Week in review (4/22 to 4/28)

Work on manned and unmanned helicopters will be bringing about $160 million worth of work to the Gulf Coast region from contracts awarded during the week. In one, Northrop Grumman will build the latest version of the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter in Moss Point, Miss., and in the other, Sikorsky will be doing maintenance work on helicopters in Pensacola and Milton.

That's part of some $440 million worth of contracts awarded this week that are of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region. The other big contract was for work on F-35s, some of which will eventually be based at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Here's the week in review, with links to posts and stories if you want more detailed information:

Unmanned systems
A $262.3 million contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman for work on eight Fire Scout unmanned helicopters. Nearly half the work will be done at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss.

The contract provides for the development, manufacture, and testing of two Fire Scout MQ-8C, the larger version of the Fire Scout that uses a Bell 407 airframe, and production of six others. Work is expected to be completed in May 2014. Moss Point is also the location where work is done on the smaller MQ-8B variant. (Post)

-- An SUV-sized white helium-filled blimp got attention in Panama City, Fla., during the week. The Aerostat, suspended 500 feet in the air, was tethered to a mobile base equipped with technology to operate unmanned vehicles from shore. The Aerostat acts as a satellite, relaying signals that would otherwise be out of range of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. (Post)

-- The Air Force isn't taking any drastic steps with the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 program, even though it's targeted for cancelation in the president's fiscal 2013 budget request. The Air Force's director for the Global Hawk program, said the service is not going to make any major changes until Congress acts.

The House Armed Services Committee mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013 includes $260 million towards keeping the Block 30s operational. It adds 560 personnel to the strength of the Air Force to maintain the 18 Block 30 UAVs. The president’s budget request provided no funds to operate the 18 drones. (Post)

The fate of Global Hawks is of interest to this region. The center fuselages are built in Moss Point, Miss.


Space
Blue Origin, one of four companies working on technologies for commercial space transportation, successfully tested the design for its orbital spaceship in a series of wind-tunnel tryouts. More than 180 tests were done over the past several weeks at Lockheed Martin's High Speed Wind Tunnel Facility in Dallas.

Blue Origin, of Kent, Washington, soon will be conducting tests of the thrust chamber assembly for the BE-3 rocket engine recently installed on the E 1 complex test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Space X all are working on space transportation systems.

Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket was supposed to launch on a demonstration mission Monday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., but the launch is being delayed to allow for additional testing. It will take cargo in the Dragon capsule to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. (Post)

Meanwhile, NASA on Thursday kicked off the next round of testing on the Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X rocket engine. The engine will power the second stage of its planned Space Launch System.

The test at the A-2 Stand at Stennis Space Center, Miss., was to gather data on the performance of the newly-installed engine nozzle extension and test stand "clamshell," as well as on the engine start and shutdown sequences. The nozzle extension and clamshell equipment allow operators to test the engine at simulated altitudes up to 50,000 feet. The engine will undergo 15 more tests this year. (Post)

Development of the Orion Crew Capsule that will sit atop the Space Launch System is also moving forward. The Orion Ground Test Vehicle is now at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Operations and Checkout Facility after traveling 1,800 miles from Lockheed Martin's Waterton Facility near Denver, Colo., where it completed a series of tests.

The ground test vehicle will be used for pathfinding operations at the O&C in preparation for the Orion spaceflight test vehicle's arrival this summer. The spaceflight vehicle is being fabricated at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La., and is slated for NASA's Exploration Flight Test in 2014. (Post)


Bases/airports
Under a draft version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, the Air Force would have to keep a key research, development, test and evaluation facility at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. According to the Northwest Florida Daily News, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., sponsored the language requiring the Air Force to retain the Air Armament Center at Eglin unless a future base closure action rules otherwise.

The Air Force is consolidating the Air Force Materiel Command's 12 centers into five, disestablishing the Air Armament Center and combining the 46th Test Wing and 96th Air Base Wing and having it report to the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Local officials fear reorganization is a precursor to moving the operations of the 46th Test Wing to Edwards. (Post)

-- Brig. Gen. David A. Harris, vice commander of the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be the commander of the 96th Test Wing, Air Force Materiel Command, at Eglin, the Air Force announced. Harris' assignment was one of 11 general officer assignments announced Friday by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. (Post)

-- The Department of Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal community is hosting the Annual EOD Memorial Ceremony on May 5 at 9 a.m. at the EOD Memorial in Niceville, Fla. This year's keynote speaker is Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. The EOD Memorial Foundation was established in 1969 to honor the men and women of the EOD community, and the ceremony adding names is held each year. (Post)

-- Clay Williams has been named the new executive director of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, replacing Bruce Frallic, who will retire in August after serving as executive director of the Mississippi airport for 26 years. The Sun Herald reported that Williams currently works as a government relations representative for Capitol Resources LLC, managing the firm's Gulf Coast office. (Post)


Airbus vs Boeing
Boeing has the upper hand against rival Airbus in the battle to win an aircraft order from United Continental Holdings. The potential value is $15 billion. Sources told Reuters that
Boeing is the front-runner for orders for about 180 narrow body jets, and Bloomberg was
told by sources that Airbus has dropped out of the contest. Airbus has an engineering center in Mobile, Ala. (Post)


F-35
Here's one of interest to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center.

Assembly workers at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, where the F-35s are built, went on strike during the week. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 776 rejected Lockheed Martin’s final contract offer and walked off their jobs. (Post)

Despite that, Lockheed Martin was awarded two contracts totaling $114.2 million for the F-35. It was awarded a $68.2 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production II contract for changes to the configuration baseline hardware or software resulting from the JSF development effort. The modification applies to the Air Force and Marine Corps version of the F-35.

The company also was awarded a $45.9 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production III contract for changes to the configuration baseline hardware or software resulting from the JSF development effort. This modification applies to the Marine Corps and United Kingdom aircraft. (Post)

Work on both contracts will be done in Fort Worth, Texas.


Contract
Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $63.3 million modification of a previously awarded contract for logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance on 179 T-34, 54 T-44, and 192 T-6 aircraft based primarily at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas; NAS Whiting Field, Fla.; and NAS Pensacola. Half the work will be in Corpus Christi, but 39 percent will be at Whiting Field, 8 percent in Pensacola and the rest in various sites within the continental United States. (Post)


Shipbuilding/maritime
LCS: A report from a watchdog group was highly critical of the Lockheed Martin version of the Littoral Combat Ship, and recommending dropping it in favor of the Austal USA variant built in Mobile, Ala. The Mobile Press Register had a story about it during the week. (Post)

Marine science: Mississippi State University's new Science and Technology Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss., is now home of the country's seventh National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Exploration Command Center. The center, using "telepresence technology," enables research scientists at sea and colleagues on shore to simultaneously view live video streams from underseas. (Post)

Week in review (4/15 to 4/21)

A decision on the number of engines that will power NASA's Space Launch System; more activity involving the F-35; two robotic systems with a Gulf Coast connection; a farewell to T-34 Turbo Mentors at Whiting Field; the retirement of a long-time airport chief; and a plane crash in the Gulf of Mexico were among the Gulf Coast aerospace stories during the week.

Here's the week in review, with links to posts and stories if you want detailed information.

Space
Engineers have settled on a four-engine cluster of RD-25D space shuttle engines to power the main stage of NASA's heavy-launch Space Launch System which is being developed for deep space exploration. They also considered a three and five-engine version.

Word of the decision came during the week from Boeing officials at the National Space Symposium in Colorado. After the RD-25D supply at Stennis Space Center, Miss., is used up, the throwaway RD-25E will be used. The RD-25 engines will be tested at Stennis, which tested all the main engines for the now-ended Space Shuttle program. Stennis, in south Mississippi close to the Mississippi-Louisiana state line, is also running tests on the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X that will be used in the second stage of the SLS.

The main stage of SLS will be assembled at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans using advanced friction-stir welders, and it probably will be built of aluminum lithium, officials say, though other alloys are possible. Michoud, by the way, also is building the Orion crew capsule that will sit atop the massive rocket. (Post)

NASA during the week successfully conducted a drop test of the Orion crew vehicle's entry, descent and landing parachutes in preparation for the vehicle's orbital flight test, Exploration Flight Test -1, in 2014. A C-130 dropped a dart-shaped test vehicle with a simulated Orion parachute compartment from an altitude of 25,000 feet above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona. (Post)

The schedule right now has the first unmanned SLS flight slated for 2017. The first flight carrying the Lockheed Martin-developed Orion is slated for 2021. But before those launches we'll see the launch of commercial rockets that are part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.

