Week in review (9/11 to 9/17)

There were several messages that came through loud and clear at the two-day Aerospace Alliance Summit held at the end of the week in Northwest Florida’s Sandestin.

One is that the region should place a big emphasis on interesting a new generation of Gulf Coast residents in the science, technology, engineering and math training that’s essential to the high-paying and healthy aerospace industry.

Another: The Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi region has an incredibly diverse level of activity in aerospace, and should continue to pursue a wide variety of aerospace-related enterprises, from unmanned systems to weapons development and more.

Oh yes, one more thing: Gene Goldman, director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., pointed out that the Space Launch System that NASA is pursuing - see the more detailed item below - will benefit Marshall, Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

Organizers were pleased with the turnout for the inaugural summit, which will be an annual event. About 140 people, ranging from company representatives to economic development officials, turned out for the summit organized by the Aerospace Alliance, formed more than two years ago to represent the aerospace interests of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The four states have aerospace activities throughout the region, including Huntsville, the Golden Triangle in east central Mississippi and the Space Coast of Florida. One cluster is along the Gulf Coast Interstate 10 corridor between South Louisiana and Northwest Florida, the only one that involves portions of all four states.

The I-10 region's aerospace footprint includes space activities, aerial weapons development, military aviator training and testing ranges. It’s where the first F-35 training center is being established, and is also where portions of unmanned aerial vehicles are built. The region includes major domestic and foreign aerospace companies.

The Sunshine State is actually a late entry to the group. Up to now it's interests have been represented by Florida's Great Northwest, a regional economic group that represents well over a dozen counties in Northwest Florida.

"Florida is proud to be a partner, a full partner," Florida lieutenant governor, Jennifer Carroll, told the gathering. She pointed out that aerospace is near and dear to her heart. She was involved in the field when she was in the military.

Gray Swoope, Florida's secretary of commerce, thanked Florida's Great Northwest for representing the state's interests "before we got the message."

"Nobody can touch us, the resources that we have in these four states combined in aviation, in space, in the aerospace industry anywhere in the world. And we have a unique opportunity together in the four states to tell our story," said Swoope, who is former head of the Mississippi Development Authority.

Industry officials raised the alarm about education, indicating it would be the best way to help ensure the region's future role in aerospace.

J.R. McDonald, vice president of Lockheed Martin's Northwest Florida operations, pointed to a sobering number. He said that when he gave a similar talk in 2009, the number of Lockheed Martin employees was 146,000. The company has shed 20,000 employees in two years.

But he also said the company has a current and future need for engineers and people with science and technology degrees. Lockheed Martin hires 5 percent of every engineering and technical student that graduates from the United States - about 4,000 to 5,000 per year.

Lockheed Martin has put a lot of money and effort into supporting science, technology, engineering and math programs, even down the middle school level to encourage students to enter the field. Lockheed Martin expects growth in the company's information technology and electronics systems group.

David Trent, site director of the Airbus Engineering Center in Mobile, Ala., said workers at the center, which opened a little more than four years ago, come from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. He praised the work of the Aerospace Alliance and suggested it should next set its sights on helping educate the future generations to work in the aerospace industry.

"We suspect over the next 20 years that there will be a demand for procurement of almost 26,000 new commercial aircraft in the world," he said, and the region needs to prepare for that.

"We were attracted to Mobile and this region because of the infrastructure that was in place," he said. But added that the company did have to bring in many engineers. Trent suggested an effort be made to begin interesting children in the field as early as the fifth grade level.

"The question is always, where's the workforce coming from, and I can't stress enough this idea of you've got to have world-class public education in this region and a real strong concentration on STEM," he said.

Jeanne Edwards, plant leader at GE Aviation in Batesville, Miss., said that of the 344 workers at the Batesville plant, which opened in 2008, 20 percent have degrees. The company recently announced another plant near Hattiesburg, and will break ground soon on a plant in Auburn, Ala. It also has a presence in Jacksonville and Clearwater, Fla.

She said that while much of the company's revenue is generated from outside the United States, GE Aviation is putting a huge amount of money into manufacturing jobs in the United States.

"If GE didn't see the future that we do with our backlog in aviation, we wouldn't be making the investment in manufacturing facilities," said Edwards. She said that by 2012 the Batesville operation will have 475 employees and will have invested of $100 million in infrastructure and equipment.

"That kind of investment hasn't happened in GE for a long time, at least in the aviation sector. So I think the growth that we’re anticipating is echoed by our commitment to adding jobs and building facilities in America."

Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis with the Teal Group, was particularly struck by how the Gulf Coast region has changed in the 27 or 28 years since he biked from New Orleans to Jacksonville. He said it's certainly become more high-tech.

"I never thought back then that I'd be here with you today talking about improving the aerospace cluster that's obviously developed very nicely in this area, so it's a real treat to be back," he said.

He pointed out that even in the downturn, the aerospace sector did well. He said that just considering Boeing and Airbus, the commercial jetliner market is a $110 billion enterprise, with a like amount through after-market and support that more than doubles that amount – a $300 billion a year enterprise on the world stage.

"That, in a nutshell, is why as a cluster you want to be part of this," he said. "A regional approach is absolutely essential," he said, adding that the Gulf Coast has a great combination of capabilities. "This would appear to be a natural place to put work."

And what are the opportunities for this region?

"What you're good at now is what you should accentuate. This is one of the most varied aerospace cluster regions that I've ever seen," with everything from unmanned aerial systems to aerostructures and composite materials. "More of the same in my way of thinking."

In other regional aerospace news during the past week:

Space
NASA unveiled plans for the Space Launch System rocket, designed to take astronauts  into deep space. Administrator Charles Bolden said during a news conference  that the heavy-lift SLS, more powerful than the Saturn V that launched astronauts to the  Moon, will fly in 2017. It will allow astronauts to reach asteroids and Mars.

SLS will be designed to carry the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, as well as cargo, equipment and science experiments. It will serve as a backup for commercial and international partner transportation services to the International Space Station.

It will use technologies from the Space Shuttle and Constellation programs to leverage proven hardware and tooling and manufacturing technology. It will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system, which will include the RS-25D/E from the Space Shuttle for the core stage and the J-2X engine for the upper stage.

Stennis Space Center, Miss., does rocket engine testing and assembly of the J-2X. Michoud Assembly Facilities has been working on Orion.

Construction in fact, has begun on Orion, the first new NASA spacecraft built to take humans to orbit since space shuttle Endeavour left the factory in 1991. Engineers at Michoud started welding together the first space-bound Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

The first welds were completed using an innovative new friction stir welding process, developed especially for Orion construction. The process creates a seamless, leak-proof bond that has proven stronger and higher in quality than can be achieved with conventional welding.

After welding is completed at Michoud, the Orion spacecraft orbital test article will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the heat shield will be installed. At Kennedy, it will undergo final assembly and checkout operations for flight.


Contracts
Rehabilitation Services Mississippi, Madison, Miss., was awarded an $8.1 million contract modification to provide full food services at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The 81st Contracting Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (9/4 to 9/10)

Anyone interested in aerospace in this region may want to attend the inaugural Aerospace Alliance Summit Thursday and Friday, Sept. 15 and 16, at Sandestin Gulf and Beach Resort in Florida. The focus will be the future of aerospace in the Gulf Coast region and nation in an age of tight budgets.

The summit is hosted by the Aerospace Alliance, a partnership of the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida's Great Northwest. Organizers say the summit will be attended by state and local economic development leaders. There also will be representatives from NASA, a major aerospace player in the region, as well as analysts and economists.

On Friday there's a moderated panel on "State Industry Perspectives" with representatives from Lockheed Martin, Airbus, Aeroframe and GE Aviation. That company recently announced plans to build a composite engine parts plant in Ellisville, Miss., north of Hattiesburg.

There will also be a panel discussion on the near-term future of defense and commercial spending. Panel participatnes will be from the Teal Group, Morgan Keegan and ITT. The summit ends at 2 p.m. Friday.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have aerospace activities throughout the region, including Huntsville, Ala., the Golden Triangle in east central Mississippi and the Space Coast of Florida. One cluster is along the Gulf Coast Interstate 10 corridor between South Louisiana and Northwest Florida, the only one that involves portions of all four states.

The I-10 region's aerospace footprint includes space activities, aerial weapons development, military aviator training and testing ranges. It's where the first F-35 training center is being established, and is also where portions of the Fire Scout and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles are built. The region includes major domestic and foreign aerospace companies.

It you want more information on the summit, visit the Aerospace Alliance Web site.


Unmanned
The Navy will award Northrop Grumman a contract to supply 28 MQ-8C Fire Scout "rapid deployment capability" unmanned helicopters using the larger Bell 407 helicopter airframe to increase endurance and payload, according to Aviation Week.

The notice of intent says the aircraft are to be fielded by the first quarter of 2014. The Navy also evaluated the Boeing Hummingbird and Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max, but opted for the 407 airframe jointly developed by Northrop Grumman and Bell as the Fire-X and first flown in December.

The MQ-8C will use the same systems as the MQ-8B Fire Scout, which is based on the smaller Schweizer 333 helicopter airframe. That aircraft has been successfully deployed aboard Navy ships and has also seen use on land in Afghanistan.

