appealing to the aerospace industry.

Michael's talk was called "Rightshoring: The New Aerospace Supply Chain Imperative." He said the offshoring trend that began in 2000 has changed, and in 2012 something he calls rightshoring began to take hold.

That occurred when labor costs outside the United States went up and labor became a smaller portion of the cost of manufacturing. He said one issue that may impact the Southeast is Airbus' request to suppliers to cut costs by 10 percent. He said that might prompt some European suppliers to take another look at the United States as an option. (Post)


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $17.6 million delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement. This order provides for the procurement of retrofit modification kits and associated engineering installation services in support of the Block 3F upgrade of two F-35A aircraft for non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (90 percent); and Baltimore, Md. (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2021. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center. … Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $305.5 million contract for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile production. Contractor will provide Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile production, system upgrades, integration, sustainment, management, and logistical support. Work will be performed at Troy, Ala., and is expected to be complete by June 30, 2018. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … The Boeing Defense, Space & Security Missile and Unmanned Airborne Systems, St. Louis, Mo., was awarded an $11.8 million modification to the previously awarded contract for engineering and manufacturing development of the B61-12 tailkit assembly. Contractor will provide additional test assets, materials, and hardware to enable the demonstration of the reliability of the B61-12 tailkit assembly. Work will be performed at St. Louis and is expected to be complete by July 31, 2017. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (10/4 to 10/10)

It's always tough when we lose someone who's serving our country. But it happens. And that was the case last week when a C-130J crashed after takeoff in Afghanistan. Six U.S. airmen, including one from Pensacola, were killed.

Five civilian contractors were also aboard the cargo plane that crashed Oct. 2 at Jalalabad Airfield. The Pensacola airman was Nathan Sartain, 29, who was assigned to the 66th Security Forces Squadron, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. The six airmen were part of the 317th Airlift Group of the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing based at Bagram Airfield about 30 miles north of Kabul.

On a far brighter note, I hope you had a chance to take a look at the most recent issue of the 8-page Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor/Gulf Coast Reporters’ League newsletter that was published Tuesday.

One of the stories was about the inaugural last month of the Airbus plant in Mobile, Ala. I went to the inaugural along with photographer Michelle Thomas. Airbus is still months away from finishing its first jetliner at the plant, but it's fascinating to see it take shape.

You can take a look at the progress and get a sense of how the planes are made by taking a look at the story and photos. (Post)

We also had a story on the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. Since Hurricane Katrina back in 2005, the airport has undergone $200 million in renovation work to improve, including a terminal twice as big as it was before the devastating storm. Take a look at the story by Melissa Scallan. (Post)

In another story, Lisa Monti wrote about NASA's Space Grant program, a leader in STEM education before STEM became cool. The states with a piece of the Interstate 10 aerospace corridor have a combined four NASA consortiums that can help the region prepare the next generation for exciting careers in the final frontier. Monti's feature story tells you more about the NASA program. (Post)

Finally, I wrote about the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition’s involvement in a NASA robotics program. IHMC is fascinating, not matter what project you want to write about, but this one really piqued my interest.

When humanoid robots one day build living and working quarters on Mars for astronauts, it's likely they'll owe much of their capabilities to cutting-edge computer programs developed by scientists from Pensacola's IHMC. We tell you about Valkyrie and Atlas, the robot that won IHMC second place in an international robotics competition. (Post)


Contract
Jacobs Technology, Tullahoma, Tenn., was awarded an estimated $85.4 million modification to exercise the option on a previously awarded contract for additional technical and engineering acquisition support services. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be complete by Oct. 18, 2016. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.

Week in review (9/27 to 10/3)

The latest edition of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor/Gulf Coast Reporters League bimonthly aerospace newsletter will be published Tuesday.

In this issue we have a story about scientists and technicians in Pensacola who are providing key programs that will help in this nation's return to space exploration. We also have a story about jetliner No. 6512, the first one being built at the Airbus plant in Mobile, Ala., and the process that's involved. We also have a story about NASA's long-standing Space Grant program, a STEM project that was ahead of its time, and we take a look at changes at Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport.

You can find the 8-page newsletter Tuesday by visiting our website, or if you like, you can subscribe and have it delivered to your inbox. It's always free thanks to our underwriters.

Now for your week in review:


Airbus
An engine on an Airbus A320neo jet was found to have suffered damage following flight trials in hot-weather conditions, marking a setback for the Pratt & Whitney-made turbine. The issue was found in one of the test aircraft's two engines. The precise issue was not specified.

