Week in review (1/30 to 2/5)

By the end of the coming week, competitors Boeing and EADS North America will have to submit their best and final proposals to the Air Force in the long-delayed, heavily publicized contest to build 179 aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. The deadline is Friday.

Under normal circumstances, it would be appropriate to say that the contest is drawing to a close. But this has been anything but normal. Chances are good that the losing side will protest, and that means the replacement of the tankers will continue to drag on. I’ve said for a long time that the only way out of this mess is to buy planes from both companies. That would mean work for Boeing employees, creating of a new aircraft assembly plant in Mobile, Ala., and, most importantly, new equipment for our warfighters.

To recap this past week, the World Trade Organization ruled that U.S. federal and local governments provided billions of dollars in illegal subsidies to Boeing, giving the company an unfair advantage against Europe's Airbus. The findings are similar to those in an interim report released in September.

The WTO has now found that both Boeing and Airbus, a unit of EADS, received illegal aid. But now the two sides are bickering over the size of the illegal subsidies and the importance. Both sides have launched ad campaigns. Boeing's newspaper ad claim the subsidies to EADS dwarf subsidies to Boeing, while EADS's radio ad call Boeing's ads as "misleading."

While all this was going on, Boeing during the week marked the rollout of the 1,000th 767 at the company's Everett, Wash., factory. The 1,000th plane is a 767-300ER passenger model for All Nippon Airways, and was the final 767 to finish assembly on the current production line. The next 767 is being built in a new, smaller and more efficient bay. The 767 is Boeing’s offering in the tanker competition. EADS is offering an A330.


Space
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and executives from Orbital Science Corp. and Aerojet will be on hand Monday for a flight acceptance test of an Aerojet AJ26 rocket engine at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The engine will be used in Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle.

Once flight acceptance testing on the engine is complete, it will be delivered to Orbital at the Wallops Flight Facility launch site in Virginia for integration with the rocket's first stage core power. NASA has partnered with Orbital to provide eight cargo missions to the International Space Station, with the first scheduled for early 2012.

- Lockheed Martin has been conducting exoneration exercises for A2100-based satellites in various stages of manufacturing to ensure that foreign object debris (FOD) wasn’t introduced during manufacturing, according to Aviation Week. FOD in the oxidizer line is thought to have caused the failure of the liquid apogee engine on the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite. The propulsion system for AEHF-1 was built at Lockheed Martin’s facility at the Stennis Space Center, Miss., in 2006.

- Near Stennis Space Center, Miss., during the week, school children marked the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 14 mission to the moon by planting a "moon tree" near the front promenade of the Infinity Science Center. Apollo 14 astronaut Stuart Roosa brought seeds of various species on the lunar mission, and they were later planted and resulted in over 450 "moon trees."


F-35
The commander of Air Force's Air Education and Training Command, Gen. Edward A. Rice Jr., recently visited the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. During his tour, the general received a status report on the wing and it's integrated Academic Training Center that is the school house for F-35 Joint Strike Fighter pilots and maintainers for the Air Force, Navy, Marines and future coalition partners.

Rice said the 33rd "represents the first time we've engaged deeply in joint fighter training and could be a template for future endeavors." It will train fighter pilots for the Air Force, Navy and Marines, and affords "a great opportunity for us to demonstrate this concept can work. It's too early to tell whether joint training facilities like the 33rd will be the way of the future."

- Northrop Grumman signed a long-term agreement with advanced materials company Quickstep Technologies, North Coogee, Australia, to produce composite subassemblies that include F-35 lower side skins, maintenance access panels and fuel tank covers. Northrop Grumman is a principal subcontractor on the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team. Australia is one of nine countries, including the United States, contributing to the funding and production of the F-35 aircraft.


Airports
Planned upgrades at Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview, Fla., will help boost the economy, local officials and business representatives said. Improvements include widening the taxiways up to 75 feet to accommodate any size aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration provided $5.1 million, the Florida Department of Transportation put up $3.6 million and $3 million came from a state infrastructure bank loan. The weather Friday forced the groundbreaking into the BAE Aerospace Solutions hangar.


Contracts
The Raytheon Co., Tuscon, Ariz., was awarded a $15 million contract for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile technical support for systems engineering, small software enhancements, test support, maintenance and modification of special test assets, support to the Navy hardware in the loop simulation, aircraft integration, and other technical engineering requirements. AAC/EBAK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: VT Halter Marine in Moss Point, Miss., during the week laid the keel of a multimillion-dollar Navy research vessel named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, the father of modern oceanography.

Advanced materials: Chevron's Pascagoula, Miss., refinery announced during the week that it will begin construction of a $1.4 billion lubricants manufacturing facility at the refinery. The project will generate about 1,000 jobs over two years of construction and about 20 permanent positions.

Marine science: Menhaden landings in the Gulf of Mexico fell 17 percent in 2010 as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill curtailed the season. … Jerry Boatman of QinetiQ North America, former senior manager of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center, Miss., has been installed as president of the Marine Technology Society.

Week in review (1/23 to 1/29)

As this column shows, there's plenty of Gulf Coast-related aerospace news in any given week. But I also track other science and technology fields in this region, so starting this week, I'm providing - after the aerospace wrap-up - some tidbids from related fields of interest to this region. I hope it will help readers understand just how big a role science and technology plays in the Gulf Coast region.


Testing
The much ballyhooed Gorgon Stare, an airborne surveillance system that would vastly increase the area a drone can see, was deemed "not operationally effective" when tested in the fall by the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. But military officials rightfully point out that such tests are done precisely to find problems beforehand, and fixes are being put in place.

The problems, including low image quality and an inability to sufficiently track people on the ground, were detailed in a six-page December draft report obtained by the Center for Defense Information's Winslow Wheeler. The memo, marked as a draft and pre-decisional, found more than a dozen problems.

Gorgon Stare, being developed by Sierra Nevada and the Air Force, uses nine or more cameras aboard a Reaper unmanned system to survey a city-sized area. It promises to increase surveillance capabilities dramatically (Brief).

- Speaking of the 53rd Wing, Eglin Air Force Base will host a 70th anniversary celebration Thursday at Hangar 1343. According to Eglin, festivities include a brief history of the wing, time capsule dedication and a former commander of the wing as guest speaker. Combat aircraft from many of the operational test wing units will be on display during the ceremony, including an F-16, F-15, F-4, B-1, B-52 and others.

- An F-15E Strike Eagle at Eglin Air Force Base flew its first sortie with a new radar system that replaces the 24-year-old APG-70 radar system, according to Eglin. The 46th Test Wing fighter flew with the APG-82(V)1 Jan. 18. The new radar uses active electronically scanned array radar technology composed of numerous small solid-state transmit and receive modules. The standard radar, APG-70, is a mechanically scanned array housed in the nose of the aircraft. The new radar removes the motors and hydraulics of the old system and includes a new avionics and cooling system.


Growth
An economist says Okaloosa County, Fla., will experience 10 years of growth in the next two years. Rick Harper of the University of West Florida made the comment during the week at the annual Military-Community Sustainability Forum.

Harper cited personnel and mission increases brought about through base realignment, as well as Vision Airlines making an airport in Okaloosa County a hub. He said the challenge will be managing the expected growth.

The forum also included a panel discussion that featured some of the top commanders at Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field and Naval Air Station Whiting Field. They provided, among other things, updates on the move of the 7th Special Forces to Eglin and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. (Story)


F-35
Speaking of the F-35, Pentagon officials unveiled details during the week of some changes that will be made to the Marine Corps version of the F-35 during its two-year probation, according to the New York Times. Among the changes are a redesign of parts related to the propulsion system and reinforcement of the fuselage. Meanwhile, the Pentagon's delay of the purchase of 124 F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin beyond fiscal 2016 should reduce its five-year budget request by $6.9 billion, officials say (Story). Eglin Air Force Base will be the home of the F-35 training center.


Space
NASA says two tests of an Aerojet AJ26 engine at Stennis Space Center, Miss., were so successful that Orbital Science Corp. engineers decided a planned third test was unnecessary. The AJ26 engine was removed from the E-1 test stand at SSC Jan. 24 and will be returned to Aerojet in California to be refurbished and used on an upcoming Taurus II mission.

The same day the engine was removed, the first flight engine was installed to begin regularly planned "acceptance testing" at SSC. The AJ26 flight unit will be tested in February, and then delivered to Orbital at the Wallops Flight Facility launch site in Virginia for integration with the rocket's first stage core. Orbital's Taurus II rocket will be used to carry out commercial cargo supply mission to the International Space Station (Brief).

- Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., has been named chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee's Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, a key appointment for a freshman congressman who represents an area that includes NASA’s Stennis Space Center. Palazzo defeated incumbent Gene Taylor in the November elections.


Tanker
Defense industry sources told The Hill in recent weeks that the $35 billion contract to build Air Force tankers won't be awarded until mid-February. Now a defense insider says it may not come until March or later because of a Senate probe into the inadvertent release of bidders' information to the competing bidders, Boeing and EADS. EADS North America wants to assemble the plans in Mobile, Ala.


Airports
The new head of New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport has scaled back a $755 million modernization plan that was put in place before his arrival. Instead, Aviation Director Iftikhar Ahmad is opting for a $200 million effort he expects will be done in time for New Orleans to host the Super Bowl in two years.

- Vision Airlines announced the expansion of its low-fare air service from Atlanta, Houston and St. Petersburg, Fla., into the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport beginning Feb. 9. Vision Airlines’ service to Gulfport will use Boeing 737s. Earlier, Vision Airlines also announced some 20 new flights using an airport at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., as a hub.


Contracts
CSC Applied Technologies, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $24.9 million contract modification which will exercise an option for the Base Operating Support service contract at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., from Feb. 1, 2011 through Jan. 31, 2012. 81 CONS/LGCM, Keesler Air Force Base is the contracting activity. .. Hamilton Sundstrand Corp., Windsor Locks, Conn., is being awarded a $24.6 million contract for procurement and installation of Electronic Propeller Control System kits into the C-130T aircraft for the Navy Reserves and the LC-130H aircraft for the Air Force National Guard. Thirty-five percent of the work will be done in Crestview, Fla., and the rest in Windsor Locks, Conn., and is expected to be completed in December 2013.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: In Mobile, Ala., Austal USA will get $2.5 million from the Mobile County Commission and another $2.5 million from the Mobile City Council as incentive to help the company expand at its Mobile River yard (Brief). … Northrop Grumman's Aegis guided missile destroyer William P. Lawrence, built in Pascagoula, Miss., successfully completed its combined super trial in the Gulf of Mexico (Brief). … Textron Marine & Land Systems in New Orleans will build a sixth 47-foot Motor Lifeboat for the Mexican navy (Brief). Advanced materials: In Hattiesburg, Miss., students from eight high school polymer programs were on hand for the second annual High School Polymer Science Day held at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Shelby Thames Polymer Science Research Center (Brief). … Nylon maker Ascend Performance Materials of Foley, Ala., plans a $7 million expansion that will create 20 jobs (Brief). Marine science: Two research professors from Mississippi State University have joined the leadership team at the Northern Gulf Institute at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Robert J. Moorhead and Donald C. Jackson will serve as director and deputy director, respectively (Brief). Research: Mississippi State University, based in Starkeville, Miss., but with operations on the Gulf Coast, moved up in the latest Carnegie classifications from the "high research activity" to the "very high research activity" category, the highest research category for doctorate-granting universities. The University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala., and the University of West Florida in Pensacola, Fla., moved up to “high research activity” (Brief). … Mississippi and Louisiana improved their overall ranking in the latest Milken Institute State Science and Technology Index. Louisiana is ranked 45, up one spot from 2008, while Mississippi improved two spots to 48. Alabama is ranked 31, down two spots, and Florida slipped three spots to 40. The study uses 79 indicators to come up with its rankings (Brief). … A new group has been formed at Stennis Space Center, Miss., to focus on intellectual property. It’s called the Gulf Coast Patent Association (Story).

Week in review (1/16 to 1/22)

Creation of a hub at a Northwest Florida airport, an Airbus tanker boom problem, good news and bad for F-35 fighter and the launch of a year-long celebration of naval aviation highlighted aerospace stories for the Gulf Coast region during the week.


Airports
The choices for passengers are about to expand in the Gulf Coast region. Northwest Florida Regional Airport at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., got a tremendous boost during the week when Atlanta-based Vision Airlines announced new flights beginning March 25.

The airline is adding service to Asheville, N.C., Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Huntsville and Birmingham, Ala., Baton Rouge, La., and more. It will also begin service from Gulfport-Biloxi International to Atlanta, Houston and Tampa.

According to the Northwest Florida Daily News, the decision to use Northwest Florida Regional Airport as a hub will generate a regional economic ripple expected to produce nearly 4,200 jobs and bring in $160 million in revenue. That's according to state Rep. Matt Gaetz, who bases that on figures generated by Northwest Florida State College. (Story)

The airport, which serves Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Crestview, Valparaiso and other cities in the Florida Panhandle, is one of a half-dozen commercial airports that serve the northern Gulf Coast region.


Tanker
A large part of a refueling boom broke off from an Airbus tanker during an exercise last week off the coast of Portugal. Both the tanker, which is being delivered to the Australian air force, and a Portuguese F-16 were damaged in the accident. The cause is still being determined. The boom fell into the Atlantic Ocean.

What impact, if any, the incident will have on the competition to build tankers for the U.S. Air Force is unclear. The Pentagon is trying to decide between a Boeing-built 767 and an Airbus A330 for its new tankers. If Airbus is chosen, EADS North America plans to assemble them in Mobile, Ala.

In another tanker story during the week, Flightglobal reported that Boeing won't bid on India's aerial refueling tanker competition. Boeing will only bid on future international tanker opportunities if it wins the contract to build tankers for the U.S. Air Force. (Story)


F-35
China's military buildup is apparently causing Japan, South Korea and Singapore to engage in bilateral talks with government officials to discuss the F-35, according to the Wall Street Journal. The immediate cause may be recently published images showing China’s J-20 stealth aircraft.

Meanwhile, a report by the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation shows the F-35 has previously undisclosed problems with its handling, avionics, afterburner and helmet-mounted display, according to Defense News. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.


Bases
About 500 people gathered at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Thursday to mark the birthday of the establishment of the Navy's first flight school. The ceremony featured speeches by Navy officers and politicians. Pensacola, which launched its school with 32 aviators 97 years ago, has events spread throughout the year to mark 100 years of naval aviation.

- Sen. John McCain will be at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., next Friday to attend a winging ceremony. His son, Ensign John S. McCain, is one of more than a dozen graduates who will receive wings of gold at the ceremony. The Arizona senator will speak at the event, which is not open to the public.


MRO
ST Aerospace Mobile was the subject of a Public Broadcasting Service investigative report that aired Tuesday on "Frontline." The report alleged, among other things, that workers falsified records and failed to follow FAA rules to track parts. Company officials called the report shallow, biased and sensationalized, and responded point by point to questions posed by the Mobile Press-Register. (Story)


Contracts
Composite Engineering Inc., of Sacramento, Calif. was awarded a $34.7 million contract modification which will exercise the Lot 8 option to procure a quantity of 40 additional BQM-167As, also known as the Air Force Subscale Aerial Target. AAC/EBYK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity.

Week in review (1/9 to 1/15)

The ongoing debate over the direction of NASA, some good news about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and the arrival of F-16s at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base were among the aerospace news items that came down the pike during the week. There was even something about the tanker project: nobody can yet say when a winner will be announced.


Space
Anyone who closely follows NASA, and we do on the Gulf Coast because of Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, is certainly aware that the fighting is continuing over the direction of NASA.

During the week it became clear that NASA and some senators are in disagreement about the heavy-lift and crew exploration vehicles. The agency said in a report released during the week that it can't build them under the cost, schedule and engineering constraints imposed last fall by Congress.

That prompted a joint statement from U.S. Sens. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., David Vitter, R-La., Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, of the Senate Commerce Committee: the production of a heavy-lift rocket and capsule is not optional. The agency has to do it. (Story)

- In a less controversial matter during the week, NASA got a new deputy chief technologist. It's Michael Gazarik, deputy director for programs in the Engineering Directorate at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The announcement was made by NASA Chief Technologist Bobby Braun. The office is responsible for coordination, integration and tracking of all technology investments across the agency.

- At Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, Blade Dynamics, the wind turbine manufacturer, plans to hire 40 salaried, technical operator positions. The positions require a minimum of one-year manufacturing or production experience, performance of industrial math and the ability to work rotating shifts. By 2015 Blade Dynamics plans to have some 600 employees on its payroll with an annual salary of about $48,000.