One of those Fire Scouts was also shot down over Libya, but the Navy is planning to arm them in the future. (Story)

The smaller Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

- Northrop Grumman CEO Wes Bush said his company, which in addition to the Fire Scout builds the Global Hawk unmanned surveillance plane, can bolster its international sales of unmanned systems.

He also said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit that he felt the U.S. government was taking steps to try to loosen export curbs on some arms. The Obama administration has been consulting Congress on plans to sell unmanned Global Hawks to South Korea. International sales currently are less than 10 percent of Northrop Grumman’s overall sales.

Like the Fire Scout, portions of Global Hawks are built in Moss Point.

New business
The St. Joe Co. officially welcomed to Panama City, Fla., ITT Corp.'s mine defense business to the VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre at West Bay, the development's first corporate tenant. According to the Panama City Herald, ITT will be moving into a 105,000-square-foot facility.

VentureCrossings is St. Joe's initial project in the West Bay Sector Plan, a 75,000-acre development that will include office, industrial, manufacturing, hotel, retail and residential uses. Sites offer direct ramp access and access to the 10,000-foot runway at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.

Contracts
CYE Enterprises Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., was awarded a $25 million contract to furnish all plants, materials, labor, equipment, and all operations in connection with repairing and replacing roofs, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. AAC/PKOA, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Jacobs Technology Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., was awarded a $20.3 million contract modification to provide technical, engineering, and acquisition support at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. AAC/PKES, Eglin Air Force Base is the contracting activity.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Ingalls Shipbuilding was awarded a $482.8 million contract from the U.S. Coast Guard for the construction of a fifth National Security Cutter. Construction of the yet-to-be-named WMSL 754 will be done in Pascagoula, Miss., facility. … In Mobile, Ala., Austal USA rolled its first Joint High-Speed Vessel out of the shed and onto a dry dock floating in the Mobile River, according to the Mobile Press-Register. The ship is slated to be delivered to the Navy early next year. … The Gosport reports that the USS Independence, the littoral combat ship built at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala., will be at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., on Sept. 12 for shipboard mission module testing over the next several weeks. … The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York is in New York City to participate in events honoring the victims and responders from the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The ship, whose bow as made with steel recovered from the destroyed World Trade Center, was built by Northrop Grumman shipyard, now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, in Avondale, La.

Week in review (8/28 to 9/3)

Two more F-35s arrive at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., more workers for the Northrop Grumman Fire Scout program in California, concerns over cuts to the nation's hurricane tracking programs - including the Hurricane Hunters in Biloxi, Miss. - and Eglin awarding of more than $800 million in contracts highlighted Gulf Coast aerospace news during the week.


F-35
Two Lockheed Martin F-35As arrived at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., this week, joining two earlier arrivals that will be used for training pilots and maintainers at the new F-35 Integrated Training Center.

The jets left Wednesday from Fort Worth, Texas, along with two F-16 escorts for the 90-minute flight. The two F-35s are AF-10 and AF-11 from the second lot of low-rate production aircraft.

Speaking of the F-35, Texas Rep. Kay Granger has called Friday for increased production of the Joint Strike Fighter, and suggested that its critics, like Sen. John McCain, visit the mile-long factory before continuing to push for cuts in the Defense Department's largest weapons program.

The remarks came after a tour of the facility with Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, whose district includes Eglin Air Force Base, where F-35 pilots and maintainers will be trained. Both said that when Congress reconvenes next week, members should consider the nation's security goals before cutting into defense programs. (Story)

 
Unmanned systems
Northrop Grumman will add 100 workers in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., to enable the company to continue developing its Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle and a larger version called Fire-X. About 200 employees are already assigned to the program.

The company also is negotiating with the Navy to add weapons to Fire Scout, says George Vardoulakis, Northrop's vice president of tactical unmanned systems.

The Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss., builds portions of the Fire Scout.


Federal cuts
There are concerns that budget cuts could jeopardize future accurate hurricane forecasting. Proposed cuts in the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and in funding for new satellites could undermine the National Hurricane Center's forecasting ability.

Florida Sen. Bill Nelson told reporters in a visit to NHC headquarters in Miami that there was also talk about possible Defense Department cuts to funding for the 10 C-130 Super Hercules "hurricane hunter" planes based in Biloxi, Miss. He vowed that the proposed cuts would be halted in the Senate.


Weapons testing
BAE Systems, Boeing, and the Navy recently conducted a successful test of the Mk 38 MOD 2 Tactical Laser System concept at Eglin Air Force Base in Eglin, Fla. The concept is a proposed high energy laser addition to the Mk 38 naval gun systems currently deployed on most surface combatants.

The test system fired against air and surface maritime targets. Additionally, swarm tests were conducted to simulate an attack by a large number of fast, maneuvering small boats, intermingled with neutral boat traffic. These tests demonstrated a consistent ability to detect, track, classify and engage threat vessels at tactically relevant ranges.


Sensors
The Air Force and Lockheed Martin signed a five-year deal to further sensors technology. The cooperative research and development agreement with Air Force Research Laboratory will assess the viability of Lockheed's cooled tri-mode seeker for integration onto Air Force weapon platforms.

The seeker combines several sensors and a radar that run simultaneously and share information in flight. The work will be done with AFRL's Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., according to the Dayton Business Journal.


Contracts
MacAulay-Brown Inc., Dayton, Ohio, was awarded a $26 million order for information technology and intelligence services. Specialized Contracting, HQ AFSOC/A7KQ, Hurlburt Field, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $569 million contract modification for air-to-air missiles and test vehicles and equipment, software and logistic support. It includes foreign military sales. AAC/EBAC, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … InDyne Inc., Reston, Va., was awarded a $192.8 million contract which exercises option two, fiscal 2012 and 2013, of Eglin Test and Training Complex Range operations and maintenance for test and training areas, and technical facilities. AAC/PKET, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $14.4 million contract modification to provide of 602 Joint Direct Attack Munitions. Air Armament Center/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $43.8 million contract to provide for the modification of an existing contract to procure 32 security and support mission equipment package production cut-in. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead visited Austal USA's Mobile, Ala., shipyard and called it "a model for others to follow." He said he's excited about the commitment and innovation that's gone into the shipyard, which he considers on the leading edge of shipbuilding. … Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., celebrated the "start of fabrication" of the U.S. Coast Guard's fourth National Security Cutter, Hamilton. … BAE Systems, Boeing, and the Navy recently conducted a successful test of the Mk 38 MOD 2 Tactical Laser System concept at Eglin Air Force Base in Eglin, Fla. The concept is a proposed high energy laser addition to the Mk 38 naval gun systems currently deployed on most surface combatants.
Marine science: The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative will use $112.5 million to fund eight research teams over the next three years to study the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010. Universities with operations along the Gulf Coast that are participating in one or more teams include the University of Southern Mississippi, University of West Florida, Louisiana State University, Tulane University, Florida State University and the University of Mississippi. Also participating will be Mobile’s Dauphin Island Sea Lab and the Naval Research Laboratory, which has a detachment at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
Advanced materials: Pennsylvania-based stainless steel scrap recycler Cronimet Corp. plans to locate a manufacturing facility in Pensacola, Fla., in early November, creating 15 manufacturing and administrative jobs. Cronimet recovers and reprocesses stainless steel and high-grade alloys for manufacturers. … The University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss., hopes to get approval for a new undergraduate degree program in polymer sciences engineering. It will be the only polymer engineering major in the state.

Week in review (8/21 to 8/27)

Stennis Space Center, Miss., has been a big economic engine for the region for years. The federal facility is home to NASA's rocket testing facilities and 30 other agencies, including the Navy and its oceanography operations. SSC had a direct global economic impact in 2010 of $875 million. In a 50-mile radius the impact was $616 million.

Not bad at all. But in the past couple of years the 14,000 acre site, surrounded by a 124,000 acre buffer zone, seems to be gearing up to become even more of a powerhouse in the region. In October 2009, 3,900 acres of NASA land at Stennis Space Center received "Project Ready" certification by Mississippi Power.

The Project Ready program highlights areas that are near utilities and ready for development. At the time, SSC officials pointed out that there's even more acreage, but that the 3,900 acres are all close to roads and utilities and it would be well-suited for aerospace companies and others that are either national in scope or somehow involved in space activities.

Then last week NASA got more acreage along with more building space. The former Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant, initially designed to make munitions, was formally turned over by the Army to NASA. That provides an additional 1.6 million square feet to what NASA already controls at SSC. The increase is considerable – about 33 percent more.

The Army plant hasn't made munitions since 1990 and was deactivated in 1992. About half the space is already occupied by a dozen employers, including Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, the Government Printing Office, Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security's National Center for Critical Information Processing and Storage.

One of the reasons this is so significant is because NASA is pushing much of its near-Earth work to commercial companies so it can concentrate on missions into deep space. The thinking is SSC is a great location for companies interested in either of those activities.