Orbital Science Corp. recently installed its medium-launch, two-stage Antares on the pad at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (Story) The first stage will be powered by Aerojet AJ-26 engines tested at SSC. Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is slated to launch its Dragon cargo carrier to the International Space Station on a Falcon 9 rocket at the end of this month. It will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. (Story)

One side note to show the growing interest in commercial ventures into space. United Launch Alliance has formed a new organization that will focus on NASA's human spaceflight programs. ULA's Human Launch Services will be dedicated to supporting NASA and its partners in the development of capabilities to deliver U.S. astronauts to low-Earth orbit and human exploration beyond Earth Orbit. (Story) UAL is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, and builds the Atlas and Delta rockets. Delta uses Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-68 engines assembled and tested at Stennis. ATK in Iuka, Miss., builds parts for the Delta rockets, and the manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are in Decatur, Ala.


F-35
There's always news about the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and this week was no exception. At Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center, the integrated joint strike fighter training team has opened the doors for the first Air Force certification courses.

The 33rd Fighter Wing has eight basic familiarization courses now in session at the academic training center with courses scheduled through early next year. About 100 maintenance students from three branches of service began the inaugural classes March 19. (Post)

One plane that will eventually make its way to Eglin is designated BK-1, a short take-off and vertical landing jet built for the United Kingdom. The UK's first production F-35 completed a 45-minute inaugural flight last week. BK-1 will now undergo a series of tests before being handed over to the UK, which will then begin training and further testing at Eglin later this year. (Post)

-- The Air Force is moving ahead on where it will base operational F-35 aircraft. The draft environmental impact statement was released during the week, and now hearings will get underway in the communities that will be impacted.

Hill Air Force Base, Utah, is the preferred alternative for the active duty F-35s, and Burlington Air Guard Station, Vt., is the preferred alternative for the Air National Guard. Other active duty and Air National Guard bases under consideration are Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, Jacksonville AGS, Fla.; and Shaw AFB/McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C. (Post)


Unmanned systems
If you follow aerospace activities in this region, you know Northrop Grumman builds portions of the Fire Scout and Global Hawk UAVs in Moss Point, Miss., and that military bases in the region are involved in using and training with UAVs. So this following item will be of interest.

With the Federal Aviation Administration now working on allowing unmanned aircraft to operate in the national airspace with piloted aircraft, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University -- which conducts classes in this region -- and other universities have created majors for students interested in flying or building drones, according to Bloomberg.

The classes cater to a new generation of pilots who have no interest in getting airborne themselves. And it makes perfectly good sense to put these programs in universities. The drone industry worldwide is expected to grow to $11.3 billion annually by 2021. (Post)

OK, the following isn't about unmanned aerial systems, but it is about robotics. Two new maritime robots were unveiled over the past few weeks, and both have ties to the Gulf Coast.

A quarter-scale model of General Dynamics' Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, called "Knifefish," was unveiled at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Md., during the week. It's a heavyweight-class minehunting, unmanned undersea vehicle designed for the Littoral Combat Ship mine countermeasure mission package. Panama City, Fla., was involved in developing the minehunter.

A couple of weeks ago, another robot marine vehicle, Textron's Common Unmanned Surface Vessel, was showed off in New Orleans. The 39-foot long unmanned system can navigate and patrols the high seas on its own and reach 28 knots. (Post)


History lessons
Some 35 years after the T-34 first arrived at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla., the Turbo Mentor had its last Whiting Field training flight during the week. The student pilot was 1st Lt. Sarah Horn, and her flight instructor Cmdr. John Hensel. Most of the remaining Whiting Field T-34s will be sent to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, where the Navy continues to train with that model. Whiting now uses the T-6B Texan II. (Post)

-- The Doolittle Raiders will hold their 71st reunion in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., next year, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. History buffs know the daring airmen trained at Eglin Field, which is now Eglin Air Force Base.

They launched 16 B-25 medium bombers from the deck of the USS Hornet in April 1942 to attack five cities in Japan. The attack, just four months after Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, boosted American morale and showed the Japanese populace their homeland was not invulnerable.

The 70th reunion was held during the week at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Four of the five surviving members of the bomber crews attended. (Post)


BRAC
In Florida during the week, an executive with the Okaloosa County Economic Development Council told the Crestview City Council that a trip to the nation's capital last month included more than 50 area leaders from five counties, according to the Crestview News Bulletin.

Kay Rasmussen, vice president of community and economic development, said the annual Northwest Florida Defense Coalition meeting included officials from Okaloosa, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Walton and Bay counties who met with government and military officials.

Topics discussed with the congressional delegation included the possibility of another Base Realignment and Closure round and the Air Force Material Command reorganization affecting the Eglin Air Force Base Air Armament Center. (Post)


Bases/airports
Longtime Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport Executive Director Bruce Frallic is retiring in August after 26 years. Frallic brgan his aviation career in 1967 in the Marine Corps. Of his 45 years in the aviation industry, 40 have been in commercial airport management. He also has worked at airports in Pensacola, Fla., and Hattiesburg, Miss. (Post)

-- The prostitution scandal in Colombia is now touching Northwest Florida. There are reports that the U.S. Southern Command is investigating the role of five soldiers from the 7th Special Forces Group, based at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Members of the Secret Service have been linked to the scandal. They are accused of bringing prostitutes to a hotel in Colombia ahead of last week's Summit of the Americas. (Post)


Crash
A twin-engine Cessna on a flight between Slidell, La., and Sarasota, Fla., crashed in the Gulf of Mexico during the week. The pilot was unresponsive for several hours and radar tracked the plane flying in loops over the Gulf of Mexico. Officials believe the pilot, the only person in the plane, was incapacitated. (Post)


Contracts
The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $9.4 million contract to procure focused lethality munitions Small Diameter Bomb I variant. The location of the performance is St. Louis, Mo. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.


Shipbuilding/maritime
Ship name: Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., wrote to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to request a Navy ship be named after Panama City. He points out that Panama City has a long history in mine warfare beginning in 1945, according to the Panama City News Herald. (Post)

DDG 1002: The next Zumwalt-class destroyer, DDG-1002, will be named the USS Lyndon B. Johnson, after the nation's 36th president. DDG-1002 is the third ship of the Zumwalt class being built by General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works in Maine. Ingalls Shipbuilding's Gulfport, Miss., operation supplies the composite deckhouse and other composite sections for the Zumwalt class. (Post)

Ship parts: Alcoa said it's delivered a set of two aluminum Amah tips to Austal USA for use on the future Littoral Combat Ship USS Jackson. The tip is the leading edge of the all-aluminum, trimaran-type vessel's outrigger, or amah. The LCS 6 is being built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)

Week in review (4/8 to 4/14)

Word that the Pentagon will increase the use of drones over the next decade; the suspension of Fire Scout flights; the first formation sortie for Eglin F-35s; the search for a new engine for upper stage of the Space Launch System; a new research center announcement at Stennis Space Center; a defense company's layoffs; a change of command; and an airport's search for a new airline highlighted aerospace activities of interest to the Gulf Coast region during the week.


Unmanned systems
The military will increase its fleet of unmanned aerial aircraft at least 45 percent over the next 10 years. That's according to the Pentagon's 30-year aviation report as reported by Bloomberg.

The inventory of pilotless aircraft will grow from 445 in fiscal year 2013 to 645 in fiscal year 2022, and the new drones will include Northrop Grumman Global Hawks, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., as well as General Atomics' Reapers and Predators.

The Defense Department plans to spend $770 billion on aviation assets from 2013 to 2022, a figure that includes fighters, helicopters, tankers and more. (Post)

Permit me an aside here since I just mentioned tankers. Aviation Week reported that Boeing's decision to close its Wichita plant by the end of next year is causing some concern in the military. The Air Force's KC-46A program executive officer said the Wichita plant was well-suited to militarize the 767, because of decades of experience. Now that work will be done at Boeing's facilities in Puget Sound and Everett, Wash., and the government wants more details about the shift. (Story) As you know, Boeing won the tanker contract over EADS, which planned to assemble and militarize the tankers in Mobile, Ala.

OK, back to unmanned systems.

-- The Navy suspended Fire Scout flight operations while it investigates two unrelated operational accidents with the MQ-8B unmanned helicopter, which are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., by Northrop Grumman.

A Fire Scout operating off the USS Simpson late last month was ditched at sea after a mission when it was unable to lock on to the landing system. The crew later recovered the drone. Two Fire Scouts are deployed on the Simpson and provide the ship's sole aviation capability. (Previous)

Then earlier this month, a Fire Scout crashed in northern Afghanistan while on a surveillance mission.

