Week in review (11/24 to 11/30)

Airbus celebrated the 100th A220 aircraft produced for a customer during a ceremony at Mirabel, Canada. The A220-300 is destined for Latvia-based airBaltic, and features a new cabin layout with 149 seats.

The A220 series is assembled at the main final assembly line in Mirabel, and more recently a second assembly line in Mobile, Ala. The world’s first A220, formerly called the CSeries, was delivered in June 2016.

Close to 100 A220s are in operation with six companies on four continents. At the end of October 2019, the aircraft had received 530 firm orders from over 20 customers worldwide. (press release)

In another item during the week, the Orion spacecraft left Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., Nov. 24 aboard a Super Guppy aircraft for testing at the world’s largest thermal vacuum chamber. The Super Guppy landed at Mansfield, Ohio and the Orion was transfer to NASA’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

In two phases of testing at NASA’s Glenn Test Center, engineers and technicians from Airbus, the European Space Agency (ESA), Lockheed Martin and NASA will put the spacecraft through simulations of extreme space conditions.

In the two-month thermal test Orion's electrical systems will be switched on and operated under vacuum and in temperatures which simulate the environmental conditions in space. The second phase is an electromagnetic compatibility test, which lasts about 14 days.

In recent months the Orion crew module and the service module were mated at KSC. If the Ohio tests are successful, Orion will return to KSC, where further tests and preparations for integration with the Space Launch System (SLS) will start before the launch of Artemis I at the end of 2020. The plan for Artemis I is to have the uncrewed spacecraft travel once around the Moon and back to Earth.

Airbus in Bremen, Germany, is already building the second Orion Service Module, with which astronauts will fly to the Moon and back to Earth. ESA's European Service Module will provide propulsion, power, air and water for the astronauts, as well as thermal control of the entire spacecraft. (press release)

Contract – engineering services

Schmidt-Prime Group LLC, Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $30 million contract for professional architectural and engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast area of operations (AO).

The work to be performed provides for preparation of professional architectural and engineering services for preparation of design-bid-build documents and design-build request for proposals for various project types at Department of Defense (DoD) and non-DoD activities in the NAVFAC Southeast AO.

Initial task order is being awarded at $441,467 to provide engineering services to update the installation DD Form 1391 project documentation and prepare the region team final DD Form 1391 for the Advanced Helicopter Training System at Naval Air Station, Whiting Field, Milton, Fla.

Work for this task order is expected to be completed by March 2020. All work on this contract will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps installations in the NAVFAC Southeast AO including, but not limited to, Florida (20%); Georgia (17%); South Carolina (15%); Louisiana (10%); Mississippi (10%); Texas (10%); Andros Island, Bahamas (5%); Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (5%); Tennessee (3%); Alabama (1%); Arkansas (1%); Kansas (1%); Missouri (1%); and Oklahoma (1%), and is expected to be completed by November 2024.

NAVFAC Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Contract – F-35

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded an $831 million modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the production and delivery of 15 lot 14 F-35A aircraft and associated red gear in support of the government of Australia. Work will be performed in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, the United Kingdom, and Italy, and various locations outside the continental U.S., and is expected to be completed in March 2023. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, also was awarded a $328 million contract to procure long lead material, parts and components in support of the Lot 15 production and delivery of 48 F-35A Lightning II aircraft for the Air Force. Work will be performed in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, and the United Kingdom, and is expected to be completed in June 2023. … Pratt & Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a $522 million contract modification. This modification provides performance based logistics sustainment in support of the F-35 Lightning II F135 propulsion system for the Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants and foreign military sales (FMS) customers. Two percent of the work will be done at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Other work locations are Connecticut, Oklahoma, California, Utah, Arizona, South Carolina, and Italy, and is expected to be completed in November 2020. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for all three contracts.

