Week in review (6/25 to 6/30)

Could the Gulf Coast or some other location in the Southeast make a pitch to Boeing to build a new line of aircraft? There are still a lot of ifs – the most important being that Boeing hasn't yet decided whether to even build the plane, the design of which was revealed last year at the Paris Air Show.

If this all sounds familiar, it should. A lot of areas were in the competition when Boeing was looking for a place to build the 787 Dreamliner, and a lot were also in the hunt when Airbus – the corporate name at the time was EADS – was looking for a site to build aerial tankers.

Aircraft assembly lines are one of the real jewels of economic development. In addition to the value of the assembly line itself and the workers who are hired, it also has a big impact on the supply chain. Companies worldwide start lining up to supply a variety of items for the new jetliner.

Areas along the Gulf Coast were among the finalists for the 787 site, but Boeing eventually decided to build it in Washington State, home of Boeing’s manufacturing center. It later opened up a second line in South Carolina. And the EADS plan? Mobile was chosen, and while the company did not win its bid to build the tankers, Mobile did become the site for what is arguably a far better deal, the A320 series assembly line.

And now Mobile will become the site for a second assembly line, this one to build Bombardier CSeries jetliners. So will Mobile or other regional economic development officials go ahead and make a pitch for the 797 aircraft?

Panelists at the recent Southeast Aerospace and Defense Conference held in Mobile had something akin to a why-not attitude. Certainly South Carolina, home to Boeings second 787 final assembly line, seems a natural to put in a bid. So too Alabama, where both Mobile and Huntsville are powerful contenders for aerospace production operations. Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi are also potential contenders with their own aerospace claims to fame.

We know of one area for sure that's in the hunt. Washington State is already preparing to do what it can to keep work on the New Midrange Aircraft – called the 797 – in that state. A Teal Group analysis, commissioned by a Washington coalition, was highly favorable for Washington and its skilled aerospace workers, and of course the state is holding up that study as ammunition.

It will be up to the other cities and states whether to make a pitch to Boeing, and while some of the preparatory work may be happening behind the scenes, it all depends on whether Boeing gives the thumbs up to the project and opens it up to bidders.

It makes sense that any location that was on the short list for the 787 and aerial tanker might consider going after this project. There are some must-haves for a project of this nature, including a port so sections can be shipped in, a runway where the finished product can tested and then turned over to a customer. And of course it needs to show it has the skilled workforce needed for aerospace work.

The 797, intended to fill the market betweeen the 737 and 787, was just one of the topics that came up during the week at the two-day inaugural Southeast Aerospace and Defense Conference held at Mobile’s Battle House Hotel.

During Wednesday's gathering, officials said ground would be broken this year for the new Bombardier CSeries assembly line that will be built in Mobile, a move that by 2021 will make Mobile the world’s fourth largest jetliner assembly center and second largest in North America.

The CSeries plant will be next to the Airbus A320 final assembly line at the Mobile Aeroplex as a result of a partnership between the two manufacturers that will be finalized Sunday. That happens to be Canada Day – the celebration of the day in 1867 that three colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick merged into a single dominion.

During the conference, Rob Dewar, vice president and general manager of Bombardier Aerospace, who becomes head of customer services and engineering Sunday, said he expects the first CSeries jetliner built in Mobile to be delivered in mid-2020.

The assembly line in Mobile will build the CS100 and CS300, which have the same assembly process. The difference is the CS300 has a longer fuselage. Dewar said it would take about a year to build the assembly line, which eventually will produce four jetliners per month and employ 400 workers.

The aircraft, by the way, will get a new name, but the announcement has not yet been made.

Daryl Taylor, vice president and general manager of the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility, said at the conference that Airbus in Mobile has delivered 75 jetliners to seven customers. The most recent was delivered Tuesday to Frontier Airlines.

He said the Mobile facility is beginning a new chapter with the CSeries assembly line. He said that by 2021, Mobile will be the fourth largest jetliner manufacturing center in the world, and second largest in North America. (Post)

About 115 participants from 10 countries were on hand Tuesday for the opening session. They were welcomed by Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, who noted that Mobile’s history with aerospace goes back many years, but the footprint is destined to get larger.

Also coming up during the conference was a study that said it was feasible for Mobile to shift commercial jetliner service from Mobile Regional Airport in west Mobile to the downtown airport, closer to Interstate 10 and downtown.

