Week in review (1/10 to 1/16)

The week was filled with the awarding of contracts of interest to the Gulf Coast region, but there were several other news items during the week with a Gulf Coast connection. Here's your week in review:

Airbus
Airbus Americas posted three more job openings at its new U.S. Manufacturing Facility at the Mobile Aeroplex in Mobile, Ala. They are customer manager; facilities specialist-industrial systems manager; and facilities specialist-infrastructure coordinator. The plant will produce the Airbus A320 series of jetliners, the company's most popular models. (Post)


Airports/bases
Allegiant Air will begin operating out of Florida's Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport. The non-stop service will begin service May 20 with direct flights between Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Then on June 2 it will offer direct flights between Destin-Fort Walton Beach and the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport. (Post)

Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert S. Williams has been nominated for appointment to the rank of lieutenant general and for assignment as commander, Continental U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, and commander, First Air Force (Air Forces Northern), Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. Williams is currently serving as chief, Office of Military Cooperation; and senior defense official and defense attaché-Kuwait, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Embassy, Kuwait. (Post)


Rocket engines
Two contracts were awarded during the week for development of next-generation propulsion systems to replaced the Russian-built RD-180 engine for National Security Space launches.

ATK Launch Systems Inc. of Magna, Utah, was awarded a $47 million other transaction agreement for the development of three rocket propulsion system prototypes for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. This is for development of prototypes of the GEM 63XL strap-on solid rocket motor, the Common Booster Segment (CBS) solid rocket motor, and an Extendable Nozzle for Blue Origin’s BE-3U upper stage engine. (Post)

In addition, SpaceX of Hawthorne, Calif., was awarded a $33.7 million other transaction agreement for the development of the Raptor rocket propulsion system prototype for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.

An other transaction agreement was used in both cases in lieu of a standard procurement contract in order to leverage on-going investment by industry in rocket propulsion systems. This other transaction agreement requires shared cost investment by the companies and government. In the case of the SpaceX agreement, one of the work sites is Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)

F-35
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $28.8 milllion delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement that provides for air vehicle retrofit modifications associated with the F-35A fuel tank overpressure engineering change proposal in support of the Air Force, and the governments of Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, and Norway.

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. (Post)


Unmanned
Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., was awarded an $8 million modification to a previously issued cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to exercise an option for software sustainment services in support of MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft systems.

Work will be performed in California and is expected to be completed in December 2016. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)


Other contracts
Raytheon Co.- Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $85.5 million contract for Griffin missiles and support. Work will be performed at Tucson and is expected to be complete by Jan. 31, 2017. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Scientific Systems Co. Inc., Woburn, Mass., was awarded a $11.6 million Small Business Innovation Research III contract for an advanced navigation system technology demonstration on Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) Increment I. Work will be performed at Woburn and is expected to be complete by Jan. 13, 2018. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Rapid Acquisition Cell, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity… Aktarius LLC, Panama City, Fla., was among a host of companies named in a $900 million multiple award task order contract for logistics and service support to the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen, Md., is the contracting activity. … NASA awarded Science Applications International Corp. of McLean, Va., a modification to the NASA Integrated Communications Services (NICS) contract which provides and manages the vast majority of NASA’s information technology (IT) communications infrastructure services. The contract will be administered by the NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) at Stennis Space Center, Miss.