The Navy has 14 Fire Scouts in inventory. Since 2006 Fire Scouts have accumulated more than 5,000 flight hours with more than 3,000 in operational deployments, according to the military. (Post) A Fire Scout also was also lost during fighting in Libya last summer. (Previous)


F-35
Two F-35As from the 33rd Fighter Wing had their first formation flight over Eglin Air Force Base's range April 10. The pilots, both first in their service qualified to fly the F-35, were validating pilot syllabus objectives in preparation for future training. The 33rd FW is responsible for F-35 A/B/C pilot and maintainer training for the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and in the future, at least eight coalition partners. (Post)

Also during the week, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $258.8 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 low rate initial production Lot 5 contract, including one additional conventional take-off and landing aircraft for the Air Force and one more carrier variant aircraft for the Navy. (Post)


Space
NASA and the Air Force will study next-generation upper stage propulsion, formalizing their interest in a new upper stage engine to replace the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RL-10.

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., hopes to find a less expensive RL-10-class engine for a third stage of the Space Launch System, and the Air Force Space and Missile System Center's Launch Systems Directorate in Los Angeles hopes to replace the RL-10 engines used on the upper stage of the Atlas V and Delta IV.

Dale Thomas, Associated Director for Technical Issues at Marshall, said collaboration in a time of declining budgets helps strengthen the knowledge base and is important to keep the United States pre-eminent in space. (Post)

Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, is building portions of the Space Launch System, including the Orion crew vehicle, and Stennis Space Center, Miss., tests NASA and commercial rocket engine systems, including the J-2X and Space Shuttle Main Engine that will be used in the first two stages of the SLS.

-- Speaking of Stennis Space Center, it will be the home of the National Oceans and Applications Research Center, according to Gov. Phil Bryant. He said so during the ribbon-cutting for the Infinity Science Center.

NOARC will combine the capabilities of NASA, NOAA and the Navy to analyze and understand the Gulf of Mexico watershed and other oceans NOAA monitors. Bryant said the center will be the "Woods Hole of the South," a reference to the world-renown center in Massachusetts. (Post)

The $30 million, 72,000-square-foot Infinity Science Center, by the way, is just west of the Mississippi Welcome Center, off Interstate 10 at Exit 2, and officials expect it to be a major tourist attraction.

The center showcases the activities of NASA and the 30 agencies at NASA's nearby Stennis Space Center. Exhibits include the Science Express, Science on a Sphere and the Space Gallery. The outdoor exhibits include an F-1 rocket engine, like the ones that powered Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo program.


Bases
The heavy emphasis on cyberwarfare and other high-tech subjects taught at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., should ensure the installation plays a key role for the U.S. military into the future, a top Air Force intelligence official said in an interview with the Sun Herald.

The Air Force established undergraduate cyberspace training at Keesler in 2010. Maj. Gen. James Poss, assistant deputy chief of staff for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, said the Gulf Coast is turning into the "Cyber Coast." He pointed out that the Navy is involved in cyberwarefare training in Pensacola, Fla., two hours away. There's also cyber training at Hurlburt Field, Fla. (Post)

-- Four members of the 96th Explosive Ordnance will get five medals in a ceremony next week at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Tech Sgt. James Fitzgerald and Staff Sgt. Kelly Badger will be awarded Bronze Stars. Staff Sgts. Kevin Parke and Christopher Lacy will be awarded the Purple Heart. Parke was injured in two separate incidents in Afghanistan and will receive two Purple Hearts.

-- At Mississippi’s Camp Shelby, Col. William B. Smith Jr., has taken over as commander of the Joint Forces Training Center from Col. Robert S. Parham, who is retiring after 26 years of service. Parham had been commander nearly three years. Smith is a native of Greenville, Miss. Camp Shelby is a huge training center and has deployed thousands of troops. (Story, Hattiesburg American, WDAM)


Cuts
Defense contractor DRS Technologies laid 150 workers during the week as a result of the defense spending downturn, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. The senior vice president of public affairs said the cut was across the board in every department, including hourly employees and managers.

The company still employs about 450 people in its operation at the Fort Walton Beach Commerce and Technology Park. DRS, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., is a supplier of integrated products, services and support to military forces. (Post)


Airports
Mississippi's Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport is expected to make a decision within a month on a replacement carrier to take over for Delta Air Lines, according to the Hattiesburg American. Bids were submitted by Silver Airways and Air Choice One Airlines. Delta notified the Department of Transportation in July that it intended to drop 24 routes in smaller markets across the nation, including Hattiesburg. (Post)

-- Northwest Florida Regional Airport at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is closer to standing up the new in-house police force. Interviews were recently completed with 12 candidates. Eight will be hired, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. Airport and county officials hope to make offers in the next two to three weeks. (Post)


Contracts
The Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $98.8 million contract to procure enhanced threat response redesign for the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The work will be done in St. Louis, Mo., and to be completed by March 30, 2014. AAC/EBDK/EDBJ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … EADS North America, Herndon, Va., was awarded a $12.8 million contract to provide contractor logistic support services. Work will be done in Columbus, Miss., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2012. … Roy Anderson Group, Gulfport, Miss., was awarded a $25.9 million contract for construction of a terminal high altitude area defense instructional facility at Fort Sill, Okla. Work will be done in Lawton, Okla., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 1, 2014. … L&M Welding, Mobile, Ala., was issued a fixed-price with economic price adjustment contract with a maximum $8.5 million for torch repair kits. Using services are Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps. The date of performance completion is April 8, 2014.


Shipbuilding/maritime
Avondale: Huntington Ingalls Industries is sticking to plans to close its Avondale shipyard near New Orleans, the company's chief executive officer said in an interview in Bloomberg. Shipbuilding will end at Avondale by mid- to late-2013, after it delivers its last amphibious ship. The company is consolidating its Gulf Coast work at the company's shipyards in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss. (Post)

Sub: The nuclear-powered attack submarine, Mississippi (SSN-782), returned to the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., after its first voyage in open seas. Mississippi conducted high-speed runs on and under the surface. Mississippi, ninth ship of the Virginia Class, will be commissioned June 2 in Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)

Tug: Horizon Shipbuilding of Bayou La Batre, Ala., has delivered an inland river tugboat to the Army Corps of Engineers. The 58-foot M/V General Irwin will be used in operations and maintenance work. (Post)

Week in review (4/1 to 4/7)

A commercial spaceport somewhere in the state of Alabama? That state is a big player in the space industry, thanks to Huntsville, home of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army's missile activities.

According to reports during the week, Alabama lawmakers are looking at creating a spaceport authority to look at the possibility of seeking FAA approval to set up a spaceport. Nobody has said where it might go, but there are some strict requirements.

The launch site has to have access to useful orbits, and public safety is a big consideration. That means the spaceport would have to be far from major cities in case of a catastrophic failure. Most launch sites are built close to bodies of water to ensure that should a failure occur, no components fall over populated areas.

The Federal Aviation Administration so far has licensed eight non-federal launch sites in California, Florida, Virginia, Alaska, New Mexico and Oklahoma. California Spaceport received the first FAA approval in 1996, and the first one licensed that's not co-located with a government launch site is the Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska.

This isn't the first time Alabama has thought about this. There was "Spaceport Alabama" with a program office at Jacksonville State University. But according to the FAA, no legislative activity took place and the Alabama Commission on Aerospace appears inactive. In fact, the FAA lists eight proposed spaceports that have made little or no progress.

Spaceports are designed to launch orbital or suborbital vehicles into space, and often provide the ability to integrate launch vehicle components and payloads, according to the FAA. Launches are vertical, but Cecil Field Spaceport near Jacksonville, Fla.,, Mojave Air and Space Port in California and Oklahoma Spaceport and Spaceport America also have runways.

It makes sense for Alabama to pursue this, even thought it could be years away. Commercial space flights are a reality, and the field will grow. For Alabama, the coast certainly represents one option. There have been rocket launches from Eglin Air Force Base. Cape San Blas in Northwest Florida's Gulf County was mentioned back in the late '80s as a possible site for a Florida spaceport. According to the fiscal year 2011 base structure report, the Air Force’s Cape San Blas Missile Tracking Annex D-3 is some 679 acres.

This may be an opportunity for the states with a piece of the Gulf Coast Interstate 10 region to look at working together to see if they can come up with a site that they could all back. We have portions of the new Space Launch System being built at Michoud Assembly in New Orleans, rocket engine testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss., the tracking of space objects at Eglin Air Force Base. Maybe it's time for a launch pad.

-- While on the subject of space, there were some important NASA appointments formally announced during the past week. Arthur E. "Gene" Goldman is now the acting director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. He had been serving as deputy director, and before that he was director of Stennis Space Center, Miss.