Joint Strike Fighter
Although the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has had its share of bad news, a report issued during the week by the Pentagon testing office said the jet "slightly exceeded" its flight-test goals last year.

The three variants of the Lockheed Martin aircraft flew a total of 427 test sorties, 37 more than planned. The test program also accomplished 4,614 individual objectives within those flights, or 210 more than planned. Goals were met by the Air Force and Navy version, but not the Marine Corps version. (Story)

Gen. James Amos said he's confident Lockheed Martin will solve problems with the Marine Corps version of the F-35 and save it from cancelation. The short takeoff, vertical landing model of the JSF is being put on probation for two years to fix significant problems. Amos told the annual conference of the Surface Navy Association he supports that decision.

Meanwhile, four F-16s on loan from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., arrive at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., during the week. The planes from the 56th Fighter Wing will be used to support the Joint Strike Fighter Integrated Training Center mission. The aircraft will be used for training prior to the arrival of the F-35s. Eglin already had 17 F-16 Falcons, 10 assigned to the 46th Test Wing and seven to the 53rd. But the training center needed its own planes.


Tanker
When will the aerial tanker award be announced? Depends on what official you ask.

EADS North America Chief Executive Officer Sean O'Keefe expects it next month, but Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh said he’s not expecting the decision soon. Air Force Secretary Michael Donley declined to give a firm date for the contract award, saying only that the source selection is moving toward completion.

Boeing and EADS are competing for the $35 billion deal to build jets for the U.S. Air Force. Boeing would build them in Washington and Kansas, and EADS would assemble them in Mobile, Ala.


Airports/bases
Nearly a month after Vision Airlines started offering service at Northwest Florida Regional Airport, sales have exceeded expectations, according to the marketing and business development director. Vision Airlines offers service to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Miami, and plans to announce new destinations later this month.

- Florida’s Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and Naval Air Station Pensacola have launched a new Web site highlighting the history of naval aviation in Pensacola. It features a list of local events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of naval aviation. Visitors can log on and share stories and photographs.

- Environmental restoration officials at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are using a commercial car crusher to "demilitarize" practice bombs prior to recycling. So far, they've recycled more than one million pounds of metal from the BDU 33 and Mark 106 bombs. The crushing operation is part of an agreement between the crushing company, the recyclers and Eglin Air Force Base's contractors, and has resulted in savings of more than $1 million.


Unmanned systems
Northrop Grumman’s Hunter unmanned aircraft, in use with the Army since 1996, recently surpassed 100,000 flight hours in service. The MQ-5B Hunter is currently deployed supporting operations across the globe. The RQ-5A Hunter was the Army’s first fielded unmanned system. The current generation MQ-5Bs are fitted with updated equipment. The Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center, Moss Point, Miss., has done refurbishing work on Hunter aircraft.


Contracts
McDonnell Douglas Corp., a subsidiary of the Boeing Co. of St. Louis, Mo., was awarded an $88 million contract which will procure 3,500 guided vehicle kits for Joint Direct Attack Munition purposes. AAC/EDBK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity.

Week in review (1/2 to 1/8)

When it comes to defense spending, the Gulf Coast region is all ears. And that was no doubt the case when Defense Secretary Robert Gates during the week announced some additional spending cuts.

Before I go into detail about the "efficiencies" announced by Gates, let's make it perfectly clear why Pentagon spending is so important to the Gulf Coast region. The most obvious reason is the wealth of military bases and variety of activities, but it goes well beyond that.

In Panama City, Fla., there's air dominance training at Tyndall Air Force Base and littoral warfare research at the Naval Surface Warfare Center. There's weapons development at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., pilot and flight officer training at Naval Air Station Pensacola and Whiting Field, Fla.

There's electronics training at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., including the hot field of cyber training. That cyber training and "information dominance" is also taught at Corry Station, Fla., and Hurlburt Field, Fla., which is also the home of the Air Force Special Operations Command.

In Mississippi, there's a major Air National Guard air combat training center, which uses not only the Gulf of Mexico training range, but a huge Army National Guard training complex at Camp Shelby, south of Hattiesburg.

At NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., there's the Naval Oceanographic Office and Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, which supply crucial data to warfighters in the field. And there's also special boat warfare and SEALS training done at Stennis. In Gulfport, Miss., is the home of the East Coast Seabees. For an overview on the military in South Mississippi, click here.

But the bases are just a part of the military-industrial footprint in the Gulf Coast. There are a host of defense contractors, including the big boys like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, involved in a variety of activities. Northrop Grumman builds warships in Pascagoula, Miss., and unmanned aerial vehicles in Moss Point, Miss. And Austal USA is building littoral combat ships, in Mobile, Ala.

And we also have a lot of smaller specialized contractors making crucial products for the military. Seemann Composites in Gulfport is making composite parts for Virginia-class submarines, United States Marine Inc., is building special operations boats and Avalex Technologies in Pensacola makes aircraft displays and digital mapping systems. And that's just to name a few.

On top of that, there are hundreds upon hundreds of companies from Louisiana to Florida that rely on contracts with the military to provide everything from lawn care to linen services and construction work. And did I mention the veterans and military retirees? They also care about Pentagon spending.

So it's safe to assume a lot of folks were paying attention when Gates announced a series of moves designed to save the Pentagon billions over the next five years by reducing overhead and cutting excess and troubled programs.

Now for a few details on what Gates announced.

It might be best to consider Gates' moves pre-emptive. Gates and the rest of the nation's military leadership understand that military spending, which accounts for a fifth of the federal budget, is no longer a sacred cow. A lot of players see that budget as ripe for cuts.

The military already has carried out a directive Gates issued in May to find $100 billion in savings over the next five years by trimming low-priority programs, thinning command structures and reducing Pentagon overhead. That was fine, but Gates was told by the White House to come up with additional cuts over the next five years. And he did.

Gates said he would slash the number of private military contractors by nearly a third over the next three years, maintain a freeze on civilian salaries and raise health-care premiums for military retirees and their families.

And both the Army and Marine Corps will shrink. The Army must trim the number of active duty by 27,000 and the Marines have to cut back by 15,000 to 20,000. The Army has about 569,000 soldiers and the Marines some 202,000 Marines on active duty. Gates also said he would cut the number of generals and admirals from about 900 to 800.

While some programs are being cut or revamped, others will be given more emphasis. Benefiting will be a program to build a new long-range bomber for the Air Force, ships for the Navy and a modernized Abrams for the Army.

One of the most closely watched programs is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. That's of high interest to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is the home of the JSF training center. The Air Force will buy more simulators for F-35 air crew training, shift $4.6 billion to F-35 development and reduce to 325 the number of plans that will be bought between 2012 and 2016. That's 124 fewer planes.

In addition, the Marine Corps short take-off and vertical landing variant of the F-35 is being placed on a two-year probation because of testing problems, putting the Marine variant to the back of the overall JSF production sequence.

So what will the overall impact be for the Gulf Coast region? There are so many bases, so may contractors and so many programs, it will take time to try to gauge the full impact.

Now it's time for a recap of some of the aerospace-specific stories that came down the pike during the week.


Engines
A Pratt and Whitney F100-PW-220 engine recently powered its first biofuel test flight of an Air Force F-15 Eagle at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. This flight test, powered by alternative jet fuel, comes on the heels of engine ground testing earlier this year at Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee.

The Air Force's goal is to acquire half of its domestic jet fuel requirements from alternate sources by 2016. This is Pratt and Whitney's second military engine to successfully complete ground and flight tests using biofuels. A C-17 Globemaster III powered by four Pratt and Whitney F117 engines completed testing in August.

- NASA has set Dec. 14 as the target launch date for Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Commercial Orbital Transportation System cargo demonstration mission. The company says it continues to make progress toward attaining safety clearance for the mission, in which its Cygnus spacecraft will dock with the International Space Station.

Tests of the Aerojet AJ26 engine that will power the first stage also continue at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., where engineers are preparing for a third hot-fire test of the engine following earlier runs in November and December. "Every month we'll be bringing another AJ26 through Stennis," said Carl Walz, Orbital's vice president of human spaceflight operations.

- Pratt and Whitney's F135 engine used in the vertical take-off and landing version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter passed a testing milestone known as initial service release. That means the engine is now certified as the production configuration. The company received initial service release for the conventional take off and landing/carrier variant (CTOL/CV) in February 2010. The Short Take Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) version of the F-35 will be used by the Marine Corps.


