Week in review (8/20 to 8/26)

UTC Aerospace Systems during the week unveiled a new 80,000-square-foot manufacturing and nacelle assembly facility at its site in Foley, Ala. The new facility is in response to rising customer demand for its nacelle systems, according to UTC.

The company expects to add up to 260 new jobs, ultimately increasing its Foley workforce to more than 1,000 employees. It's expected to be operational by the end of the year.

The Foley site assembles nacelles for integration with the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan engine for a number of aircraft platforms, including the Airbus A320neo, Bombardier C Series, Mitsubishi Regional Jet and Embraer E-Jet E2.

The campus is part of UTC Aerospace Systems’ Aerostructures business unit, which maintains a global footprint of nacelle design, original equipment manufacturing and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sites. UTC Aerospace Systems is a unit of United Technologies Corp. (Post)

Airbus

Spirit Airlines took delivery Friday of the first A320 built in the United States. It was the 37th Airbus jetliner built at the Airbus assembly line, but all previous jetliners were the larger A321. It's the sixth plane delivered to Spirit at the Mobile center.

The yellow passenger jet delivered Friday is the 106th jet in its all-Airbus fleet. Major components for the plane arrived in May from Europe. The A320 had its first flight August 15. That first flight lasted about four hours. The Airbus assembly line can build the A319, A320 and A321. The plant is on track to produce four jetliners every month. (Post)

Bases

Officials marked the completion of the three largest combined solar facilities on Defense Department property in a ceremonial flipping of the switch during the week. Executives of Gulf Power, Coronal Energy, the Air Force and Navy were on hand at Naval Air Station Pensacola’s Naval Outlying Landing Field Saufley for the event.

Ground was broken in November 2016 for the project that spans 940 acres across three Navy and Air Force sites in Northwest Florida. Saufley’s solar array site is a 50 megawatt solar-generating facility. The other two sites are at Naval Air Station Whiting Field’s Outlying Landing Field Holley, 40 megawatts, and Eglin Air Force Base, 30 megawatts. Combined the three sites have about 1.5 million solar panels capable of generating up to 120 megawatts of electricity. The projects became operational earlier this summer. (Post)

-- Maj. Gen. Timothy Leahy took command of 2nd Air Force during a change of command ceremony Aug. 23 at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Leahy will be responsible for the development, oversight and direction of all operational aspects of basic military training, initial skills training, and advanced technical training of all AF enlisted members and support officers. (Post)

Contracts

Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded an approximate $900 million contract for the Long Range Standoff weapon's technology maturation and risk reduction acquisition phase. The contract supports replacement of the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile. Work will be performed in Orlando, and is expected to be completed by 2022. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Air Delivered Capabilities Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an approximate $900 million contract for the Long Range Standoff weapon's technology maturation and risk reduction acquisition phase. The contract supports replacement of the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile. Work will be performed in Tucson, and is expected to be completed by 2022. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Air Delivered Capabilities Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded $427 million order against a previous ordering agreement. This order provides for the procurement of ancillary military equipment and pilot flight equipment for low rate initial production Lot 11 F-35 for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense participants and foreign military sales customers. Work will be performed in California, New York, Florida and Texas Work is expected to be completed in December 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded $173 million to exercise an option to a previously awarded contract. This option provides for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance, logistics, and engineering to support and maintain 201 Navy T-45 Goshawk aircraft, aircraft systems, and related support equipment to support flight and test and evaluation operations. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas; NAS Meridian, Miss.; Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.; and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and is expected to be completed September 2018. The Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Green-Simmons Co. Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was among the companies named for construction projects within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic Hampton Roads Integrated Product Team. The maximum dollar value including the base period and four option years for all five contracts combined is $95 million. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Mid-Atlantic, Norfolk, Va., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (8/13 to 8/19)

Mark up another win for the growth of the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor.

Safran USA plans to open a manufacturing operation at Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley and hire 20 workers over the next three years. The announcement was made this week, two months after the Mobile team met with Safran USA's executives at the Paris Air Show.

The company will produce and install aircraft engine nacelles at the facility.

The Mobile Airport Authority is building out one of the existing bays at Mobile Aeroplex to 24,500 square feet. In addition, the company is investing some $1 million in equipment with an opening planned for November 2017.

Safran was the first Airbus-related supplier to announce it would open an operation at the Mobile Aeroplex after Airbus said it would build A320 series jetliners in Mobile, Safran Engineering Services opened its Mobile office with a ribbon-cutting the same day Airbus broke ground on its assembly line. In addition, Safran company Messier-Bugatti-Dowty also has an operation at the Mobile Aeroplex. (Post)

While I'm on the subject of the growth of this region's aerospace activities, at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., the National Flight Academy at the National Naval Aviation Museum celebrated its 10,000th student Wednesday. The academy inside looks like an aircraft carrier, where students learn math and science skills solving aviation-related problems. It opened in 2012. (Story)