Chris Curry, executive director of the Mobile Airport Authority, said moving commercial service will not hinder industrial tenants, like Airbus, who were consulted during the study to ensure any move would not jeopardize their operations. (Post)

The Leeham Company/Airfinance Journal conference will be at a different location in the Southeast next year. Scott Hamilton of Leeham Co., said it's always been the intent of organizers to rotate the annual conference. Nobody asked me, but for what it's worth Scott, put South Louisiana and South Mississippi on the list of potential sites for a conference. That's where you'll find Stennis Space Center and Michoud Assembly Facility, both involved in NASA and commercial space programs. You might also consider Northwest Florida, where Eglin Air Force Base is home of the F-35 integrated training center and the place where the Air Force develops its aerial-launched weapons. Just a thought.

Hamilton said the intent of the inaugural conference was to introduce the Southeast and its aerospace clusters to suppliers who aren’t familiar with opportunities in the Southeast. This year’s focus was the transformation that’s underway in manufacturing that suppliers must prepare for and the innovation that’s coming to produce future airplane.

We’ll have multiple stories resulting from this conference in the August issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter.

Also during the week:

Expansion

Northrop Grumman has added an operational area to its Moss Point, Miss.-based manufacturing center. The 101,000-square-foot Moss Point facility has been doing work on unmanned fixed-wing and rotary-wing systems since 2006.

The expanded production facility can now accommodate projects on manned aircraft systems and will bring 60 new jobs to Moss Point. The number of employees at the site grow by more than 40 percent since 2017, officials said.

Gov. Phil Bryant and members of Mississippi’s federal and state delegations attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony that marked the official launch of the new machine shop section at the Moss Point facility. Northrop previously said it would do subassembly work on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in Moss Point. (Post)

Bases

The U.S. Navy is preparing future plans to construct detention centers for up to 25,000 illegal immigrants on remote bases in Alabama, Arizona and California, according to a copy of a draft memo obtained by TIME.

The Navy planning document outlines plans to build tent cities for up to 25,000 migrants at abandoned airfields in Baldwin County, Ala., at Navy Outlying Field Wolf in Orange Beach and NOF Silverhill.

But U.S. Sen. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), said he’s prepared to fight a migrant camp in Baldwin County. "We have successfully fought efforts to house illegal immigrants in Baldwin County before, and we will do the same again because the proposal makes no sense," Byrne said. (Post)

Unmanned

Australia is to acquire six Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime unmanned aerial systems, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced during the week. The first RAAF Triton is scheduled to be delivered in mid-2023.

Triton can fly at altitudes above 50,000 feet and has an endurance of more than 24 hours. Northrop Grumman does fuselage work on Triton in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)

-- The Coast Guard will equip National Security Cutter ships with ScanEagle unmanned aircraft, including the cutter Decisive that arrived at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., in June.

Decisive is one of four cutters expected to change homeports to Pensacola this year. The drones have aided the Coast Guard in the interdiction of $1.5 billion worth of cocaine and heroin off the coasts of Central and South America.

The drone weighs 40 pounds and can fly up to 20 hours. (Post)

