The loss of a flight training mission at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., a promise of $3 million for a new flight academy in Pensacola, Fla., and the awarding of more than $210 million in weapons-related contracts by Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., were some of the Gulf Coast aerospace-related activities during the week.
C-21
The 458th Airlift Squadron at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., will become the Air Force's sole C-21 formal training unit within the next four months. The squadron will regain the C-21 training mission from the 45th Airlift Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.
The 45th Airlift Squadron will dissolve as a unit under the Air Education and Training Command and will once again fall under Air Mobility Command's 375th Operations Group. The C-21 training mission had belonged to Scott Air Force Base up until the early 1990s.
The C-21, a twin-engine business jet, is used by the Air Force for transportation.
Flight academy
The National Flight Academy received a $3 million challenge grant from Hilton Hotels founder Conrad N. Hilton's foundation. It will be paid when the academy, now under construction at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., meets its current $15 million fundraising goal.
Right now, according to the Pensacola News Journal, the amount that has been raised is a little over $14 million. Academy officials hope the challenge will prompt others to donate to the project.
The academy, adjacent to the National Naval Aviation Museum, is set to open in 2012 and will be a naval aviation-themed educational camp for students in grades 7-12.
Joint Strike Fighter
Last month, Navy F-35 flight test aircraft CF-1 performed the first test hookup to a catapult at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Marine Corps test pilot Lt. Col. Matt "Opie" Taylor was at the controls during the test on the TC-7 catapult.
The overall ship compatibility test phase, including catapult launches, is scheduled to begin this year. Shipboard testing of the F-35C aboard a CVN-68 class aircraft carrier is scheduled to take place in 2013.
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center.
Contracts
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $28.3 million contract modification for eight massive ordnance penetrator assets, 16 separation nuts, eight MOP loading adapters, and an aft closure redesign. ACC/EDBK/EDBJ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., of Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $162.7 million contract modification for a Lot 9 production contract for 95 baselines and 30 extended range missiles to support the Air Force. The contracting activity is AAC/EBJK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. … Kaman Precision Products of Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $19.8 million contract modification to provide the Air Force with an additional quantity of 6,000 of the Joint Programmable Fuze systems. The JPF is a fuze system used with precision weapons systems such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition, and equipped with variable delay systems that may be programmed manually or from the cockpit through its in-flight reprogrammability feature. The contracting activity is AAC/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $172.6 million contract to provide a block of M982 Excalibur unitary 155mm precision engagement projectile. Some of the work will be done in Niceville, Fla.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: The Mobile, Ala., facility of BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards will add up to 400 workers to finish building an oil tanker. The shipyard on the east bank of Mobile River has 600 workers and another 200 to 250 contractors. … Huntington Ingalls Industries CEO Mike Petters told Jackson County, Miss., leaders that the recent $1.5 billion ship contract is just the first of five the company is negotiating with the Navy over the next two years.
PERSPECTIVES: Commentary and analysis on aerospace and defense activities in the Gulf Coast
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Week in review (3/27 to 4/2)
No doubt the World Trade Organization ruling during the week on Boeing subsidies was a hot aerospace news item worldwide. But there were other developments of high interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region. Here's a quick rundown: EADS' Eurocopter is buying Canada's Vector Aerospace, Goodrich plans to buy Italy's Microtecnica, there was a shakeup at the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., a new version of the MC-130 Combat Shadow rolled out of a plant in Georgia, and Congress has taken some steps to integrate UAVs in the national air space.
Unmanned aerial systems
The House of Representatives late in the week passed a bill that would go a long way towards allowing unmanned and manned systems to share the national airspace. The House version of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 includes language that would, among other things, create four test sites to study the ability of unmanned aircraft systems sharing airspace and runways with manned and commercial aircraft.
The bill would require a plan within nine months, and sets a deadline of Sept. 30, 2015 for integration. Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International, said unmanned systems "have the potential to revolutionize the aviation and aerospace industry globally," but civilian uses have been hampered by a lack of standards and rules. The bill would help address that.
The Gulf Coast region is heavily involved in unmanned systems. Areas around Trent Lott International Airport in Moss Point, Miss., and Stennis Space Center, Miss., have certificates of authorization to fly unmanned systems, and unmanned systems are also flown at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Two of the best-known UAVs, the Global Hawk and Fire Scout, are built in part in Moss Point.
The bill still has to be reconciled with the Senate version.
- On the topic of UAVs - or UAS if you prefer - the U.S. Coast Guard doesn't have any unmanned systems in its inventory, but the service is forging ahead with some training, according to the service's unmanned aerial system platform manager.
Navy Times reports that the skeleton of the service's program is taking shape at Aviation Training Center, Mobile, Ala. The Coast Guard has trained three pilots in Mobile to operate the MQ-9 Guardian, a variant of the Air Force's Reaper. The program is in its infancy and there's no training pipeline yet, pending funding. One of the systems the Coast Guard is eyeing is the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. (Full story)
EADS and Boeing
The World Trade Organization reported during the week that Boeing received at least $5.3 billion in improper subsidies from the United States to develop jets, including the 787, giving it an unfair advantage against European rival Airbus.
The European Union claimed research and development grants from the federal government's NASA and Defense Department, including development of carbon composites, contributed to the technologies to build the 787. The ruling is the latest round in a six-year battle between Boeing and Airbus, part of EADS. In a case decided last June, the WTO found that Airbus had benefited from improper subsidies as well.
- In another EADS-related story during the week, Eurocopter, the helicopter unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space group, said early in the week that it's buying all the outstanding shares of Canada's Vector Aerospace Corp. The deal for the helicopter overhaul and repair company is valued at $638 million.
Vector Aerospace has an operation at the South Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia, Ala., which opened in 2008. EADS has a helicopter production facility in Columbus, Miss., and two operations in Mobile, Ala.
- On the subject of purchases, Goodrich Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., plans to buy Italian aerospace control system maker Microtecnica for $462 million. The sale is scheduled to close before the end of June.
Microtecnica, which employs 700 people in Italy and the United Kingdom, makes flight control actuation systems for helicopters, regional and business aircraft and missiles, as well as thermal and environmental control systems. Goodrich employs more than 700 people in Foley, Ala.
Joint Strike Fighter
Col. David A. Hlatky was relieved as commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Maj. Gen. Mark Solo, 19th Air Force commander at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, lost confidence in Hlatky’s ability to command as a result of an investigation following allegations of personal misconduct. Col. Andrew J. Toth assumed command of the wing. He previously served as the executive officer to the commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va.
- Faulty maintenance procedures caused the in-flight failure of the engine generators on an F-35, the program office said. Those procedures have now been revised, and the entire fleet of F-35s has been cleared to resume flight operations. The problem was found in a test flight earlier this month in California in an F-35 with an alternate generator configuration. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.
Aircraft
Lockheed Martin rolled out the first aircraft in a new fleet of MC-130J Combat Shadow IIs for the U.S. Air Force's Special Operations Command during a ceremony in Marietta, Ga. Lockheed Martin is under contract to build 15 MC 130Js to begin replacing the current fleet. The Air Force is authorized to buy up to 20 MC-130Js against an approved requirement for 37. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command is headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Fla.
Space
NASA cut the ribbon on a new cryogenics control center at Mississippi's John C. Stennis Space Center, marking near completion of a project to strengthen protection for liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen barges in the event of a natural disaster.
The new structure consolidates LH and LOX operations and provides a safe shelter for a disaster ride-out crew. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, NASA conducted a study to identify support systems at the site that should be "hardened" to withstand the impacts of future storms.
The study cited the need to provide a safe haven for LH and LOX cryogenic barges needed to perform rocket engine testing at the south Mississippi facility. The project ensures a safe haven for all six LOX and three LH barges at Stennis.
Contracts
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $9 million contract for technical support of the use of Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile special test vehicles, special test equipment, and test positions to include AMRAAM modeling and simulation. Work will be done at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. AAC/PKES Eglin is the contracting activity. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $21.5 million contract to provide for the procurement of four UH-72A light utility helicopters; four airborne radio communication 231 system production cut-in; and one engine inlet barrier filter production cut-in. Work will be done in Columbus, Miss. … Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded an $84.1 million contract for logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance to support 273 T-34, 54 T-44, and 62 T-6 aircraft based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, NAS Whiting Field, Fla., and NAS Pensacola. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $42.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract for logistics support of 124 TH-57B/TH-57C aircraft. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla., and NAS Patuxent River, Md. … Alliant Techsystems Inc., Plymouth, Minn., was awarded a $35.8 million contract to provide the hard target sensing fuze for use with BLU-109, BLU-113, and BLU-122 warheads and their associated guidance systems. AAC/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, was awarded a $1.5 billion modification to previously awarded contract for the procurement of the detail design and construction of LPD 26, the future USS John P. Murtha, 10th ship in the LPD 17 amphibious transport dock ship class. Most of the work, 83 percent, will be done in Pascagoula, but 1 percent will also be done in New Orleans. … In Mobile, Ala., Austal USA broke ground during the week on a $116 million project to build three new facilities at its Mobile River complex. It will allow the shipbuilder to complete contracts to build joint high-speed vessels and littoral combat ships. Austal employs about 2,000 people in Mobile. … Before Huntington Ingalls became a separate entity, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded a $28.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the procurement of additional long lead time material in support of the LHA replacement flight 0 amphibious assault ship. Most of the work will be done in Philadelphia, nearly 80 percent, but 20 percent will be done in Pascagoula. … Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $12 million option for a previously awarded contract for management and engineering services to maintain and modify as necessary the design of DDG 51 class combat system compartments and topside arrangements, in support of the Program Executive Officer Integrated Warfare Systems. Twenty-two percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula.
