The final issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter will publish next week.
The December 2021 issue has a recap of the most significant aerospace stories of 2021, based on the postings in the Gulf Coast Aerospace daily news feed. That was quite a challenge since more than 370 items - contract summaries and news stories alike - were posted between January and mid-December.
There's also a page in the newsletter highlighting the previous five issues of the newsletter during the year.
The newsletter is our last because of a funding shortfall. Those of you who have been regular readers know the newsletter was first produced more than eight years ago, in September 2013, and that it's always been provided without charge to readers because of the backing of sponsors.
But times change, interest change and we're stepping back now.
The December issue will be sent to the inbox of subscribers Tuesday, and others can pick it up at our website. It will also be made available on our Facebook page.
Thank you for a wonderful eight-year run.
PERSPECTIVES: Commentary and analysis on aerospace and defense activities in the Gulf Coast
Saturday, December 11, 2021
Saturday, October 16, 2021
October newsletter publishes Tuesday
The October 2021 issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter will be published Tuesday. The cover story is about the hypersonic cruise missile space race, where Northwest Florida's Eglin Air Force Base is a player. While superior to mature technologies, hypersonic missiles are costly and the Pentagon wants to drive down the dollars.
There’s also an article about a new test series that wrapped up at South Mississippi's Stennis Space Center. This testing was for startup company Launcher, and involved testing the thrust chamber assembly. It’s just the latest test showing SSC is a go-to for commercial space companies that want to take advantage of the facility’s extensive rocket engine test infrastructure.
The newsletter also has a column highlighting some of the significant news stories that occurred since the August newsletter. It includes an item on the contract between ST Engineering and UPS to bring highly skilled MRO workers to Pensacola, where an MRO campus at Pensacola International Airport is expanding. There's also an item about Airbus considering a new stretch version of the A220, which is built in both Canada and Mobile, Ala. There's also an update on the progress of the Artemis III at Louisiana's Michoud Assembly Facility, and a brief on an important new contracting method at Eglin Air Force Base.
The October issue will be sent to the inbox of subscribers, but others can go to our website and follow the links to download a copy. It will also be available on Facebook. Please consider liking us and becoming a follower. Just search for the Gulf Coast Aerospace Newsletter.
As always, our newsletters are free to readers thanks to the support of our underwriters.
Saturday, August 14, 2021
August newsletter coming soon
The August issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter will publish next week. The cover story focuses on the expected battle between Airbus and Boeing to build the KC-Y aerial tanker. Boeing will offer a modified version of its current KC-46, while Airbus will offer the A330 MRRT.
A lot has happened since the first battle between the two giants to build the replacement for the KC-135. When the contract was awarded to Boeing in 2011, Mobile had no aircraft assembly lines. Now the Alabama city is home to two - one for the A320 and one for the A220.
Importantly, the KC-Y is called the "bridge tanker" because it is the transitional tanker between the current one and a future tanker, which may end up being autonomous.
We also have a story about an electronics manufacturer in Holt, west of Crestview. Certified Manufacturing Inc., got its start in 1998, and has grown over the years focusing on high-end electronics products for the Department of Defense, NASA and aerospace companies. It's the type of home-grown company that economic development officials love.
Finally, we take a look at some of the key stories that developed in the region since the last newsletter in June, including the new training helicopter that was delivered to Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., the latest engine test at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and developments designed to create a business park at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The newsletter will be sent to the inbox of subscribers Tuesday. Non-subscribers can read a copy at our website.
A lot has happened since the first battle between the two giants to build the replacement for the KC-135. When the contract was awarded to Boeing in 2011, Mobile had no aircraft assembly lines. Now the Alabama city is home to two - one for the A320 and one for the A220.
Importantly, the KC-Y is called the "bridge tanker" because it is the transitional tanker between the current one and a future tanker, which may end up being autonomous.