Now consider this: About 40 miles away from SSC is NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in east New Orleans. There's a lot of available space at that facility, which is no longer making external tanks for the Space Shuttle program, and there's also some 800 acres NASA would like to turn into an advanced manufacturing park. Combined the Stennis-Michoud area appears to have a lot of potential.

For some background on the Gulf Coast's space activities, click here.


F-35
The Air Force officially rolled out the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter during a ceremony late in the week at the 58th Fighter Squadron Hanger at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. According to press reports, hundreds of people attended the event, hosted by Gen. Edward Rice, Air Education and Training Command commander.

Eglin is home of the F-35 training center, where pilots and maintainers from the Air Force, Navy, Marines and foreign nations will train with three variants of the fighter. Florida Sen. Don Gaetz said the F-35 will have a big impact on Northwest Florida.

- The production version of the F-35 has been cleared to fly, according to Lockheed Martin. As pointed out in a story in the Air Force Times, the entire JSF fleet was grounded Aug. 2 after one jet suffered a malfunction of the integrated power package. A dozen instrumented test aircraft were OKd to fly Aug. 18, and now a half-dozen production jets, including two at Eglin, can take to the air.


Weapons
The Air Force and Lockheed Martin signed a five-year deal to further sensors technology. The cooperative research and development agreement signed Friday will assess the viability of Lockheed's cooled tri-mode seeker for integration into Air Force weapon platforms. The work will be done with the Air Force Research Lab's Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., according to the Dayton Business Journal.


Airport
Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, which opened in May 2010, hopes a $475,000 federal grant will help it plan for future expansion, according to the Panama City News Herald. The Transportation Department grant will be used to hire a company to develop short- and long-term forecasts for future passenger traffic. Last month the airport, north of Panama City, Fla., marked the million-passenger milestone.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: The University of New Orleans received $306,216 from the Department of Defense to buy equipment that features a welding technique that has been used on the space shuttle's external tank. The friction stir welding equipment will be used on ships, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
Marine science: The Mobile Press-Register reported during the week that oil was found floating on the surface of the Gulf of Mexico near the site of last year's Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Later in the week BP and the U.S. Coast Guard's Gulf Coast Incident Management Team conducted a visual inspection of the well, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, and said there is no release of oil occurring at the well. … A year ago, at the height of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, much of the seafloor off the Alabama coast was dead. But things look much different now. Several times this spring the Mobile Press-Register returned to three natural gas platforms visited during the summer of 2010. Instead of swimming through a dead sea and finding oxygen levels far below the threshold required to support marine animals, there was abundant life.
Advanced materials: Three University of Southern Mississippi professors and a team of 10 students have come up with an experimental substance to help clean up an oil spill, according to the Hattiesburg American. The substance is renewable and non-toxic and made from plants. The two key ingredients are cellulose and soy lecithin.

Week in review (8/14 to 8/20)

The Pentagon and the Federal Aviation Administration plan to carve out between four and 10 "bubbles" in civilian airspace to test unmanned aerial systems. That's the word from Steve Pennington, executive director of the Defense Policy Board on Federal Aviation. (Story)

The test bubbles will provide the Department of Defense and the FAA with space to show that unmanned systems can fly in heavily-traveled commercial airspace in all conditions. That may be particularly important in light of the incident during the week when a 12-foot long Shadow drone with a 20-foot wingspan and a C-130 collided in Afghanistan.

The sites will not be co-located with existing DoD sites that have been cleared to fly unmanned systems in the United States, but the new airspace sites will likely butt up against those DoD-owned sites. DoD will begin preliminary site selection by the end of 2012, Pennington said.

It appears to me that this region is perfect for one of the sites, or perhaps more. South Mississippi has two locations cleared for unmanned flights. One is at Stennis Space Center near the Mississippi-Louisiana state line, and the other is in and around Moss Point, not far from the Mississippi-Alabama state line.

Unmanned systems also fly at Eglin Air Force Base in Northwest Florida, which also has been a test site for cruise missiles for years. Considering the Gulf Coast also has ranges in the Gulf of Mexico, it almost appears to be a no-brainer that this region will be considered. And if the idea is to show that the drones can fly in heavily-traveled commercial airspace, this region fits the bill. There are commercial airports in New Orleans, Gulfport, Miss., Mobile, Ala., and Florida’s Pensacola, Eglin and Panama City. The region also has plenty of military flights.

We'll let you know how this search develops.

- While on the topic of unmanned systems, the Navy's MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, which is built in part in Moss Point,, Miss., may soon head to sea with air-to-surface missiles. The drone, which recently finished its second deployment, will start carrying weapons in addition to its array of sensors used for surveillance missions. (Story)

And that seems to be increasingly important. A Fire Scout was shot down over Libya during a deployment, and had it been armed it might have been able to respond to a perceived threat. It will also give ground operators a change to engage targets of opportunity that might otherwise get away.

The Navy picked a laser-guided 70mm rocket, BAE Systems' Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System, as the initial weapon because it has existing safety approval for deployment on ships. But Northrop Grumman will conduct a demonstration of Raytheon's Griffin, a 35-pount tube launched laser-guided mini-missile, later this month.

This wouldn't be a first for the Fire Scount. The Navy test-fired an armed version in 2005.

- Also during the week, the Pentagon approved the requirement for an "endurance upgrade" to the Fire Scout. That means the Navy likes Northrop Grumman's idea of using the proven Fire Scout systems on a larger airframe, in this case the Bell 407. The increased payload and range is designed to support special operations forces. (Story)

The program office evaluated the Boeing A160T Hummingbird and Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-Max unmanned helicopters, but recommended using the Bell 407 airframe, Capt. Patrick Smith, the Navy's Fire Scout program manager, said at the AUVSI International show in Washington.

The program office’s recommendation has yet to be endorsed by Navy leadership, but Northrop and Bell are already jointly developing an unmanned version of the civil Bell 407 light turbine helicopter, called the Fire-X, which first flew in December.

The MQ-8C will be developed within 24 months, with deployment in 2014. Plans to acquire 28 air vehicles over three years.

- Speaking of drones and Eglin, I mentioned above that cruise missiles have been tested in this region for years. Well on July 20 a Tomahawk was fired from the USS Normandy off the coast of south Florida, navigated through the Gulf of Mexico and hit a target at the Eglin Air Force Base weapons range. It marked the 500 test flights for the Tomahawk. (Story)

The cruise missile has been in service for more than 30 years, but Navy officials point out that testing and training of personnel is still essential. It can be launched from over 140 Navy ships and submarines and has been used in every major combat operation since Desert Storm in 1991. The 2,000th combat missile was recently launched against Libyan air defense systems.


F-35
The F-35 test fleet has been cleared for flight, but the Air Force's production aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are still grounded, the Pentagon said during the week.

An Air Force safety board is continuing its investigation of the failure of the AF-4’s Integrated Power Package on Aug. 2, which led to the grounding of the fleet of 20 aircraft. Ground operations of the test fleet resumed Aug. 10.


Command change
Maj. Gen. Kenneth A. Merchant assumed command of the Air Armament Center from Maj. Gen. C.R. Davis Friday. Merchant's previous assignment was director at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., where he was director of Logistics, Headquarters, Air Mobility Command. Davis will assume command of the Electronic Systems Center, Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., Sept. 1, the same day he's promoted to lieutenant general. Also Friday, Col. David A. Harris, Vice Commander, Air Armament Center, pinned on the rank of brigadier general.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards announced its first contract to build a new ship from scratch at its facility in Mobile, Ala. Weeks Marine Inc. hired BAE to build a 356-foot-long dredging vessel. The contract is worth $85 million. … The Justice Department has accused Bollinger Shipyards Inc. of Lockport, La., of falsifying data that led the Coast Guard to contract with the firm to lengthen eight deepwater cutters, all of which turned out "unseaworthy and unusable." The suit seeks unspecified damages. Bollinger said the company has a spotless record for honest and fair dealings. … Local 441 of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board after a failed attempt earlier this month to organize Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. Workers vote 613-367 against unionizing. … Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $7 million option exercise modification to 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, Miss. … BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for a steel profile processing system. BAE will use the money for an automated system for cutting and welding stiffening profiles to steel plates on ships. … Huntington Ingalls Industries, Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded an $11 million modification to previously awarded contract for research, development, test, and technical services for the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer. Eighty percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss., and 20 percent in Gulfport, Miss.

Week in review (8/7 to 8/13)

An upcoming aerospace summit, a visit by the Atlantis crew to two NASA facilities, the role of Eglin’s 20th Space Control Squadron in the shuttle program, more signs of growth in the unmanned aerial systems field and word that Rolls-Royce is looking to expand its engine testing footprint in the United States all highlighted the Gulf Coast region's aerospace news during the week.


Aerospace summit
If you follow aerospace activities in the Gulf Coast region - and my guess is you do since you read this column - you'll be interested in a summit being held next month in Northwest Florida. The future of aerospace and aviation in the region and nation will be the focus of the Aerospace Alliance Summit, Sept. 15-16 at Sandestin Golf and Beach and Resort.

The summit is hosted by the Aerospace Alliance, a partnership of the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida's Great Northwest. The group's goal is to market the Southeast region of the United States as a world-class aerospace and aviation corridor.