Bases
Pensacola, Fla., is celebrating a century of naval aviation, with a kickoff and party slated for Jan. 20 at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Other activities during the year include Aviation Week in May with the arrival of the USS Iwo Jima and a special performance by the Blue Angels flight demonstration team. The Blue Angels will also perform at Pensacola Beach in July.

- The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team arrived early last week at Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif., the team's winter training facility. The team is based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., but does its winter training in California. That training wraps up in mid-March. The team will perform in more than 37 shows this year, with the season ending in Pensacola Nov. 12.

- The National Flight Academy received a $1.7 million grant buy 42 flight simulators. The grant is from the Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust. The $26.5 million flight academy is being built next to the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The academy is designed to interest young people in science, technology, engineering and math careers, including aerospace.


Michoud
Louisiana's chief economic development official told the Press Club in Baton Rouge during the week that several entities are interested in locating at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. But Stephen Moret declined to name names. Michoud is NASA's huge manufacturing facility that built the external tanks for the Space Shuttle. At its height it had 5,000 workers, but now has 1,000 as Lockheed Martin ends its shuttle work. "We will attract thousands of private-sector jobs," said Moret, secretary of the Department of Economic Development. Turbine-maker Blade Dynamics announced last year it would set up shop at Michoud.


Contracts
EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $52.5 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 12 UH-72A Light Utility Helicopters, 12 Airborne Radio Communication systems and two Engine Inlet Barrier Filters. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss., with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2012.

Week in review (12/26 to 1/1)

While this column highlights aerospace-related news from the Gulf Coast region, it's hard not to discuss a significant non-aerospace related story that occurred during the week. I'm talking about the awarding of major contracts to Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., and Lockheed Martin to build littoral combat ships.

The contracts are significant on several levels: First, the Austal contract affirms the key role of the Gulf Coast in building the nation's warships. Second, the split contract not only points out that a major contract can be shared by two competitors - think aerial tanker - but it also underscores the significant role being played by companies with roots overseas. In this case, the companies have roots in Australia and Italy.

OK, here are the details. The two contracts are to build a total of 20 littoral combat ships. Each company uses a design unique to its vessel, but the missions are the same and each sports a modular capability. That means it can be fitted to suit the needs of the mission. Ten of the ships will be built by Lockheed Martin and 10 by Austal USA.

For Austal, the fiscal 2010 amount is $432 million, with additional line items totaling $33.4 million for a total of $465.4 million. The contract includes line items for nine additional ships and options for post delivery support and more that would bring the cumulative value of the contract to $4.4 billion. The Lockheed ships will be built at the U.S. shipyard owned by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.

Austal's long-term contract reinforces the importance of shipbuilding in the Gulf Coast region. In Mississippi, there's Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding and VT Halter Marine in Pascagoula making military vessels, and Trinity Yachts making pleasure boats in Gulfport. Also in Gulfport, there’s United States Marine Inc. making boats for special operations, and Seemann Composites making composite parts for Navy subs.

What’s fascinating at Austal USA is that it's a relative newcomer, yet it's already one of the largest employers in Mobile. All of this goes to show how important it is to ensure the Gulf Coast region continues to supply the workers to fill these positions. The nation's defense depends on it.

As if to underscore the importance of Gulf Coast shipbuilding, Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula was awarded during the week a $12 million modification to previously awarded contract related to the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer. The modification provides government-furnished workshare transportation efforts for the procurement of material required for the fabrication of cradles, fixtures, and other equipment necessary to transport class products from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Pascagoula and Gulfport to Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine.

OK. Enough about ships. Back to aerospace.


Training
During the week, a training jet out of Florida's Naval Air Station Pensacola crashed during a training flight, but both people aboard safely ejected. The T-45 Goshawk jet from Training Squadron 86 went down in a swamp about 20 miles east of Tallahassee, Fla. The Navy is investigating the cause of the crash.


Conversions
Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., said that Guggenheim Aviation Partners LLC selected the firm's aerospace division to convert a Boeing 757-200 from a passenger plane to a passenger-cargo combination in Singapore. As part of the work, ST Aerospace will acquire new certificates from the Federal Aviation Administration and the European Union that would clear the way for ST Aerospace to do similar work for other airlines at any of its facilities, including the 1,200-employee Mobile operation.


NASA
NASA awarded a 10-year contract to HP Enterprise Services of Herndon, Va., for agency consolidated end-user services, or ACES, with a maximum value of $2.5 billion and four-year base period with two three-year option periods. The contract will be managed at the NASA Shared Services Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

The ACES contract will develop a long-term outsourcing arrangement with the commercial sector to provide and manage most of NASA's personal computing hardware, software, mobile information technology services, peripherals and accessories, associated end-user services, and supporting infrastructure. HP Enterprise Services will provide, manage, secure and maintain these essential IT services for the agency.

The NSSC is a partnership among NASA, Computer Sciences Corp. and the states of Mississippi and Louisiana. The NSSC performs selected business activities for all 10 NASA centers.


Unmanned systems
Reports out of Japan indicate that government is considering using Global Hawks for surveillance. Japan reportedly will send a team to the United States to see how they are used and what might be involved. That could potentially be good news for workers in Moss Point, Miss. Workers there do fuselage work on Global Hawks.

There were at least two reports during the week highlighting questionable spending. Both were based on an inspector general's Dec. 23 audit report. In one, Bloomberg reported that Northrop Grumman was paid at least $206,000 by Navy contracts officials for questionable travel billings to a golf outing and international air shows. The company subsequently reduced billing by that amount. In the other, NextGov reported that the Navy did not validate invoices that Northrop Grumman submitted for development of the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft. The Navy and Air Force both use the same Global Hawk airframe, but the report said that Navy did not establish with the Air Force a complete property-sharing agreement.


Contracts
Raytheon Co., Goleta, Calif., was awarded a $7.8 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the retrofit and testing of 33 countermeasure receivers to digital countermeasure receivers in support of the F/A-18 E/F. Work will be performed in Forest, Miss. (65 percent), and Goleta, Calif. (35 percent), and is expected to be completed in February 2013.

Week in review (12/19 to 12/25)

More political maneuvering surrounding the Air Force aerial tanker issue, a milestone for a rocket engine that will be tested at Stennis Space Center, a lost service at one airport, and a decision of an aircraft manufacturer to stay put rather than move to Louisiana highlighted the aerospace activity for the Gulf Coast during the week.


Tanker
The Senate Armed Services Committee will hold hearings next month on the release of  proprietary data in the $40 billion aerial tanker contest. The Air Force mistakenly sent material intended for Boeing to EADS North America and material for EADS to Boeing. Sen. Carl Levin also plans to hold hearings Feb. 1 to review the procurement process.

- An 11th hour insertion of a provision that would force the Air Force to consider subsidies probably won't remain when the bill goes to the Senate. But it caused a clash between Boeing and EADS backers. Boeing backers want it to improve the chances for the company in the competition to build tankers for the Air Force. EADS backers say it's an underhanded attempt to tilt the contest. EADS plans to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., if the company wins.


Space
Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne completed another major subassembly for NASA's first J-2X rocket engine. The turbopump assembly follows the successful assembly of the oxidizer turbopump, which delivers high-pressure liquid oxygen to the main injector. The engine's first hot-fire tests are planned for early 2011 at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne is headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif., and has facilities in Huntsville, Ala., Kennedy Space Center, Fla., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Stennis Space
Center.


Airports/bases
AirTran next year will stop serving Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, the company announced. The service ends March 6, according to an AirTran spokesman. The airline offers flights from Gulfport to Atlanta and Tampa three times a week. The director of air service and business development at the airport said there are a couple of prospects looking to step in and fill the void.

- Rolls-Royce was awarded an $89 million contract by the Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, Md., to provide support for the F405 engines that power the Navy's T-45 training aircraft. The contract provides services to more than 200 aircraft operating at Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and Naval Air Station Patuxent River.


Moves
Hawker Beechcraft will be remaining in Kansas rather than moving to Louisiana after accepting a $45 million incentives package from the state, city and county. The deal requires Hawker to maintain its current product lines, which includes propeller planes and jets, along with 4,000 jobs in Wichita over the next 10 years.

- A company that hopes to maintain C-130 military aircraft plans to hire 50 people at South Alabama Regional Airport near Andalusia, Ala. Support Systems Associates Inc. of Melbourne, Fla., announced this month the opening of Support Systems Andalusia Alabama. The company also has an operation in Mary Esther, Fla.


