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

It's going to be a long haul for Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

The Air Force says it will take up to five years to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Michael in October. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said at the Nov. 15 Defense One Summit that the hurricane damaged 95 percent of the base's buildings.

Missions will return to the base over the next three months, including the Air Operations Center. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., some 60 miles west of Tyndall, has taken Tyndall's F-22 flying training unit, including T-38 trainers. The F-22 schoolhouse for pilots in training has also be moved to Eglin.

All the F-22 Raptors left behind during the storm because they were in various states of maintenance and repair have moved to the other bases until their future destination is determined. (Post)

Airbus

Airbus during the week named HPM as its program manager for planning, design and construction of its new A220 assembly line at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley. HPM also will be responsible for the expansion of Airbus' current facilities to accommodate the expected increase in A320 series production.

Construction on facilities for the A320 expansion and new A220 production has begun, and construction for a main A220 flow line building is expected to begin next year. A220 jetliner assembly is planned to start in 2019, using a combination of the existing and expanded Airbus facilities at Brookley to enable the first A220 delivery from Mobile to take place in 2020.

HPM, with offices in Birmingham, Huntsville, Auburn and Mobile, Ala., Atlanta, Dallas and Tampa, worked with Airbus in Mobile more than a decade ago with the Airbus Engineering Center. It was also program manager for the A320 series production facility, which was completed in 2015, and the ST Engineering Aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Pensacola, Fla. (Post)

Space

NASA during the week conducted a full-power, full-duration 650-second RS-25 engine test on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Operators fired development engine No. 0525 to a 113 percent thrust level for 60 seconds during the test, the second time they have achieved the highest RS-25 power level. Engineers first fired development engine No. 0528 to that level during a February test at Stennis Space Center.

Four RS-25 engines will help power NASA's Space Launch System, supplying a combined 2 million pounds of thrust and working in conjunction with a pair of solid rocket boosters to provide more than 8 million pounds of thrust. RS-25 tests at Stennis are conducted by a combined team of NASA, Aerojet Rocketdyne and Syncom Space Services operators. Aerojet Rocketdyne is the RS-25 prime contractor. Syncom Space Services is the prime contractor for Stennis facilities and operations. (Post)

Airports

The Northwest Beaches International Airport soon will have a new addition when The St. Joe Company breaks ground in early 2019 on a 110- to 125-room hotel on the airport grounds.

The hotel, including a restaurant, bar and meeting rooms, will be built adjacent to the now-closed covered parking facility on the north side of West Bay Parkway, St. Joe President and CEO Jorge Gonzalez said.

The airport’s passenger traffic was cited as the reason behind the hotel. In 2017, passenger traffic with the airport’s four operating airlines surpassed 900,000 passengers for the first time at the eight-year-old airport. The company hopes to open the new hotel in early 2020. (Post)

Contracts – F-35

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded three contracts during the week in connection with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, is the contracting activity for all three contracts.

The largest was a $22.7 billion contract modification to a previously awarded advanced acquisition contract for 255 aircraft. This modification provides for the production and delivery of 106 F-35 aircraft for the U.S. services (64 F-35As Air Force; 26 F-35Bs Marine Corps; 16 F-35Cs Navy); 89 F-35s for non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants (71 F-35As, 18 F-35 Bs); and 60 F-35s for Foreign Military Sales customers (60 F-35As). Work will be performed in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, and various locations outside the continental U.S., and is expected to be completed in March 2023.

The next largest was a $348.8 million contract for infrastructure to support developmental laboratory facilities and flight test activities in support of F-35 development, production and sustainment. Work will be performed in California, Maryland, and Texas and is expected to be completed in March 2020. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force (40 percent); Marine Corps (20 percent); Navy (20 percent) and non-DOD participants (20 percent).

The other contract is an $83.1 million contract action that provides for the development, integration, certification, and testing of dual capable aircraft capability to include hardware and software into the Air Force F-35A. Work will be performed in Texas, California and Missouri and is expected to be completed in February 2024.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center.