Unmanned aerial systems
The House of Representatives late in the week passed a bill that would go a long way towards allowing unmanned and manned systems to share the national airspace. The House version of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2011 includes language that would, among other things, create four test sites to study the ability of unmanned aircraft systems sharing airspace and runways with manned and commercial aircraft.
The bill would require a plan within nine months, and sets a deadline of Sept. 30, 2015 for integration. Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicles International, said unmanned systems "have the potential to revolutionize the aviation and aerospace industry globally," but civilian uses have been hampered by a lack of standards and rules. The bill would help address that.
The Gulf Coast region is heavily involved in unmanned systems. Areas around Trent Lott International Airport in Moss Point, Miss., and Stennis Space Center, Miss., have certificates of authorization to fly unmanned systems, and unmanned systems are also flown at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Two of the best-known UAVs, the Global Hawk and Fire Scout, are built in part in Moss Point.
The bill still has to be reconciled with the Senate version.
- On the topic of UAVs - or UAS if you prefer - the U.S. Coast Guard doesn't have any unmanned systems in its inventory, but the service is forging ahead with some training, according to the service's unmanned aerial system platform manager.
Navy Times reports that the skeleton of the service's program is taking shape at Aviation Training Center, Mobile, Ala. The Coast Guard has trained three pilots in Mobile to operate the MQ-9 Guardian, a variant of the Air Force's Reaper. The program is in its infancy and there's no training pipeline yet, pending funding. One of the systems the Coast Guard is eyeing is the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. (Full story)
EADS and Boeing
The World Trade Organization reported during the week that Boeing received at least $5.3 billion in improper subsidies from the United States to develop jets, including the 787, giving it an unfair advantage against European rival Airbus.
The European Union claimed research and development grants from the federal government's NASA and Defense Department, including development of carbon composites, contributed to the technologies to build the 787. The ruling is the latest round in a six-year battle between Boeing and Airbus, part of EADS. In a case decided last June, the WTO found that Airbus had benefited from improper subsidies as well.
- In another EADS-related story during the week, Eurocopter, the helicopter unit of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space group, said early in the week that it's buying all the outstanding shares of Canada's Vector Aerospace Corp. The deal for the helicopter overhaul and repair company is valued at $638 million.
Vector Aerospace has an operation at the South Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia, Ala., which opened in 2008. EADS has a helicopter production facility in Columbus, Miss., and two operations in Mobile, Ala.
- On the subject of purchases, Goodrich Corp. of Charlotte, N.C., plans to buy Italian aerospace control system maker Microtecnica for $462 million. The sale is scheduled to close before the end of June.
Microtecnica, which employs 700 people in Italy and the United Kingdom, makes flight control actuation systems for helicopters, regional and business aircraft and missiles, as well as thermal and environmental control systems. Goodrich employs more than 700 people in Foley, Ala.
Joint Strike Fighter
Col. David A. Hlatky was relieved as commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Maj. Gen. Mark Solo, 19th Air Force commander at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, lost confidence in Hlatky’s ability to command as a result of an investigation following allegations of personal misconduct. Col. Andrew J. Toth assumed command of the wing. He previously served as the executive officer to the commander of Air Combat Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va.
- Faulty maintenance procedures caused the in-flight failure of the engine generators on an F-35, the program office said. Those procedures have now been revised, and the entire fleet of F-35s has been cleared to resume flight operations. The problem was found in a test flight earlier this month in California in an F-35 with an alternate generator configuration. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.
Aircraft
Lockheed Martin rolled out the first aircraft in a new fleet of MC-130J Combat Shadow IIs for the U.S. Air Force's Special Operations Command during a ceremony in Marietta, Ga. Lockheed Martin is under contract to build 15 MC 130Js to begin replacing the current fleet. The Air Force is authorized to buy up to 20 MC-130Js against an approved requirement for 37. The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command is headquartered at Hurlburt Field, Fla.
Space
NASA cut the ribbon on a new cryogenics control center at Mississippi's John C. Stennis Space Center, marking near completion of a project to strengthen protection for liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen barges in the event of a natural disaster.
The new structure consolidates LH and LOX operations and provides a safe shelter for a disaster ride-out crew. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, NASA conducted a study to identify support systems at the site that should be "hardened" to withstand the impacts of future storms.
The study cited the need to provide a safe haven for LH and LOX cryogenic barges needed to perform rocket engine testing at the south Mississippi facility. The project ensures a safe haven for all six LOX and three LH barges at Stennis.
Contracts
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $9 million contract for technical support of the use of Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile special test vehicles, special test equipment, and test positions to include AMRAAM modeling and simulation. Work will be done at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. AAC/PKES Eglin is the contracting activity. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $21.5 million contract to provide for the procurement of four UH-72A light utility helicopters; four airborne radio communication 231 system production cut-in; and one engine inlet barrier filter production cut-in. Work will be done in Columbus, Miss. … Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded an $84.1 million contract for logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance to support 273 T-34, 54 T-44, and 62 T-6 aircraft based at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, NAS Whiting Field, Fla., and NAS Pensacola. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $42.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract for logistics support of 124 TH-57B/TH-57C aircraft. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla., and NAS Patuxent River, Md. … Alliant Techsystems Inc., Plymouth, Minn., was awarded a $35.8 million contract to provide the hard target sensing fuze for use with BLU-109, BLU-113, and BLU-122 warheads and their associated guidance systems. AAC/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. of Pascagoula, Miss., a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, was awarded a $1.5 billion modification to previously awarded contract for the procurement of the detail design and construction of LPD 26, the future USS John P. Murtha, 10th ship in the LPD 17 amphibious transport dock ship class. Most of the work, 83 percent, will be done in Pascagoula, but 1 percent will also be done in New Orleans. … In Mobile, Ala., Austal USA broke ground during the week on a $116 million project to build three new facilities at its Mobile River complex. It will allow the shipbuilder to complete contracts to build joint high-speed vessels and littoral combat ships. Austal employs about 2,000 people in Mobile. … Before Huntington Ingalls became a separate entity, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded a $28.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the procurement of additional long lead time material in support of the LHA replacement flight 0 amphibious assault ship. Most of the work will be done in Philadelphia, nearly 80 percent, but 20 percent will be done in Pascagoula. … Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $12 million option for a previously awarded contract for management and engineering services to maintain and modify as necessary the design of DDG 51 class combat system compartments and topside arrangements, in support of the Program Executive Officer Integrated Warfare Systems. Twenty-two percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Week in review (3/20 to 3/26)
EADS may have lost the $35 billion Air Force tanker competition to Boeing, but it's continuing its bid to increase its footprint in the United States, the world's largest aerospace market.
The company said during the week that it's in talks to buy Vector Aerospace, a Canadian company that repairs and maintains civil and military helicopters. Vector Aerospace has an operation at the South Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia, Ala., which opened in 2008.
EADS, which would have built an assembly plant in Mobile, Ala., had it won the Air Force tanker project, has a helicopter production facility in Columbus, Miss., and two operations in Mobile, including an engineering center at Brookley Aeroplex.
Joint Strike Fighter
Aviators of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., completed four sorties recently in F-16 Fighting Falcons to ensure readiness and efficiency in the transition to the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.
The F-16s from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., were brought to the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin because of its flying characteristics are similar to the F-35. The Marine variant of JSF, the F-35B, contains a short take-off and vertical landing engine.
The STOVL variant will replace the Marine Corps inventory of F/A-18s and AV-8s. The F-35B will be the world's first operational supersonic STOVL aircraft. Eglin Air Force Base is home of the JSF training center.
- Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc., a major international F-35 supplier to Northrop Grumman, has delivered its first production air inlet duct for the jet. The all-composite duct, a major structural element of the F-35's center fuselage, will support Northrop Grumman's production of F-35 center fuselages for conventional takeoff and landing variants at its aerospace production facility in Palmdale, Calif.
TAI produced the air inlet duct at its composites manufacturing facility in Ankara, Turkey, as part of a five-year, $28.4 million contract awarded to the company in September 2009 by Northrop Grumman, a principal subcontractor of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team.
- The Defense Department during the week issued a stop work order on the F-136 engine being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The administration and DoD oppose the extra engine as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The stop work order will remain in place pending final resolution of the program's future, for a period not to exceed 90 days, unless extended by agreement of the government and the contractor. The F-35's primary engine is the Pratt & Whitney F135. GE, however, plans to continue self-funded work on the engine.