Contracts
Universal Technology Corp., Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a $9.9 million contract to provide research and development of on-site support in the Airbase Sciences Branch at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. 325 Contracting Squadron, Tyndall Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.

Week in review (12/12 to 12/18)

Another test firing of the AJ26 rocket engine in Mississippi, the sale of a Mobile, Ala., aerospace company to the Chinese, a name change at a major aerospace parks and a controversy over the success of a new airport were just some of the Gulf Coast aerospace stories during the past week.


Space
At Stennis Space Center, Miss., NASA conducted a 55-second test fire of the liquid-fuel AJ26 engine that will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences' Taurus II space launch vehicle. Taurus II uses a pair Aerojet AJ26 rocket engines to provide first stage propulsion.

The test late in the week on the E-1 test stand involved a team of Orbital, Aerojet, and Stennis. The test was the second in a series of verification tests. A third hot-fire test also is planned to verify tuning of engine control valves.

The AJ26 engine is designed to power the Taurus II space vehicle on flights to low Earth orbit. NASA's partnership with Orbital was formed under the agency's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services joint research and development project to enable commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station. The company is under contract with NASA to provide eight cargo missions to the space station through 2015.


Airports
Teledyne Continental Motors, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., is being sold to Technify Motors for $186 million. The sale was announced early in the week by California-based Teledyne Technologies Inc. and China-based AVIC International.

Teledyne Continental Motors makes piston engines, spare parts and components for small propeller-driven general aviation aircraft. It has about 400 workers in Mobile, as well as service centers in Fairhope, Ala. and Mattituck, N.Y.

The companies say the sale will enhance Continental Motors' ability to compete in growing overseas markets like China. AVIC plans to retain Continental Motors' senior management and headquarters in Mobile. It also sets the stage for new hires in Mobile as international demand for piston-powered aircraft would result in increased engine manufacturing at Continental Motors.

- The Brookley Industrial Complex has changed its name to Brookley Aeroplex. Bill Sisson, the executive director of the Mobile Airport Authority, said the Brookley name was retained as a reminder of the former Air Force base that was closed in the 1960s. Aeroplex was used because it relects the multi-modal nature of Brookley. The complex is also called the downtown airport. Brookley is where EADS wants to assemble tankers for the Air Force if it wins a contest against Boeing.

- North American Airlines, which operates charter airplanes for the military and others, signed a letter of intent with the U.S. holding company for Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., to convert 757s to carry 45 passengers and 10 cargo pallets. Holding company Vision Technologies Systems said the work would be done in Mobile by ST Aerospace Mobile. The company has 1,200 employees at the Brookley Aeroplex.

- The total economic impact of Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in 2009 was $291.7 million, according to the report released during the week. The impact is a combination of the direct impact from commercial and military flights, the indirect impact that comes from the money spent in the local economy by tourists and other passengers and the induced impact from airport employees and suppliers who use wages to buy local goods and services.

- In the Fort Walton Beach, Fla., area, Northwest Florida Regional Airport's newest airline started offering service Friday. Vision Airlines is offering direct flights to and from New York's Niagara Falls International Airport and Miami International Airport on Fridays and Sundays.

- So is the new airport in Panama City a success or a failure? Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport officials were a bit upset about an Associated Press story questioning the new airport's success. The AP story questioned the future viability of the airport because of low passenger count. Flights in October on average were only 60 percent full, compared to a national average of 83 percent.

But officials from the airport prefer pointing out that the new airport is drawing nearly three times more passengers than the old Panama City airport. From the grand opening at the end of May through November, the airport has provided service to more than 446,000 travelers.

Airport Director Randy Curtis said the real gauge is growth year to year. This October the airport had 74,372 passengers. Last October it had 26,000. He also said the airport is serving more passengers than either the Fort Walton Beach airport or the Tallahassee airport.


F-35
Okaloosa County commissioners got a preview of nation's first military Joint Strike Fighter integrated training center at the 33rd Fighter Wing's campus at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., on Dec. 14. Since the wing transitioned from its combat heritage to Air Education and Training Command, many visitors have asked to get a glimpse into the future DoD aviation and all things related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter from ground operations, to generating sorties to certifying pilots for flight.


Unmanned systems
In preparation for deployment early next year, Northrop Grumman and the Navy verified that the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter is functionally compatible with communications systems on board the USS Halyburton.

Known as integration verification, this process cleared the way for Fire Scout to conduct bluewater, unrestricted, operations from the Halyburton. In April 2010, Fire Scout concluded a military utility assessment on board the USS McInerney, a frigate similar to the Halyburton.

While the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ships are Fire Scout's intended home, the system is being integrated with other ships to expand its utility. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

- The unmanned Northrop Grumman/Bell Helicopter Fire-X demonstrator had its first flight Dec. 10 in Yuma, Ariz., according to the program team. Fire-X is designed to compete in the potentially lucrative market for unmanned rotorcraft to move cargo or gather intelligence.

The aircraft, which retains the ability to be piloted, was ferried to Yuma from Bell's Xworx facility in Arlington, Texas. Fire-X, built on the commercial Bell 407 platform, was modified at Xworx with computers, actuators and other systems from Northrop's MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter.

- Euro Hawk, the version of Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk unmanned aerial system built for the German air force, passed an endurance milestone with a 30.3-hour flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Northrop Grumman is partnered with EADS Deutschland GmbH, operating through Cassidian, the defense and security division of EADS. The test was Dec. 1 and 2, and the Euro Hawk flew at 60,000 feet. It has logged nearly 100 total flight hours since its maiden flight five months ago. Northrop Grumman’s Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss., did fuselage work on the Euro Hawk.


Bases
Raytheon's SLAMRAAM (Surface Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile) system successfully participated in a second ballistic test vehicle firing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. SLAMRAAM can defeat current and emerging cruise missile threats, and this was the second test firing from a medium tactical vehicle. The vehicle was chosen as the new platform to provide improved crew and system survivability, particularly in light of lessons learned from Operation Iraqi Freedom. The new platform provides additional armored capability and is more ruggedized to support the SLAMRAAM mission.

- The Thunderbirds, the Air Force precision flying team, will perform at more than 70 shows across the United States and abroad in 2011. The team will kick off the season with a Feb. 20 flyover for the Daytona 500. Two shows are scheduled for Northwest Florida. One is March 26-27 at Tyndall Air Force Base and the other is April 14-15 at Eglin Air Force Base.


Contracts
All Native Service Co., Bellevue, Neb., is being awarded a $22.7 million contract for technology advancement support services to the Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate at Fort Belvoir, Va. Eleven percent of the work will be done at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. … CC Distributors, Corpus Christi, Texas, was awarded a $9 million contract to provide for authorized civil engineer personnel and self-help customers to purchase materials, equipment and supplies. AAAC/PKOB, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $9.9 million contract to provide for the retrofitting 28 ARC-231 airborne communication systems. Work will be completed in Columbus, Miss. … Broadmoor Pittman, JV, Metairie, La., was awarded a $20 million contract to provide for the construction of Building 449 redundant pump station at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility at New Orleans. … Signal Technology Corp., Keltec Operations, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., is being awarded a maximum $14 million contract for high voltage modules. … Jacobs Technology Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded $10 million under a previously awarded contract to provide technical support to the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. … Wyle of El Segundo, Calif., was awarded a $318 million five-year task order to provide engineering and integration support services to the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office. Most of the work will be done in Arlington, Va. with field support at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and Fort Worth, Texas.

Week in review (12/5 to 12/11)

You might think from a couple of stories during the week that Mobile, Ala., is on its way to becoming the home of an EADS North America aircraft assembly plant. First there was word from an analyst that Boeing officials think they're losing, and then there was news that EADS North America is soliciting bids to build the Mobile center.

But you would be better off taking a wait-and-see approach. If you've followed the tanker saga, you already know to expect the unexpected. The fat lady has yet to sing.

The Mobile Press-Register reported on Monday that Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said EADS will beat Boeing in the competition to build tankers for the Air Force. Thompson said Boeing executives concluded EADS is ahead after getting a look at the Air Force's internal analysis of the two competing bids.

The Seattle Times, Seattle PI and The Herald did stories as well. And Thompson, who has been an advocate for Boeing, wrote a piece later explaining in great detail why he thinks it all looks so grim for Boeing.

Then on Wednesday EADS North America issued a press release saying it's soliciting bids for design and construction of the Mobile Conversion Center, where KC-45 aerial refueling tanker aircraft will be militarized for the Air Force.