The Aerospace Alliance was formed in 2009 at the height of the battle between Boeing and EADS over a contract to build aerial tankers for the Air Force. The multi-state group made its mark early on, hosting some attention-grabbing galas at the Paris and Farnborough international air shows. (Invitation/registration)


Unmanned systems
The Navy during the week confirmed it's joining with the Army to buy dozens of a new class of medium-sized, unmanned helicopter that could be in service within five years, according to Flightglobal, citing an acquisition document. The agreement combines requirements for the Navy's medium-range maritime unmanned aircraft system and the Army's medium-range multi-purpose vertical take-off and landing system.

The Navy is already operating the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, but both services are looking for a larger, more capable helicopter. Boeing is expected to offer its A160 Hummingbird and Northrop Grumman has proposed the MQ-8C Fire-X, which combines the Fire Scout operating system and a Bell 407 airframe. (Story) The Fire Scout is built in part in Moss Point, Miss., at the Unmanned Systems Center. That facility could eventually play a role as well in the Fire-X project.

- Also during the week, the Navy confirmed plans to retire the special mission versions of the Lockheed P-3 by 2020 and replace them with an all-unmanned fleet. Flightglobal reports that in written responses to the Senate Armed Services Committee late last month, incoming chief of naval operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said the Navy's EP-3 Aries and special projects aircraft will be retired in 2019 and 2020.

They'll be replaced by an $8 billion investment over the next five years in a family of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, Greenert said. Those investments include $1.1 billion in the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B Fire Scout, $3.9 billion in the Northrop RQ-4N Global Hawk broad area maritime surveillance aircraft, $2.5 billion in the unmanned carrier-launched airborne surveillance and strike program and $1.1 billion in the medium-range maritime unmanned aircraft system.

The Navy believes its intelligence-collecting capabilities will be improved by transitioning to a larger fleet of long-endurance, unmanned aircraft, Greenert said. (Story)

This can't help but be good news for Moss Point, Miss. In addition to the Fire Scout, portions of the Global Hawk are also built there at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center. It's been apparent for some time now that growth is in the cards.

According to defense analysts and consulting firm Teal Group, the business of unmanned aerial vehicles will rise from $5.9 billion to more than $13 billion over the next 10 years, despite declining defense budgets. Companies in the United States will account for 77 percent of the research and development of UAV technologies in the next decade.

To learn more about the Gulf Coast's unmanned systems activities, click here.


Space
Crew members from the final mission of space shuttle Atlantis visited NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans during the week to thank employees at both facilities and their families for their part in the success of the mission.

At SSC, hundreds crowded the auditorium of StenniSphere to hear pilot Doug Hurley, mission commander Chris Ferguson and mission specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Waldheim share their appreciation and their experiences in space.

"Of all the NASA centers that are involved in human space flight, I think Stennis' future is probably the most clear at this point," said Ferguson. Stennis tested all the space shuttle main engines, and continues to test rocket engines for commercial companies.

"The space shuttle (main engines) that you've tested and operated here for probably at least 35 years was really one of the success stories," said Hurley.

Atlantis, launched on its maiden mission in October 1985, completed its final flight on July 21, marking the end of NASA's shuttle program. During its 26 years in service, Atlantis flew 33 missions and logged more than 131 million miles in space. Atlantis and sister crafts Discovery and Endeavour now are being prepared for permanent display at selected sites.

- When you think of space and the Gulf Coast, you think of Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. But during the week a nod of recognition went out to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.’s, 20th Space Control Squadron and the other units that are part of Peterson Air Force Base’s 21st Space Wing in Colorado.

A story written by the public affairs office at the 21st discussed the critical role of the organization in ensuring the safety and success of the shuttle program. In addition to the Eglin-based 20th, the other units involved were the 6th Space Warning Squadron at Cape Cod Air Force Station, Mass., and the 7th SWS at Beale Air Force Base, Calif. They tracked more than 22,000 near-earth and deep space objects, shuttle missions and the International Space Station.

From launch to landing these teams are tracking the shuttle and any objects that could potentially collide with the shuttle. "In 2009, observations collected by the 20th SPCS led NASA to evacuate astronauts from the International Space Station into the Russian Soyuz manned spacecraft after identifying objects with a close trajectory to the space station," said Capt. Aaron Lynch, 20th SPCS Operations Flight commander.

Most of the space debris are less than one millimeter in diameter and cause no damage, but the shuttle occasionally had to dodge objects if it was determined there was a one in 10,000 chance of a collision.

The shuttles are back on earth now, but the mission of the 6th SWS, 7th SWS and 20th SPCS continues.

"We continue to perform the space surveillance mission since there are still many objects up there (that) we want our functioning satellites to be able to avoid," said Capt. Chris Leininger, 7th SWS Operations Support Flight commander.

Additionally, the United States will continue to send astronauts to space using the Russian Soyuz capsule and the 6th SWS, 7th SWS and 20th SPCS will continue to closely monitor manned missions to the International Space Station. (Story)

To learn more about the Gulf Coast’s space activities, click here.


Expansion
Rolls-Royce Group is studying locations in the United States and Germany for new engine test sites, the Telegraph reported during the week. The company told workers in Derby, England, where it employs 11,000, that it was considering sites outside of the United Kingdom.

Derby builds and tests the Trent XWB, which will go in the new Airbus A350. That program will continue in Derby, but the company says it's looking at new locations to help fulfill orders worth about $98 billion. Rolls-Royce could open test sites either in the United States or Germany or both, the Telegraph reported.

Rolls-Royce currently tests jet engines at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss.


Airports
Construction will resume at the air traffic control tower at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi on Monday. Work on the $12 million project in Gulfport was halted last month when Congress failed to provide funding for infrastructure projects. Congress has since approved a budget and the work in Gulfport, and other sites nationwide, can now proceed.

- Vision Airlines will discontinue service from Northwest Florida Regional Airport at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to selected destinations during the fall and winter. The reduced schedule will start Aug. 19, when the airline cuts service to Lafayette and Shreveport, La., Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn., and Asheville, N.C. Vision made the announcement as it released its fall and winter flight schedule.


Among the geekiest
The Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin metro area in Northwest Florida is ranked 20 on Forbes list of America’s Geekiest Cities. That means it has a lot of people with degrees in science and engineering-related fields. Of the workforce in the Fort Walton Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, 8.8 percent or some 7,200 workers are employed in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics field. Much of that is due to Eglin Air Force Base, which acts as a magnet for technology-oriented defense contractors.


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $535.3 million advance acquisition contract to provide long lead parts and components required for the manufacture of 38 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Construction on a $144 million shipping vessel for Honolulu-based Pasha Hawaii began during the week with the cutting of the first piece of steel at VT Halter Marine’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. The ship will provide weekly service between the West Coast and Hawaii. … Huntington Ingalls Industries' third U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter, Stratton (WMSL 752), returned to Pascagoula, Miss., after successfully completing two days of acceptance sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico. The 418-foot NSC is the flagship of the Coast Guard's cutter fleet. Stratton is scheduled for delivery to the Coast Guard on Sept. 2.
Marine science: The Marine Technology Society and Mississippi Enterprise for Technology are hosting the Oceans in Action Workshop Aug. 22 and 23 at the Imperial Palace Casino in Biloxi, Miss. The workshop focuses on how marine technology is applied to real-world issues.

Week in review (7/31 to 8/6)

Northwest Florida's Hurlburt Field is on its way to getting a squadron that will operate Predator unmanned aircraft. Late in the week the Air Force announced that Hurlburt is the preferred site for the Air Force Reserve Command MQ-1 remote split-operations squadron. If the environmental assessment goes well, the decision will bring 140 personnel and associated equipment to the base.

The Air Force announced in May 2011 that the Eglin Complex was the candidate location for the squadron. The Eglin complex includes Eglin Air Force Base itself, Hurlburt Field, Duke Field, Camp Rudder and Choctaw Field.

Site survey teams evaluated the base for feasibility, timing, cost and planning purposes to meet initial operational capability requirements. Hurlburt, home of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, ended up being the preferred location within the complex.

But don’t bother looking around for a Predator, an unmanned system designed to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and precision-strike capability. Predator flight operations are split between launch and recovery element aircrews overseas and mission-control element crews based in the United States.

LRE crews launch and recover the aircraft within the area of responsibility, while MCE crews operate the aircraft via satellite data links from locations within the United States.

- In another unmanned aerial system-related item during the week, the USS Halyburton and its Fire Scout unmanned helicopters returned to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., after a seven-month deployment.

The ship and its crew conducted numerous counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions in support of Operation Unified Protector, employing the MQ-8B Fire Scouts. MQ-8B operators set records for maximum altitude, range, and endurance, with 438 hours flown by Fire Scout.

One of the drones was lost over Libya in June and later replaced. The Libyan government claimed its forces downed the remotely operated vehicle, and late in the week the Pentagon said it appeared to be enemy action that brought down the Fire Scout.

Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center.


F-35
Flight and ground operations for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter were suspended after the secondary power system of F-35A AF-4, an Air Force variant test aircraft, failed on Aug. 2 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., during a ground maintenance engine run.