In addition, Robert Champion was appointed deputy director of Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where he was acting deputy director and chief operations officer from 2010 until this latest appointment. Prior to that announcement, NASA said that Chris M. Crumbly was appointed director of Michoud, where he had been deputy director from March 2011. (Post)


Unmanned systems
Navy Fire Scout unmanned helicopters will be getting smarter when it comes to tracking down modern-day pirates. That's because of an Office of Naval Research-funded project that will help the robots helicopters autonomously distinguish pirate boats from other vessels.

The Navy plans to upgrade Fire Scouts with the Multi-Mode Sensor Seeker, a mix of cameras, infrared sensors and LIDAR that will provide 3-D laser images. The MMSS is designed to reduce the workload of sailors operating Fire Scouts from control stations aboard Navy ships. Testing begins this summer off the coast of California.

Fire Scouts are built in Moss Point, Miss., by Northrop Grumman, and they'll eventually be used on board the Navy's Littoral Combat Ships, a version of which is being built in Mobile, Ala., by Austal USA. (Post)

-- Northrop Grumman's Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss., is among eight sites in the company’s Aerospace Systems sector to earn International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 registration. It also received the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001 certification for managing employees' health and safety in the workplace. (Post)


F-35
A Navy squadron disestablished in 2005 is being re-established. Strike Fighter Squadron 101 (VFA-101) will have a stand-up ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., next month. The original Fighter Squadron 101 was established in 1952 and flew various aircraft, including the F-4 Phantom and F-14 Tomcat.

VFA-101, which will serve as the Fleet Replacement Squadron, will training pilots and maintainers for the fleet. It's part of the 33rd Fighter Wing, a joint-service wing responsible for F-35 A/B/C pilot and maintenance training. Eglin will eventually have 59 of the F-35s and three flying squadrons, one for each service's aircraft variant. The F-35 Academic Training Center serves as the schoolhouse, where the wing will train more than 2,000 maintenance students and 100 pilots each year. (Post)

-- The first F-35 for The Netherlands rolled out of the F-35 production facility earlier this month in Fort Worth, Texas. It will eventual be assignment to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center. The Netherlands will use the conventional takeoff and landing jet, known as AN-1, for training and operational tests for pilots and maintainers. AN-1 will undergo functional fuel system checks before being transported to the flight line for ground and flight tests in the coming weeks. (Post)

-- Northrop Grumman's first F-35 center fuselage produced by its auto-industry inspired Integrated Assembly Line in Palmdale, Calif., was delivered to Lockheed Martin last month. The company has delivered 69 center fuselages since 2005, but this is the first from the IAL.

The IAL was developed and designed with the help of the Detroit-based KUKA Robotics Aerospace Division, a commercial automation integrator. Northrop Grumman is a member of the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 industry team. (Post)


EADS
EADS North America unveiled its Armed Aerial Scout 72X+ (AAS-72X+) at the annual Army Aviation Association of America convention in Nashville, Tenn. The armed derivative of the Army’s UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter will be built by the company's American Eurocopter business unit in Columbus, Miss. EADS is one of several competitors for the program to replace the OH-58 Kiowa Warriors. (Post)


Lawsuit
Continental Motors has been accused of making a defective engine that caused a 2010 plane crash that killed a jogger on the beach in Hilton Head, S.C. Attorneys for the Mobile, Ala.-based manufacturer, know as Teledyne Continental Motors before its sale to China’s AVIC last year, say the engine had nothing to do with the accident, according to the Mobile Press-Register. (Post)


BRAC
The BRAC process would look like the 2005 round under the legislative proposal the Defense Department sent to Congress for base closure rounds in 2013 and 2015. The process for appointing commissioners, milestones and reports DOD must meet and more are essentially unchanged from the last round, based on a preliminary analysis of DoD’s 36-page proposal. Lawmakers have made it clear that they have no appetite to authorize a BRAC round in 2013, according to Defense Communities 360. (Post)


Airport
Okaloosa County airport officials hope to secure $12 million in federal stimulus money to build a road that would connect Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview, Fla., to U.S. Highway 90. The money is part of $500 million that will be made available through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery program, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. (Post)


Contracts
ALFAB Inc., Enterprise, Ala., was awarded a not-to-exceed $150 million contract for the procurement of AM-2 matting packages: F-71, F-72, F-73, and F-78 for the expeditionary airfield. AM-2 matting is designed to interlock in a brickwork type pattern and provides for the construction of portable runways and taxiways for aircraft launch and recovery. Work will be performed in Enterprise, Ala., and is expected to be completed in April 2017. … Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Aerospace Systems, Melbourne, Fla., was awarded a $27 million modification to previously awarded contract for the procurement of the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System low rate initial production. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity.


Shipbuilding/maritime
Materials: An Office of Naval Research-funded project is producing a full-size ship hull section made with marine grade titanium using a welding innovation that could help bring titanium into future ship construction. Researchers at the University of New Orleans School of Naval Architecture and Textron Marine and Land Systems are demonstrating the project, and expect to have a complete hull this summer. The work is being done at the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing in New Orleans, which is a partnership between UNO, NASA and Louisiana. (Post)

Contract: Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded a $50 million modification to previously awarded contract for procurement of additional long lead time material in support of the LHA replacement, Flight 0, amphibious assault ship, LHA 7. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Miss., and is expected to complete by May 2013.

Week in review (3/25 to 3/31)

United Technologies' proposed purchase of Goodrich is causing some concerns in Europe. The European Commission fears that the combined company could be too dominant in engine controls and power generators.

UT unveiled the $16.5 billion takeover in September last year, which would reinforce its presence in the civilian aerospace market. Goodrich parts are used on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus' A320neo. The closer look by the EU could last until August.

Hartford, Conn.-based UT's aviation activities include Sikorsky and Pratt and Whitney, and it makes an array of products, including rocket engines, helicopters and elevators. Charlotte, N.C.-based Goodrich makes aircraft equipment including landing gears and electrical power systems.

UT's Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, which the company has said it wants to sell, has an operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Goodrich has a service center in Foley, Ala. (Post)


Space
Speaking of Rocketdyne, the five F-1 engines that powered the first stage of the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 11 for its rendezvous with the moon have been found in the Atlantic Ocean.

Bezos Expeditions, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, believes it located the engines that dropped into the Atlantic after boosting the rocket. Bezos said he hopes to raise one or more of the engines, which are owned by NASA, to put on display.

The five engines, built in California, were assembled into the first stage at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The engines were tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

The five-engine F-1 cluster was test-fired for the first time at SSC in March 1967. With 7.5 million pounds of thrust, it shattered windows in nearby communities despite SSC's huge buffer zone. (Post)

The aforementioned Bezos is also the founder of Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., which in April will test its BE-3 engine thrust chamber assembly at Stennis Space Center’s E-1 test stand. Blue Origin is one of the companies that plans to do some of the low-Earth orbit work formally done by NASA.

OK, talking about rocket engines is a good way to get into this next topic: space debris.

Let’s face it, we're good at littering. If you think it's not a problem given the vast reaches of space, well, that's true if you're in the vast reaches of space. But we're working much closer to Earth -- think of it as being near the shoreline. And in that realm there's a lot of stuff orbiting this planet. It includes stuff we're currently using as well stuff that's no longer serving a purpose.

According to NASA, there's 21,000 orbital debris larger than 10 cm, or 3.9 inches. Another 500,000 particles are between 1 and 10 cm and more than 100 million particles are smaller than 1 cm. Still, they are traveling so fast they can cause damage.

NASA points out that the higher the altitude, the longer the orbital debris will typically remain in Earth orbit. Debris left in orbits below 600 km normally fall back to Earth within several years. At altitudes of 800 km, the time for orbital decay is measured in decades. Above 1,000 km, orbital debris will normally continue circling the Earth for a century or more.

The concern here is for what's called the "Kessler Syndrome." The more debris, the better the chances for collisions, and the more collisions, the more debris.

The U.S. Air Force tracks space debris swirling around the planet. Here on the Gulf Coast the 20th Space Control Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., uses the world's most powerful radar to track all that movement.

But according to Aviation Week, some of the world's biggest commercial satellite operators are sharing data to help prevent collisions. They've formed the Space Data Association to create computer tools that help space situational awareness. (Post)

I don't know whether another organization to track space debris is needed or not. But I can tell you that the Space Data Association has a pretty nifty video that shows the growth of space debris since 1957. Click here to take a look.


Aircraft
While we're talking about high flying things, much closer to the Earth Eglin Air Force Base's two F-35 pilots have slowly increased the number of sorties, called local area orientation flights, around the base in Northwest Florida since flight operations began March 6, according to Flightglobal.