The conversion center is part of an aircraft production facility that EADS North America will build in Mobile at the downtown Brookley Industrial Complex if it wins the tanker contest. EADS has also committed to build commercial A330 freighter aircraft at the same site. Earlier this year, the company began its transfer of the KC-45 program management team, nearly 200 employees, to new offices in Mobile.

The Air Force expects to announce a winner for the $40 billion competition early next year. I’m still thinking the only way out of this mess is to split the contract. We'll have to wait and see.


Space
During the week there was also a fascinating first for commercial space travel. A commercial company, SpaceX, launched a space capsule into orbit and brought it back safely. It was praised as a milestone in the future of space travel.

The unmanned Dragon spacecraft left Cape Canaveral, Fla., Wednesday atop a Falcon 9 rocket and entered orbit 10 minutes later. It circled Earth twice before splash-down in the Pacific. NASA heaped praise on the effort.

The next step is a fly-by of the International Space Station, then a cargo and crew mission to the ISS, both in 2011. NASA signed a contract with SpaceX in December 2008 under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program to provide 12 spacecraft to resupply the ISS through 2016. It also signed a contract with Orbital Space Corp. for eight launches of its Taurus II rocket starting in 2011.

Wednesday's flight was important for the Obama administration's hopes to expand commercial space efforts as a way to free up NASA funds for missions to send astronauts much deeper into space and ultimately to Mars.

This is all pretty important to Stennis Space Center, Miss., which is testing the AJ26 propulsion systems for the Orbital Space Corp. program and expects to be heavily involved in testing engines for commercial ventures.

In another space-related story of interest to Stennis Space Center, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed assembly of the oxidizer turbopump on NASA's J-2X rocket engine, moving the next-generation, human-rated rocket engine a step closer to testing at Stennis Space Center in 2011.

The J-2X engine was developed with heavy-lift capabilities in mind, and could play an important role as a powerful upper-stage engine for future missions to low-Earth orbit, Mars or an asteroid.


F-35
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wants to give the Marines two additional years to develop its version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to correct technical and manufacturing glitches. That's good news for those who want the Marines to have their own version of the fighter. The president's debt commission has proposed terminating the Marine Corps version to save money.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to become home of the JSF training center - with or without a Marine version of the aircraft.

In another F-35 news story during the week, Pratt & Whitney reported it's delivered the first production F135 Short Take Off/Vertical Landing (STOVL) engine. That’s the one used in the Marine Corps version.

The F135 engine has completed more than 20,000 hours of testing, 3,600 test hours during the concept demonstration phase, 15,800 test hours during development and more than 700 hours powering the F-35 flight test program.

The conventional takeoff and landing and carrier variant engine received Initial Service Release in February 2010, and the STOVL version is on track to receive ISR certification before the end of the year, according to Pratt & Whitney.


Contracts
Textron Systems Corp., Wilmington, Mass., was awarded a $258 million contract which will provide for 512 sensor-fuzed weapons CBU-105 production units and 44 training units. This contract supports foreign military sales to India. AAC/EBJK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $76 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract activity providing additional funding for long lead efforts and materials associated with the production and delivery of 42 low rate initial production Lot V F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, and the Navy. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.

Week in review (11/28 to 12/4)

Another delay in the launch of Discovery, the F-35 cost controversy, a new Boeing operation in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., praise for the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and a super secret Air Force unmanned space vehicle were all a part of the aerospace news of interest to the Gulf Coast region during the week.

First, an item of interest to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is scheduled to become the home of an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Training Center. The Pentagon is drawing a line on the cost of the Lockheed Martin plane. The cost has almost doubled to $92 million a jet since 2002, Ashton Carter, the defense acquisition chief said during the week.

The Pentagon has maintained an option to buy more Boeing F- 18s if development of the F-35 falters. Boeing has said it can supply more F-18 Super Hornets or F-15 Strike Eagles if needed. The Super Hornet costs less than $50 million per unit. (Story)

Lockheed Martin said it shares Pentagon concerns about cost increases and testing delays, but said changes are being made to ensure the fighter remained affordable. But the eventual fate of the short takeoff version of the F-35 could impact the cost.

Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright said during the week that officials were considering whether it would still be economical to build the Marine Corps version now that Britain has opted for a different variant. That could affect Lockheed's ability to produce the plane economically since the sole remaining customers would be the Marines and Italy. (Story)

Meanwhile, engine-supplier Pratt & Whitney hopes to sign for a fourth batch of F-35 engines within weeks. It accepted a government request to negotiate a fixed-price incentive contract instead of the originally planned cost-plus deal. This covers 31 F-35s powered by Pratt F135 engines. The company wants to get the F135 down to the same cost as the F-22s F119 engine by the 250th delivery. (Story)


Boeing jobs
Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division plans to open a technical publication organization in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., according to a story in the Wichita Eagle during the week.

It's not yet known how the change will impact the 700 employees who work in technical publications for Boeing's defense business, said Boeing Wichita spokesman Jarrod Bartlett. According to the newspaper, the site is scheduled to open in 2012, he said.

Boeing already has a Fort Walton Beach facility whose primary focus is engineering work for the Air Force Special Operations Command.


Tanker
When the Air Force mistakenly sent data to Boeing that was intended for EADS and vice versa, Boeing didn't open the computer files but EADS did. To rectify that situation, the Air Force took the unusual step of deliberately re-sending the data to ensure neither could claims of bias.

The odd step was taken to ensure a level playing field, according to an Air Force spokesman. EADS North America hopes to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala., if it wins the $40 billion competition.

More and more it looks like a split contract may be the only way out of this mess.


Fire Scout
During the course of one day last month, the Navy's Fire Scout unmanned helicopter operated in four different locations across the United States and took off for the first time from a Littoral Combat Ship, USS Freedom.

The Navy and industry partner Northrop Grumman tested the aircraft at Webster Field, Md., Yuma Proving Ground, Ariz., aboard the USS Halyburton off the coast of Jacksonville, Fla., and USS Freedom at the sea range in Point Mugu, Calif.

Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, Program Executive Officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons, said it "sets the stage for the introduction of a game-changing capability to our warfighters."

Fire Scout has surpassed more than 1,000 flight hours since the test program began in December 2006. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.


Bases
National Institute of Standards and Technology researchers recently released a new and improved system designed to more efficiently find software glitches during the development process, according to an article in Signal Online. It's called the Advanced Combinatorial Testing System.

Rick Kuhn, a NIST computer scientist who helped develop ACTS, says the 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has used ACTS in test and evaluation work and is now rolling out the methods to other Air Force organizations.

NIST reported in 2002 that software bugs cost the economy nearly $60 billion even though 50 percent of software development budgets are devoted to testing. Testing every possible variable is not practical. NIST first released the ACTS in 2008 and distributed it freely to 465 organizations and individuals in government, industry and academia.

- An Eglin Air Force Base team emerged victorious in the 2010 Air Force Research Laboratory Commander's Challenge, a competition where each team designs, develops and demonstrates a solution to an urgent warfighter need.

The challenge for this year's competition involved developing a perimeter surveillance and detection system for a forward operating base and combat outposts, primarily in the Afghanistan theatre of operations.


Space
The Shuttle Discovery won't launch on its space station resupply mission until at least Feb. 3. That will give engineers more time to carry out tests to help figure out what caused cracks in the ship's external tank and what might need to be done before Discovery can be cleared for flight.

The external tanks were constructed at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. All shuttle engine testing was done at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

- An unmanned spacecraft, the X-37B, landed early Friday after more than 7 months in orbit. The winged autonomous vehicle, built by Boeing originally for NASA before it became an Air Force project, landed at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

It launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 22. While it looks like the Space Shuttle, it's much smaller and can be launched from atop a Delta V rocket. The Gulf Coast region has interests in unmanned systems and space-related activities.


Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Melbourne, Fla., was awarded a $9.5 million modification to a previously awarded contract for continued post-delivery technical support for Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System units, a helicopter-mounted anti-mine system, deployed from surface ships and aircraft carriers in a carrier strike group or amphibious strike group. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (11/21 to 11/27)

Chalk it up as the protest that never quite took off.

There was a lot of concern prior to Thanksgiving that lines in the nation's airports would be long on Wednesday because of travelers protesting full-body scanners. For days activists waged a campaign on the Internet to encourage airline passengers to refuse full-body scans and insist on the even more intrusive pat-down.