Space
Assembly of the first J-2X is continuing at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the J-2X engine will power the upper-stage of a heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the J-2X engine will generate 294,000 pounds of thrust to propel a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, or other celestial destination.
During the week, Stennis Space Center's A-2 test stand was certified ready to support J-2X development testing. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. is the prime contractor for the design and manufacture of the J-2X. Hot fire testing of the engine is targeted for later this summer at Stennis.
- Last weekend at NASA’s Stennis Space Center an Aerojet AJ26 flight engine was tested on the E-1 Test stand. The engine will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle. The test was done by a team of Orbital, Aerojet, and Stennis engineers.
The test of the AJ26 engine supports Orbital Sciences' effort to demonstrate its commercial cargo transportation system in preparation for future International Space Station cargo resupply missions. Once test data has been reviewed and verified, the engine will be sent to the Wallops Flight Facility launch site in Virginia for integration with the Taurus II rocket's first-stage core. Orbital is scheduled to carry out the first of eight cargo missions to the space station in early 2012.
Airports
Vision Airlines during the week announced new destinations from Fort Walton Beach, Fla. In December the airline launched direct flights from Northwest Florida Regional Airport to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Miami. On Friday it expanded service to 10 additional destinations, with five more to start during the coming week. Service has begun to Atlanta, Knoxville, Tenn., Greenville, S.C., and Huntsville, Ala. Service to Savannah, Ga., Baton Rouge, La., and Louisville, Ky., started Saturday.
Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $7.3 million contract for logistics support for the C-12 aircraft for Pacific Air Force, Air Force Material Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Defense Security Corporation Agency. Work will be performed at L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace in Madison.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was at Austal USA's shipyard in Mobile, Ala., Friday to announce the names to two littoral combat ships being built by that company. LCS 6 will be named Jackson and LCS 8 will be named Montgomery. … A 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship, Arlington, was slated to be christened Saturday at a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Pascagoula yard. … Swiftships Shipbuilders LLC, Morgan City, La., was awarded a $42.1 million modification to previously awarded contract for the detail design and construction of three 35-meter patrol boats. Eight percent of the work will be done in Ocean Springs, Miss.
Marine science: Federal officials are taking possession of samples from the 71 dolphins found dead on the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this year. The samples have been stored at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., since mid-January when the animals started dying in high numbers. The concern from the start has been whether it has anything to do with last year’s BP oil spill. … Much of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 never made it to the surface and instead become suspended in the water column, suggests research presented at a scientific conference in Mobile, Ala.
The company said during the week that it's in talks to buy Vector Aerospace, a Canadian company that repairs and maintains civil and military helicopters. Vector Aerospace has an operation at the South Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia, Ala., which opened in 2008.
EADS, which would have built an assembly plant in Mobile, Ala., had it won the Air Force tanker project, has a helicopter production facility in Columbus, Miss., and two operations in Mobile, including an engineering center at Brookley Aeroplex.
Joint Strike Fighter
Aviators of Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., completed four sorties recently in F-16 Fighting Falcons to ensure readiness and efficiency in the transition to the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.
The F-16s from Luke Air Force Base, Ariz., were brought to the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin because of its flying characteristics are similar to the F-35. The Marine variant of JSF, the F-35B, contains a short take-off and vertical landing engine.
The STOVL variant will replace the Marine Corps inventory of F/A-18s and AV-8s. The F-35B will be the world's first operational supersonic STOVL aircraft. Eglin Air Force Base is home of the JSF training center.
- Turkish Aerospace Industries, Inc., a major international F-35 supplier to Northrop Grumman, has delivered its first production air inlet duct for the jet. The all-composite duct, a major structural element of the F-35's center fuselage, will support Northrop Grumman's production of F-35 center fuselages for conventional takeoff and landing variants at its aerospace production facility in Palmdale, Calif.
TAI produced the air inlet duct at its composites manufacturing facility in Ankara, Turkey, as part of a five-year, $28.4 million contract awarded to the company in September 2009 by Northrop Grumman, a principal subcontractor of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team.
- The Defense Department during the week issued a stop work order on the F-136 engine being developed by General Electric and Rolls-Royce for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The administration and DoD oppose the extra engine as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
The stop work order will remain in place pending final resolution of the program's future, for a period not to exceed 90 days, unless extended by agreement of the government and the contractor. The F-35's primary engine is the Pratt & Whitney F135. GE, however, plans to continue self-funded work on the engine.
Space
Assembly of the first J-2X is continuing at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., the J-2X engine will power the upper-stage of a heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Fueled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the J-2X engine will generate 294,000 pounds of thrust to propel a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, or other celestial destination.
During the week, Stennis Space Center's A-2 test stand was certified ready to support J-2X development testing. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, Calif. is the prime contractor for the design and manufacture of the J-2X. Hot fire testing of the engine is targeted for later this summer at Stennis.
- Last weekend at NASA’s Stennis Space Center an Aerojet AJ26 flight engine was tested on the E-1 Test stand. The engine will power the first stage of Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus II space launch vehicle. The test was done by a team of Orbital, Aerojet, and Stennis engineers.
The test of the AJ26 engine supports Orbital Sciences' effort to demonstrate its commercial cargo transportation system in preparation for future International Space Station cargo resupply missions. Once test data has been reviewed and verified, the engine will be sent to the Wallops Flight Facility launch site in Virginia for integration with the Taurus II rocket's first-stage core. Orbital is scheduled to carry out the first of eight cargo missions to the space station in early 2012.
Airports
Vision Airlines during the week announced new destinations from Fort Walton Beach, Fla. In December the airline launched direct flights from Northwest Florida Regional Airport to Niagara Falls, N.Y., and Miami. On Friday it expanded service to 10 additional destinations, with five more to start during the coming week. Service has begun to Atlanta, Knoxville, Tenn., Greenville, S.C., and Huntsville, Ala. Service to Savannah, Ga., Baton Rouge, La., and Louisville, Ky., started Saturday.
Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $7.3 million contract for logistics support for the C-12 aircraft for Pacific Air Force, Air Force Material Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Defense Security Corporation Agency. Work will be performed at L3 Communications Vertex Aerospace in Madison.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was at Austal USA's shipyard in Mobile, Ala., Friday to announce the names to two littoral combat ships being built by that company. LCS 6 will be named Jackson and LCS 8 will be named Montgomery. … A 684-foot amphibious transport dock ship, Arlington, was slated to be christened Saturday at a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Pascagoula yard. … Swiftships Shipbuilders LLC, Morgan City, La., was awarded a $42.1 million modification to previously awarded contract for the detail design and construction of three 35-meter patrol boats. Eight percent of the work will be done in Ocean Springs, Miss.
Marine science: Federal officials are taking possession of samples from the 71 dolphins found dead on the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this year. The samples have been stored at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, Miss., since mid-January when the animals started dying in high numbers. The concern from the start has been whether it has anything to do with last year’s BP oil spill. … Much of the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 never made it to the surface and instead become suspended in the water column, suggests research presented at a scientific conference in Mobile, Ala.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Week in review (3/13 to 3/19)
Although the unmanned Global Hawk has long been associated with flights over combat zones, it's proving itself on the non-warfare front as well. In one of the UAV's latest mission, a Global Hawk based in Guam has flown missions over Japan to collect images of the destruction caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The images provided by the RQ-4 Global Hawk will help authorities in search-and-recovery and the long-term clean-up. The Global Hawk can provide near real-time imagery.
Global Hawks in the past were also used to fly over huge fires in California and over hurricanes. The center fuselage for the planes are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center. That production center also does finishing work on another Northrop Grumman UAV, the unmanned helicopter Fire Scout.
F-35
Seven of 10 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter test planes were cleared during the past week to resume flights. All 10 aircraft were grounded when one plane experienced an in-flight failure of two electrical generators and an oil leak last week. The incident occurred during a flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The incident came just as military officials were reporting significant progress on the program after a major restructuring that slowed development to allow more flight testing before the plane goes into production. The suspension was lifted on seven aircraft with older-model generators.
- In another F-35 related matter, the Navy said it would buy 680 F-35s, half suited for aircraft carrier landings and half short-takeoff and vertical-landing versions for the Marines. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be home of the F-35 training center.
Airbus
Airbus Corporate Foundation during the week announced a $50,000 initial grant to the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile, Ala., seeding a new advanced aerospace engineering program for students. Staff members at the Airbus Engineering Center in Mobile will work hands-on with students as mentors.
Blue Angels
The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is performing in Mississippi at the Keesler Air Force Base air show this weekend. It's the first performance at Keesler since 1978. The Blue Angles returned home to Pensacola, Fla., early last week after spending the winter training in El Centro, Calif.
Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $314,000 contract for logistics support for the C-12 aircraft for Pacific Air Force, Air Force Material Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Defense Security Corporation Agency. The location of performance is Madison. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $20.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance of 14 T39N and six T-39G aircraft at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. In addition, this modification provides for aircraft intermediate maintenance services in support of Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft and transient aircraft at NAS Pensacola and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Most of the work will be performed in Pensacola. … L-3 Communications Systems Field Support, Vertex Aerospace, Madison Miss., was awarded a $25.6 million contract for aircraft maintenance and logistical life cycle support for 65 Navy C-12 aircraft at 21 global locations. … The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., and Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., were awarded a $20 million contract for integrated precision ordinance delivery system Phases II-IV; research and development. AFRL/RWK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … JDA LLC, Concord, Calif., was awarded an $8 million contract for a data replay system. AAC/PKO, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Kaman Precision Products Inc., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $23.8 million contract modification which will provide the Air Force with 6,000 of the Joint Programmable Fuze systems to meet munitions requirements. AAC/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
The images provided by the RQ-4 Global Hawk will help authorities in search-and-recovery and the long-term clean-up. The Global Hawk can provide near real-time imagery.
Global Hawks in the past were also used to fly over huge fires in California and over hurricanes. The center fuselage for the planes are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center. That production center also does finishing work on another Northrop Grumman UAV, the unmanned helicopter Fire Scout.
F-35
Seven of 10 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter test planes were cleared during the past week to resume flights. All 10 aircraft were grounded when one plane experienced an in-flight failure of two electrical generators and an oil leak last week. The incident occurred during a flight at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The incident came just as military officials were reporting significant progress on the program after a major restructuring that slowed development to allow more flight testing before the plane goes into production. The suspension was lifted on seven aircraft with older-model generators.
- In another F-35 related matter, the Navy said it would buy 680 F-35s, half suited for aircraft carrier landings and half short-takeoff and vertical-landing versions for the Marines. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be home of the F-35 training center.
Airbus
Airbus Corporate Foundation during the week announced a $50,000 initial grant to the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile, Ala., seeding a new advanced aerospace engineering program for students. Staff members at the Airbus Engineering Center in Mobile will work hands-on with students as mentors.
Blue Angels
The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is performing in Mississippi at the Keesler Air Force Base air show this weekend. It's the first performance at Keesler since 1978. The Blue Angles returned home to Pensacola, Fla., early last week after spending the winter training in El Centro, Calif.
Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $314,000 contract for logistics support for the C-12 aircraft for Pacific Air Force, Air Force Material Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Defense Security Corporation Agency. The location of performance is Madison. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $20.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance of 14 T39N and six T-39G aircraft at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. In addition, this modification provides for aircraft intermediate maintenance services in support of Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft and transient aircraft at NAS Pensacola and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Most of the work will be performed in Pensacola. … L-3 Communications Systems Field Support, Vertex Aerospace, Madison Miss., was awarded a $25.6 million contract for aircraft maintenance and logistical life cycle support for 65 Navy C-12 aircraft at 21 global locations. … The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., and Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., were awarded a $20 million contract for integrated precision ordinance delivery system Phases II-IV; research and development. AFRL/RWK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … JDA LLC, Concord, Calif., was awarded an $8 million contract for a data replay system. AAC/PKO, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Kaman Precision Products Inc., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $23.8 million contract modification which will provide the Air Force with 6,000 of the Joint Programmable Fuze systems to meet munitions requirements. AAC/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Week in review (3/6 to 3/12)
The story didn't have direct ties to the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor, not yet at least, but it was interesting in light of Mobile, Ala.'s recent loss of the Air Force aerial refueling tanker project. I'm talking about the $33 million DARPA KQ-X project, designed to show the ability of one unmanned aircraft to refuel another.
In late January, a Scaled Composites-built Proteus aircraft owned by Northrop Grumman and a Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawk owned by NASA flew within 40 feet of one another at 45,000 feet. No fuel was exchanged, but that wasn’t the point.
The flight was designed to check wake turbulence between the two aircraft, engine performance and flight control responsiveness in the stratosphere. The program could eventually lead to unmanned aircraft refueling other unmanned aircraft, allowing them to stay aloft as much as a week. Two Global Hawks are expected to try out autonomous aerial refueling in the spring of 2012.
The test was jointly conducted by Northrop Grumman, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, a follow-on to a 2006 DARPA Autonomous Aerial Refueling Demonstration that used an F-18 fighter as a surrogate unmanned aircraft to autonomously refuel through a probe and drogue from a 707 tanker.
While the program is designed for UAV to UAV refueling, it's not much of a stretch to think this testing could also determine if an unmanned aircraft can refuel a manned vehicle.
"Demonstrating close formation flight of two high altitude aircraft, whether manned or unmanned, is a notable accomplishment," said Geoffrey Sommer, KQ-X program manager at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "When you add autonomous flight of both aircraft into the mix, as we will do later in the KQ-X program, you gain a capability that has mission applications far beyond just aerial refueling."
You can bet that Boeing, which won the contract to build manned tankers to replace the aging fleet of KC-135s, will be keeping tabs on the progress of KQ-X. If these tests prove to be successful, it's not unreasonable to think unmanned aerial tankers may go into production even before all the Boeing KC-46As are built. Even if UAV tankers are used only to refuel other UAVs, it's obvious with the increasing use of UAVs that this is a growth field.
That could bode well for the Gulf Coast region. Global Hawk fuselages are already being built in Moss Point, Miss., at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center, and it has room to grow. Could it one day do work on Global Hawk unmanned tankers? Just a thought.
- Speaking of Moss Point, the first Global Hawk fuselage that will be used for a Navy BAMS aircraft has been finished and will be shipped to Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., facility for finishing work. The fuselage was finished a week ahead of schedule. The Navy plans to have more than 60 Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft providing watch for the fleet.
Space
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was in South Mississippi during the week to reinforce the importance of NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., and to meet with employees. She said Stennis Space Center is a unique facility that should be fully utilized. She held up Stennis, where up to 30 percent of the costs are borne by other government agencies and companies, as an example of how capabilities can be shared.
- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne completed a series of Hardware Acceptance Reviews on the first RS-68A production rocket engine, validating the hydrogen-fueled engine is ready to power a heavy-lift vehicle into space. Engine 30003, the first of three RS-68A production engines to undergo a review, has been shipped to Decatur, Ala., for integration onto a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. RS-68A production engines 30004 and 30005 will undergo hardware reviews in March and April 2011 after completion of hot-fire testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
- The failure to devise a spaceflight plan for NASA after the shuttle fleet is retired raises the specter of more workforce cuts in the U.S. launch industry, according to the head of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Jim Maser estimates there are "four to eight months" to choose a way forward. After that, he expects layoffs at PWR as he begins to roll up unfunded rocket engine programs like the J-2X cryogenic upper-stage engine. The first full-up J-2X is set to begin testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss., next month.
Bases/airports
Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans has been approved to schedule charter flights to and from Cuba. In addition to New Orleans, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the charter flights can now be scheduled as well from airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas/Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Tampa, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Previously flights were only allowed from Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
- A Navy plan to extend four runways at outlying fields in Baldwin County, Ala., is moving forward. Naval Air Station Whiting Field, in Milton, Fla., said the project's environmental assessment is finished. The 1,000-foot runway extensions would cross land now occupied by 23 homes and 203 acres of other people's property in Foley and Summerdale. After a review by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the Navy will begin talking to residents about land acquisition. The Navy is replacing T-34C training aircraft with the T-6A, which requires longer runways.
- Northrop Grumman and the Air National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing finished the first round of flight testing with the company's Guardian anti-missile system on a Boeing KC-135. The laser-based Guardian System, contained almost entirely in a single pod on the underside of the fuselage, is designed to detect launched missiles and then disrupt their guidance signals using a non-visible laser. The Air Force is scheduled to continue an Operational Utility Evaluation through the second quarter, with additional flights and system tests at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
F-35
The Marine Corps' top general said he wants and early end to the two-year probation imposed on the Marine version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Gen. James Amos told the Senate Armed Services Committee during the week that the Marines need the short-takeoff version to carry out the Marine mission. The Marine variant was put on probation because of technical issues. But Amos said he's encouraged by its progress. Meanwhile, the Navy version of the F-35 broke the sound barrier during the week. The carrier variant is the last of the three variants to break the sound barrier. The F-35 training center will be at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
In late January, a Scaled Composites-built Proteus aircraft owned by Northrop Grumman and a Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawk owned by NASA flew within 40 feet of one another at 45,000 feet. No fuel was exchanged, but that wasn’t the point.
The flight was designed to check wake turbulence between the two aircraft, engine performance and flight control responsiveness in the stratosphere. The program could eventually lead to unmanned aircraft refueling other unmanned aircraft, allowing them to stay aloft as much as a week. Two Global Hawks are expected to try out autonomous aerial refueling in the spring of 2012.
The test was jointly conducted by Northrop Grumman, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, a follow-on to a 2006 DARPA Autonomous Aerial Refueling Demonstration that used an F-18 fighter as a surrogate unmanned aircraft to autonomously refuel through a probe and drogue from a 707 tanker.