Contracts

Bell Boeing JPO, Amarillo, Texas, was awarded $4.2 billion for a modification to convert the previously awarded V-22 tiltrotor aircraft advance acquisition contract to a fixed-price-incentive-fee multiyear contract. This contract provides for the manufacture and delivery of 39 CMV-22B aircraft for the Navy; 34 MV-22B aircraft for the Marine Corps; 1 CV-22B for the Air Force; and 4 MV-22B aircraft for the government of Japan. One work location is Crestview, Fla., where 0.72 percent of the work will be performed. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded $19.9 million for a modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the low rate initial production Lot 10 Non-Annualized Sustainment Contract Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) 3.0 rollout. This modification provides for the ALIS 3.0 software fleet release and installation into operational and production ALIS assets as well as required training to U.S. Government and international partner personnel in support of the F-35 aircraft. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Annapolis, Md., was awarded a $14.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise options for the fabrication, testing, production and delivery of AN/AQS-24C mine hunting sonar systems. The system is deployed from the MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter. Seventeen percent of the work will be performed in Panama City, Fla. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $96.1 million modification to a contract for Lot 11 Miniature Air Launched Decoy Jammer vehicles and support equipment. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $93 million contract for Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) F/A-18E/F integration. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … A. Finkl & Sons Co., Chicago, was awarded a $419.6 million contract for BLU-137/B penetrator warhead production. This contract provides for the production of the BLU-137/B penetrator warhead bodies with a guaranteed production of 300 bodies during the first year with a possibility of up to 3,500 bodies in the subsequent four years. Air force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Superior Forge and Steel Corp., Lima, Ohio, was awarded a $476.9 million contract for BLU-137/B penetrator warhead production. This contract provides for the production of the BLU-137/B penetrator warhead bodies with a guaranteed production of 300 bodies during the first year with a possibility of up to 3,500 bodies in the subsequent four years. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Enterprise Electronics Corp., Enterprise, Ala., was awarded an $11.6 million contract for the procurement of Supplemental Weather Radars (SWR) systems and associated sustainment services. Work will be performed in Enterprise and is expected to be completed by June 2023. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic, Charleston, S.C., is the contracting activity. … The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $1.5 billion contract that provides for the production and delivery of 22 F/A-18E and six F/A-18F Super Hornets in support of the government of Kuwait. Fort Walton Beach, Fla., will perform 0.8 percent of the work. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $73.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to stand-up depots outside the continental U.S. for the maintenance, repair, overhaul, and upgrade of the F-35 aircraft. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (6/17 to 6/23)

Do we really need another military branch – a U.S. Space Force – or is it more cost-effective to look at improving what we already have?

Of course, new branches have been created before. The Air Force was created in 1947, when the Army Air Corps was split off to create a new military branch. The Air Force itself already has its own Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

Created in 1982, the command has operations worldwide, including the 20th Space Control Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base. The squadron has a powerful radar system that has been keeping an eye on space for well over 40 years.

A side note here. The C-6 site at Eglin is highlighted on page 43 of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2017-2018 reference book. You can get the PDF of Chapter II, Space Activities, by clicking here. The item on C-6 is on page 43 in the book, but the last page of this 11-page chapter.

Adding another branch will mean more bureaucracy, an entire chain of command of its own, and a decision will have to be made whether to spread the defense dollars to take into account an additional branch or, as I suspect, put even more dollars into the Department of Defense.

And consider this: In addition to the Space Command, we already have the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that focuses on space. True, its mission is not military, but how long before some of that expertise is shifted over to a new military branch?

Although President Trump has instructed the Pentagon to explore establishing a new military branch, it can't be done without the approval of Congress. So stay tuned. We'll be keeping an eye on this.

-- While we’re on the subject of space, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, Calif., was awarded a $69.8 million modification to a previously awarded other transaction agreement for the development of the AR1 booster engine and the RL10CX upper stage engine for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.

This action implements Section 1604 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2015, which requires the development of a next-generation rocket propulsion system that will transition away from the use of non-allied space launch engines to a domestic alternative for National Security Space launches.

Work will be performed in Canoga Park; Sacramento, Calif.; Centennial, Colo.; Huntsville, Ala.; Stennis Space Center, Miss.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. The work on the AR1 is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2019, and the work on the RL10CX is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2021. The Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Post)

-- In another space-related item during the week, BWX Technologies Inc. opened an office in Huntsville, Ala., and will begin developing aerospace products that include a nuclear propulsion system.

The company has a contract with NASA to create conceptual designs for a nuclear thermal reactor that could power a spaceship to Mars. BWX Technologies was created through the breakup of the power company Babcock and Wilcox. It is headquartered in Lynchburg, Va.

The company's Huntsville site director is Gene Goldman, a former director of NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC) in Mississippi and acting center director at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville. Goldman presented a $5,000 check from the company to help develop the planned Alabama Cyber and Engineering School in Huntsville at the ceremony. MSFC oversees SSC, NASA’s primary rocket engine testing center. (Post)

Conference

The inaugural Southeast Aerospace and Defense Conference will be held at the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel and Spa this week.

It brings together suppliers, original equipment manufacturers, aerospace companies, financiers and investors, with an emphasis on building for the future.