But people, not surprisingly, were apparently more interested in making it to their destination than a symbolic protest.

Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport found that about as many passengers going through that terminal say they appreciate the enhanced safety of full body scanners as they do from those who feel it's intrusive.

The airport in New Orleans also has full-body scanners.

Rapiscan Systems of California is one of two companies making the systems. It has a production center in Ocean Springs, Miss.


Tanker
The Air Force's blunder of sending information to Boeing that was intended for EADS North America and vice versa in the hotly contested aerial tankers contest led to the firing of two officials during the week.

That's really not that surprising, considering the mistake was an embarrassment for the already troubled attempt to replace the aging fleet of Air Force tankers. Heads had to roll. But Gen. Norton Schwartz dismissed reports that the release included confidential pricing information.

Does the mistake improve chances that the $40 billion contract will be split? Will we eventually see Boeing building its version of the tanker in Washington state and EADS North America assembling its version in Mobile, Ala?

The Mobile Press-Register’s George Talbot considered that issue in his column Wednesday. He found at least two analysts who think a split buy may be the only way out. But he also found two others who disagree with that assessment.

- In another Airbus/EADS-related story during the week, this one of interest to Stennis Space Center, Miss., Goodrich Corp. delivered its first thrust reversers for the Airbus A350 XWB twinjet. The thrust reversers will be installed on a Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engine to be used in the engine ground test program, scheduled to begin later this year.

The thrust reversers were shipped from Chula Vista, Calif., to the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, England, where it will undergo initial testing before being shipped to a Rolls-Royce ground testing site at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss.


Eglin
DRS Training and Combat Control Systems of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., a business unit of DRS Defense Solutions of Bethesda, Md., has delivered its 1,000th airborne pod for the P5 Combat Training System/Tactical Combat Training System.

The P5 CTS/TCTS allows the Navy, Marines, and Air Force and allies to train together using a common air combat training platform. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., awarded the prime contract in 2003 to Cubic Defense Applications of San Diego, Calif., with DRS TCS as a principal contractor. DRS has received orders of more than $210 million for P5 pods.


Unmanned systems
Aurora Flight Sciences of Manassas, Va., rolled out the first of three planned Orion five-day-endurance unmanned aircraft demonstrators at its Columbus, Miss., plant Nov. 22. That's three months after being picked by the Air Force Research Laboratory for the first phase of the Medium-Altitude Global ISR and Communications (Magic) program.

Aurora is in talks with potential system integrators to help put Orion into production if a U.S. Air Force-funded technology demonstration proves successful. Orion is designed to fly for 120 hours at 20,000 feet with a 1,000-pound multi-sensor payload. This compares with 24 hours for the MQ-1B Predator and its 450-pound payload.

Along the Gulf Coast, two UAVs, Global Hawk and Fire Scout, are built in part at a Northrop Grumman plant in Moss Point, Miss.

Week in review (11/14 to 11/20)

Two huge projects of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor continue to face problems. One is the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, the other is the Air Force tanker project. The F-35 is important to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which will be the home of the JSF training center. The tanker is an obsession of Mobile, Ala., which hopes to become the home of the tanker manufacturing facility.

First, the F-35. The project, already running behind schedule and costing far more than originally projected, hit another problem during the week when Lockheed Martin engineers in Fort Worth, Texas, found cracks in the rear bulkhead of an F-35B joint strike fighter jet undergoing fatigue testing.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that the cracks were found after the plane had been subjected to the equivalent of 1,500 hours of flight time. The B version of the F-35 is the Marine Corps variant. That's the version that the Pentagon is reportedly considering dropping. A draft recommendation from the co-chairmen of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, in fact, recommends dropping the Marine variant and speeding up development of the Navy and Air Force versions.

That aside, DoD late in the week awarded a $3.5 billion contract modification to Lockheed Martin to build 31 F-35s in Lot 4 low-rate initial production. Including the long-lead funding previously received, the total contract value for LRIP 4 is $3.9 billion. The planes are being built in Fort Worth.

The contract calls for Lockheed Martin to build 10 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing variants for the Air Force, 16 F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variants for the Marines, four F-35C carrier variants for the Navy and one F-35B for the United Kingdom.

Lockheed Martin is developing the plane with subcontractors Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. More than 30 F-35s were purchased in the previous low-rate production batches. The U.S., Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway plan to buy more than 3,100 F-35s. Israel recently announced plans to purchase 20.

And at Eglin? The base continues its work towards setting up the center. The two planes that were to be delivered this year now won't get there until next year. The Pentagon decided to fit those planes with more test equipment and send them to California.

The other project that continues to face problems is the battle between Boeing and EADS to build aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. This week the Air Force, which has been so careful with this competition because of how badly the contest has been bungled in the past, managed to shoot itself in the foot.

The Air Force earlier this month sent internal assessements of the bids to each of the competitors, but mistakenly sent EADS' technical assessment to Boeing and Boeing's technical assessment to EADS.

Air Force spokesman Col. Les Kodlick said the service is analyzing the information that was inadvertently disclosed and has taken steps to ensure that both competitors have had equal access to the same information. Neither company has issued any comments or statements about the mix-up.

The Air Force expects to award the contract early next year. If EADS wins, the company plans to assemble the tankers, based on an Airbus A330, in Mobile.

- Speaking of EADS North America, that company and Airbus Americas will open a joint U.S. Sourcing Office at Airbus Americas' headquarters in Herndon, Va., in January 2011. EADS and Airbus have spent over $11 billion annually in the U.S. and support more than 200,000 American jobs.

The office will be responsible for mapping out a U.S. sourcing strategy and implementing an active procurement marketing effort. The office is part of the Global Sourcing Network, an EADS-wide organization dedicated to promote the globalization of the EADS procurement activities. It has offices in China and India.

EADS and Airbus have operations in Mobile, and EADS’ makes Lakota helicopters in Columbus, Miss.


Rebranding
Mobile Airport Authority members are considering removing the name "Brookley" from the industrial complex in downtown Mobile. That's the complex where EADS would assemble tankers should it win an Air Force contract.

Authority members Matt Metcalfe and Bert Meisler said they would prefer to see the word "Brookley" replaced by "Mobile." The discussion came up during a meeting when airport staff suggested rebranding the Brookley Field Industrial Complex as Brookley Aeroplex. Metcalfe said he would like the complex to be renamed Mobile Aeroplex. Authority members tabled the issue for a future meeting.


Stennis Space Center
NASA has awarded the test operations contract at Stennis Space Center, Miss., to Lockheed Martin Services Inc. of Houston. The test operations contract is valued at $95.7 million. As the test operations contractor, Lockheed Martin will be responsible for providing test operations, core operations and maintenance activities to support test projects at Stennis.

- NASA chose Air Products and Chemicals Inc. of Allentown, Pa., for the follow-on contract for the agency-wide acquisition of liquid hydrogen. It has a one-year base performance period with a one-year option period. Air Products will supply about 10,860,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen to Stennis Space Center, Miss., Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala, and Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

- NASA is teaming with students at 17 high schools in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee to design and develop hardware and software products for use in America’s space program.

Students will work with NASA engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and Stennis Space Center, Miss., on eight projects identified by the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) initiative.

The HUNCH teams include faculty leads and 10-15 student team members who will work with NASA mentors. Projects this year include hardware mockup for use on the International Space Station, heavy lift space vehicle subsystems and a portable rocket engine test stand.

One goal of the HUNCH initiative, which was launched in 2003 at Marshall, is to inspire high school students to pursue careers in science, technology or engineering fields.


Unmanned systems
Northrop Grumman launched an advertising campaign urging the public to lobby Congress not to cut budgets for Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. It comes as the government considers cutting the defense budget by about $100 billion over the next five years. The campaign includes ads in newspapers and a website that makes it easy for people to email comments to members of Congress. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.


Contracts
Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, was awarded a $10 million firm-fixed-price delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for non-recurring efforts required to complete the fuel jettison mission management restriction removal engineering change proposal (ECP) for the Air Force CV-22. This ECP will remove the fuel jettison restriction allowing the aircrew to rapidly manage CV-22 aircraft mission gross weight. Two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. … DTS Aviation Services Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $6.7 million contract modification which will provide aircraft backshop maintenance, munitions, and equipment support services for the Air Armament Center and for Air Armament command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence systems testing for a 12-month period. AAC/PKOB, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (11/7 to 11/13)

Will the Marine version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter be dropped? The co-chairmen of the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform think it should be, and apparently the Pentagon is looking at that possibility.