Contracts: Munitions/trainers

The Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $386 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the total package approach (TPA) to the Paveway Family of Weapons. The contract action provides a TPA for Paveway-specific activities including, but not limited to: studies, production, certification, integration and sustainment. Work will be performed at Tucson and Air Force test ranges. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Direct Attack Branch, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $77 million contract for contractor operated and maintained base supply of the Air Education and Training Command fleet of 178 T-1A trainer aircraft. Work will be performed at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas; Laughlin AFB, Texas; Vance AFB, Okla.; Columbus AFB, Miss., and Pensacola Naval Air Station, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2020. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (11/17 to 11/23)

Training Air Wing 5 marked a milestone in naval aviation Friday when the 35,000th rotary wing student naval aviator walked across the stage at Naval Air Station Whiting Field to receive his Wings of Gold.

Lt. j.g. Robert Woods of Northlake, Ill., walked off the stage at the Lassen Auditorium as the Navy’s newest helicopter pilot. He joined 22 other students in achieving the designation. The plaque he received is typical of the wit displayed by naval aviators.

"Through no great effort of your own and by no selection means other than being near the bottom of the alphabet during your winging class, you are hereby selected as the 35,000th rotary wing aviator. Congratulations, this number should be easy to remember."

It’s funny, but the true achievement is the number itself. In the 76-plus years of naval helicopter training, for the last 46 years that training has been done at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla.

Woods will go on to fly the MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter with the Airwolves of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron Forty in Jacksonville, Fla. (Post)

-- Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Chris Grove, a special tactics combat controller assigned as the 720th Special Tactics Group based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., was awarded the nation’s third-highest medal for gallantry against an armed enemy, the Silver Star.

He was originally awarded the Bronze Star in October 2008, but due to a review of awards within the 24th Special Operations Wing, he was upgraded to a Silver Star.

The action occurred in November 2007 during a reconnaissance patrol in Afghanistan. Grove was able to call in air strikes against the Taliban that had taken uphill positions. delivered thousands of pounds of munition, securing the safety of his joint and partner forces. Lt. Gen. Jim Slife, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, presented the medal during a ceremony, November 15. (Post)

-- The "Sabrehawks" of Training Squadron (VT) 86 held a change-of-command ceremony Nov. 14 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, where Cmdr. Eric Reeves relieved Cmdr. Joshua Fuller as commanding officer.

During his tenure, Fuller saw 224 Naval Flight Officers received their Wings of Gold and together accumulated more than 19,000 hours in the T-45C Goshawk jet trainer. Fuller, a graduate of Samford University in Alabama, earned his wings in December 2001. Reeves is a native of Baldwinsville, N.Y., and a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate earning his commission through the Navy ROTC program. He earned his wings in 2003 as a naval flight officer.

Cmdr. George Zintak, a native of Chicago, will assume the role of executive officer. VT-86 graduates complete follow-on training with fleet replacement squadrons to prepare them for future fleet aircraft including the F/A-18 Hornet/Super Hornet and E/A-18G Growler. (Post)

Contracts

United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Engines, East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a $762.5 million to a previously awarded contract. This modification exercises options for the Lot 14 production and delivery of 48 F135-PW-100 propulsion systems for the Air Force and 10 F135-PW-600 propulsion systems for the Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Connecticut, Indiana, and the United Kingdom and is expected to be completed in April 2022. 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. … Raytheon Missiles Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $72 million contract for advanced medium range air to air missile (AMRAAM) technical support. Work will be performed in Tucson and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2025. The Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., also was awarded an $11 million modification to a previously awarded contract for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) Production program. Work will be performed in Tucson and is expected to be complete by Dec. 15, 2021. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (11/10 to 11/16)

Will NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., take on yet one more role in the future?

Perhaps.

Earlier this month U.S. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., introduced the Licensing Innovations and Future Technologies in Space (LIFTS) Act.

According to the press release, the bill would modernize training for the federal commercial space licensing workforce and promote collaboration with academia and industry by creating a centralized training facility for safety and licensing personnel.

The new facility would be at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, just across the Louisiana state line.