The two pilots are flying the local sorties to gauge the readiness of the 33rd Fighter Wing's new F-35A, a conventional take-off and landing variant. Eglin will train pilots and maintainers from all branches of the services that will use the F-35, as well as pilots and maintainers from foreign purchasers. (Post)

The government projects that the total cost to develop, buy and operate the F-35 will be $1.45 trillion over 50-plus years, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Reuters. The estimate is up from about $1 trillion a year ago, and includes inflation, a third of the projected F-35 operating costs.

Military officials and industry executives point out that no other weapons program's costs have been calculated over such a long period. (Post)

If you follow the industry, you know the F-35 isn't the only aircraft that's been under scrutiny. The F-22 Raptor is still causing some pretty smart people to scratch their heads. The Air Force Scientific Advisory Board can't explain what caused blackouts and dizziness among pilots flying F-22s.

A separate investigation of the oxygen problem by Lockheed Martin is continuing. The F-22 is considered safe and continues to fly, with pilots using sensors, filters and other safety steps to mitigate potential problems.

In this region, Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., is the home of the 325th Fighter Wing, whose primary mission is to provide air training for F-22 pilots, as well as maintenance personnel and air battle managers. (Post)


Advanced materials
A self-repairing plastic that turns red to show it's damaged could be important for the aerospace industry, as well as for other large structures. Self-healing plastic isn't a new concept, but researchers at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Miss., developed one that keeps repairing itself.

Professor Marek Urban presented the results of the research at the national meeting and exposition of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, Calif., during the past week. The research is partly funded by the Department of Defense. (Post)


Remote sensing
The Naval Oceanographic Office, based at Stennis Space Center, Miss., has been using airborne laser and imagery systems since early February for hydrographic surveys in the coastal waters of Belize. It's part of a long-term project to survey the western Caribbean Sea off the coasts of Belize, Honduras and Nicaragua.

The surveys are designed to improve safety of navigation by mapping the seafloor and locating shallow reefs and other obstructions in the approaches to Belize's major ports. The airborne laser system, called Compact Hydrographic Airborne Rapid Total Survey (CHARTS), uses light to map the bottom.

The CHARTS program is run by the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise at Stennis International Airport in Kiln, Miss., right outside Stennis Space Center. (Post)


Companies
NVision, a Mississippi company that partnered with Stennis Space Center to create a disaster information system, is one of seven companies that were highlighted in the 2012 NASA Technology Day on Capitol Hill during the week.

NVision, at the Stennis Technology Park adjacent to SSC, teamed with NASA to create the Real-time Emergency Action Coordination Tool, which incorporates maps, reports, Internet-driven data and real-time sensor date into a geographical information system-based display to provide information during emergency and disaster situations. (Post)

-- Aircraft company LSI’s Pensacola, Fla., branch operation had a ribbon-cutting during the week for its newest expansion, according to the Pensacola News Journal. The company retrofits helicopters for the military to use as training platforms. LSI operates out of a 20,000 square foot building and is expanding into a recently completed 12,000 square foot adjacent building. The company has said it expects to add 20 workers over the next year to the 40 now working there. LSI is based in Jacksonville, Fla.


Airports/bases
Airports in Northwest Florida had a higher passenger count in February after two months of decline. That's according to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport Executive Director John Wheat. Pensacola International Airport has the largest market share at 40.7 percent, followed by Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport at West Bay with 20.8 percent, Tallahassee Regional Airport at 20.2 percent and Northwest Florida Regional Airport at Eglin Air Force Base with 18.3 percent, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.

-- Bruce Simpson, executive director of the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is retiring April 3 after a 31-year tenure, according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. As head of AAC, Simpson was the center acquisition chief in charge of buying and developing weapons systems and the top-ranking civilian on base. His retirement comes on the eve of a planned reorganization. The Air Force plans to merge the Air Armament Center and two other centers into the new Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. (Post)


Contracts
Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $497 million contract to procure missiles, instrumentation units, test equipment, guidance sections, hardware, and contractor logistics support. AAC/EBAC, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.


Shipbuilding/maritime
Sequestration: The Pentagon would expect hundreds of thousands of layoffs across the defense industry if lawmakers don't act to avert an additional $500 billion in defense budget cuts that could take effect in January 2013. The cuts would force the Pentagon to break many contracts, including the Navy's contracts with Lockheed Martin and Austal USA for littoral combat ships. (Post)

HII: Huntington Ingalls Industries during the week marked its first year of operations after its spinoff from Northrop Grumman. Huntington Ingalls has two sectors: a Newport News facility in Virginia and Ingalls Shipbuilding on the Gulf Coast, which oversees the Pascagoula, Miss., yard, a composite yard in Gulfport, Miss., and an Avondale, La., yard that will close next year. (Post)

Contracts: General Dynamics Information Technology, Herndon, Va., was awarded a $27 million contract for information technology engineering and mission sustainment services in support of the commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Stennis Space Center, Miss. Sixty percent of the work will be done at SSC. ... Ingalls Shipbuilding division was awarded a $76 million contract from the U.S. Coast Guard to purchase long-lead materials for a sixth National Security Cutter. Construction and delivery of the yet-to-be-named WMSL 755 will be performed at the company's Pascagoula facility.

Week in review (3/18 to 3/24)

A gentleman from Rolls Royce made an interesting comment earlier this month when discussing that company's engine-testing activities at Stennis Space Center, Miss. According to the Sun Herald, he said it's easier to get people from outside this country to come to Mississippi than to get people from the United States to move there.

I mentioned that comment to a university official when I was talking to him about space activities in the region, and he agreed that it's still a problem getting people to understand some of the cutting-edge work done in Mississippi. I told him that a high-ranking NASA official once told me that it's only after people come down for a visit that they understand "we're not just dirt roads."

Getting outsiders to understand is one thing. But I'll take it a step further. I'm not sure people in this region understand what's here. The aerospace industry and its footprint in this region is a perfect example. During the Aerospace Alliance Summit in Sandestin, Fla., last year, I was sitting at a table with a gentleman from a major defense company who works at Stennis Space Center. He said he didn't know that Global Hawk and Fire Scout UAVs are built to the east of SSC in Moss Point, Miss.

In an age where we're inundated with information -- often trivial things that occupy our time rather than engage our minds -- it's getting increasingly difficult to be heard above the noise. Old stereotypes and bad publicity in recent years from Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill, leave a lasting impression that's hard to overcome.

That's the real purpose of this column, to show we're far more than what people picture.

Now for the week in review:

BRAC
Lawmakers are taking issue with the Pentagon over the request for two new BRAC rounds. One reason is the cost at a time of belt tightening. Savings won't come for years.

Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., the chair and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services' Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, denounced the Pentagon's request for a base closure round in 2013. McCaskill said she's willing to allow the closure of bases overseas, but not domestic bases at this point.

For its part, the Pentagon has said the request for two new rounds of BRAC should be compared to the cost effectiveness of the first four BRAC rounds, not those done in 2005 to transform installations to match force structure. The issue is of high interest to the Interstate 10 region, where the military is a major pillar of this region’s economy. (Post)


Space
NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi hopes to get a company interested in the E-4 Test Facility. Stennis Engineering and Test Directorate Associate Director John Stealey said the under-utilized test stand is a "great opportunity" for a company interested in a partnership with NASA.

The federal agency first indicated in November that it was interested in marketing the facility, which includes a high-bay work area, control room space, personnel offices and concrete test cells. It also has road and barge canal access and utilities, and can be expanded for future needs. (Post)

-- Testing of a vital component for the brand new A-3 test stand at Stennis Space Center, Miss., uncovered a flaw in the chemical steam generator (CSG). During tests at the E-2 facility, technicians found the two-inch angle-globe valves supplied with the unit were unable to stand up to operating conditions. The procurement office is issuing a request for proposal from small businesses for 27 liquid oxygen (LOX) valves, 27 isopropyl alcohol (IPA) valves and related items.

The new A-3 test stand will use nine three-module CSG units to generate superheated steam needed to create a vacuum that allows operators to test next-generation rocket engines at simulated high altitudes up to 100,000 feet. (Post)

-- A Web tool that tracks threats to the nation's forests has been released by the Forest Service. Called ForWarn, it's a satellite-based monitoring and assessment tool that can detect threats from fire, disease or other causes before the threat increases in severity or extent.

It provides information on weekly changes in forest canopy conditions as they are impacted by insects, diseases, wildfires or extreme weather events. NASA's Stennis Space Center worked with the Forest Service to develop the system that covers 747 million acres of forest in the United States. (Post)

-- The first Space Based Infrared System geosynchronous earth orbit satellite is exceeding performance requirements in a series of tests. SBIRS GEO 1 was launched by an Atlas V in May 2011 from Florida. Within two months it began sharing initial data with mission partners to determine performance.