While the program is designed for UAV to UAV refueling, it's not much of a stretch to think this testing could also determine if an unmanned aircraft can refuel a manned vehicle.
"Demonstrating close formation flight of two high altitude aircraft, whether manned or unmanned, is a notable accomplishment," said Geoffrey Sommer, KQ-X program manager at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "When you add autonomous flight of both aircraft into the mix, as we will do later in the KQ-X program, you gain a capability that has mission applications far beyond just aerial refueling."
You can bet that Boeing, which won the contract to build manned tankers to replace the aging fleet of KC-135s, will be keeping tabs on the progress of KQ-X. If these tests prove to be successful, it's not unreasonable to think unmanned aerial tankers may go into production even before all the Boeing KC-46As are built. Even if UAV tankers are used only to refuel other UAVs, it's obvious with the increasing use of UAVs that this is a growth field.
That could bode well for the Gulf Coast region. Global Hawk fuselages are already being built in Moss Point, Miss., at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center, and it has room to grow. Could it one day do work on Global Hawk unmanned tankers? Just a thought.
- Speaking of Moss Point, the first Global Hawk fuselage that will be used for a Navy BAMS aircraft has been finished and will be shipped to Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., facility for finishing work. The fuselage was finished a week ahead of schedule. The Navy plans to have more than 60 Broad Area Maritime Surveillance aircraft providing watch for the fleet.
Space
NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was in South Mississippi during the week to reinforce the importance of NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., and to meet with employees. She said Stennis Space Center is a unique facility that should be fully utilized. She held up Stennis, where up to 30 percent of the costs are borne by other government agencies and companies, as an example of how capabilities can be shared.
- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne completed a series of Hardware Acceptance Reviews on the first RS-68A production rocket engine, validating the hydrogen-fueled engine is ready to power a heavy-lift vehicle into space. Engine 30003, the first of three RS-68A production engines to undergo a review, has been shipped to Decatur, Ala., for integration onto a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. RS-68A production engines 30004 and 30005 will undergo hardware reviews in March and April 2011 after completion of hot-fire testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
- The failure to devise a spaceflight plan for NASA after the shuttle fleet is retired raises the specter of more workforce cuts in the U.S. launch industry, according to the head of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. Jim Maser estimates there are "four to eight months" to choose a way forward. After that, he expects layoffs at PWR as he begins to roll up unfunded rocket engine programs like the J-2X cryogenic upper-stage engine. The first full-up J-2X is set to begin testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss., next month.
Bases/airports
Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans has been approved to schedule charter flights to and from Cuba. In addition to New Orleans, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the charter flights can now be scheduled as well from airports in Atlanta, Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas/Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Tampa, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Previously flights were only allowed from Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
- A Navy plan to extend four runways at outlying fields in Baldwin County, Ala., is moving forward. Naval Air Station Whiting Field, in Milton, Fla., said the project's environmental assessment is finished. The 1,000-foot runway extensions would cross land now occupied by 23 homes and 203 acres of other people's property in Foley and Summerdale. After a review by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command, the Navy will begin talking to residents about land acquisition. The Navy is replacing T-34C training aircraft with the T-6A, which requires longer runways.
- Northrop Grumman and the Air National Guard's 190th Air Refueling Wing finished the first round of flight testing with the company's Guardian anti-missile system on a Boeing KC-135. The laser-based Guardian System, contained almost entirely in a single pod on the underside of the fuselage, is designed to detect launched missiles and then disrupt their guidance signals using a non-visible laser. The Air Force is scheduled to continue an Operational Utility Evaluation through the second quarter, with additional flights and system tests at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
F-35
The Marine Corps' top general said he wants and early end to the two-year probation imposed on the Marine version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Gen. James Amos told the Senate Armed Services Committee during the week that the Marines need the short-takeoff version to carry out the Marine mission. The Marine variant was put on probation because of technical issues. But Amos said he's encouraged by its progress. Meanwhile, the Navy version of the F-35 broke the sound barrier during the week. The carrier variant is the last of the three variants to break the sound barrier. The F-35 training center will be at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Week in review (2/27 to 3/5)
Hard as it is to believe, it appears the competition to build aerial tankers for the Air Force is finally over. The Air Force and Boeing signed the contract, and Europe's EADS at the end of the week decided not to protest the decision.
The Boeing win was good news for aerospace workers in Washington and Kansas, as well as the other locations that will be involved in getting these planes to our warfighters. But it was a disappointment for the Gulf Coast, which had hoped to get a $600 million, wide-body aircraft assembly plant in Mobile, Ala.
The good news is that our warfighters will finally be getting something they've needed for a long time. The Boeing KC-46A should have no problem handling the required missions. But I'm not nearly as convinced they're getting the best aircraft.
During the previous contest, the Air Force appeared willing to pay more for an aircraft that could do more. But this time it was a price shootout. That's why Northrop Grumman, which had partnered with EADS in the previous competition, decided to drop out.
The whole issue seemed to boil down to a question of fit. In an age where the government is trying to spend less, it opted to purchase the plane that could perform the mission and do so at a lower cost. Additional capabilities were not considered since the difference in price was more than 1 percent. The difference was, in fact, a huge 10 percent.
While the Gulf Coast is smarting over what "could" have been, it shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it has consistently been in the running for aircraft assembly plants. As far back as 1993, Mobile was chosen to build turboprop aircraft for an Indonesian company. That deal fell apart, but a decade later Boeing had at least two sites on the Gulf Coast on its list of finalists for a Dreamliner assembly plant. Boeing opted to place it in Washington State, but the fact remains, this region was, and remains, a contender.
And I'll add one more thing to ponder. Aerospace companies working closely with the military are rapidly developing the capabilities of unmanned aircraft. Already unmanned systems are being tested as aerial tankers. I can't help but wonder how many KC-46s will be built before robots become a better option.
F-35
The first production model of the Lockheed Martin F-35 made its inaugural flight late last month in Texas in preparation for delivery to the Air Force this spring. The jet will head to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to support developmental testing shortly after the Air Force takes delivery.
During the flight, the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A variant underwent basic flight maneuvering and engine tests. The jet will continue flight tests in Fort Worth for about a month before it is accepted by the Air Force. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home to the F-35 training center.
Space
The E-2 Test Stand team at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., is preparing to test a vital component designed for another rocket engine test stand under construction at the NASA facility. Testing on the three-module chemical steam generator (CSG) is designed to confirm it will perform as needed. The tests also will provide critical data about operating the unit.
The new A-3 Test Stand will use nine three-module CSG units to generate superheated steam needed to create a vacuum. The vacuum will allow operators to test next-generation rocket engines at simulated high altitudes up to 100,000 feet. Testing at such simulated altitudes is critical for next-generation engines necessary to carry humans into deep space.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: A $26.4 million contract is awarded to Arete Associates of Arizona for the engineering, manufacturing, production and delivery of three Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis systems for littoral combat ships.
Marine science: New born and stillborn baby dolphins continue to wash ashore in Alabama and Mississippi. Scientists with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama say cold water may have killed them. … The Northern Gulf Institute's annual conference will be held May 17-19 in Mobile, Ala. NGI is a NOAA cooperative institute that includes Mississippi State University, Florida State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Mobile, Ala.
The Boeing win was good news for aerospace workers in Washington and Kansas, as well as the other locations that will be involved in getting these planes to our warfighters. But it was a disappointment for the Gulf Coast, which had hoped to get a $600 million, wide-body aircraft assembly plant in Mobile, Ala.
The good news is that our warfighters will finally be getting something they've needed for a long time. The Boeing KC-46A should have no problem handling the required missions. But I'm not nearly as convinced they're getting the best aircraft.
During the previous contest, the Air Force appeared willing to pay more for an aircraft that could do more. But this time it was a price shootout. That's why Northrop Grumman, which had partnered with EADS in the previous competition, decided to drop out.
The whole issue seemed to boil down to a question of fit. In an age where the government is trying to spend less, it opted to purchase the plane that could perform the mission and do so at a lower cost. Additional capabilities were not considered since the difference in price was more than 1 percent. The difference was, in fact, a huge 10 percent.
While the Gulf Coast is smarting over what "could" have been, it shouldn't lose sight of the fact that it has consistently been in the running for aircraft assembly plants. As far back as 1993, Mobile was chosen to build turboprop aircraft for an Indonesian company. That deal fell apart, but a decade later Boeing had at least two sites on the Gulf Coast on its list of finalists for a Dreamliner assembly plant. Boeing opted to place it in Washington State, but the fact remains, this region was, and remains, a contender.
And I'll add one more thing to ponder. Aerospace companies working closely with the military are rapidly developing the capabilities of unmanned aircraft. Already unmanned systems are being tested as aerial tankers. I can't help but wonder how many KC-46s will be built before robots become a better option.
F-35
The first production model of the Lockheed Martin F-35 made its inaugural flight late last month in Texas in preparation for delivery to the Air Force this spring. The jet will head to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., to support developmental testing shortly after the Air Force takes delivery.