Topics at the conference will include the Airbus Final Assembly Line, CSeries program and final assembly line, developing aerospace clusters in the Southeast, the evolving aerospace cluster in Mobile and more. (Post)

Unmanned

The Navy’s unmanned MQ-8C Fire Scout began a new series of operational testing this month aboard the USS Coronado (LCS 4) off the coast of San Diego. The operations are a continuation of MQ-8C operational testing that began in April.

This phase of testing is for the MQ-8C's ability to operate concurrently with other airborne assets and Littoral Combat Ships. The enhanced capability will provide commanders an improved and integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance picture.

During Coronado's 2016-17 deployment to the Western Pacific, it successfully used an MQ-8B Fire Scout – a smaller version of the Fire Scout – as a sensor to strike a target beyond visual range using a Harpoon surface-to-surface missile.

Also last year, the MQ-8C had its first launch from the deck of an LCS underway.

Final assembly work for the Fire Scout is done by Northrop Grumman in Moss Point, Miss. LCS 4 was built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. (Post)

Airports

A study on the feasibility of moving passenger flights from Mobile Regional Airport in west Mobile to the Downtown Mobile Airport at the Mobile Aeroplex showed it would be beneficial, but could take three to five years to complete.

The Mobile Airport Authority, which oversees Mobile Regional Airport and Mobile Aeroplex, launched the study in February and released results Wednesday morning. The hope is that by moving commercial air service closer to downtown and right off of Interstate 10, there will be more travelers and eventually more carriers, which in turn will lower to cost of flying.

MAA Executive Director Chris Curry said 47 percent of travelers who might be expected to use Mobile go to competing airports. Curry said accommodating passenger traffic without inconveniencing the Aeroplex’s industrial aviation tenants will require a balancing act, but the challenge can be managed. (Post)

Military

At Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Navy Cmdr. Zachariah Aperauch turned over command of Training Squadron TWO (VT-2) to Coast Guard Cmdr. Mark Jackson during a change of command ceremony at the Whiting Field North Field hangar.

Under Aperauch, VT-2 flew more than 52,500 flight hours in the completion of more than 23,350 sorties, and 619 students completed the primary flight training. Jackson assumes command after a tour as executive officer of VT-2. He has 22 years with the Coast Guard, and earned his wings in 1999 after completing primary flight training with VT-2. Navy Cmdr. Wesley Barnes replaces Jackson as executive officer for the squadron. (Post)

Contracts

Orocon-Carothers JV2, Oxford, Miss.; Whitesell-Green Inc., Pensacola, Fla.; The ARTEC Group Inc., Sarasota, Fla.; Desbuild Inc., Hyattsville, Md.; Southeast Cherokee Construction Inc., Montgomery, Ala.; Leebcor Services LLC, Williamsburg, Va.; and Howard W. Pence Inc., Elizabethtown, Ky., were awarded a $75 million construction contract for design-build construction projects at various locations within the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast area of responsibility (AOR). The work to be performed provides for, but is not limited to, new construction, repair, alteration, and related demolition work. After award of this modification, the maximum dollar value for all seven contracts combined will be $174 million. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Florida, is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $175.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the development, testing, and activation of 13 different F-35 component repair capabilities in support of the F-35 Lightning depot implementation plan for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and non-Department of Defense (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.

Week in review (6/10 to 6/16)

Airbus inaugurated a fourth A320 series production line in Hamburg, Germany, during the week in a move that will help the company ramp up production of the popular single-aisle jetliner. And it could have implications for the company's production line in Mobile, Ala.

According to Reuters, the new state-of-the-art production line utilizes robots Luise and Renate – named by workers – to work alongside human workers. The new line will help Airbus deal with an eight-year order backlog.

Airbus is ramping up production of the A320 from 50 to 60 planes per month. The company has sold 8,000 of the jets with another 6,000 on order. The new final assembly line in Hamburg has a top rate of 10 aircraft per month, which it will reach by mid-2019, according to Reuters.

Luise and Renate will help to drill over 2,000 holes to join the two halves of the fuselage together, work normally done by humans. According to Reuters, they form part of a new final assembly line where the fuselage and wings are transported by automated moving tooling platforms, rather than being lowered by cranes onto fixed jigs, and where dynamic laser tracking is used to perfectly align aircraft parts.