The problem was in the F-35's integrated power package, an F-35-unique system that combines the functions of engine starter, emergency and auxiliary power unit, environmental control system and back-up generator.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center. It currently has two F-35s.


Museum
A helicopter that served as Marine One is the newest display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The green and white Sikorsky VH-3A Sea King was one of several similar models used by the White House beginning in 1962 to transport the president. It was acquired two years ago and went through months of restoration and is on display in Hangar Bay One.


Closing
The Fokker AIRINC parts repair facility in Fairhope, Ala., will close by October, shifting operations to a larger facility in LaGrange, Ga. Fokker Technologies said that some of the 55 Fairhope employees could be offered transfers. The parent company continues to wait for its business to recover from the recession. Fokker Services mainly repairs parts for U.S. airlines and other parts suppliers.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: In Mobile, Ala., Austal USA workers rejected union representation for a third time, voting 613-367 against representation by the Sheet Metal Workers International Association union, according to company officials. The election was held Thursday and Friday. Earlier in the week, Austal cut the first piece of aluminum on LCS 6, the first littoral combat ship in a projected 10-vessel, $3.5 billion deal. The latest ship, which will be christened the Jackson, is the first that Austal USA will build as a prime contractor for the U.S. Navy.… The Navy awarded Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a $110.8 million modification to a previously awarded contract for long-lead construction for DDG 1001, procurement of long-lead-time material for DDG 1002 and engineering, production and support services. Ingalls Composite Center of Excellence in Gulfport, Miss., is building the composite deckhouses and hangars for the DDG 1000 ships. … The Virginia-class attack submarine USS Mississippi will be commissioned in the Gulfport Small Craft Harbor in Gulfport, Miss., May 2012. Mayor George Schloegel made the announcement during a meeting of the Gulfport Business Club. The Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics in Groton, Conn., is the prime contractor for the 377-foot-long USS Mississippi. A Gulfport business, Seemann Composites, provided key composite parts for the Virginia-class sub.
Marine science: Scientists at a meeting in New Orleans early in the week warned the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico will create more problems unless fewer fertilizers are dumped into the Mississippi River. Also, researchers who mapped the dead zone, where oxygen levels are too low to support most marine life, found the size this year above average, 6,765 square miles, but not nearly the 9,400 square miles some had predicted due to spring flooding in the Midwest. … Jeffrey Lotz, chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi Department of Coast Sciences, was named interim director of the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Miss. He succeeds Bill Hawkins, who retired as lab director in June.

Week in review (7/24 to 7/30)

The numbers are pretty significant: a $56 million investment, 300,000 square-foot plant and 250 jobs. But the importance of GE Aviation's decision to open a manufacturing plant in Southeast Mississippi's Ellisville goes well beyond those numbers.

The plant is the second one GE Aviation is establishing in Mississippi. It opened its first one in Batesville in 2008, which now has 300 workers who make composite parts for aircraft engines. That experience likely opened the door to having this second facility.

The decision also underscores the import role universities play in economic development. The GE Aviation plant will build composite components, such as fan blades, for aircraft engines The high performance materials were developed in collaboration with the University of Southern Mississippi's School of Polymers and High Performance Materials. The company will continue to collaborate with Southern Miss.

"We're on the road, on the right path, and this is only the beginning," said Shelby Thames, who founded the university's polymer program in the 1970s and is a distinguished research professor. "It's a team effort for Southern Miss, but (polymers) were the folks that had promoted the composite concept, realizing that they would be the new material of the future." (Story)

What's more, GE Aviation also has ties to the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory at Mississippi State University in Starkville, and the Center for Manufacturing Excellence at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

The 300,000 square-foot Ellisville facility will be at Howard Technology Park. Ground will be broken by the end of the year, and it's expected to begin production in 2013, creating about 250 jobs by 2016.

GE Aviation is investing $56 million, and will receive tax abatements for the facility. The county, city and the Economic Development Authority of Jones County provided 43 acres in the industrial park and will do the site and infrastructure preparation work. GE also will be able to take advantage of the state's Aerospace Initiative Incentives program, which provides tax breaks for companies manufacturing or assembling components for the industry.

South Mississippi is already a key region for work on aircraft and spacecraft engines, and this adds another crucial element to the mix. At NASA's John C Stennis Space Center, NASA and commercial companies test and assemble many of the engines that power spacecraft. It's also where Rolls-Royce tests its huge aircraft engines.


F-35
In another first for the new Joint Strike Fighter, an F-35C test aircraft, designated CF-3, was launched by a land-based steam catapult during a test during the week in Lakehurst, N.J.

The F-35C carrier variant of the JSF has larger wing surfaces and reinforced landing gear that make it different from the Air Force A version or the Marine Corps B variant. The F-35C is undergoing test and evaluation at Naval Air Station Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet. Initial ship trials are scheduled for 2013.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the JSF training center.


Airports
Work was halted during the week on the nearly completed air traffic control tower at Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration told contractors to stop work on the nearly $12 million project in Gulfport and others at airports nationwide after Congress failed to pass legislation for the work to continue. The current control tower is handling flights.


Cyber
The Department of Defense during the week launched a new website to highlight DoD's unified strategy for cyberspace, announced on July 14. The website helps explain and consolidate DoD's cybersecurity accomplishments and new way forward for military, intelligence and business operations in cyberspace.

The site is designed to help users explore the five pillars of DoD's cyber strategy: treating cyberspace as an operational domain; employing new defense operating concepts; partnering with the public and private sector; building international partnerships; and leveraging talent and innovation.

The Gulf Coast has multiple DoD cyber training operations, including Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Corry Station, Fla., and Hurlburt Field, Fla.


Contracts
Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $32.5 million contract modification to provide additional aircraft closure redesign. The AAC/EDBK/EDBJ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Missile Systems Division, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $70 million contract to provide Small Diameter Bomb II technical support. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $10.2 million contract, a modification of an existing contract, to provide logistic support coverage for the UH-72A aircraft. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2011.


Tidbits from other fields
Marine science: Oil-eating bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico devoured crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead last year, researcher Terry Hazen said during the University of Southern Mississippi's distinguished lecture series. Hazen, co-director of the Virtual Institute for Microbial Stress and Survival at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and a team of 50 scientists studied the spill from May 25 to Oct. 20, 2010 and found that that 45 percent of the light crude evaporated in a week, then bacteria acted like "oil-seeking missiles" and feasted on the oil. But he warned that does not give a free pass to oil companies.

Week in review (7/17 to 7/23)

The arrival of the second F-35 at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and the first Euro Hawk in Germany, the successful final flight of the space shuttle, the announcement of a new aerospace startup in Mobile, Ala., and a change of command were among the stories of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region during the week.

But one of the most significant news items during the week was the decision by American Airlines to order 200 Boeing 737s and 260 Airbus A320s for its fleet. It may be the opening salvo of a stream of new orders for more efficient jets, and that may cause EADS to dust off plans for a new assembly facility in Mobile, Ala.

The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline is ordering 460 new single-aisle planes from U.S.-based Boeing and Europe's Airbus in a deal valued at more than $38 billion. It includes options and purchase rights for 465 additional planes through 2025.

Airbus has not sold new planes to American Airlines in more than two decades. The company retired its last Airbus in 2009. So for Airbus, the order is a significant coup for the company that each year buys components worth $10 billion from U.S. suppliers.

Industry analysts think Airbus may have to raise production rates on its A320 family line to as many as 60 aircraft a month in the second half of the decade if more major orders come in. Airbus can't achieve that by expanding its Toulouse, France; Hamburg, Germany; or Tianjin, China lines. That would open the door to a U.S.-based final assembly line late in the decade. (Story)

The obvious choice for such a plant would be Mobile, where EADS planned to assemble military tankers and A330 freighters had it won the hotly contested Air Force contract. EADS already does business in Mobile; Airbus employs 150 at an engineering center in Brookley Aeroplex, and Airbus military operates an aircraft maintenance and training facility for the U.S. Coast Guard at Mobile Regional Airport.

Ralph Crosby, chairman of EADS North America, has said in the past that the company "could have made no better choice" than to come to the Gulf Coast. "The partnerships we've formed are real and they are enduring ... The fact is, as far as EADS is concerned, Mobile is at the top of the list for any commercial production we might establish in America."

We'll keep an eye out as this story develops in the coming months and years.

Startup
While on the topic of Mobile, AeroStar Inc., a startup located at the Brookley Aeroplex, plans to repair and overhaul hydraulic and pneumatic airplane components. The company is led by a former sales executive for Fokker Airinc, a components repair firm in Fairhope, Ala. The company wants to employ 10 people by the end of the year. The 8,000 square-foot building that AeroStar renovated on the south end of Michigan Avenue could hold up to 25 employees.


Space
Space shuttle Atlantis landed safely at Florida's Kennedy Space Center early Thursday. The 135th flight marked the end of three decades of service. The shuttle and its four crew members touched down at 5:56 a.m. after a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. All shuttle main engines were tested at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and the external fuel tanks were built at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.