During the flight, the conventional takeoff and landing F-35A variant underwent basic flight maneuvering and engine tests. The jet will continue flight tests in Fort Worth for about a month before it is accepted by the Air Force. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home to the F-35 training center.
Space
The E-2 Test Stand team at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., is preparing to test a vital component designed for another rocket engine test stand under construction at the NASA facility. Testing on the three-module chemical steam generator (CSG) is designed to confirm it will perform as needed. The tests also will provide critical data about operating the unit.
The new A-3 Test Stand will use nine three-module CSG units to generate superheated steam needed to create a vacuum. The vacuum will allow operators to test next-generation rocket engines at simulated high altitudes up to 100,000 feet. Testing at such simulated altitudes is critical for next-generation engines necessary to carry humans into deep space.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: A $26.4 million contract is awarded to Arete Associates of Arizona for the engineering, manufacturing, production and delivery of three Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis systems for littoral combat ships.
Marine science: New born and stillborn baby dolphins continue to wash ashore in Alabama and Mississippi. Scientists with the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama say cold water may have killed them. … The Northern Gulf Institute's annual conference will be held May 17-19 in Mobile, Ala. NGI is a NOAA cooperative institute that includes Mississippi State University, Florida State University, the University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University and Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Mobile, Ala.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Week in review (2/20 to 2/26)
The announcement during the week that the Air Force chose Boeing, rather than EADS, to build aerial tankers took everybody by surprise, according to press accounts. I suppose that's because everyone was listening to the experts, who for weeks were calling EADS the favorite.
When I first read those predictions, I couldn't help but think back to 2008, when all the experts were calling Boeing the favorite. Predictably, when the Air Force chose EADS three years ago, everyone was shocked.
One thing I learned in more than 30 years as a reporter and editor is to be very wary of the predictions of industry experts and insiders. That was particularly true of the tanker contest, where so many factors were at play.
So now the big question is, will EADS protest the decision? The company will be debriefed Monday, and will then make a decision on whether to appeal to the Government Accountability Office. It will have 10 days to do so after that briefing. You can already find the experts, undaunted by their track record, making predictions. I could make arguments for why EADS should appeal, as well as arguments for why it shouldn't.
On the one hand, it's a huge contract, $35 billion, and establishing a foothold for the production of wide-body jets in the United States would go a long way towards EADS reaching its goal of being a bigger player in the lucrative U.S. defense market. It's already building helicopters in Columbus, Miss.
But on the other hand, Boeing supporters would point fingers at EADS if it does anything that further delays delivering tankers to the warfighters. The warfighters have waited long enough, it's true. Of course, you won't find any Boeing supporters pointing out that the 2008 protest caused a delay.
The decision was based on price, something that drove Northrop Grumman out of the contest. Boeing's bid was more than 1 percent below EADS' price, so non-mandatory capabilities were not taken into consideration. These non-mandatory capabilities were taken into account the last go-around and tilted the contest in EADS' favor.
There was a fundamental shift between 2008 and 2010 in what the Air Force was looking for. In 2008, it appeared to be capability. This time, it was cost. For EADS, the key question will be, is there anything they can do to shift the focus back to capability?
One of the maneuvers that clearly had a huge impact on the final outcome was changing the cost calculation to 40 years from the previous 25 years. Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington State took credit for that. It would be hard not to give a nod to the politics that was behind all of this.
Brookley improvements
Also during the week, Alabama's Mobile Airport Authority said it was considering borrowing $8 million to improve streets, drainage, signs and landscaping at the Brookley Aeroplex, the location where EADS planned to build a $600 million plant to assemble tankers.
Of course, EADS won't be building the plant, but it's still possible the authority will pursue the improvements. Bill Sisson, executive director of the authority, had said that even if EADS didn't win the contract, the work needs to be done to relieve traffic congestion and meet increased demand for industrial space.
Mentor program
A ceremony was held at the end of the week in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., marking the mentor-protégé agreement between Lockheed Martin and Fort Walton Machining. Under the Defense Department program, mentor companies help prepare small businesses with capabilities and know-how to perform as prime or subcontractors to the federal government. Fort Walton Machining is a supplier for Lockheed Martin's F-35, F-16, F-22 and C-130J programs.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: The latest destroyer built by Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula, Miss., has been delivered to the Navy. The William P. Lawrence will leave Pascagoula May 19. … Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., decided to spend more on its latest expansion and will get a bigger tax break than the one previously approved by the city industrial development board.
Marine science: The number of infant dolphins washing ashore in Mississippi and Alabama keeps going up. It's unclear at this stage whether it has anything to do with last year's BP oil spill.
When I first read those predictions, I couldn't help but think back to 2008, when all the experts were calling Boeing the favorite. Predictably, when the Air Force chose EADS three years ago, everyone was shocked.
One thing I learned in more than 30 years as a reporter and editor is to be very wary of the predictions of industry experts and insiders. That was particularly true of the tanker contest, where so many factors were at play.
So now the big question is, will EADS protest the decision? The company will be debriefed Monday, and will then make a decision on whether to appeal to the Government Accountability Office. It will have 10 days to do so after that briefing. You can already find the experts, undaunted by their track record, making predictions. I could make arguments for why EADS should appeal, as well as arguments for why it shouldn't.
On the one hand, it's a huge contract, $35 billion, and establishing a foothold for the production of wide-body jets in the United States would go a long way towards EADS reaching its goal of being a bigger player in the lucrative U.S. defense market. It's already building helicopters in Columbus, Miss.
But on the other hand, Boeing supporters would point fingers at EADS if it does anything that further delays delivering tankers to the warfighters. The warfighters have waited long enough, it's true. Of course, you won't find any Boeing supporters pointing out that the 2008 protest caused a delay.
The decision was based on price, something that drove Northrop Grumman out of the contest. Boeing's bid was more than 1 percent below EADS' price, so non-mandatory capabilities were not taken into consideration. These non-mandatory capabilities were taken into account the last go-around and tilted the contest in EADS' favor.
There was a fundamental shift between 2008 and 2010 in what the Air Force was looking for. In 2008, it appeared to be capability. This time, it was cost. For EADS, the key question will be, is there anything they can do to shift the focus back to capability?
One of the maneuvers that clearly had a huge impact on the final outcome was changing the cost calculation to 40 years from the previous 25 years. Rep. Norm Dicks of Washington State took credit for that. It would be hard not to give a nod to the politics that was behind all of this.
Brookley improvements
Also during the week, Alabama's Mobile Airport Authority said it was considering borrowing $8 million to improve streets, drainage, signs and landscaping at the Brookley Aeroplex, the location where EADS planned to build a $600 million plant to assemble tankers.
Of course, EADS won't be building the plant, but it's still possible the authority will pursue the improvements. Bill Sisson, executive director of the authority, had said that even if EADS didn't win the contract, the work needs to be done to relieve traffic congestion and meet increased demand for industrial space.
Mentor program
A ceremony was held at the end of the week in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., marking the mentor-protégé agreement between Lockheed Martin and Fort Walton Machining. Under the Defense Department program, mentor companies help prepare small businesses with capabilities and know-how to perform as prime or subcontractors to the federal government. Fort Walton Machining is a supplier for Lockheed Martin's F-35, F-16, F-22 and C-130J programs.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: The latest destroyer built by Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula, Miss., has been delivered to the Navy. The William P. Lawrence will leave Pascagoula May 19. … Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., decided to spend more on its latest expansion and will get a bigger tax break than the one previously approved by the city industrial development board.
Marine science: The number of infant dolphins washing ashore in Mississippi and Alabama keeps going up. It's unclear at this stage whether it has anything to do with last year's BP oil spill.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Week in review (2/13 to 2/19)
An announcement will be made soon, perhaps as early as next week, on which company the Air Force has selected to build 179 aerial tankers. If Boeing wins, workers and politicians in Washington and Kansas will celebrate. If EADS wins, workers and politicians in Mobile, Ala., and the immediate Gulf Coast will put on party hats.
But be forewarned. The losing side will probably protest. About the only scenario where a protest won't occur is if the Air Force splits the contract. Don't count out that possibility.
During the past week, the Pentagon's inspector general's office finished a review of an Air Force mix-up that sent details of Boeing's bid to EADS and vice versa, and found no reason to further investigate. The IG said the Air Force handled the mistake in compliance with federal law. Also during the week, EADS North America Chairman Ralph Crosby said the company had lowered its bid price the tanker. Boeing, for its part, had earlier said its pricing was "aggressive."
Boeing is offering a version of its 767, and EADS a version of its Airbus A330. If Boeing wins, the planes will be made in Washington and Kansas. If EADS wins, the planes will be assembled in a still-to-be-built plant at Mobile's Brookley Aeroplex. Boeing isn't keen on seeing its archrival build an aircraft manufacturing facility in the United States. EADS already has a helicopter manufacturing site in Mississippi, and Boeing doesn't want to see further inroads.