Klaus Roewe, head of the A320 series program, told reporters in Hamburg that around one-third of the new technologies on the new final assembly line could potentially be transferred to other lines in Hamburg, France, China, and the United States - i.e., Mobile. The Mobile assembly line now produces four A320 aircraft each month.

Speaking of Mobile, Hawaiian Airlines took delivery of its first U.S.-produced A321 during the week. The jetliner is the first produced in Mobile with the new engine option, thus it's an A321neo.

It's powered by a Pratt & Whitney PW1000G high-bypass geared turbofan engine. Executives and employees from Airbus and Hawaiian, and executives from Pratt & Whitney and UTC Aerospace Systems witnessed the milestone delivery. (Post)

In other Gulf Coast aerospace news during the week, the June issue of the bimonthly Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter was published and is now available to readers – without charge, of course, thanks to our underwriters. This issue updates the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2017-2018, a 100-page reference book that was last published in June 2017. This newsletter fills the gap between that issue and the one we will publish in June 2019.

The current newsletter includes an executive summary highlighting new aerospace activities in the region since last year. That includes the possibility of a second assembly line in Mobile, new rocket engine work at Stennis Space Center and the opening of a new maintenance, repair and overhaul hangar in Pensacola. There's also a new F-35 reprogramming lab at Eglin Air Force Base. The newsletter includes one-page updates of each chapter from last year’s book. (Post)

Space

In Huntsville, Ala., the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Todd May, is retiring effective July 27. May is being replaced on an acting basis by Marshall's deputy director, Joan A. "Jody" Singer.

May was first named acting director of Marshall in 2015 and then took over the position on a permanent basis. Before that, the native of Fairhope, Ala., managed the Space Launch System.

Marshall is NASA's chief center for rocket propulsion. It has more than 6,000 government and contractor workers in north Alabama and at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)

Contracts

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $503.2 million modification to a previously issued delivery order placed against basic ordering agreement. This modification provides for air vehicle initial spares, to include F-35 deployment spares packages, afloat spares packages, and associated consumables required to support the air vehicle delivery schedules for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants. This modification combines purchases for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and 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. … SRI International, Menlo Park, Calif., was awarded a $91.1 million contract for digital video laboratory support. The contract provides for improvement and modernization of capabilities using digital data in support of the Air Force test mission. Air Force Test Center Specialized Contracting Branch, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (6/3 to 6/9)

The grand opening of a new maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Pensacola, Fla., the upcoming closing of a deal between Airbus and Bombardier that will bring a new assembly line to Mobile, Ala., and the assembly of a rocket engine at Stennis Space Center, Miss., for DARPA were among the key news items during the week for the Gulf Coast Aerospace region.

But before we get to that, I want to remind you we'll be publishing our eight-page June Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter next week. This one will provide updated information on the chapters that appeared in the aerospace corridor book published in June 2017. Enough has happened that it made sense to provide an update since our next reference book won't be published until June 2019 – a year from now.

OK, that settled, now for your week in review:

Airbus-Bombardier

The Airbus-Bombardier partnership, which will result in a final assembly line for CSeries jetliners in Mobile, will close July 1. The CSeries assembly line will be built north of the current Airbus A320 series assembly line at the Mobile Aeroplex.

All regulatory approvals required for the closing have been obtained, officials announced Friday. The deal gives Airbus a majority stake in the CSeries Aircraft Limited Partnership (CSALP).

The head office, primary assembly line and related functions will be based in Mirabel, Quebec. But the additional assembly line in Mobile will help the expected demand for the single-aisle jetliner. The deal was initially announced in October 2017. Bombardier delivered 17 aircraft in 2017, and is gearing up to double its deliveries in 2018. (Post)

Airbus itself is becoming an old hand at assembling and delivering A320 series jetliners at its Mobile plant. As of the end of last month 71 aircraft have been delivered to customers. It's building four planes a month. And spokeswoman Kristi Tucker said the company is excited about the Bombardier project.

"All of us at Airbus are excited to welcome the employees of the CSALP into the extended Airbus team, and to welcome the CSeries aircraft to Airbus' product offerings ... It will also be exciting to see us grow further in Mobile."

Airports

Meanwhile, to the east of Mobile, Pensacola, Fla., had its own celebration Friday.

The VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Pensacola International Airport held a grand opening with a ribbon-cutting at the hangar on the north side of the airport.

