The last issue was published in 2017, and the two years since then has seen a lot of activity, including a second passenger jet assembly line in Mobile, an expansion of the maintenance, repair and overhaul campus in Pensacola and a number of new aerospace and aviation education and training programs.
Much of the reference book involves updating numbers from the previous issue, like the replacement value of the military properties in the Gulf Coast region. We also have updated figures for the number of contracts and value of those contracts in each of the counties and parishes in our coverage area.
We have one chapter that highlights the fast-growing Mobile-Pensacola metro areas in the center of the corridor, where we have two overlapping clusters, one for aircraft manufacturing and the other aircraft maintenance. It’s the hot-spot for aviation jobs, with more than 2,000 that will be needed in the next couple of years.
Our chapter on military aviation details the activities at the Navy and Air Force bases that dot the region, and the changes that are resulting from the pounding Tyndall Air Force Base took from Hurricane Michael in 2018. Among other things, the F-22 training has gone away, but the region will be getting more F-35s.
The education chapter will update the wealth of information that was published in October 2018 in the special 36-page edition of our bimonthly newsletter. Since that newsletter, several training programs have been launched to help meet the demand for workers in the aerospace industry.
Out space chapter will fill you in on our region's contribution to both government and commercial space ventures. It has information on the huge technology park NASA is eyeing for the region, and the move by one group to get an airport licensed as a spaceport.
We also have for the first time since 2014 a chapter on airports in the region. They are often the first places visitors see, and they are magnets where a lot of the aerospace and aviation development is taking place.
So visit our website Tuesday and download a PDF copy. It’s free, thanks to the underwriters who support the project.
On a solemn note, this past week was the anniversary for two significant events from World War II. June 6 was the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, where so many brave soldiers lost their lives on the beaches of Normandy. Some 11 months later the war in Europe was over.
June 7 was the 77th anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the turning point of the war in the Pacific. The decisive U.S. naval victory came six months after Pearl Harbor at a time when we were still not at our peak strength and badly needed a win.
World War II will always stand out in my mind. My dad was in the Army Air Corps and fought in Europe with so many others. Other relatives also served. The generation that followed owed everything to them. So I will never forget. Thank you.
Now for your week in review:
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $1.8 billion contract for continued design maturation and development of Block 4 capabilities in support of the F-35 Phase 2.3 Pre-Modernization for the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps; and non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in August 2026. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … NASA has selected four companies to provide real property master planning (RPMP) for the agency, as needed for all 10 NASA centers. The companies are: HB&A – The Schreifer Group Joint Venture of Colorado Springs, Colo.; The Urban Collaborative of Eugene, Oregon; Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. of Atlanta; and Michael Baker International Inc. of Moon Township, Pa. The maximum potential value of this contract will not exceed $24 million for work that starts June 15, 2019, and extends for five years, with three one-year options.
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