Deliveries of the single-aisle plane should still begin as scheduled later this year, with the first A320neo going to Qatar Airways. That plane will be powered by PW1100G engines. A competing turbine is offered by CFM International, a joint venture of GE Aviation and Safran.

That joint venture is also making the engines that will power the first A321 being built at the Airbus plant in Mobile. The plant is currently building planes with the normal engine option but will eventually build neo variants. (Post)

And what else might they eventually build in Mobile? Could Mobile workers one day build military aerial tankers? Allan McArtor, Airbus Group CEO, told National Defense magazine that if a future competition required that military tankers be built domestically, Airbus would expand its facilities in Alabama to compete.

"That is our industrial home. If we had an opportunity to bid on a tanker program, that is where it would be."

Airbus competed against Boeing to supply tankers to the Air Force, but Boeing won on the second go-around. McArtor is convinced the Air Force would consider buying an Airbus tanker to supplement the Boeing 767-based KC-46A fleet. (Post)


Military
The Navy's last flying T-2C Buckeye made its final flight at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., on Sept. 25. It capped 56 years of the aircraft type's service to the fleet.

Although the T-2s were officially retired from service in 2008 with a "sundown" ceremony at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 20 at NAS Patuxent River continued to use three Buckeyes as safety chase aircraft during test and evaluation flights of the E-2D Hawkeye, P-8A Poseidon and MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial system. (Post)


F-35
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $28.8 million modification to a previously awarded contract to upgrade the low-rate initial production Autonomic Logistics Operating Unit and all fielded Autonomic Logistics Design Development (ALIS) systems to ALIS software release 2.0.2 in support of the F-35 aircraft.

Work will be done in Florida, including Valparaiso, Texas, Arizona, California, Utah, South Carolina, Nevada, North Carolina, Virginia, the United Kingdom, Australia, Israel and Italy and is expected to be completed in December 2017. (Post)

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth also was awarded a $20.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide additional funding for concurrency related changes to the F-35 aircraft and the supporting subsystems for the Navy/Marine Corps and Air Force.

Work will be done in Texas, Georgia and California and is expected to be completed in December 2018. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for both of the Lockheed contracts. (Post)


NASA
NASA awarded a blanket purchase agreement to Esri in Redlands, Calif., to provide geospatial software licenses and maintenance. It has a one-year base ordering period and four one-year options and a potential contract value of $9.5 million.

The period of performance begins Oct. 1 and, if all options are exercised, the last ordering period will end Sept. 30, 2020. The contract will be administered by the Enterprise License Management Team at the NASA Shared Services Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)

NASA also awarded a contract to National Instruments Corporation of Austin, Texas, to provide system design software and measurement and control systems hardware while consolidating the procurement of agency end-user software licenses.

It has a one-year base period and four one-year options. The period of performance will begin Sept. 30, 2015 with a potential end date of Sept. 27, 2020 and total value of $37.7 million. This contract also will be administered by the Enterprise License Management Team at the NASA Shared Services Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)


Unmanned
Northrop Grumman won a contract worth up to $3.2 billion for continued development, modernization and maintenance of Air Force variants of the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft. The contract will allow the Air Force to order parts and services as needed through Sept. 30, 2020, with all work to be completed by Sept. 30, 2025. Northrop Grumman builds several variants of Global Hawk, including Triton, the maritime variant for the Navy. Fuselages work for all variants is done by Northrop Grumman in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)


Contracts
Pettibone Concrete Construction Inc., Panama City, Fla., was awarded a $48.9 million contract for Tyndall Air Force Base airfield civil works. Work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be complete by Sept. 29, 2020. The 325th Contracting Squadron, Tyndall Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $50 million contract for support to the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile AIM-120D system improvement program. Work will be performed at Tucson and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2022. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Flight Safety International Inc., Marine Air Terminal, LaGuardia Airport, Flushing, N.Y., was awarded a $35 million modification to a contract for an extension of the existing contract for fixed-wing flight training services. Work will be done in Ft. Rucker, Ala., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2016. Army Contracting Command, Ft. Rucker, is the contracting activity. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $57.2 million contract for logistics support of the T-1A aircraft. Work will be performed at Vance Air Force Base, Okla.; Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.; Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas; Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas; and Pensacola Naval Air Station, Fla., and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2016. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity.