Here’s your week in review:
Economic development
A Pensacola, Fla., city selection committee ranked four firms that could oversee building the $210 million expansion of the ST Engineering maintenance, repair and overhaul campus at Pensacola International Airport.
The No. 1 company was Birmingham, Ala.-based Brasfield and Gorrie partnering with local Greenhut Construction Co. Greenhut was the construction manager on the first $46 million ST Engineering hangar that opened in 2018.
The company selected will build the next aircraft maintenance hangar, Hangar 2, but the same company could be in charge of the entire project if everything goes well on during construction of Hangar 2. (Post)
Unmanned
Northrop Grumman plans to more than double production capacity for the RQ-4 Global Hawk and MQ-4C Triton unmanned air vehicles to 12 aircraft per year in anticipation of growing demand for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform.
The manufacturer is adding production capacity to its Site 7 facilities in Palmdale, Calif. It will start production out of a recently remodeled building the week of Aug. 26. The building is on the grounds of United States Air Force Plant 42 and was previously a manufacturing facility for the Northrop F-5 fighter.
Northrop Grumman has lined up six customers for variants of its high altitude long endurance UAV: The U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, NATO, South Korea, Japan and the Royal Australian Air Force.
The company previously produced between three to five RQ-4 Global Hawk or MQ-4C Triton aircraft per year. Typically it takes 162 to 174 days to build the UAV: 150 days to build the fuselage in Moss Point, Miss. and 12 to 24 days for final assembly in Palmdale, the firm says. (Post)
Airbus
Airbus Helicopters delivered on Aug. 19 the 200th UH-72A Lakota for training with the Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Ala. Airbus Helicopters of Columbus, Miss., has built more than 550 aircraft for the U.S. government since 2006.
The UH-72A Lakota is a derivative of the EC145 twin-engine rotorcraft, and is operated by U.S. Navy, U.S. Army and other various military units worldwide. To date, the Lakota fleet has amassed more than 600,000 flight hours. (Post)
Space
Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) has selected United Launch Alliance (ULA) as the launch vehicle provider for the Dream Chaser spacecraft's six NASA missions to the International Space Station. Dream Chaser will launch aboard ULA's Vulcan Centaur rockets for its cargo resupply and return services to the space station, starting in 2021.
Under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) contract, the Dream Chaser will deliver more than 12,000 pounds of pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the space station and remain attached for up to 75 days as an orbiting laboratory.
Once the mated mission is complete, the Dream Chaser disposes about 7,000 pounds of space station trash and returns large quantities of critical science, accessible within minutes after a gentle runway landing.
Vulcan Centaur is a new class of space launch vehicle with the performance of a heavy launch vehicle in just a single core.
ULA in 2018 chose Blue Origin's BE-4 engine to power Vulcan. In 2014 ULA announced it was partnering with Blue Origin to partially fund the BE-4 development. BE-4 components have been tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and some of the Dream Chaser work has been done at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. (Post)
Military
Two Blue Angel jets touched mid-air during a recent practice at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. According to the Navy, the No. 3 canopy made momentary contact with the underside of No. 1's outer wing during the Diamond 360 maneuver.
There were no injuries. An initial damage assessment of the aircraft found a "minimal scratch" on the No. 3 canopy. (Post)
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded three contracts related to the F-35 during the week. It was awarded a $2.4 billion modification to a previously awarded contract for F-35 initial spares for the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, non-U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) participants, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Texas, California, New York, New Hampshire, Florida, Iowa, Arizona, Connecticut, Maryland, Illinois, Georgia, the United Kingdom, and The Netherlands. It also was awarded a $32.1 million modification to a delivery order under a previously issued against basic ordering agreement. This award procures modification kits and special tooling for modification and retrofit of delivered F-35 for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in June 2025. In the third contract, Lockheed was awarded a $12 million modification to a delivery order under a previously issued against basic ordering agreement. This award procures modification kits for modification and retrofit of delivered F-35 for the Air Force and Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in December 2021. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for all three Lockheed contracts. … BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems, Nashua, N.H., was awarded a $75 million contract to procure 1,440 Radio Frequency Countermeasures and the maintenance and repair of multi-function test stations in support of the F-35 aircraft. Work will be performed in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, and New Jersey. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. … Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., Stratford, Conn., was awarded $48.3 million order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement to procure spare parts to repair and maintain CH-53K low-rate initial production Lot Three configuration aircraft. Fort Walton Beach, Fla. will do 2.32% of the work. Other work sites are in Quebec, Canada, Connecticut, New York, West Virginia, Missouri, Ohio, Iowa, United Kingdom and other locations. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
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