Week in review (8/12 to 8/18)

The August issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter published Tuesday and is now available for download. Two of the stories highlight the growth of maintenance, repair and overhaul activities in the Pensacola metro area.

One is about the effort to expand the MRO operations at Pensacola International Airport. It has one MRO right now, but the airport received preliminary approval for funding from Triumph Gulf Coast, the organization that distributes recovery money from the 2010 BP oil spill. The funding will be used to build three more hangars, two of them larger than the current hangar operate by Mobile-based ST Engineering Aerospace.

There's also a story about the development of an aviation park just outside Naval Air Station Whiting Field near Milton. The county received preliminary approval for funding from Triumph Gulf Coast for the park's infrastructure. Plans down the road call for an MRO hangar for smaller aircraft.

There is also a story about the recent Southeast Aerospace and Defense Conference in Mobile, where that city's aerospace footprint continues to grow. (Post)

If you follow our bimonthly newsletters you know that it focuses on activities in the Interstate 10 corridor between Southeast Louisiana and Northwest Florida. But every now and then we expand our coverage to include a wider area.

That will be the case in October when the newsletter focuses on aerospace and aviation training in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. The subject area is so large, this newsletter will be at least twice the size of our usual eight-page offering.

Speaking of things to come, the TecMEN Industry Day is scheduled for August 23 at the Emerald Coast Convention Center in Fort Walton Beach. TecMEN, by the way, is shorthand for Technology Coast Manufacturing and Engineering Network. Among other things, there will be a panel discussion about the outlook for the defense market.

Now for your week in review:

Space

In South Mississippi, NASA selected 20 research and technology proposals valued at $15 million from 19 American small businesses. Each is partnering with research institutions for Phase II of NASA’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program.

The winning projects include two supporting Stennis Space Center activities in South Mississippi. One is "Through Wall Wireless Intelligent Sensor and Health monitoring," developed by American GNC Corp. of Simi Valley, Calif., an Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York.

The other is "High Performance Simulation Tool for Multiphysics Propulsion Using Fidelity-Adaptive Combustion Modeling," developed by Streamline Numerics, Inc. of Gainesville, Fla., and Stanford University of Stanford, Calif.

Phase II is focused on the development, demonstration and delivery of the innovation, and winners are chosen as a result of competitive evaluations. Phase II contracts last for 24 months with a maximum funding of $750,000. (Post)

-- Operators conducted a successful test of RS-25 developmental engine No. 0525, along with a new flight controller unit, on the A-1 Test Stand early in the week. The hot fire was the first RS-25 test at Stennis Space Center since February, when operators powered the engine to its highest operating level ever. This test was supposed to be for 500 seconds, but was aborted at 319 seconds because of a facilities issue.

It also was the first test of developmental engine No. 0525 since August 2015. It marked the first in a series of nine scheduled tests on engine No. 0525 through the rest of the year and into 2019. Four RS-25 engines will power the NASA Space Launch System, designed to take astronauts on deep-space missions. (Post)

Contracts
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $480 million contract for air-launched rapid response weapon critical design review and test and production readiness support. Work will be performed in Orlando and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2021. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $26.1 million order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement. This order provides for non-recurring engineering activities associated with the F-35 Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS) Security Architecture Phase III design, development, integration and test of the ALIS Sovereign Data Management (SDM) system in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and F-35 international partners. Work will be performed in Texas and Florida, and is expected to be completed in June 2020. 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. … The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded $17 million for a delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement. This order is for the retrofit documentation and kits to convert nine F/A-18E and two F/A-18F aircraft into a Blue Angel configuration. Work will be performed in St. Louis and is expected to be completed in December 2021. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. The Blue Angels are headquartered at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.