The $46 million project in Pensacola is the second MRO operation for VT MAE in the region. It has had an MRO in Mobile, Ala., since 1991, where it employs more than 1,000 people. The Pensacola facility will employ about 400.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott was on hand to mark the grand opening in Pensacola. Workers already have their first project, a UPS aircraft that's in the brand new hangar for routine maintenance. (Post)

-- In another Pensacola airport item, PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines, plans to open a new maintenance facility at Pensacola International Airport. It will create up to 35 jobs and support PSA's efforts to grow its fleet by about 20 aircraft.

PSA will be looking for mechanics, leads, inspectors and stores personnel. PSA said Pensacola International Airport was an ideal location for the new facility because the area provides a sustainable workforce, a strong local military presence and an abundance of technical schools.

PSA currently has maintenance facilities in Dayton, Canton and Cincinnati, Ohio; Norfolk, Va.; Charlotte, N.C.; Greenville, S.C.; and Savannah, Ga. (Post)

-- Allegiant Air announced during the week that it would be adding six new nonstop flights out of the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport. The flights will be to VPS from Bentonville, Ark.; Charlotte/Concord, N.C.; Evansville, Ind.; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. Allegiant also serves Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. (Post)

-- Three airports in the Gulf Coast region are among those awarded grants by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA will award $677 million in airport infrastructure grants, the first allotment of the total $3.18 billion in Airport Improvement Program funding for airports across the United States. The 241 grants will fund 346 infrastructure projects that include runways, taxiways, aprons, and terminals.

In this region, H.L. (Sonny) Callahan Airport in Fairhope, Ala., will receive a $3 million for construction of a taxiway. Baton Rouge Metropolitan will receive $4 million to improve the runway safety area. Picayune Municipal will receive $630 million to construct a taxiway and install taxiway lighting. (Post)

Space

At Stennis Space Center, Miss., Aerojet Rocketdyne has completed assembly of its first AR-22 rocket engine built for Boeing as part of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Experimental Spaceplane, called Phantom Express.

The AR-22, derived from the Space Shuttle Main Engine that was designed from the outset for reusability, is the main propulsion for Phantom Express. The AR-22 is capable of generating about 375,000 pounds of thrust and was designed to fly 55 missions with service every 10 missions.

The reusable Phantom Express will take off vertically and land horizontally. The vehicle will be equipped with an expendable second stage capable of placing up to 3,000 pounds of payload into low Earth orbit.

Aerojet Rocketdyne assembled the AR-22 at its facility at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, where it also will undergo a series of daily hot-fire tests starting this summer to demonstrate its ability to support the high flight rates envisioned for Phantom Express.

The tests will be used to refine Phantom Express flight and turnaround procedures. (Post)

Sale

In a deal expected to be finalized this summer pending regulatory approvals, L3 Crestview Aerospace will be sold to New York investment firm American Industrial Partners as part of a $540 million cash deal.

The investment firm will acquire two components of L3 Technologies – Vertex Aerospace, which includes L3 Crestview Aerospace, and TCS. Vertex Aerospace provides aviation logistics and aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services, and TCS provides engineering services and logistics support.

American Industrial Partners has a portfolio that includes Ascent Aerospace, Shape Technologies Group, Optimas, and REV.

L3 Technologies announced late last year that the Crestview plant, an aircraft component manufacturer that employs 500 people at Okaloosa Industrial Air Park, was up for sale. In addition to the Crestview plant, L3 Crestview Aerospace includes a plant in Chihuahua, Mexico, that produces sheet metal and parts for commercial aircraft. (Post)

Contracts

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $735.7 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract. This modification provides additional advance procurement funding for the procurement of long-lead time materials, parts, components, and effort in support of the F-35 Lightning II Low Rate Initial Production Lot 13 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps. The modification also provides economic order quantity funding for procurement of material and equipment that has completed formal hardware qualification testing for the F-35 program for use in procurement contracts to be awarded for the F-35 program low rate initial production Lots 13 and 14 for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps. 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 Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $14.4 million contract for emerging capabilities and analysis systems engineering to include programmatic, and logistics tasks that will analyze the F-35 air system's ability to meet future operational requirements, investigate cost and weight reduction program options, and conduct modeling and simulation activities. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $9.3 million delivery order for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) C++ Conversion Phase II. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Bell Boeing JPO, Amarillo, Texas, was awarded $47.4 million for a delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement. This delivery order procures non-recurring engineering, production, supportability, and management necessary to facilitate the incorporation of optimized wiring and structural improvements on the nacelle into the V-22 production line and via forced retrofit at the depot level of maintenance for previously delivered V-22 aircraft. Four percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, is the contracting activity.