But that's the nature of the global aerospace field. Companies from one section of the world team up with companies from another to compete for military and civilian projects. They're all establishing footholds in markets where they hope to sell their products.
The Gulf Coast region is just one of the areas of the world where a lot of international players are looking, and EADS isn't the first and won't be the last. Selex Galileo in South Mississippi is part of Italy's Finmeccanica, and ST Aerospace Mobile is part of Singapore's ST Engineering. A Chinese conglomerate, AVIC, has purchased Teledyne Continental in Mobile. We also have the United Kingdom's Rolls-Royce testing jet engines in South Mississippi and BAE Systems in Northwest Florida.
While the tanker project would be a big win for the Gulf Coast region, the region is already a major player in aerospace, both for companies with U.S. roots and companies with foreign roots. And that's likely to continue, with or without an EADS tanker plant.
Unmanned systems
The Navy is requesting funds in fiscal year 2012 to buy the first 12 Fire-X unmanned helicopters. Called MQ-8C, Fire-X is based on the Bell 407, a larger version of the Fire Scout, MQ-8B, which uses the Schweizer S-333 airframe.
That the Navy would be interested in not surprising. The Fire Scout has already demonstrated its capabilities, so a larger version made sense. In December, Northrop Grumman and Bell flew the company-funded Fire-X demonstrator to show that a new airframe could be integrated into the unmanned architecture developed for the Fire Scout. The MQ-8C is to be an engineering change proposal to the existing system, using the existing avionics, payloads, command-and-control links and ground control station.
But that doesn't mean the Fire Scout will be squeezed out. The Navy Department's fiscal 2012 budget calls for 12 Fire Scout unmanned helicopters, nine more than originally planned. By 2016 the Navy plans to purchase 57, up from the 31 included in earlier budgets. The Navy requested a baseline of $161.4 billion for fiscal 2012, up $800 million from last year's proposal. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
F-35
The House during the week approved an amendment that would eliminate funding for a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a move that would contribute an additional $450 million to the estimated $61 billion in federal spending cuts that House Republicans have proposed for the rest of the current fiscal year. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates criticized the alternative engine as unnecessary and wasteful. The second F-35 engine was to be built by General Electric and Rolls Royce. The primary engine is built by Pratt & Whitney. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.
Space
The president's proposed $18.7 billion budget for NASA in fiscal year 2012 reflects a commitment to long-term job growth, said Mississippi's Stennis Space Center Director Patrick Scheuermann. "As in the past, the unique test facilities and technical expertise at the John C. Stennis Space Center will continue to play a key role in the development and certification of new rocket propulsion systems," said Scheuermann. He added that the center's Applied Science and Technology Project Office will support essential scientific research while managing the Gulf of Mexico Initiative for NASA's Applied Sciences Program.
Bases
The lineup of performers and aircraft is growing for the Angels Over the Bay Air Show at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The March 19-20 show will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Keesler. Headlining the show is the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. The Army Golden Knights parachute team, which opened the Thunder on the Bay air show at Keesler in 2009, will be back again.
Workers
Defense contractor DRS Technologies has laid off 38 people from its Fort Walton Beach, Fla., location in the wake of a staff reassessment. Like with other defense companies, the size of the workforce ebbs and flows based on contracts. The Fort Walton Beach operation specializes in communications, unmanned aircraft and border security products. DRS, based in New Jersey, still has 850 workers in Fort Walton Beach.
Contracts
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Md., was awarded a $7.7 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to exercise an option for the procurement of maintenance, logistics, and life cycle services in support of communication-electronic equipment/systems and subsystems for various Navy, Army, Air Force, Special Operations Forces and other federal agencies. Two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: VT Halter Marine won a $144 million contract to build a second carrier vessel for a Hawaii company. .. The upper part of a mast on the Northrop Grumman-built destroyer USS Gravely broke off last weekend during routine operations.
Advanced materials: BASF SE will cut 250 of the 700 employees and contractors at its McIntosh, Ala., chemical plant over the next two years.
But be forewarned. The losing side will probably protest. About the only scenario where a protest won't occur is if the Air Force splits the contract. Don't count out that possibility.
During the past week, the Pentagon's inspector general's office finished a review of an Air Force mix-up that sent details of Boeing's bid to EADS and vice versa, and found no reason to further investigate. The IG said the Air Force handled the mistake in compliance with federal law. Also during the week, EADS North America Chairman Ralph Crosby said the company had lowered its bid price the tanker. Boeing, for its part, had earlier said its pricing was "aggressive."
Boeing is offering a version of its 767, and EADS a version of its Airbus A330. If Boeing wins, the planes will be made in Washington and Kansas. If EADS wins, the planes will be assembled in a still-to-be-built plant at Mobile's Brookley Aeroplex. Boeing isn't keen on seeing its archrival build an aircraft manufacturing facility in the United States. EADS already has a helicopter manufacturing site in Mississippi, and Boeing doesn't want to see further inroads.
But that's the nature of the global aerospace field. Companies from one section of the world team up with companies from another to compete for military and civilian projects. They're all establishing footholds in markets where they hope to sell their products.
The Gulf Coast region is just one of the areas of the world where a lot of international players are looking, and EADS isn't the first and won't be the last. Selex Galileo in South Mississippi is part of Italy's Finmeccanica, and ST Aerospace Mobile is part of Singapore's ST Engineering. A Chinese conglomerate, AVIC, has purchased Teledyne Continental in Mobile. We also have the United Kingdom's Rolls-Royce testing jet engines in South Mississippi and BAE Systems in Northwest Florida.
While the tanker project would be a big win for the Gulf Coast region, the region is already a major player in aerospace, both for companies with U.S. roots and companies with foreign roots. And that's likely to continue, with or without an EADS tanker plant.
Unmanned systems
The Navy is requesting funds in fiscal year 2012 to buy the first 12 Fire-X unmanned helicopters. Called MQ-8C, Fire-X is based on the Bell 407, a larger version of the Fire Scout, MQ-8B, which uses the Schweizer S-333 airframe.
That the Navy would be interested in not surprising. The Fire Scout has already demonstrated its capabilities, so a larger version made sense. In December, Northrop Grumman and Bell flew the company-funded Fire-X demonstrator to show that a new airframe could be integrated into the unmanned architecture developed for the Fire Scout. The MQ-8C is to be an engineering change proposal to the existing system, using the existing avionics, payloads, command-and-control links and ground control station.
But that doesn't mean the Fire Scout will be squeezed out. The Navy Department's fiscal 2012 budget calls for 12 Fire Scout unmanned helicopters, nine more than originally planned. By 2016 the Navy plans to purchase 57, up from the 31 included in earlier budgets. The Navy requested a baseline of $161.4 billion for fiscal 2012, up $800 million from last year's proposal. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
F-35
The House during the week approved an amendment that would eliminate funding for a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a move that would contribute an additional $450 million to the estimated $61 billion in federal spending cuts that House Republicans have proposed for the rest of the current fiscal year. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates criticized the alternative engine as unnecessary and wasteful. The second F-35 engine was to be built by General Electric and Rolls Royce. The primary engine is built by Pratt & Whitney. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.
Space
The president's proposed $18.7 billion budget for NASA in fiscal year 2012 reflects a commitment to long-term job growth, said Mississippi's Stennis Space Center Director Patrick Scheuermann. "As in the past, the unique test facilities and technical expertise at the John C. Stennis Space Center will continue to play a key role in the development and certification of new rocket propulsion systems," said Scheuermann. He added that the center's Applied Science and Technology Project Office will support essential scientific research while managing the Gulf of Mexico Initiative for NASA's Applied Sciences Program.
Bases
The lineup of performers and aircraft is growing for the Angels Over the Bay Air Show at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The March 19-20 show will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Keesler. Headlining the show is the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. The Army Golden Knights parachute team, which opened the Thunder on the Bay air show at Keesler in 2009, will be back again.
Workers
Defense contractor DRS Technologies has laid off 38 people from its Fort Walton Beach, Fla., location in the wake of a staff reassessment. Like with other defense companies, the size of the workforce ebbs and flows based on contracts. The Fort Walton Beach operation specializes in communications, unmanned aircraft and border security products. DRS, based in New Jersey, still has 850 workers in Fort Walton Beach.
Contracts
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc., Rockville, Md., was awarded a $7.7 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to exercise an option for the procurement of maintenance, logistics, and life cycle services in support of communication-electronic equipment/systems and subsystems for various Navy, Army, Air Force, Special Operations Forces and other federal agencies. Two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: VT Halter Marine won a $144 million contract to build a second carrier vessel for a Hawaii company. .. The upper part of a mast on the Northrop Grumman-built destroyer USS Gravely broke off last weekend during routine operations.
Advanced materials: BASF SE will cut 250 of the 700 employees and contractors at its McIntosh, Ala., chemical plant over the next two years.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Week in review (2/6 to 2/12)
As expected, both companies competing to build aerial tankers for the U.S. Air Force submitted at the end of the week their best and final proposals to the Air Force. Boeing is offering a variation of its 767 and EADS North America offering a modified A330.