We also have a story about an electronics manufacturer in Holt, west of Crestview. Certified Manufacturing Inc., got its start in 1998, and has grown over the years focusing on high-end electronics products for the Department of Defense, NASA and aerospace companies. It's the type of home-grown company that economic development officials love.
Finally, we take a look at some of the key stories that developed in the region since the last newsletter in June, including the new training helicopter that was delivered to Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., the latest engine test at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and developments designed to create a business park at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The newsletter will be sent to the inbox of subscribers Tuesday. Non-subscribers can read a copy at our website.
Saturday, June 12, 2021
June newsletter publishes next week
The June 2021 issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter will be published Tuesday. The cover story is about the virtual briefing held last month highlighting Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
The two NASA facilities at the west-end of the Gulf Coast I-10 aerospace corridor are critical to NASA's current Space Launch System program, and they have a major economic impact both regionally and globally. The directors of Stennis Space Center and Michoud Assembly Facility gave presentations, as did the leader of the Naval Oceanographic office, a major tenant at Stennis.
It's a story about some of the wins and some of the losses caused by the pandemic and a particularly rough 2020 hurricane season, twin challenges everyone in the Gulf Coast region has in common.
There's also a profile on Verdell Hawkins, the economic development executive at Pensacola-based Gulf Power. He provides some insight into how he got involved in the field, and some of the projects in Northwest Florida where Gulf Power worked with local economic development groups.
There's also a column hitting on some of the key aerospace-related activities impacting the Gulf Coast region.
The June issue will be sent to the inbox of subscribers, but others can go to our website
and follow the links to download a copy June 15. For Facebook users,
we launched a Facebook page in December where readers can go to see the
entire newsletter or individual stories. Comments are welcome. Please
consider liking us and becoming a follower. Just search for the Gulf
Coast Aerospace Newsletter.
As always, our newsletters are free to readers thanks to the support of our underwriters.
Saturday, April 10, 2021
April newsletter publishes Tuesday
The April 2021 issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Newsletter will be published Tuesday. The cover story is about the effort to create two new space-related technology parks near two NASA facilities – one in Louisiana and one in Mississippi.
Enterprise Park is a more than 1,000-acre park on the north side of Stennis Space Center. It’s been in discussion nearly four years now, and much of the delay has been because of the pandemic. But NASA has approved plans for the center to send out announcements for proposals to develop the park. A new office for specialized business development is also being established at the space center, with hiring about to start.
Another proposed park is about 40 miles away outside NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility. Called the Louisiana Space Campus, it's a 50-acre spread at Michoud that will target commercial office development for existing tenants as well as bring in new public and private partners. Should both reach fruition, it would cement this region's reputation in the space field at a time when commercial space activities are growing.
There’s also a story about Gulf Power's recent virtual symposium, including a discussion about Florida and how it fared better than most during the pandemic. While Gulf Power opted to do a virtual event, it still plans to hold a full-blown symposium in September.
There’s also an article about the upcoming TeCMEN Industry Day, where a contender for the Armed Overwatch program will be discussed. Plans are to build that contender, the Bronco II, in Crestview, Fla.
Finally, there’s a story about the recently released Milken Institute Best-Performing Cities Index. It shows that most of the metro areas in the Gulf Coast I-10 region performed quite well and improved their ranking. Two standouts were the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metro area in Alabama and Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin metro area in Florida.
The April issue will be sent to the inbox of subscribers, but others can go to our website and follow the links to download a copy April 13. For Facebook users, we launched a Facebook page in December where readers can go to see the entire newsletter or individual stories. Comments are welcome. Please consider liking us and becoming a follower. Just search for the Gulf Coast Aerospace Newsletter.
As always, our newsletters are free to readers thanks to the support of our underwriters.
Monday, February 8, 2021
February issue publishes Tuesday
The first issue of 2021 of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Newsletter will be published Tuesday. The February issue’s cover story is about the recently released Industrial Capabilities Report from the Defense Department. It’s the annual assessment of the health of the nation’s defense industries.