Sensors are detecting targets 25 percent dimmer than requirements, and payload pointing is nine times more precise than required. SBIRS provides early missile warning capability and improves other critical mission areas.SBIRS is an A2100 satellite-based spacecraft, and work on the A2100 core's propulsion system, which positions the spacecraft in orbit, is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)


New project
Brazil's Embraer is establishing an aviation research, development and design center in Melbourne, Fla., that will employ 200 engineers and skilled workers and will initially focus on business jet interior design work.

The 67,000-square-foot Embraer Engineering and Technology Center will be adjacent to Embraer's new 80,000-square-foot business jet final assembly plant at Melbourne International Airport. The first assembly plant outside Brazil last year began assembling Phenom 100 and 300 business jets.

For the design center, Space Florida, a state-backed economic development agency, will build and own the facility and finance $18.2 million for the project. Another $6 million will come from the Florida Innovation Fund. (Stories: Reuters, Flightglobal)

It's still unclear at this point if Embraer, the world's third largest producer of commercial aircraft, will be building Super Tucano A-29 light support aircraft in Jacksonville. The Air Force canceled a $355 million contract to Sierra Nevade Corp. and Embraer after Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft protested the December award. Hawker’s AT-6 was kept out of the competition. (Post)

By the way, if you're interested in "connections," the AT-6 I just mentioned became the first fixed-wing aircraft to launch a laser-guided rocket during a test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The rockets were BAE System's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System and Raytheon's TALON. (Post)


Airports/bases
US Airways decided to add a second Northwest Florida Regional Airport to Ronald Regan Washington National Airport service even before the first one got under way. The first flight, a late afternoon flight, begins Sunday on a 50-seat regional jet. But beginning July 11 a morning flight will be added. The airport is at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Post)

-- The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is back in Pensacola after 12 weeks of training in El Centro, Calif. The team's practice sessions are open to the public. Regular practice takes place most Tuesdays and Wednesday through November. (Post)


Robotics
In Florida, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division scientists and engineers have designed unmanned system controllers for a younger generation of sailor raised on video-game controllers. The proof-of-concept uses an Xbox Kinect to deliver gesture-based robotic controls.

Gesture-based robot control and similar approaches that utilize "human-centric" interaction with unmanned-systems opens a door to the future of effective human-robot teams in which communication is natural. Speech, gestures, and facial expressions, are intuitive and can reduce training requirements. (Post)

-- At the Army's Aberdeen Test Center, the Naval Research Laboratory successfully demonstrated the robotic fluids transfer from a stationary platform to an unmanned surface vehicle in wave heights greater than three feet.

The Rapid Autonomous Fuel Transfer project was able to track the motion of a Sea Fox naval vessel, emplace a magnetic refueling fitting to an on-board receptacle and complete fluids transfer. Further robotic transfer tests may include land-based autonomous vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicle. (Post)

A robotic refueling system has also been tested by researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Airbase Technologies Division, Robotics Research Team at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The idea is to come up with an alternative to manual refueling, reducing the number of people needed near each aircraft during 'hot-pit refueling' when one of more of the engines are running.

-- NASA and General Motors are jointly developing a robotic glove that astronauts and autoworkers can wear to help do their jobs better while potentially reducing the risk of repetitive stress injuries. The Human Grasp Assist device, called the K-glove or Robo-Glove, resulted from NASA and GM's Robonaut 2 project, which launched the first humanoid robot into space in 2011.

R2 is a permanent resident of the International Space Station, and one of the Robonaut's requirements was an ability to operate tools designed for human. The glove uses a combination of sensors and actuators to achieve dexterity. Continuous gripping of a tool can cause fatigue, but a grip can be held longer with Robo-Glove. (Story)

Speaking of R2, the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Fla., has been involved in coming up with a locomotion system for Robonaut 2. You can read a background story that appeared in an April 2011 science and technology newsletter by clicking here.


Shipbuilding/maritime
The future USS Zumwalt completed a major developmental test during the week when it demonstrated the integration of the engineering control system software and the ship's integrated power system. The test, which marks the successful completion of the second of two developmental tests, verified the software and hardware compatibility and interoperability between the ECS hardware and the IPS.

Bath Iron Works in Maine is building the Zumwalt, but the Ingalls composite center of excellence in Gulfport, Miss., builds composite deckhouse and hangars for the ship and the Pascagoula yard builds steel units that support the composite deliveries and the aft peripheral vertical launch system ship sections. (Post)

-- Shipbuilder Austal USA of Mobile, Ala., earned the Award for Excellence in Safety from the Shipbuilders Council of America, a national trade association of the shipbuilding industry. Austal builds littoral combat ships and joint high-speed vessels for the U.S. military. (Post)

Week in review (3/11 to 3/17)

A merger and sale that will impact some big players in this region, the successful flight of an Eglin F-35, the re-establishment of a council in Mississippi to protect that state's bases, and multiple contract awards were some of the Gulf Coast-related aerospace news items that moved during the past week.

Here’s the week in review:

Merger and sale
It's official now. United Technologies of Hartford, Conn., said during the week that engine maker Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne is for sale. The parent company is selling Pratt and Whitney to help finance its $16.5 billion purchase of aerospace supplier Goodrich Corp. (Post)

During the week Goodrich Corp. shareholders approved the proposed merger. More than 98 percent of votes were cast in favor of the transaction. Once the merger is complete, Goodrich will become a wholly owned subsidiary of United Technologies. (Post)

Goodrich operates the Alabama Service Center in Foley, Ala., and with the merger that operation will become part of an international conglomerate that includes helicopter-make Sikorsky.

As for Rocketdyne, being sold is nothing new. As the Los Angeles Times reported, Rocketdyne was formed after World War II by North American Aviation, which later merged with Rockwell International. That company became part of Boeing, which in 2005 sold it to United Technologies.

Rocketdyne, headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif., has operations in Florida, Alabama, and at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. At SSC the company is best known for testing the RS-25 engines that powered the now-canceled Space Shuttle. Those engines will be used for NASA's Space Launch System. Rocketdyne at SSC also assembles and tests the J-2X, which also will be used in the SLS.

Jim Maser, president of Rocketdyne, said he doesn't see the sale making a major impact on the company's business strategy.


Space
Speaking of Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne, the company completed mission-duration hot-fire tests on a launch abort engine earlier this month in Canoga Park, Calif. The engine is for Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft. Boeing's Crew Space Transportation system is a reusable, capsule-shaped spacecraft designed to take up to seven people or cargo to low Earth orbit. (Post)

The abort propulsion system is designed to push the crew capsule to safety if an abort becomes necessary during launch or ascent. The CST-100 is compatible with the Atlas V, Delta IV and Falcon 9 launch vehicles. The RS-68 engine, a Rocketdyne product, is assembled and tested at SSC for United Launch Alliance's Delta IV.

- While we're on the subject of propulsion systems, a sub-scale solid rocket motor designed to mimic NASA's Space Launch System booster design was successfully tested during the week at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. (Post)

The 20-second firing tested new insulation materials on the 24-inch-diameter, 109-inch-long motor. The motor is a scaled down, low-cost replica of the solid rocket motors that will boost SLS off the launch pad.

ATK of Brigham City, Utah, is the prime contractor for the booster. Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans builds the Orion crew capsule for the SLS and SSC in Mississippi will test the RS-25 and J-2X engines for the SLS.


F-35
The first Eglin F-35 flight was cut short by a fuel leak, but the stealthy fighter had a successful second flight during the past week. U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Joseph Bachmann flew the 93-minute local orientation flight in aircraft AF-13. The F-35 Integrated Training Center at Eglin is scheduled to train about 100 F-35 pilots and 2,200 maintainers annually. (Post)

While on the subject of the F-35, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded two contracts during the week in connection with the F-35 program.

One was a $56.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide more funding for the sustainment effort necessary to meet the requirements and delivery schedule for the F-35 Low Rate Initial Production V. Sixty percent of the work will be done at Eglin.

Lockheed Martin also was awarded a $38.6 million modification to the previously awarded low rate initial production Lot 6 advance acquisition contract to provide more funding for the procurement of long lead items for F-35 low rate initial production conventional take-off and landing aircraft for the Air Force and the governments of Italy and Australia.