"Stennis Space Center is the perfect location for training more space professionals to certify the growing demand for commercial space launches in the United States," Wicker said in the release. "This legislation would help ensure the U.S. remains the leader in the commercial space industry and would expand Mississippi's contributions to the future of space exploration and research."

"The federal oversight and licensing of commercial space technologies will require a workforce qualified to certify the safety and efficiency of those breakthroughs. The LIFTS Act would tap the expertise based at the Stennis Space Center to establish a facility to meet this critical need," Hyde-Smith said.

The LIFTS Act would establish a facility to train federal employees to license commercial space activities. The training program would be coordinated between the Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, the commercial space industry, and academic partners. (Release)

Stennis Space Center is packed with activities. It's where NASA and commercial companies test rocket engines. Some rocket engines are also assembled there, and a California-based company plans to print 3D rockets there. It's  also home to some 40 tenants involved in a variety of fields, including oceanography.

A tip-of-the-hat to Ed, who drew my attention to this story.

By the way, if you decide to look up the LIFTS Act on the internet, don't confuse it with something called the LIFT Act. That's a plan by Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to provide a cash payment to middle-class households.

Speaking of space, all four RS-25 engines were recently mated to the core stage for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis I, the first mission of SLS and NASA's Orion spacecraft.

To complete assembly of the rocket stage, engineers and technicians are now integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure. The stage, which includes two huge propellant tanks, provides more than 2 million pounds of thrust to send Artemis I to the Moon.

Engineers and technicians at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans attached the fourth RS-25 engine to the rocket stage Nov. 6 just one day after structurally mating the third engine. (Post)

Military

The Air Force identified the missing airman who fell out of a C-130 over the Gulf of Mexico during a training exercise as 29-year-old Special Tactics combat controller Staff Sgt. Cole Condiff.

The Dallas native fell about 1,500 feet from the plane during a parachute training exercise. His parachute was deployed and he was seen treading water. Condiff was with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, 24th Special Operations Wing. (Post)

Contracts

Raytheon Co. Missile Systems Division, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $18.6 million modification exercising the first option year of three options to previously awarded FA8675-19-C-0004 for fiscal 2020 High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) Targeting System (HTS) Contractor Logistics Support (CLS) services. Work will be performed at Tucson and is expected to be completed by Nov. 30, 2020. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (11/3 to 11/9)

Late last month NASA selected Tuskegee University (TU), the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) and Virginia State University (VSU) in Petersburg for a NASA program to provide students at minority-serving institutions the education and experience needed to help address manufacturing needs in the American aerospace sector.

Tuskegee will focus on 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing. It will work with Bell Helicopter and NASA to accelerate the integration of 3D printing into high-volume aerospace manufacturing and supply chain management for helicopters and drones.

Bell will identify critical helicopter parts and work with TU to develop a complete business case for the use of 3D printing in the manufacture of those parts. In the drone track, TU will incorporate 3D printing into the design, build, and test phases of drone development to improve the functionality and performance of these aircraft. The work will be conducted in increments to allow for continuous assessment of the quality performance of 3D-printed parts.

Bell has a manufacturing operation in Ozark, Ala., which produces the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. The Ozark site also has been selected by Bell to build the 407GXi, should Bell win the competition to build the new Navy helicopter trainer that will replace the TH-57. Airbus Helicopter's H135 and Leonardo Helicopter's TH-119 are also in the running.

In addition to the 3D printing effort at Tuskegee, UTEP is partnering with Lockheed Martin and the Army to create a manufacturing ecosystem in the southwest that addresses a skills shortage. The partnership will provide curricula, internships and apprenticeships in design and production of composites and PCBs. And at VSU, it will create a pilot program to advance research, education, and outreach to undergraduate and graduate students at VSU and Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Va., focused on advancing on all fronts of manufacturing in this sector.

The NASA program will provide almost $1.5 million to fund curriculum-based learning, research, training, internships and apprenticeships at the three universities to meet the growing demand for expertise and techniques in high-volume aerospace manufacturing.

You can read more about this in the news release.