The report covers industries including aircraft, spacecraft, missiles and munitions, shipbuilding, electronics, cybersecurity, and more. Many if not most are of interest to the Gulf Coast I-10 region. In addition to summarizing the findings, we also give you an overview of what the report says about two of the industries most-closely linked to aerospace: aircraft and space.
We also have a story about the large number of military retirees in the 18 counties and parishes spanning the region between New Orleans and Panama City. These retirees bring millions in retirement money to the region every month, which is a boon for local economies. But the retirees – who retire at a younger age than their civilian counterparts – also provide a ready pool of highly skilled workers, many of them going on the pursue careers outside the military.
We also fill you in on the recently completed Green Run of NASA’s Space Launch System. That’s the test where all four of the RS-25 engines are fired at the same time. But the January test only lasted just over a minute instead of the planned eight minutes. So we’ll fill you in on the second test planned for late February. We also have a story about the new series of tests for single RS-25 engines that just got underway.
As usual, the February issue will be sent to the inbox of subscribers, but others can go to our website to download a copy. As always, it’s free thanks to the support of our underwriters.
Regular readers will notice the February issue is smaller than in the past – six instead of eight pages. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, we rely on annual underwriters to fund an entire year of six issues rather than charging readers. That's because we think the stories about our aerospace and aviation activities are too important to put behind a pay wall. The downside of that is it means some years we’ll fall below our required funding level, and 2021 is just such a year.
But unlike some publications, which might tell you you're getting something "improved" when they have to cut back on staff or product, we won't insult your intelligence. You’re getting fewer pages and stories this year, but we can promise you that we will cut no corners when it comes to providing you with quality stories. If that means a smaller product, so be it.
Finally, we launched a Facebook page in December where readers can go to see the entire newsletter or individual stories – and comment if they so desire. If you are on Facebook, please consider liking us and becoming a follower. Just look for Gulf Coast Aerospace Newsletter. The February newsletter will be there Tuesday.
The report covers industries including aircraft, spacecraft, missiles and munitions, shipbuilding, electronics, cybersecurity, and more. Many if not most are of interest to the Gulf Coast I-10 region. In addition to summarizing the findings, we also give you an overview of what the report says about two of the industries most-closely linked to aerospace: aircraft and space.
We also have a story about the large number of military retirees in the 18 counties and parishes spanning the region between New Orleans and Panama City. These retirees bring millions in retirement money to the region every month, which is a boon for local economies. But the retirees – who retire at a younger age than their civilian counterparts – also provide a ready pool of highly skilled workers, many of them going on the pursue careers outside the military.
We also fill you in on the recently completed Green Run of NASA’s Space Launch System. That’s the test where all four of the RS-25 engines are fired at the same time. But the January test only lasted just over a minute instead of the planned eight minutes. So we’ll fill you in on the second test planned for late February. We also have a story about the new series of tests for single RS-25 engines that just got underway.
As usual, the February issue will be sent to the inbox of subscribers, but others can go to our website to download a copy. As always, it’s free thanks to the support of our underwriters.
Regular readers will notice the February issue is smaller than in the past – six instead of eight pages. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, we rely on annual underwriters to fund an entire year of six issues rather than charging readers. That's because we think the stories about our aerospace and aviation activities are too important to put behind a pay wall. The downside of that is it means some years we’ll fall below our required funding level, and 2021 is just such a year.
But unlike some publications, which might tell you you're getting something "improved" when they have to cut back on staff or product, we won't insult your intelligence. You’re getting fewer pages and stories this year, but we can promise you that we will cut no corners when it comes to providing you with quality stories. If that means a smaller product, so be it.
Finally, we launched a Facebook page in December where readers can go to see the entire newsletter or individual stories – and comment if they so desire. If you are on Facebook, please consider liking us and becoming a follower. Just look for Gulf Coast Aerospace Newsletter. The February newsletter will be there Tuesday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)