Airports

Pensacola International Airport has set another all-time monthly record number of passengers in July, with a total of 175,814 individuals arriving and departing the facility. It’s an increase of 13 percent over July 2016. Overall, Pensacola International Airport is up some 4 percent in total passengers for the fiscal year over the same period last year. (Post)

-- The Civil Air Patrol from across Northwest Florida is gathering at Marianna Municipal Airport Friday through Sunday for a training exercise designed to develop and hone skills for disaster response and search and rescue missions. A story in the Northwest Florida Daily News says aircraft and crews will also operate from Tallahassee International Airport and Eglin Air Force Base, simulating forward operating bases much as they would in an actual disaster. CAP is a non-profit volunteer organization with 58,000 members nationwide, operating a fleet of 550 aircraft. (Story)

Contracts

Raytheon Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $104.9 million contract to provide for delivery of all variants of Griffin standoff precision guided munitions and corresponding production, test and engineering support. Work will be performed in Tucson and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2018. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded $53.5 million delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement. This order provides for supplies and services in support of the F-35 Lightning II milestone event capabilities, including retrofit modification kits and installation services for the Marine Corps, Air Force, Navy, and non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in July 2021 for DoD customers and September 2025 for non-DoD participants. 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. … CACI-INC of Chantilly, Va., was awarded a $14.9 million contract for the modification and configuration on new commercial software for NexGen requirements. Work will be done Panama City, Fla.; Niceville, Fla.; Beavercreek, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; Raleigh, N.C.; Palm City, Fla.; Fair Haven, N.J., and is expected to be completed March 12, 2019. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Gunter Annex, Montgomery, Ala., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co. of El Segundo, Calif., was awarded $8.5 million for a delivery order under a previously awarded basic ordering agreement for the repair of 331 units across 16 assemblies used in support of the F-18 Active Electronically Scanned Array Radar System. Work will be performed in Forest, Miss., and is expected to be completed by December 2019. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity. … L3 Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded an $8.9 million contract for organizational and intermediate-level aircraft maintenance on three KC-130J aircraft, logistics and supply functions, limited repair of common support equipment and required support for the government of Kuwait. Work is expected to be completed in August 2022. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (7/30 to 8/5)

The August issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor newsletter will be released Tuesday. If you're a subscriber, the 8-pager will be sent to your inbox. If you're not a subscriber, you can find it Tuesday at the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor website.

In the upcoming issue we'll tell you about what economic development officials from our region had to say about the Paris Air Show they attended in June. We spoke to folks from Northwest Florida, Mobile, Hancock County, Miss., and Louisiana.

We can tell you that the most consistent comment we heard was that this visit to Paris was one of the most successful. While no major announcements were made, many of them are working on proposals now. Interestingly, they are starting to meet with higher-level officials.

We also take a look at three upcoming events in the region that you might want to consider attending. The TeCMEN Industry day will be held later this month in Fort Walton Beach. Then in October there's the Gulf Power Economic Symposium in Sandestin at the start of the month and later in the month the Aerospace Alliance Summit in New Orleans.

So take a look at the newsletter next week.

Test missions

The 46th Test Squadron recently performed cybersecurity testing on the second-generation space surveillance system known as the Space Fence, according to the July mission report of the 96th Operations Group at Eglin Air Force Base. The Space Fence system is used to track satellites and space debri. For a bit more background, take a look at a post we had in 2014 about the Space Fence.

On the weapons front back in June, initial operational test and evaluation began for the AC-130J’s Block 20 software update, which added the 105mm cannon and Laser Small Diameter Bomb capability to the Air Force Special Operations aircraft.

Developmental test also began on the AC-130J Block 20+ software update. The Block 20+ new additions include a special mission processor, radio frequency countermeasures, rail launchers and Hellfire missiles, according to the mission report from June.

Education

An interactive traveling exhibit that helps children have fun with math – MathAlive! – opened Saturday at the Emerald Coast Science Center. Presented by Raytheon to military family communities nationwide, the exhibit is designed to show the connection of math to many of the things they love, including music, sports, movies, games and more.

The hope is to inspire young people in science, technology, engineering and math fields. The U.S. continues to fall short in ensuring there are enough future workers to fill the demand. MathAlive! will be presented at the Emerald Coast Science Center through Sept. 10. (Post)

Contracts

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded $211.2 million modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the procurement of production non-recurring special tooling and special test equipment that are required to meet current and future F-35 production rates. Work will be performed in Texas, California, New Hampshire, Florida and other locations in the U.S.; the United Kingdom and Italy and other outside-of-the-continental U.S. locations and is expected to be completed in May 2021. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded an $11.9 million modification for F-22 sustainment. This modification is for the exercise of options for F-22 sustainment activities. Work will be performed at Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed by Dec. 16, 2020. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the contracting activity. Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., trains F-22 pilots and has an operational squadron. … Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., is being awarded $19.9 million for an order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for engineering and analysis efforts to develop solutions for near-term emergent obsolescence issues identified for the MQ-4C Triton. Work will be done in Maryland and California and is expected to be completed in May 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. Triton fuselage work is done in Moss Point, Miss.