The commission, which can only make recommendations, issued a draft proposals to cut government spending, and in the long list is the suggestion to buy fewer F-35s for the Air Force and Navy, along with the elimination of the Marine Corps’ variant.

It remains to be seen how much of the draft proposal gets into the final recommendations due Dec. 1. But InsideDefense said during the week that senior defense leaders are considering revamping the F-35 program again, and possibly eliminating the Marine variant while speeding up development of the Air Force and Navy variants of the Joint Strike Fighter.

What all that might mean for Eglin Air Force Base., Fla., which is scheduled to be home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center, is a bit too early to tell. We said last week that the arrival of the first two F-35As, originally scheduled before the end of the year, has been delayed six months so further testing of the first models off the assembly line can be done.

Meanwhile, the first F-35C, the Navy's version designed for carriers, arrived last weekend at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The aircraft will conduct air-to-air refueling and performance testing at the Virginia base.


Engines
NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi conducted a successful test firing during the week of the liquid-fuel AJ26 engine that will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle.

The engine built by Aerojet was test-fired on Stennis' E-1 test stand. The test firing lasted 10 seconds and served as a short-duration readiness firing to verify AJ26 engine start and shutdown sequences, E-1 test stand operations, and ground-test engine controls.

The Taurus II space launch vehicle will take cargo to the International Space Station.

- Rolls-Royce has located the problem in older Trent 900 engines, like the one that blew apart last week and forced a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing. The failure was the bearing box, which caused an oil fire and the release of the pressure turbine disc. Plans are to replace the part in the older Trent 900 engines. Rolls-Royce engines are now tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The outdoor facility, the H-1 test site, opened in 2008.


Airports
Beginning next month, Vision Airlines will offer service out of Northwest Florida Regional Airport, located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The company, started in 1994 primarily as a charter service, is based in Suwanee, Ga., and will offer non-stop service to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Miami.

- A life-size bronze bust of Mississippi aviator John C. Robinson was unveiled and dedicated during the week at Mississippi’s Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The bust was commissioned by the John C. Robinson Brown Condor Association in honor of the Gulfport aviation pioneer. The unveiling is the kick-off of an effort to build the Mississippi Aviation Heritage Museum on the grounds of the airport.


New owners
LSI Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., plans to acquire the assets of Aviation Systems Inc. of Northwest Florida next month. Founded in 1994, ASI of Pensacola provides training device design, engineering, manufacturing and repair services. ASI’s facility is 20,000 square feet and has 50 workers. LSI is an employee-owned training company and has more than 450 workers.


Blue Angels
The Blue Angels closed out the 2010 season with the annual Homecoming Air Show at Naval Air Station Pensacola Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Along with the flying, more than 50 military and civilian aircraft were on display.


Contracts
Cubic Defense Applications of San Diego, Calif., won a $35 million contract as part of an industry team developing the Common Range Integrated Instrumentation System (CRIIS) for U.S. military test ranges. CRIIS, which will be operational at eight ranges, including Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., provides data to support weapon system testing for a variety of platforms, including aircraft, ships, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, ground vehicles and soldiers. Cubic is a subcontractor for Rockwell Collins, which was awarded a $140 million contract to develop the first phase of CRIIS. … Diligent Consulting Inc., San Antonio, Texas, was awarded a $24 million contract which will provide for Air Education and Training Command Department of Defense information assurance certification and accreditation process support services. AAC/PKO, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $16.2 million contract modification which will exercise the high-speed anti-radiation missile targeting system fiscal 2011 contractor logistics support option. AAC/IBAS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (10/31 to 11/6)

With the mid-term elections now behind us, the analyses of what it all means are coming fast and furious. Some predict that the new House Republicans are likely to advocate a more muscular approach towards China, some are saying Republican gains may be bad news for Boeing and good news for EADS in the fight over the tanker project.

That's all to be seen, but one thing for certain for the Gulf Coast is that Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., long associated with his support for the military, is on his way out. The chairman of the Armed Services subcommittee on seapower and expeditionary forces has served since 1989. Taylor carried all three of the populous coastal Mississippi counties, but he lost the more rural counties and was unseated by Republican Steven Palazzo.

- With all the focus on the elections in this country, you may have missed this item from across the pond in Europe that's bound to have a major impact on the defense industry. During the week Britain and France announced a far-reaching defense partnership that includes setting up a joint force and sharing equipment and nuclear missile research centers.

The treaties mark an unprecedented degree of military cooperation between the two NATO allies, Western Europe's biggest defense spenders and only nuclear powers. It was prompted by a desire to maintain cutting-edge military capabilities in an age of reduced defense spending. How that will work out when the two nation's disagree, as they did with the war in Iraq, is yet to be seen. (Story) In a related item, Britain's BAE Systems and France's Dassault Aviation are in talks about joining forces to develop unmanned aircraft. (Story)


F-35
Lockheed Martin planned to deliver two F-35As to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., before the end of the year to begin training pilots. But according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram's airline, travel and aerospace blog, InsideDefense reported that the Pentagon wants the first low initial rate production F-35s off the assembly line outfitted with extra testing equipment for an additional six months of testing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. That will delay pilot training until at least the late summer of 2011. Eglin will be home to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training center.

- There were also reports during the week that the price of the F-35 continues to increase. The nation’s most expensive arms program could face additional costs and delays beyond those that prompted the Pentagon to overhaul the effort earlier this year. (Story)

- Meanwhile, three Northwest Florida counties and the Air Force have taken the first step to study ways to reduce the impact of noise from F-35s. Okaloosa, Santa Rosa and Walton counties agreed to find a consultant to conduct a noise reduction study of homes, businesses and public buildings within areas that will be exposed to high noise levels from the 59 F-35s. The commander of the 96th Air Base Wing and other Air Force officials also will participate.


Science center
A "topping out" ceremony has been scheduled for Nov. 17 for the Infinity Science Center being built near NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. The ceremony marks a milestone in construction of the multimillion-dollar education center, set to open in 2012. In addition to the placing of a tree at the highest part of the structure, there will be remarks by key officials.

Infinity, located near the Mississippi-Louisiana state line and the Mississippi Welcome Center along Interstate 10, is designed to interest young people in science, technology, engineering and math, and to increase the public’s understanding of the earth, space and ocean science work done at Stennis Space Center.


Airport
Florida's Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport marked 75 years of service early in the week at an event attended by about 100 people. The airport started as a private development before being sold to the city of Pensacola in 1935. The city has spent $50 million over the past several years on renovations. Federal funds paid for $45 million in runway improvements. Other Central Gulf Coast cities served by commercial airports include New Orleans, Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., Mobile, Ala., Fort Walton Beach-Valparaiso-Crestview, Fla., and Panama City, Fla.


LCS modules
Northrop Grumman won a $29 million Navy contract to begin production of three mission module packages for littoral combat ships, including an anti-mine warfare package that includes the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. The project also includes two surface warfare packages.

The LCS modular design means the ship can go to the port where mission packages are staged, off load its current package and replace it with a new one in a few days. The first package is scheduled for early 2012 delivery and the others later that year. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., is one of two companies building LCS ships for the Navy.


Weapons
Lockheed Martin won a $230,000 contract from the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to define requirements for an airborne weapon using high-power microwave energy beams instead to take out enemy electronic systems.

The Non-Kinetic Counter Electronics Capability contract will lead to development of a new weapon to destroy electronic equipment without explosives. Lockheed Martin will deliver its findings in the first quarter of 2011. The system would be aimed at structures containing electronic equipment that high-power microwave bursts would render useless.


C5 work
Goodrich received a contract from Lockheed Martin to supply 160 pylons for the Air Force C-5 airlifter Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program. Work on the pylons, which attach engines to the wings, will be done in Foley, Ala., and Chula Vista, Calif., the company said.

The contract extends an earlier deal between the two companies to provide pylons and nacelles for three test aircraft as well as nine airplanes in the initial phases of the enhancement program. Pylons are scheduled for delivery beginning in early 2011 through the end of 2015, the company said. Goodrich has 700 workers in Foley.


Contracts
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $106.4 million contract modification which provides for the exercise of the Lot 7 option for small diameter bomb production for munitions, carriages and technical support. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $23.8 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for organizational, selected intermediate and limited depot-level maintenance for F-16, F-18, H-60, and E-2C aircraft operated by the adversary squadrons based at Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nev.