The project to replace the tankers is an Air Force priority. Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, who heads the Pentagon's Transportation Command, said early in the week that a new tanker would help cut the fuel bill sharply.
Boeing would build its version in Washington and Kansas, and EADS would assemble its aircraft at a planned plant at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Ala. The project to build the 179 planes is valued at $35 billion to $50 billion. But the subtext of all this is that an EADS win would be a significant addition to the Gulf Coast's already considerable aerospace activities.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon's watchdog agency said it will respond "as soon as possible" to a request by seven senators to investigate whether a data mix-up could mar the tanker competition. The Air Force insists the mix-up last November involved no pricing data that could comprise the process.
- Brazil’s Embraer is moving forward on its long-standing wish to establish a production plant in the United States. The company is opening a final assembly plant for business jets in Melborne, Fla., and later this year it will open a customer design center. But that's not all that's in the works for the Brazilian company.
Last month, Embraer said it was teaming with U.S. contractor Sierra Nevada to build Super Tucanos in Jacksonville, Fla., should the Air Force select the Brazilian light attack training over the Hawker Beechcraft/Lockheed Martin AT-6. That contract is expected to be awarded in June. Embraer, like European aircraft makers, wants to play a bigger role in the world's largest aircraft market. (Story)
Space
A 52-second test of an Aerojet AJ26 rocket engine Monday went without a hitch at Mississippi’s Stennis Space Center. Executives from NASA, Aerojet and Orbital Sciences Corp. were on hand for the flight acceptance test of the AJ26, which will be the Stage 1 engine for Orbital's Taurus II space launch vehicle. NASA formed a $1.9 billion contract with Orbital to launch eight cargo missions to the International Space Station through 2015. The Aerojet AJ26, originally made in Russia 50 years ago, was tested at the E-1 test stand at Stennis, which had to be adapted to fire the engine in the vertical position.
- Lockheed Martin shipped out the first Orion crew module Thursday from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. It's bound for Lockheed's Denver, Colo., facilities, where it will be integrated with a heat shield and thermal protection backshell, then tested to confirm Orion's ability to safely fly astronauts through deep space missions. It will later undergo simulated water landings at Langley's Hydro Impact Basin in Hampton, Va. This Orion ground test vehicle has already validated advanced production processes, equipment and tools required to manufacture the Orion crew module space flight hardware.
Unmanned systems
The Navy's Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., will be busy this year. It will be looking for pirates in the Middle East and gathering intelligence for troops in Afghanistan, according to a report in Aviation Week.
Three aircraft and two ground control stations will participate in the Afghanistan deployment. Builder Northrop Grumman will operate and maintain the system under the guidance of Navy officers. Two Fire Scouts are also aboard the U.S. frigate Halyburton, which sailed to Southwest Asia in early January.
A Fire Scout was recently credited with a humanitarian save when it spotted a wayward boat and hovered until help arrived. The Navy will determine Fire Scout's suitability after operational evaluation in October. A full-rate production decisions would follow. The Navy plans to buy 168 Fire Scouts.
Airports/bases
More missions at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will add to highway congestion around the base in Northwest Florida. That's according to the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board. The report looked at Eglin and five other large bases that are expanding as a result of the base realignment plan. Eglin was chosen as the new home of the Army 7th Special Forces Group and the Joint Strike Fighter training center. The 7th SF will bring more than 6,000 people and the JSF center about 4,900. The report urges Congress to consider a special appropriation of federal stimulus money to pay for near-term improvements.
- Officials with Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport are asking Congress to increase a passenger fee and are seeking support from Gulfport, Biloxi and Harrison County. The airport authority wants to increase the Passenger Facility Charge from $4.50 to $7 per passenger in order to pay its debt. The fee hasn't been raised since 2000.
Contracts
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. of Rockville, Md. was awarded a $15.7 million contract modification to procure 9-QF-4 full scale aerial targets. AAC/EBYK at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity. … Boeing Co. of St Louis, Mo., was awarded a contract modification not-to-exceed $15.1 million for additional Massive Ordnance Penetrator Integration to include flight test support, three additional test assets, an alternative/modified fuse design and sixteen fuses. AAC/EBDK/EBDJ – MOP Tiger Team at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity. … Boeing Co. was awarded a $23.1 million contract modification which will procure various test assets and hardware for aircraft integration efforts for the F-16 Block 40/50, F-22, F-35, and the Small Diameter Bomb Increment I programs. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity.
The project to replace the tankers is an Air Force priority. Air Force Gen. Duncan McNabb, who heads the Pentagon's Transportation Command, said early in the week that a new tanker would help cut the fuel bill sharply.
Boeing would build its version in Washington and Kansas, and EADS would assemble its aircraft at a planned plant at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Ala. The project to build the 179 planes is valued at $35 billion to $50 billion. But the subtext of all this is that an EADS win would be a significant addition to the Gulf Coast's already considerable aerospace activities.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon's watchdog agency said it will respond "as soon as possible" to a request by seven senators to investigate whether a data mix-up could mar the tanker competition. The Air Force insists the mix-up last November involved no pricing data that could comprise the process.
- Brazil’s Embraer is moving forward on its long-standing wish to establish a production plant in the United States. The company is opening a final assembly plant for business jets in Melborne, Fla., and later this year it will open a customer design center. But that's not all that's in the works for the Brazilian company.
Last month, Embraer said it was teaming with U.S. contractor Sierra Nevada to build Super Tucanos in Jacksonville, Fla., should the Air Force select the Brazilian light attack training over the Hawker Beechcraft/Lockheed Martin AT-6. That contract is expected to be awarded in June. Embraer, like European aircraft makers, wants to play a bigger role in the world's largest aircraft market. (Story)
Space
A 52-second test of an Aerojet AJ26 rocket engine Monday went without a hitch at Mississippi’s Stennis Space Center. Executives from NASA, Aerojet and Orbital Sciences Corp. were on hand for the flight acceptance test of the AJ26, which will be the Stage 1 engine for Orbital's Taurus II space launch vehicle. NASA formed a $1.9 billion contract with Orbital to launch eight cargo missions to the International Space Station through 2015. The Aerojet AJ26, originally made in Russia 50 years ago, was tested at the E-1 test stand at Stennis, which had to be adapted to fire the engine in the vertical position.
- Lockheed Martin shipped out the first Orion crew module Thursday from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. It's bound for Lockheed's Denver, Colo., facilities, where it will be integrated with a heat shield and thermal protection backshell, then tested to confirm Orion's ability to safely fly astronauts through deep space missions. It will later undergo simulated water landings at Langley's Hydro Impact Basin in Hampton, Va. This Orion ground test vehicle has already validated advanced production processes, equipment and tools required to manufacture the Orion crew module space flight hardware.
Unmanned systems
The Navy's Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., will be busy this year. It will be looking for pirates in the Middle East and gathering intelligence for troops in Afghanistan, according to a report in Aviation Week.
Three aircraft and two ground control stations will participate in the Afghanistan deployment. Builder Northrop Grumman will operate and maintain the system under the guidance of Navy officers. Two Fire Scouts are also aboard the U.S. frigate Halyburton, which sailed to Southwest Asia in early January.
A Fire Scout was recently credited with a humanitarian save when it spotted a wayward boat and hovered until help arrived. The Navy will determine Fire Scout's suitability after operational evaluation in October. A full-rate production decisions would follow. The Navy plans to buy 168 Fire Scouts.
Airports/bases
More missions at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will add to highway congestion around the base in Northwest Florida. That's according to the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board. The report looked at Eglin and five other large bases that are expanding as a result of the base realignment plan. Eglin was chosen as the new home of the Army 7th Special Forces Group and the Joint Strike Fighter training center. The 7th SF will bring more than 6,000 people and the JSF center about 4,900. The report urges Congress to consider a special appropriation of federal stimulus money to pay for near-term improvements.
- Officials with Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport are asking Congress to increase a passenger fee and are seeking support from Gulfport, Biloxi and Harrison County. The airport authority wants to increase the Passenger Facility Charge from $4.50 to $7 per passenger in order to pay its debt. The fee hasn't been raised since 2000.
Contracts
BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services Inc. of Rockville, Md. was awarded a $15.7 million contract modification to procure 9-QF-4 full scale aerial targets. AAC/EBYK at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity. … Boeing Co. of St Louis, Mo., was awarded a contract modification not-to-exceed $15.1 million for additional Massive Ordnance Penetrator Integration to include flight test support, three additional test assets, an alternative/modified fuse design and sixteen fuses. AAC/EBDK/EBDJ – MOP Tiger Team at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity. … Boeing Co. was awarded a $23.1 million contract modification which will procure various test assets and hardware for aircraft integration efforts for the F-16 Block 40/50, F-22, F-35, and the Small Diameter Bomb Increment I programs. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
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).
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).
Saturday, January 22, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
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.
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.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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.
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.
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