A special tip-of-the-hat to loyal reader Freddie, who drew my attention to this story.

Military

An Air Force airman who fell out of the C-130 he was flying in over the Gulf of Mexico still hasn't been found. The search is now considered a recovery effort, and it's focused on an area south of the Florida Panhandle between Destin and Pensacola, Fla.

The plane was based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., near Mary Esther. Officials received the report that the airman from the 24th Special Operations Wing fell into the water on Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. The staff sergeant was in training at the time and fell from the aircraft at about 1,500 feet. His name has not yet been released. Others in the plane saw the airman's parachute deploy and that he was treading water once he landed. (Post)

-- The Blue Angels are wrapping up another season with a Homecoming Air Show Saturday at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The Blue Angels fly at about 2 p.m. There was also a show Friday. (Post)

Contracts

UTS Systems LLC, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded a maximum $200 million contract for commercial shelters. This is a one-year base contract with three one-year option periods. Location of performance is Florida, with a Nov. 7, 2020, performance completion date. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pa.

Week in review (10/27 to 11/2)

Major changes continue in the aerospace industry, and the latest is of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region. Bombardier's aerospace operations in Northern Ireland, Morocco and Texas, are being sold to Kansas-based Spirit AeroSystems in a deal valued at $1.1 billion.

The Canadian company put the factories up for sale in May as part of a reorganization drive. The three operations have a combined total of some 4,000 employees, with about 3,600 of them in the Northern Ireland Belfast operation.

Spirit is a major supplier to Airbus and Boeing. Earlier this year the company said it wanted to do more work for Airbus. Buying Bombardier's Northern Ireland operation is part of that strategy.

The wings for the A220 are made at the Belfast plant and it also supplies other Airbus parts, particularly engine covers. The Texas operation being purchased is a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Dallas. (Stories: BBC, Financial Times, Bombardier)

Airbus earlier this year expressed some interest in buying the Belfast plant. In May Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury said that this would be an option for Airbus, effectively leading to the manufacturer taking control of the wing production for its A220 airliner, as well as engine covers for its A320 series.

Purchase of the Belfast operation would have added to Airbus’s operations in the UK, which include wing manufacture for most of its commercial aircraft products at Broughton, North Wales, as well as production and design of wings at Filton, near Bristol. (Previous post)

In June, Bombardier said it would sell its regional jet business to Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd (MHI) for $550 million in cash. That marked the Canadian plane and train maker’s exit from commercial aviation. Montreal-based Bombardier had combined its aviation units to focus more on profitable business jets and passenger rail cars, after facing a cash-crunch in 2015 while bringing its flagship commercial jet to market. Bombardier will continue to assemble its regional jet planes (CRJ), but will stop making the aircraft in the second half of 2020 after delivering its remaining orders. (Previous post)

Bombardier last year agreed to make Airbus a majority partner in a partnership that builds the A220, the former Bombardier CSeries. That partnership led to the creation of a new A220 assembly line in Mobile, Ala.

Contracts – F-35
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $7 billion modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the procurement of 114 F-35 aircraft for Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy; non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers.

Work will be performed in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Japan, and various locations outside the continental U.S. and is expected to be completed in March 2023.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, also was awarded a $10.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract. This modification provides for the development and delivery of an enhanced simulator database and project management support for the F-35 aircraft in support of the government of Japan.

The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for both contracts. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an F-35 training center and F-35 reprogramming labs.

Contracts – other

The Superior Forge & Steel Corp., Lima, Ohio; and Ellwood National Forge, Irvine, Pa., were awarded $90 million multiple award contracts. These contracts provided for the procurement of GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators BLU-J 27C/B Penetrator warhead case assemblies with associated components. Work will be performed at Lima and Irvine and is expected to be complete by Oct. 28, 2027. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … General Dynamics Information Technology Inc., Fairfax, Va., was awarded a $46.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract to execute Award Term 4 for integrated logistics support for multiple Foreign Military Sales customers. Some of the work will be performed in Pensacola, Fla. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.