Drawdown
The Mississippi Military Communities Council has been re-established by Gov. Phil Bryant. The commission will advise Bryant and staff on legislative issues that could impact Mississippi's bases as well as "promote Mississippi's military missions at the national level" and develop growth opportunities. (Post)

Two new Base Realignment and Closure rounds are expected in the coming years. South Mississippi has military aviation activities at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Gulfport International Airport and Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg. South Mississippi is also home to a Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport and has a large Navy presence at NASA's Stennis Space Center.


Bases/airports
Direct Air, which said last month that it will provide three non-stop flights a week beginning June 15 between Gulfport, Miss., and Lakeland, Fla., suspended operations for two months. The Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based air carrier is working through contract issues with a fuel provider, officials said. (Post)

- About 90 percent of workers at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., will stay home later this week as the base enacts tight security measures as part of a preparedness exercise. Access to most base facilities will be unavailable from noon Thursday until noon Saturday. Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla., will also be participating. (Post)

- The Air Force's 23rd Flying Training Squadron at Fort Rucker, Ala., named its new consolidated operations center after Maj. Randell Voas, a CV-22 Osprey pilot. He died April 9, 2010, near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in a crash during a combat operation. Voas, stationed at Hurlburt Field, Fla., at the time of the crash, had been a pilot instructor for the 23rd at Fort Rucker. (Post)


Unmanned systems
The Naval Research Laboratory, which has a major operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss., held a ribbon cutting for its Laboratory for Autonomous Systems Research in Washington, D.C., during the week. The lab will focus on autonomous systems research for the Navy and Marine Corps. (Post)

The one-of-a-kind lab has specialized facilities to support research in intelligent autonomy, sensor systems, power and energy systems, human-system interaction, networking and communications and platforms. It has multiple bays providing environments from desert to littoral and more.

The Gulf Coast region is highly interested in unmanned systems. Fire Scout and Global Hawk unmanned aerial systems are built in Moss Point, Miss., by Northrop Grumman. There are also multiple UAV-related activities here. In addition, a lab in Pensacola, Fla., does research on artificial intelligence and human-machine interaction.


Contracts
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. was awarded its first option year by NASA for its Manufacturing Support and Facility Operations Contract at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The option year has a potential value of $137 million. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $21.2 million modification to a previously awarded contract for logistics services support of 119 TH-57B/TH-57C aircraft. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $7 million contract for 18 range safety systems with jammer compatibility for Low Rate Initial Production 3, Reliability Assessment Program and initial operational flight tests. AAC/EBJM, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.


Shipbuilding/maritime
Contracts for four more Littoral Combat Ships were awarded by the Navy Friday. Lockheed Martin received $715 million for two ships and Austal USA, of Mobile, Ala., received $691.6 million for two ships. (Post) Austal also was awarded a $19.7 million contract modification exercising options for special studies, analyses, review and class service efforts for the LCS program. Seventy-two percent of the work will be performed in Mobile. (Post)

- Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors, Moorestown, N.J., won a $20 million contract modification exercising an option for integration, installation, and testing of the Aegis combat system on DDG 51-class ships. Twenty-two percent of the work will be performed in Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)

- ITT Exelis has completed its first overhaul of a mine-sweeping system for the U.S. Navy. The Naval Surface Warfare Center in Panama City, Fla., awarded the contract in 2009. The refurbishment extends the life of this MK-105 Mod 4 Airborne Mine Countermeasure Influence Sweep unit for another 10 years. (Post)

Week in review (3/4 to 3/10)

Loose fasteners that shortened the first flight of an Eglin F-35, the spectre of using an Eglin-developed bunker-buster bomb, the opening of a public comment period about UAV test sites, the cut of one squadron at Eglin and the move of helicopters to Duke Field, and a robot fire fighter that will be tested in Mobile were some of the aerospace news items of interest to the Gulf Coast during the week.

Here's the week in review:

F-35
Three loose fasteners caused the fuel leak that shortened the first flight of an Eglin F-35 during the week. The 90-minute flight was cut to 15 when the pilot of a chase plane saw the leak. Maintainers also found residual water from an earlier wash of the aircraft. The F-35 is expected to fly this week. Eglin, in northwest Florida, is home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center, which will train all aviators and maintainers from all three branches of service that will use the F-35. (Post)


Weapons
The 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a bomb designed to penetrate deep in the ground before exploding, is one of the weapons in an arsenal that could be used in a clash with Iran over its nuclear program. That's what Lt. Gen. Herbert Carlisle, Air Force deputy chief of staff for operations, told a conference on U.S. defense programs during the week. Eglin Air Force Base in northwest Florida was involved in the development of the bunker-buster penetrator. The base was also involved in the developed the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb. (Post)


Space
J-2X engine 10001 during the week was moved back to the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., for a second round of tests. Both the engine and test stand have been modified to begin simulated altitude testing in the coming months. The J-2X, which will provide upper-stage power for NASA's Space Launch System, is built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. (Post)

Meanwhile, some 40 miles away at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the initial construction of the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 vehicle is nearing completion. EFT-1 will launch in 2014 from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., by a United Launch Alliance Delta IV. Orion, which will fly 3,600 miles above Earth in the test, is designed to carry astronauts into deep space. It will eventually be launched by NASA's Space Launch System. The SLS engines are being tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss., which also tests the RS-68 rocket engines for the Delta IV. (Post)


Unmanned
OK, here's one that’s not aerospace, but it is robotic and that's a field of high interest to the Gulf Coast region since we build and fly unmanned aerial systems in this region. And besides, it involves Mobile, Ala., and a unique test facility that’s been there for decades.

The humanoid robot, Shipboard Autonomous Firefighting Robot or SAFFiR, is being developed to fight shipboard fires. The robot, filled with sensors and armed with fire suppressors, is designed to interact with people, even responding to gestures, and make decisions on its own if needed.

Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory formed a team to develop SAFFiR, which will be tested aboard the ex-USS Shadwell in Mobile in late September 2013. The 457-foot World War II-era Shadwell, officially called the Full Scale Fire Test Facility, is where full-scale fire and damage control tests are conducted in a realistic ship environment. The Shadwell is at 50-acre Little Sand Island in upper Mobile Bay. (Post)

Speaking of robots, the Federal Aviation Administration is seeking public comments on the agency's selection process for picking six unmanned aircraft system test sites around the United States. Comments are due by May 9. The sites will help the FAA develop the framework to govern the use of UAVs in the national airspace. Congress called for full integration by 2015. (Post)


Crewmember recovered
The body of the fourth crewmember of a Coast Guard helicopter that crashed in Mobile Bay was recovered during the week. It was flight mechanic Petty Officer 3rd Class Andrew Knight, recovered more than two miles southwest of the crash site. Four crewmen were aboard the MH-65C that was on a training mission out of the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center in Mobile. (Post)


Cuts and changes
The 728th Air Control Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be decommissioned due to force structure changes. About 375 airmen are assigned to the squadron. Air Combat Command determined divesting the 728th is the most feasible option because it's not co-located with operational aircraft and live, air-to-air training opportunities are limited. The changes will take place Sept. 1. (Post)

Meanwhile, the 46th Test Wing's UH-1N Hueys have left Eglin main to join the 413th Flight Test Squadron's operating location eight miles north at Eglin's Duke Field. The helicopters will operate from Duke Field to allow the test wing to support a 250 percent increase in helicopter developmental test programs beginning in June. The move will centralize all Air Force helicopter developmental test and evaluation in one squadron. (Post)


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $24.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the development of a data farm for the Joint Strike Fighter U.S. Reprogramming Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The data farm will interface with lab's prime mission equipment and is used to store software and data from the F-35 mission data testing. The ability to store and retrieve data is critical for mission data production which is vital to program execution.


Shipbuilding/maritime
BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards and Austal USA in Mobile, Ala., finished a four-month repair job on a Navy research vessel. The companies teamed to work on the Sea Fighter, an experimental vessel based out of Panama City, Fla., an aluminum catamaran that the Office of Naval Research uses to test technologies it will use on its littoral combat ships and joint high-speed vessels. (Post)

In Pascagoula, Miss., the Noble Max Smith rig that’s been under repair at Signal International's west shipyard was moved by the newest of Signet Maritime's tug fleet. The Signet Constellation and the Signet Stars & Stripes were used along with the tugs Daniel Colle, Natalie Colle and John Colle for the rig tow to Signal's east yard on Bayou Casotte. (Post)

Week in review (2/26 to 3/3)

The loss of four Coast Guard crewmen; the death of a Hurlburt officer in Afghanistan; approval of F-35 flights at Eglin Air Force Base; a new UAV center at Camp Shelby; F/A-18s training in Pensacola; and delivery of a satellite built in part at Stennis Space Center were just some of the news items of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region during the past week.