Unmanned systems
The Euro Hawk unmanned aerial system, built in part in Mississippi, was delivered to the German Bundeswehr late in the week. The signals intelligence aircraft is based on the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk. It took off Wednesday from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., for the flight to Manching Air Base, Germany.

The Euro Hawk will carry a new SIGINT mission system developed by EADS Deutschland, which will be integrated in Manching. Delivery of the first demonstrator to the Bundeswehr is scheduled for mid-2012, with another four systems scheduled tentatively between 2015 and 2017.

Euro Hawk is the first international version of the RQ-4, which has been serving the U.S. military for a number of years. The second international version will be NATO’s AGS. The Euro Hawk was built in part in Moss Point, Miss.


F-35
Lockheed Martin's second F-35A Lightning II production jet arrived during the week at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., less than a week after delivery of the first jet to the base in Northwest Florida. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph T. "OD" Bachmann piloted the aircraft, known as AF-8, arriving at 11:50 a.m. CDT.

AF-8 joins AF-9, which Lockheed Martin delivered to the 33rd Fighter Wing the previous week after a flight from Fort Worth, Texas. The jets will be used for training F-35 pilots and maintainers who are slated to begin course work at the base's new F-35 Integrated Training Center this fall.


Bases/airports
The 46th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., had a change of command late in the week. Col. Colin Miller took command from Col. Michael Brewer. Miller has served as an operational pilot in the F-15C and F-117, and as a test pilot in the F-15C, F-15E, F-16, and F-22. Brewer relinquished command after serving two years with the 46th Test Wing and more than 25 years with the Air Force.

- The 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will have a change of command July 26. Col. David Hicks will take command of the wing from Col. Michael Gantt at 8:53 a.m. in Hangar 102. The 53rd Wing serves as the focal point for the Combat Air Forces in electronic warfare, armament and avionics, chemical defense, reconnaissance, and aircrew training devices. The wing is also responsible for operational testing and evaluation of new equipment and systems.

- Three regional airports in Mississippi - Greenville, Tupelo and Hattiesburg - are among 24 small markets that face losing service from Delta Air Lines. The company said it's lost $14 million a year serving the 24 airports because of insufficient passenger loads.

Service to 16 of the 24 airports is subsidized by the federal Essential Air Service program. Weak demand in some markets led to flights occasionally operating with no passengers on board. Greenville has a 27.6 percent load factor, Tupelo 41 percent and Hattiesburg has a 53.7 percent. The Department of Transportation is now looking for alternative carriers.

- Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport has received this year's Florida Department of Transportation Airport Project of the Year Award. The award was handed out at the annual conference of the Florida Airport Council.

It recognized the project for its "significant contribution to airport development, sustainability, efficiency, capacity and/or safety," according to the award nomination criteria. The airport near West Bay opened May 23, 2010, to replace the smaller airport in Panama City.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: General Dynamics - Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, was awarded a $10 million cost-plus-award-fee modification to existing previously awarded basic ordering agreement to provide engineering and management services for advance planning and design in support of the post shakedown availability for USS Independence (LCS 2). Eight percent of the work will be done in Mobile, Ala. … New ship construction will be returning to the site of the former Alabama Dry Dock and Shipbuilding Co., officials with BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards said. The company said it will partner with Netherlands-based IHC Merwede to build offshore oil vessels at BAE's yards in Jacksonville, Fla., and Mobile. BAE has about 800 workers at its Mobile yard now, but could grow by 400 in the coming years because of the agreement.

Week in review (7/10 to 7/16)

The arrival of the first F-35 Lightning at Eglin Air Force Base, a test of the new generation J-2X rocket engine at Stennis Space Center and more money for Pensacola's National Flight Academy were among the news items during the week in the Gulf Coast aerospace region.


F-35
Late in the week, the first F-35 Lightning II that will be used by the Integrated Training Center landed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., after a 90-minute flight from Fort Worth, Texas. The plane, known as AF-9, is a conventional takeoff and landing version of the fifth generation fighter built by Lockheed Martin and its industry partners.

The plane is one of six that will be assigned to the base in coming months. Eventually, Eglin will have 59 of the F-35s. They'll be used by the 33rd Fighter Wing to train pilots and maintainers from all branches of the military, as well as allied nations.

The Eglin plane is the third production model delivered to the Air Force. The first two are assigned to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.

Even before the arrival of the new plane, the commander of the 96th Air Base Wing at Eglin recently reflected on his first year heading up the wing that provides support for the base. "Eglin has an extremely bright future," said Col. Sal Nodjomian, who has been at the helm during a period of growth for the base. "We will continue to integrate research, developmental and operational test, training and many other significant mission sets at Eglin."


Bases
While on the topic of Eglin, the base was named Department of Defense Installation of the Year by the Association of Defense Communities. According to ADC, Eglin has forged partnerships with local governments and nonprofits to protect natural resources, enhance wildlife corridors and expand opportunities for biodiversity, while at the same time preserving its mission.

Eglin is home to 19 federal and 95 state listed, rare or local endemic species, and officials place a high priority on conserving natural resources. The base occupies much of the Florida panhandle, controlling 120,000 square miles of airspace over the Florida Gulf and providing a unique atmosphere for threatened and endangered species. The Defense Community Awards lunch is at the ADC 2011 Annual Conference in Norfolk on July 19.

- Air Force simulation experts at Eglin Air Force Base are reaching out to industry to find companies able to develop simulations to help the Air Force evaluate concepts for new weapons. The Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate at Eglin issued a sources-sought notice Tuesday for the Technology Research for Integrated Guidance Simulation (TRIGS) program.

The Air Force expects to negotiate one five-year indefinite delivery indefinite quantity research contract for the TRIGS weapons simulation program worth about $45 million.

- Brig. Gen. Leonard Patrick, current commander of the 502nd Air Base Wing at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, will become the new leader of the 2nd Air Force during a change of command July 21 at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Patrick replaces Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, who is going to the Pentagon to direct the Sexual Assault and Response Office for the Office of the Secretary of Defense.


Space
NASA conducted a combined chill test and 1.9-second ignition test Thursday of the next-generation J-2X rocket engine that could help carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit to deep space. The test at the A-2 Test Stand was the first in a series that will be conducted over the next several months on the J-2X, which is being developed by Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne. Collected data will verify the engine functions as designed.

The J-2X uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel, which can be mixed to generate 294,000 pounds of thrust to lift a spacecraft into low-Earth orbit or 242,000 pounds of thrust to power a spacecraft from low-Earth orbit into deep space. The engine is designed to start and restart in space.

- StenniSphere, the visitor center at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, will delay opening on July 20 due to a special event. The visitor center will open at noon that day. StenniSphere is open to the public 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday, and is closed on major holidays.


Education
The University of Florida pledged $125,000 to the National Flight Academy at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., an amount matched by an anonymous Florida Gator booster. The $250,000 will be used for scholarships and tuition to the academy, which is expected to open to students in May 2012.

The academy, an educational program of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, will offer week-long sessions to students in seventh through 12th grades. Students will focus on science, technology, engineering and math.

The National Flight Academy is one of several learning centers that are being developed in the Gulf Coast region. Near the Louisiana and Mississippi state line, work is continuing on the Infinity Science Center, which will highlight science and technology activities at NASA's nearby Stennis Space Center, Miss., and in Mobile, Ala., work is continuing on the GulfQuest center, which will highlight maritime activities.


Contracts
Raytheon Co., Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $9.1 million contract modification for procurement of 4 Griffin Block II A telemetry rounds, part number 2292000-25, and 74 Griffin Block II A all up rounds to include shipping, engineering services, and proposal development costs. AAC/PKES, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: The next Freedom-class littoral combat ship will be named the USS Little Rock. The monohull Little Rock will be 378 feet long and built in Marinette, Wis., by a Lockheed Martin team. The other class of LCS, the Independence class, is an aluminum trimaran built in Mobile, Ala., by Austal USA. … Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded a $98.6 million modification to previously awarded contract for advance procurement of long-lead-time materials in support of LPD 27, the 11th ship of the LPD class. Work will be done in Pascagoula and is expected to be completed by January 2012. … Northrop Grumman said it would save the government some $600 million by divesting its shipbuilding operation and closing the Avondale, La., shipyard. But the Pentagon’s audit agency concluded it can’t verify the claim. The spinoff company, Huntington Ingalls, is now in operation, but the yard in Avondale won’t be closing until 2013. … The Navy put a rear admiral in charge of a new office overseeing the entire littoral combat ship program, a change from the previous division between building the vessels and the mission modules.
Advanced materials: Gulf Coast-area science and math teachers during the week learned new lessons and recharged their professional enthusiasm at Office of Naval Research-funded five-day summer camps that wrapped up July 15 at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. The program trained middle and high school teachers in physics and materials science, electronic engineering, chemistry and polymer science.

Week in review (7/3 to 7/9)

Space Shuttle Atlantis and four astronauts launched Friday on NASA's last space shuttle voyage. The shuttle lifted off at 11:29 a.m. for the 135th shuttle mission. The crowd of spectators was estimated at nearly 1 million.