Other contracts

Lockheed Martin Corp., Owego, N.Y., was awarded a $382 million contract that provides for the production and delivery of eight MH-60R aircraft as well as associated systems engineering and program management support. Eight percent of the work will be done in Troy, Ala. Other work sites are in New York and Connecticut. Work is expected to be completed in September 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $172.1 million contract for long range anti-ship missiles (LRASMs) Lot 2 production. The contract allows for the production of 50 LRASMs. Work will be performed in Orlando and is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2021. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Kaman Precision Products Inc., Orlando, Fla., and Middletown, Conn., was awarded a $52 million contract modification for the Joint Programmable Fuzes. The contract modification is for the purchase of an additional 15,000 fuzes being produced under the basic contract. Work will be performed in Orlando and Middletown and is expected to be completed by June 1, 2020. Total cumulative face value of the contract is $225.4 million. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $35 million contract modification for contractor logistic support of the Air Force C-12 fleet. Work will be performed in Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, Maryland, California, New Mexico, Alaska, Argentina, Botswana, Brazil, Columbia, Egypt, Ghana, Honduras, Hungary, Kenya, Morocco, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey and Japan. Work is expected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2018. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Tinker AFB, Okla., is the contracting activity. … EMR Inc., Niceville, Fla., was awarded a $16.9 million task order under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract for renovations to Colmer Dining Facility Building 367 at Naval Construction Battalion Center Gulfport, Miss. Work will be performed in Gulfport and is expected to be completed by Nov. 2021. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (11/4 to 11/10)

The shift in passenger service from Mobile Regional Airport to the downtown airport at the Mobile Aeroplex is still way in the future, but a step towards that has been taken by the Mobile Airport Authority.

The MAA last week gave conditional approval to contracts for development of a terminal at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley. “Terminal 1” would be used by low-cost carrier ViaAir and cost roughly $7 million - $5 million for the building and parking and the rest for FAA-required fencing and security. The MAA chose remodeling an existing building over building a temporary structure.

The new terminal will bring commercial passenger service to the complex near downtown Mobile in six months. Until it can use the downtown terminal, the carrier will use Mobile Regional for its service to Orlando. (Post)

Meanwhile, over in Louisiana, there was a ceremonial groundbreaking at Lafayette Regional Airport for a new terminal. The airport was constructed in the 1950’s and was renovated in the 80’s, but after a record number of passengers in 2017, the expansion was considered necessary.

The airport executive director said the current terminal can’t easily expand, but the new one will be built with the future in mind. It will be 110,000 square feet, larger than the current 62,000 square-foot terminal. Construction will take about two-and-a-half years. (Post)

Space

Stratolaunch successfully tested a component of its hydrogen-fueled rocket engine with the pre-burner hot-fire test last week at NASA’s Stennis Space Center rocket engine test facility in South Mississippi.

The pre-burner serves as the smaller of two combustion chambers in the hydrogen-fueled PGA rocket engine. The name PGA is from the initials of the company's founder Paul G. Allen, who recently passed away.

The Microsoft co-founder launched the company with aerospace engineer and entrepreneur Burt Rutan in 2011 with the aim of providing flexible, low-cost access to space.

Stratolaunch did not disclose how long the test firing lasted, but the company said the duration and power levels of the pre-burner tests would be increased over the coming months. (Post)

Contracts

Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $350 million increase to a contract for Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) production support. The contractor will provide lifecycle support for all efforts related to JASSM, Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, JASSM-Extended Range, and any JASSM variant in the areas of system upgrades, integration, production, sustainment, management and logistical support. Work will be performed in Orlando and is expected to be completed by April 17, 2022. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (10/28 to 11/3)

If there was a major take-away from the two-day Aerospace Alliance Summit at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, Ala., it was that the aerospace sector in this region is on a growth trajectory, and that steps need to be taken to ensure the workforce pipeline is filled.

More than 100 folks participated in the annual event that focuses on issues important to the industry in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. One of the presentations Friday was by Paul Gaskell, who is heading up the Airbus A220 final assembly line project in Mobile.

The A220 project along with the expected growth of the A320 production rate will double the size of the Airbus footprint at the Mobile Aeroplex over the next few years, he said. The current assembly line is doing four jetliners a month and will deliver its 100th A320 jetliner in December to Frontier Airlines. That plane is currently on the assembly line. The Mobile plant will build its first extended range A321 next year, Gaskell said.

As for the A220 line, right now they are finalizing construction plans. Haskell said during the summit that with the A320 assembly line it took three years from project launch to start of assembly. For the A220, it will be 13 months. Like the A320 assembly line, major sections will be brought to Mobile from a variety of locations, including Belfast, Montreal and Italy.

Airbus has committed to going to an annual rate 60 A320s by mid-2019, up from the current 48. “Getting to rate 60 is an extremely difficult task, especially in Europe,” said Gaskell. “But here, we have room to grow, and therefore, I can’t announce anything, but we will definitely grow in Alabama.”