Week in review (5/27 to 6/2)

The VT MAE maintenance, repair and overhaul facility will officially open next week at Pensacola International Airport. The $46 million MRO will provide jobs for 400 to 500 workers.

There will also be an open house Saturday, the day after the official opening.

VT MAE has its primary MRO operation in Mobile at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, where it’s been doing that kind of work since the 1990s. The new facility in Pensacola is an expansion. The company is part of VT Systems of Alexandria, Va., a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore-based ST Engineering.

Speaking of Mobile, that city next week will host the SEUS-CP Conference, a U.S.-Canadian trade conference that was scheduled well before the controversy over trade began to bubble up.

The Southeastern United States-Canadian Provinces event should have some lively discussions about trade since the Trump administration has imposed a tariff on steel and aluminum imports, and Canada has responded with tariffs on some U.S. goods.

Military

An MQ-9 Reaper squadron will be based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., by late 2019. It will be the second Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) installation to host a drone unit.

AFSOC's active-duty MQ-9 Reaper drone personnel have previously been assigned only to Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. The squadron will bring an additional 60 personnel to Hurlburt, according to the Air Force.

The unit is a Mission Control Element Squadron. Drone operations require two separate aircrews, a mission control element responsible for executing missions, and an aircrew to handle takeoffs and landings.

There's another drone unit at Hurlburt Field, the 2nd Special Operations Squadron, part of the Air Force Reserve’s 919th Special Operations Wing located at Duke Field near Crestview. It's been based at Hurlburt Field for four years. Its personnel fly drones remotely in various places around the world.

It was just six months ago that the Air Force announced plans to bring a drone squadron to Tyndall Air Force Base, 80 miles away near Panama City. (Post)

NASA

NASA selected 304 proposals from U.S. small businesses to advance research and technology in Phase I of its 2018 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and 44 proposals for the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, totaling $43.5 million in awards.

Those selections support NASA's future space exploration missions, while also benefiting the U.S. economy. Five selected SBIR proposals and four selected STTR proposals are being monitored by Stennis Space Center, Miss. The SBIR Phase I contracts last for six months and STTR Phase I contracts last for 13 months, both with a maximum funding of $125,000. (Post)

F-35 contracts

United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., was awarded $2 billion modification to a previously awarded contract in support of the F-35 Lightning II low-rate initial production Lot 11 aircraft. 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 Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded $46.6 million delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement. This delivery order provides for non-recurring engineering, the development of design documentation, and the creation of modification instructions. These efforts will support service life extension and enable the developmental test F-35 aircraft to maintain currency with delivered technology. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in June 2019. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.

Other contracts

Emerald Coast Utility Services Inc., Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., was awarded a maximum $13.8 million modification, incorporating the economic-price-adjustment agreement to the existing 50-year contract with no option periods, for the water/wastewater operations and maintenance and renewal and replacement utility service charge. Location of performance is Florida, with a June 14, 2067, performance completion date. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va. … Kaman Precision Products, Orlando, Fla., and Middletown, Conn., was awarded a $69.4 million contract modification to an already existing contract for exercising an option for the joint programmable fuze. Work will be performed in Orlando; and Middletown and is expected to be completed by June 1, 2020. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Pivotal Software Inc., San Francisco, Calif., was awarded a $47.5 million other transaction agreement. Work will be performed in San Francisco; Cambridge, Mass.; Denver, Colo.; Washington, D.C.; Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea; Shaw AFB, S.C.; Al Udeid AB, Qatar; Hickam AFB, Hawaii; Langley AFB, Va.; Ramstein AB, Germany; Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, and is expected to be completed by May 31, 2019. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Battle Management, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., is the agreement activity. … Raytheon Missile Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $14.1 million contract modification to a previously awarded contract for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile production Lot 32, for 18 additional AIM-120D missiles. Work will be performed in Tucson with an expected completion date of Jan. 31, 2021. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Air Dominance Contracting Office, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.