At Stennis Space Center, Miss., which tested all the space shuttle main engines, visitors saw the launch on a large screen in the auditorium. More than 300 people were in attendance.

Atlantis' crew will deliver a year's worth of critical supplies to the International Space Station and return with as much trash as possible. The spaceship is scheduled to come home July 20 after 12 days in orbit.


F-35
Eglin Air Force Base's first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighters have completed test flights and are in their final review to be accepted by the Department of Defense. Representatives from Lockheed Martin said last month that the first F-35s would arrive in June.

They now say AF-8 and AF-9, the Florida base's first two JSFs, will "arrive shortly" but provided no time frame. Lockheed Martin is expected to deliver six F-35s to Eglin this fiscal year. The other four jets are in various stages of development, including some still on the production line. Lockheed Martin plans a ceremony for sometime in August after the first jets arrive.


Education
Pre-engineering students at two high schools in Baldwin County, Ala., will get a chance to participate in a new aerospace curriculum this fall.

Baldwin County High School and Foley High School are among four schools in Alabama to offer courses as part of the "Preparation for Tomorrow" aerospace engineering pilot program. The Alabama Department of Education’s Career and Technical Education section and the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board last fall designed the aerospace curriculum to prepare high school students for aerospace technology and engineering careers.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: The Austal USA-built USS Independence is one of the characters in the cartoon movie "Cars 2." In the movie, the unnamed ship character has just a few scenes. Early on it's seen guarding the villain's offshore oil platform lair and then chasing after one of the movie's heroes.

Command changes: Capt. Rick Burgess relieved Capt. Lou Cariello as commanding officer of the Naval Construction Battalion Center and 20th Seabee Readiness Group in Gulfport, Miss., during a ceremony Friday. Burgess leads more than 4,900 active duty personnel and more than 900 civilians permanently stationed at the Seabee base. … Capt. Paul Oosterling assumed command of the Naval Oceanographic Office during a ceremony Friday at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Oosterling replaced Capt. Brian Brown, who will transfer to Washington to serve as Executive Assistant to the Oceanographer of the Navy. NAVOCEANO supplies oceanographic products and services to all elements of the Department of Defense.

Week in review (6/26 to 7/2)

Despite a poor initial operational test and evaluation report about the Northrop Grumman Global Hawk Block 30, the Air Force reports a relatively high operational reliability rating, according to a story in Flightglobal.

The Air Force reports that Block 30 Global Hawks, operating from four bases for five combatant commands, are operating with 76 percent reliability. The real-world operational rating contrasts dramatically with a 20 May IOT&E report that pegged reliability at 27 percent.

The Air Force indicated that current capability was improved by fixes to problems detailed in the report, but further specifics were not immediately available. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Story)


Airports
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Board are investigating an incident last month over Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport where a single-engine plane and airliner were at the same altitude and just 300 feet apart.

The near-miss happened June 19 between a Continental Express jet carrying 50 passengers and three crew and a Cessna 172 with a student pilot and instructor. FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the controller who was working with the aircraft when the incident occurred has been restricted from working air traffic until the FAA investigation is complete.

- Vision Airlines is dropping service to five of the two dozen cities it serves, citing lower than expected demand. Service is ending July 17 to Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C., Columbia, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., Huntsville, Ala., and Baton Rouge, La. But it's picking up service to the Bahamas. Vision's hub is at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.


Contracts
MI Support Services, Denton, Texas, was awarded a $13.9 million contract with cost reimbursable line items for program management, organizational and intermediate maintenance services for T-38 aircraft for the Companion Trainer Program for aircraft assigned to five locations. The locations of performance are Beale Air Force Base, Calif.; Holloman Air Force Base, N.M.; Langley Air Force Base, Va.; Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; and Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo. … Raytheon Co., Missile Systems Division, was awarded a $10.6 million contract modification for the Processor Replacement Program Foreign Military Sales software extension probability of weapon effectiveness. AAC/EBAC, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Ingalls Shipbuilding's third Legend-class national security cutter, Stratton, successfully completed builder's sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico during the week, the company announced. … Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., was awarded a $312.9 million modification to previously awarded contract for the exercise of construction options for ships six and seven of the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) Program. Gulf Coast work sites are in Mobile, Gulfport, Miss., and Slidell, La. … Lockheed Martin Corp., MS2, Integrated Defense Technologies, Baltimore, Md., was awarded a $13 million modification under previously awarded contract for MK 41 Vertical Launching System ordnance alteration kits, production support material, interim support parts, and equipment in support of DDG 51-class new construction, and Aegis modernization programs. Nearly 19 percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Advanced materials: University of Southern Mississippi scientists are working on a technique to fight cancer that involves a polymers so tiny that they can be absorbed by cancerous cells in order to stop them in their tracks. A professor and team of about 10 graduate, post-grad and undergrad polymer science students is working with researchers at the University of Alabama Birmingham's Comprehensive Cancer Center. They began collaborating this year.

Week in review (6/19 to 6/25)

During the week in aerospace news of interest to this region, a Fire Scout unmanned helicopter went down over Libya; Pratt and Whitney delivered its first F-35 spare engine to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; the Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla., got a new leader, as did the Air Force Research Lab Munitions Directorate at Eglin; and a small plane crash at Eglin claimed two lives.

But first, an item that still has some interest for this region: the Air Force tankers.

Boeing Co. expects to exceed its cost ceiling by as much as $300 million, about 6 percent, on the initial contract to develop and build Air Force aerial refueling tankers. That’s according to government officials as reported by Bloomberg. (Story)

The $300 million projection was obtained by Bloomberg News from government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Boeing spokesman Bill Barksdale confirmed the company projects it will exceed the $4.9 billion ceiling and is prepared to absorb the extra costs.

Boeing in February beat out EADS for the contract. EADS had planned to establish a $600 million aircraft assembly plant in Mobile, Ala., if it won the contract.


Unmanned systems
A Northrop Grumman-built Fire Scout was lost over the central coastal area of Libya while conducting surveillance operations, according to NATO officials. The MQ-8B lost contact with ground controllers Tuesday. The Fire Scout, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., is equipped with cameras and sensors and was monitoring pro-Kadafi forces when it was lost. The cause of the crash is not known.

- U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn said the U.S. will maintain its lead in unmanned robotic technology in the face of a $400 billion reduction in defense spending. Lynn said during the Paris Air Show that robotics and unmanned technology "is a key future" for the U.S. military. The U.S. will also seek to maintain a lead in cyber security and the capability to strike long-range targets, he said in a briefing. Both unmanned systems and cyber security are of high interest to the Gulf Coast region.


Space
An Aerojet AJ26 engine that will power the Orbital Sciences Corp. Taurus II launch vehicle was badly damaged in a fuel fire June 9 at Stennis Space Center, Miss. NASA is counting on the Taurus II/Cygnus and the Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9/Dragon combinations to help resupply the International Space Station when the space shuttle fleet retires after the upcoming final flight of shuttle Atlantis.

The AJ26 engine shut down prematurely after a fuel leak developed during a hot-fire acceptance test, and the leaking kerosene fuel ignited. The test stand at Stennis Space Center suffered only minor damage. A team of experts from Aerojet, Orbital and NASA is investigating the cause of the mishap and the extent of the damage to the engine.


F-35
Pratt and Whitney has delivered the first F135 spare engine to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to support F-35 Lightning II training operations to begin this summer. Eglin's 33rd Fighter Wing is a joint unit with Air Force, Navy and Marine squadrons that will conduct F-35 training for their respective services as well as the eight F-35 program international partners. Lockheed Martin is scheduled to deliver the first F-35A aircraft to Eglin in the coming weeks. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company.

- Lockheed Martin has a new website for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft. The site provides the most up-to-date information on the F-35 program, including history, program updates, news, photos and videos. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Pratt & Whitney’s F135 propulsion system powers all F-35 variants. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.


Bases
Lt. Gen. Eric Fiel took over leadership of the Air Force Special Operations Command on Friday from the retiring Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz presided over the ceremony at the Freedom Hangar at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Wurster took command of AFSOC in November 2007. Fiel comes to Hurlburt after serving as vice commander at the U.S. Special Operations Command in Washington, D.C.

- More than 100 people gathered Friday at the 33rd Fighter Wing Memorial at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., to honor those killed in the 1996 attack at Khobar Towers at Dharan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The attach was on the evening of June 25, 1996. Just before 10 p.m., a car bomb exploded at the tower were members of Eglin’s 33rd Fighter Wing were wrapping up a three-month deployment. The blast killed 19 airmen and wounded 105. Twelve of the men who died were members of the 33rd. A total of seven airmen from Patrick, Offutt and Wright-Patterson air force bases also were killed.

- The two victims of that plane crash at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., have been identified. They are Col. (ret.) David A. Miles of Shalimar, Fla., and Thomas E. Lewis of Apalachicola, Fla. The Aero Club Beechcraft crashed around 4:30 a.m. into a grassy area next to the 46th Test Wing side of the runway at Eglin. The plane was owned by Eglin Air Force Base and rented to pilot through the base's Aero Club.