Airbus is working towards creating a technical school of its own that would help provide it with the larger workforce it expects it will need with the ramp up of the A320 production line and the new A220 production line. The school was mentioned Thursday by Stephanie Burt, director of Human Resources for the Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility at the Mobile Aeroplex. Airbus currently has 480 direct employees and will be hiring 400 to 500 workers for the new A220 assembly line and another 150 for the A320 line as production ramps up to meet customer demand.

She said that at this point Airbus has enough qualified applicants, but that will not necessarily be the case in the future with so many jobs that will be created. The school would open next year and will not be a technical school in the traditional sense of a two-year college, but rather a place where someone who went to a two-year school could come and be assessed over three- to five-week program before being put in a position at the plant or “you come to us with nothing and in 12 weeks we have you capable to go out and do some OJT (on-the-job-training).” (Post)

While Mobile’s footprint is clearly growing, to the east in Pensacola, Fla., growth is also in the cards. ST Engineering and the city of Pensacola signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for additional maintenance, repair and overhaul hangars at Pensacola International Airport, adjacent to a 173,500 square-foot hangar that opened this summer. It will bring about 1,000 additional aerospace jobs to Pensacola.

ST Engineering will invest $35 million in the $210 million project. The MOU was signed Oct. 27 in Singapore. Under the agreement, ST Engineering and the city of Pensacola will develop the MRO complex over four years after the formalization of definitive agreements. The 655,000 square-foot design-to-build complex will consist of three state-of-the-art widebody aircraft hangars and an administration building. Since opening in June 2018, the current facility has already redelivered 25 aircraft. (Post)

Tech park

Setting up a Community Redevelopment Agency or business improvement district at the Fort Walton Beach Commerce and Technology Park could generate money to help pay for improvements, including more buildings.

That's according to City Manager Michael Beedie. The park is home to about 70 businesses, ranging from Fortune 100 companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin to local-based businesses like Props Craft Brewery and Fort Walton Machining.

“When you have an aging asset and you’re not tuned into competitive realities, a great jewel can pass you by if you don’t try to chart a new path,” said Nathan Sparks, executive director of the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County.

Beedie and Sparks said much of the park’s long-term future will be guided by its ongoing master plan, a draft version of which will be presented to the City Council on Nov. 13. (Post)

Tyndall

Members of the Florida Defense Support Task Force have toured Tyndall Air Force Base to survey the considerable damage caused by Hurricane Michael. Officials say Tyndall should be up and running by January.

Jay Trumbull, state representative and chair for the task force, said Tyndall's needs will be met with a significant structural rebuild. The task force, which has an interest in all military installations in the state, offers support on a state level. Rep. Neal Dunn said the rebuild will mean a brand new Tyndall, updated to the needs of the 21st century. Currently around 35 percent of infrastructure on base has significant damage. (Post)

Contracts

Lockheed Martin Aerospace Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $130.4 million modification to a previously awarded contract in support of the F35 Block 4 Pre-modernization Phase II effort. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in March 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. ... Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, also was awarded a $64.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract that exercises an option to procure one lot of F-35 training devices for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Florida, Virginia, Oregon, Ohio, California, and the United Kingdom and is expected to be completed in July 2021. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. ... Lockheed Martin Space, Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $129.5 million contract under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Under this new contract, the contractor will provide maintenance and sustainment for two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense Batteries for UAE. The work will be performed in California, Alabama, Florida and the United Arab Emirates, with an expected period of performance of Nov. 1, 2018, through July 2, 2021. The Missile Defense Agency, Huntsville, Ala., is the contracting activity ... Multiple companies, including Science and Management Resources Inc., of Pensacola, Fla., were awarded a ceiling $473 million contract for the Air Force Enterprise Contracted Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratories Services II. Work will be performed at various Air Force bases in the continental U.S. and outside the continental U.S., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2028. Headquarters Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center, Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., is the contracting activity. ... General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Va., was awarded a $54.4 million modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides integrated logistics support for multiple foreign military sales (FMS) customers using purchased Navy defense articles including weapon systems, various aircraft, and other components procured under FMS programs. Work will be performed in at Patuxent River, Md. (52 percent); Philadelphia, Pa. (11 percent); Jacksonville, Fla. (2.5 percent); Pensacola, Fla. (1.5 percent); Mechanicsburg, Pa. (1 percent); various locations within the continental U.S. (4 percent); and various locations outside the continental U.S. (28 percent), and is expected to be completed in October 2019. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, is the contracting activity.