Here's the week in review:

Losses
The bodies of three crewmembers of a Coast Guard MH-65C helicopter that crashed during the week into Mobile Bay have been recovered. Dead are pilot Lt. Cmdr. Dale Taylor, co-pilot Lt. j.g. Thomas Cameron, rescue swimmer Fernando Jorge and flight mechanic Petty Officer 3rd Class Drew Knight, whose body has yet to be recovered. The helicopter was on a training mission out of the Aviation Training Center in Mobile, Ala. (Post)

- During the week we also learned that one of the two U.S. officers shot in the head at a ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan, was from Hurlburt Field, Fla. It was Lt. Col. John Darin Loftis, with the 866th Air Expeditionary Squadron. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the killings were in retaliation for the burning of Korans. (Post)


Unmanned systems
Add another piece to the region's unmanned aerial vehicle activities. Camp Shelby, south of Hattiesburg, was selected as the site for a new $48 million regional flight center for the Army National Guard. It was chosen from 19 sites nationwide. The base has been used for tactical UAV training for deploying troops, but now it will have a permanent center. (Post)

- Flight tests are underway for the first developmental multifunction active sensor (MFAS) radar destined for the Navy's MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System, or BAMS. In addition, the wings and landing gear were installed on the first BAMS, a variant of the Global Hawk, at the company's Palmdale Manufacturing Center. BAMS central fuselage work is done in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)

- Keep your eye on the Fire Scout line of unmanned aerial systems. The Navy's decision to cancel the Medium-Range Maritime Unmanned Aerial System program was bad news for Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which planned to propose the Hummingbird and K-MAX, respectively.

But a third player that was expected to compete for the MRMUAS program, Northrop Grumman, probably isn't too unhappy. That's because the Navy figured the MQ-8C, the larger version of the Fire Scout that uses a Bell 407 airframe, could fill the MRMUAS requirements just fine. (Flight Global, AOL Defense)

The savings are significant: $200 million cut from the FY13 budget and $1.3 billion over the next five years. You could almost see this coming. Back in December in the omnibus spending legislation, Congress set aside $191 million for the Navy to buy 12 C models. And that’s likely just the start. (Previous related post)

Motley Fool took up the issue and pointed out that Northrop Grumman's dominance in the UAV industry just keeps growing and growing (Motley Fool)


F-35
F-35As at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are cleared to fly by both the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and the Air Education and Training Command in Texas. It's a crucial step towards the startup of training at Eglin's Joint Strike Fighter training center. In addition to six Air Force variants, Eglin is also home to three F-35B aircraft, the Marine Corps variant. (Post)

Sources tell Air Force Times that the F-35As will begin flight operations Tuesday, weather permitting. The base has two qualified test pilots, Air Force Lt. Col. Eric Smith and Marine Maj. Joseph Bachmann, who will serve as instructors for the rest of the wing's aviators. (Story)

- In another F-35 matter, the Air Force plans to reduce the number of bases where the F-35s will be based. It's a way to reduce the life-cycle cost. The Pentagon plans to reduce the number of operating bases for the F-35A from 40 to the low 30s. (Story)


Other aircraft
F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing Seven are temporarily at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., while repairs are made to a landing field at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va. The Hornets will do field carrier landing practice at the Navy's Outlying Field Choctaw in nearby Santa Rosa County through March 10. (Post)

- The Air Force canceled a $355 million contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev., and Brazil's Embraer to build 20 Super Tucano A-29 light support aircraft, citing problems with documentation. Hawker Beechcraft of Wichita, Kansas, filed suit when its AT-6 was kept out of the competition. (Post)

- EADS North America delivered the 200th UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter to the U.S. Army during a ceremony at the American Eurocopter production facility in Columbus, Miss. It's the first production aircraft to be delivered with the new Security and Support Battalion Mission Equipment Package. (Post)


Space
NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi hosted a breakfast during the week for community leaders from Mississippi and Louisiana. Patrick Scheuermann, director SSC, said the center where rocket engines are tested has a $1 billion impact on the region. The center also hosts activities from other federal and state agencies and commercial companies. The facilities engineering manager for the Rolls-Royce North America Outdoor Test Facility said it was the 125,000-acre acoustical buffer zone surrounding Stennis Space Center that prompted the company to pick South Mississippi to test airliner engines. (Post)

- Lockheed Martin delivered the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., where it will be readied for an April 2012 liftoff aboard an Atlas V. The AEHF system will replace the five-satellite Milstar constellation. Core propulsion work for the AEHF is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)

- The Orion Parachute Test Vehicle has a successful parachute drop test in Yuma, Ariz., at the Army proving grounds. The vehicle was dropped from a C-17 aircraft for the test of the parachute system. (Story) The Orion crew vehicle is built at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.


Military cuts
The Air Force is not migrating anything from Eglin Air Force Base, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. Plans to merge Eglin's 96th Wing and 46th Test Wing and put the new super wing under the command of a general at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., has caused concerns that the wing will eventually be moved to California. But Schwartz told the House Armed Services Committee, in response to a question by Rep. Jeff Miller, that "Nothing is migrating from Eglin with respect to the proposal for the Air Force Materiel Command reorganization." (Post)

Well something is changing for Eglin. Lt. Gen. C.D. Moore II was nominated to lead a new center that will be created in October as part of the Air Force Materiel Command’s restructuring. He'll command the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The center consolidates the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson, Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., and Air Armament Center at Eglin. (Post)


Airports
American Airlines soon will more than double flights between Northwest Florida Regional Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. American Eagle now flies to and from Dallas/Fort Worth three times a day during the week and twice a day on the weekend. Starting April 3, the airline will add four round-trip flights a day. (Post)

- Mobile Regional Airport is getting a $2.9 million facelift. The Airport Authority plans to install canopies along the front of the building made from the same pipe-and-plastic covering material used in front of the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel in downtown Mobile. The facelift should take about seven months to complete. (Post)


Economic development
Alabama's governor says his administration is in constant contact with Airbus about establishing an assembly plant Mobile, but Gov. Robert Bentley said no active project exists and no formal negotiations have been conducted. Airbus parent, EADS, had hoped to build an aerial tanker assembly plant in Mobile, but those plans vanished when Boeing won the Air Force contract last year. Airbus has an engineering center and a service center for military aircraft in Mobile, and has expressed interest in establishing a plant in the United States. (Post)

- Four years after Northrop Grumman and EADS won a contract to build tankers for the Air Force – a contract canceled 11 days later – a termination fee is still in the works, according to Air Force Times. Under the 2008 award, EADS planned to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala. Work began on the airframes, but the contract was overturned and Boeing won the new competition. The Air Force still partly owns two Airbus A330 airframes built as part of the original contract. One is in storage in Spain and the other in France. Air Force officials said they expect the contract termination issues to be settled soon. (Post)

- Site Selection magazine ranked Baldwin County as the eighth most successful micropolitan area in the United States in 2011. The March online edition listed the county for expanding or attracting corporate entities. Among the projects that led to the listing was Aero-Mark MRO, a maintenance and repair aerospace company that located in the existing Fokker Airinc facility. (Post)


Contracts
Boeing was awarded an $11.4 million contract from the Air Force, with the first delivery order worth $4.6 million to provide parts to be used to complete installation of 25mm Ammunition Storage and Handling Systems on four AC-130U gunships. The Boeing Fort Walton Beach facility will build the components for delivery to Robins Air Force Base, Ga. … Industria Paschen Group J.V., Chicago, Ill., was awarded a $48 million contract for simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements, such as minor, noncomplex construction projects, maintenance, alternation, or repair of real property at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and its associated sites. The 325th CONS/LGCC, Tyndall Air Force Base is the contracting activity.


Shipbuilding/maritime
The March 2012 issue of Seapower Magazine has a feature story on the work towards maintenance-free hulls. The Gulf Coast's Ingalls Shipbuilding, Austal USA and the University of New Orleans School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering are prominently featured in the story. Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Composite Center of Excellence in Gulfport, Miss., builds large composite structures for Navy ships, including the deckhouse and hangar for the DDG 1000. In Mobile, Ala., the second Littoral Combat Ship, USS Independence, features all-aluminum construction, as does the Joint High Speed Vessel. And at UNO's Welded Structures Laboratory, work is being done to find a better way for welding titanium. (Story)

- Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant will be in Pascagoula Monday for a news conference to
formally announce details of the commissioning of the USS Mississippi in Pascagoula in
June. About 5,000 people are expected to attend the June 2 event. (Post)

- The Naval Oceanographic Office Fleet Survey Team from Stennis Space Center, Miss., completed survey operations in the coastal waters of Cartagena, Colombia, late last month. The FST conducts about 14 surveys a year worldwide. (Post)