- The Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate had a change of command ceremony. Col. Kenneth L. Echternacht, Jr., relinquished his position as commander to Dr. John Wilcox. AFRL Munitions Directorate performs research on precision guidance, missile guidance and control, computational mechanics, smart sub-munitions, warheads, and explosives.


Contracts
Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $7.3 million contract for the High Speed Anti Radiation Missile Targeting System software upgrade two risk reduction study. AAC/EBAS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $36 million contract to provide for M982 Excalibur 155mm precision engagement projectiles. Some of the work will be done in Niceville, Fla.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $7.7 million modification to 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 program executive officer Integrated Warfare Systems. Twenty-two percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. … VT Halter Marine plans to diversify and expand its Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard with the addition of a floating dry dock that will let it begin repairing semi-submersible drilling rigs and new Panamax-sized ships. The board of directors still has to give final approval. … A littoral combat ship built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., will have to be dry-docked to remove water jets that have suffered corrosion. In February, the Navy found another ship in the series, this one built in Wisconsin by a team led by Lockheed Martin, had developed a crack through the hull.

Week in review (6/12 to 6/18)

The International Paris Air Show gets under way Monday at Le Bourget Airport, and economic development officials from across the Gulf Coast will be attending. The show in 2009 attracted 140,000 professional visitors and 200,000 visitors from the general public.

There are teams from Northwest Florida, Alabama and South Mississippi attending. They go to the show because companies from across the globe go to the event, and economic development officials can meet with a lot of companies in a very compressed time.

The show is the oldest and largest air show. It's held every other year at Le Bourget Airport and is designed to let aerospace companies show their products to military and commercial buyers.

This year's show is June 20-23 for professional visitors, and from June 24-26 for the general public. In 2009 the show attracted 2,000 exhibitors from 50 countries and 3,000 journalists from around the world.

If you're interested in learning more about the aerospace activities in the Gulf Coast region, you might want to download a free PDF version of the 88-page Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2011-2012. You can also buy a printed version if you’re so inclined, at cost from a print-on-demand service, Lulu.com.

There's also a book available that focuses on the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s aerospace activities. The 52-page, sixth annual edition of Mississippi Gulf Coast Aerospace 2011-2012 can be downloaded for free, or you can also purchase at-cost a printed version from the same print-on-demand service.


Space
NASA's new J-2X rocket engine, which could power the upper stage of a future heavy-lift launch vehicle, is ready for its first round of testing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss.

The fully assembled engine was installed last weekend in the A-2 Test Stand, originally used to test Saturn V rockets for the Apollo Program. The engine will undergo a series of 10 test firings that will last several months.

The test stand, which supported the space shuttle main engine project, has been modified for the J-2X's different shape. In addition to the structural, electrical and plumbing modifications, a new engine start system was installed and control systems were upgraded on the stand. The liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen transfer lines that dated back to the 1960s were replaced. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne designed and built the J-2X for NASA.


Bases/airports
Nearly a month after the unsafe performance of a maneuver led to the grounding of the Navy’s Blue Angels and a change in command, the team performs again this weekend at the Quad-City Air Show in Davenport, Iowa.

The grounding was prompted by a maneuver where the F/A 18 Hornets passed too close to the ground. The team is now under the command of Capt. Greg McWherter, who commanded the group from November 2008 to November 2010. The team is based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

- The Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will have a change of command ceremony Monday afternoon at the Air Armament Museum.

Col. Kenneth L. Echternacht, Jr., will relinquish his position as commander, AFRL, to Dr. John Wilcox. Maj. Gen.William McCasland, Commander, Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, will officiate. AFRL Munitions Directorate performs research on precision guidance, missile guidance and control, computational mechanics, smart sub-munitions, warheads, and explosives.

- Northwest Florida Regional Airport reported a record-setting May passenger count. The total number of commercial passengers topped 111,550, far exceeding any previous monthly traffic level, according to airport Director Greg Donovan. The increase, 57.2 percent over May 2010, was due largely to the new air service by Vision Airlines, Donovan noted. The airport is located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.


Relocation
A satellite office for Capital Avionics will open at Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview, Fla., during the week. It’s the first step in moving the entire business to Okaloosa County from Tallahassee. Capital Avionics employs 15 people, but Larry Sassano, president of the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County, said it is an important one for the area. Capital Avionics creates custom-designed testing equipment for companies in the aviation field, and the company already has clients in Okaloosa County.

Owner Al Ingle said he expects to hire four employees for the Okaloosa County branch. He then plans to build a new 15,500-square-foot hangar and 12,000-square-foot component repair and equipment testing facility at Bob Sikes and move the remaining Capital Avionics employees once that is completed.


Balloons
The Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival is underway this weekend in Foley, Ala. It’s the event’s seventh year. The festival is held at the Foley Soccer Field on U.S. 98, and includes arts and crafts vendors, food tents, music and other attractions. The festival attracts about 60,000 visitors a year, according to organizers. Counts for the 2011 celebration were not available.


Contracts
BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Md., was awarded a $33.3 million modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to exercise an option for engineering and technical services and supplies for the design, development, integration, test and evaluation, maintenance and logistics support of communication-electronic platform, equipment, systems and subsystems in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Special Communications Requirements Division. Two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $74.4 million firm-fixed-price contract to provide 14 light utility helicopters and 14 airborne radio communication systems. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss., with an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2012. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a not-to-exceed $100,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to provide technical support for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Air Armament Center/EBJK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (6/5 to 6/11)

There were reports during the week that Air Force testers found the Global Hawk Block 20/30 unmanned aerial system unable to completely and reliably perform the imagery and signals intelligence collection missions for which it's designed.

That information comes from the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation report resulting from tests conducted last October through December. Those reports usually consider a system either effective or not effective, but not this one. Maj. Gen. David Eichorn, who heads the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center in New Mexico, told Aviation Week he was more comfortable with the "shade of gray" in this case because Global Hawk provides valuable service, but doesn't do some things well. (Story)

The Hill called the report "scathing," saying the report found that the drones provided only about 40 percent of "requested intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance coverage when used at low operational tempos." But that story also pointed out that Predator/Reaper UAV faced serious criticism from testers early on and is now considered very effective. (Story)

George Guerra, vice president for High Altitude Long Endurance programs for Northrop aerospace systems, said that since the report the company has worked with the Air Force to make improvements. The Pentagon weapons test report provided "an assessment of the system at a snapshot in time which was at the end of last year," Guerra told Reuters. "Since then, we've incorporated some of those improvements and we saw that the system performed quite well over Japan and Libya.” (Story)

Fuselage work for the Global Hawk is done in Moss Point, Miss., at the Unmanned Systems Center.


Space
An Aerojet AJ26 engine, the propulsion system for one of NASA's commercial space-cargo haulers, shut down early in a test firing at the Stennis Space Center, Miss. The test was done Thursday on the E-1 Test Stand.

The AJ26 is the main engine for Orbital Science Corp.'s Taurus 2 rocket, which will launch the company's Cygnus capsule for commercial resupply missions to the international space station. Orbital and Aerojet are investigating the cause, and Stennis will perform checkouts to the facility to ensure its operational integrity. Three AJ26 have been successfully test fired to date.

- The launch of the 135th and final space shuttle mission, now slated for July 8, will mean the elimination of most of the 300 remaining Michoud Assembly Facility jobs connected to work on the project's external tanks. But the announcement two weeks ago that NASA is moving forward with the Orion project means continued space-related work at Michoud, though a small fraction of the numbers employed for the space shuttle program, according to a story in the New Orleans Times Picayune. (Story)


F-35
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics says it's days away from sending Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the first of 59 Joint Strike Fighters. That's according to Mike Rein, a spokesman for the company, who thinks it will happen this month, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. Six jets are slated for delivery by the end of the fiscal year, Rein said. Eglin is home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center. The first pilots who will train on the F-35 will be instructors. (Story)


Weapons
Lockheed Martin's Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) tri-mode seeker successfully acquired and tracked multiple moving maritime vessels during recent high-speed, captive flight tests. The tests were in the Gulf of Mexico off the shore of Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., against multiple maritime targets, including a Revenge Advanced Composites (RAC), low-signature, high-speed patrol craft.

The RAC performed a series of evasive maneuvers against the JAGM mounted in the nose section of a Sabreliner Series 60 jet aircraft. JAGM is the next-generation air-to-surface guided missile that is being competed as the replacement for the currently fielded Airborne TOW, Maverick and HELLFIRE missiles for the U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps.


Tidbits from other fields
Shipbuilding: Arkansas-based Taber Extrusions will build components for a littoral combat ship and joint high-speed vessel built by Mobile's Austal USA. The work will be done at Taber’s two manufacturing facilities, one in Gulfport, Miss., the other in Russellville, Ark. Austal will use Taber extrusions for decking, superstructure and bulkheads. … A union is getting a third shot to enlist workers at Austal USA’s Mobile River shipyard, and an election could come as soon as late July, according to a lawyer representing Local 441 of the Sheet Metal Workers International Association.

Marine science: The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System - Regional Association of College Station Texas will receive a Gulf Guardian Award for 2011 in the partnership category. The awards ceremony will be in conjunction with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance Meeting Aug. 3 in New Orleans.