A "roadmap" to integrate robotic aircraft into the national airspace; additional Global Hawk sales; a major land sell-off by St. Joe; the first live-fire test of an air-to-air missile by an F-35; the removal of an officer from the F-35 program; and a grant to Pensacola to create a cyberwarfare center of excellence were among the stories of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace region during the week.
Here's the week in review:
Unmanned
The Federal Aviation Administration released its "roadmap" for allowing widespread use of unmanned aircraft in the national airspace, but it will take longer than Congress wants. The FAA said that for the next several years access of robotic aircraft will be limited to permits the FAA grants on a case-by-case basis.
Congress last year directed the FAA to grant drones widespread access by September 2015. Six sites nationwide will be chosen by FAA as test sites for the integration process. The I-10 region is already heavily involved in unmanned systems.
Fire Scout and Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., by Northrop Grumman, and the military thoughout this region uses drones in training, from hand-held types to full-scale target drones. And there's also the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, an internationally known research facility for robotics. (Post)
One of the unmanned systems built in part in Moss Point is the MQ-4C Triton, a Navy version of the unmanned Global Hawk surveillance system. It just passed an important milestone.
The wings on the Triton are made by Triumph Aerostructures - Vought Aircraft Division. Each wing, made of a single piece of composite material, was tested in Dallas by bending the wing to the point that it breaks.
The process revealed that the wing is 22 percent stronger than the Navy's requirement. The entire airframe will be fatigue tested in 2017. The Navy plans to buy 68 Tritons, plus two demonstrators. (Post)
-- A contract will be signed next year for South Korea to buy four Global Hawks for about $848 million. The U.S. Congress approved the export of Global Hawks to South Korea earlier this year. (Post) Meanwhile, the Air Force late in the week awarded Northrop Grumman a $114 million advance procurement contract in preparation to build three more Block 30 RQ-4 Global Hawks and associated sensors.Work under this contract is expected to be completed in 2015. (Post)
Airbus
While we're on the subject of building aircraft, Airbus chalked up 153 order bookings and 59 deliveries in October, bringing its backlog to nearly 5,400 aircraft. That’s eight years of output at full production rates.
The Airbus jetliner of highest interest to this region is the A320 family. That’s because Mobile, Ala., is where Airbus is building a final assembly line that will eventually have 1,000 employees.
For the single-aisle A320 family, October included Latin America's biggest Airbus aircraft order: VivaAerobus Group's booking for 40 new engine option A320neo aircraft and 12 A320 current engine option jetliners.
In the United States, JetBlue Airways’ acquisition of 15 A321ceo and 20 A321neo aircraft brought total A320 family bookings past the 10,000 order mark. The volume reached 10,025 as of Oct. 31. The 59 deliveries during the month were composed of 47 A320 Family aircraft, eight A330s and four A380s. (Company release)
-- In Mobile, Ala., Airbus is seeking its second human resources employee for the final assembly line that’s still under construction at Brookley Aeroplex. Minimum qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in business, human resources or a related field plus at least five years’ experience in human resources. The successful candidate will manage all recruitment activities and new employee orientation. (Post)
-- Airbus rival Boeing said it will re-examine alternative sites to build the 777X if assembly workers and local politicians don't ratify plans to build it in the Seattle area. That came after senior members of the machinists union voiced opposition to a labor contract due to go to membership this week.
The deal reached by Boeing and representatives of the main union calls for wings and fuselage of the 777X to be built in the Puget Sound area. It also calls for lower healthcare benefits and a new retirement plan, along with a separate draft agreement with the state for tax and other incentives. (Story)
F-35
An F-35 fired its first guided air-to-air missile over a military test range off the California coast late last month. The AIM-120 advanced medium range air-to-air missile was fired from an F-35A, the conventional take-off and landing version operating from the F-35 Integrated Test Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.
The pilot employed the AIM-120 radar-seeking missile from the internal weapons bay against an aerial drone target. Before the missile was about to destroy the target, a self-destruct signal was sent to the AIM-120 to preserve the drone for use in future use. The test was the day after an F-35B variant successfully dropped and air-to-ground GBU-12 Paveway II over a test range. (Post)
-- Over at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 pilot and maintenance training center, the maintenance commander of the 33rd Fighter Wing was removed from the post early in the week and put on staff duty for allegedly engaging in inappropriate behavior with subordinate female officers on his staff.
Navy Capt. Lance Massey II, who held the position since January, oversaw about 400 maintainers who work on the F-35s. An initial investigation determined Massey engaged in a pattern of inappropriate behaviors. (Post)
Economic development
The St. Joe Co. announced an agreement Thursday to sell more than two-thirds of its Northwest Florida landholdings to Utah-based AgReserves Inc. The 382,834 acres of rural timberland is being sold for $565 million. That leaves St. Joe with about 184,000 acres of land primarily between Tallahassee and Destin.
The acreage being sold is in Bay, Calhoun, Frankly, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla counties. AgReserves intends to maintain timber and agricultural uses of the lands. St. Joe, originally a paper company and second largest landowner in Florida, in recent years became a real estate developer. It donated land to establish Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near Panama City. (Post)
-- A National Science Foundation study shows state government expenditures for research and development hit $1.4 billion in fiscal year 2011, up 11 percent from the previous year. Individual state government expenditures on R&D in FY 2011 varied widely, with New York, Ohio, Florida, California and Pennsylvania accounting for 51 percent of all state government R&D. For this region, Florida spent $150.8 million, Texas spent $47.4 million, Alabama spent $19.7 million, Louisiana $9.2 million and Mississippi $7.4 million. (Post)
Airports/bases
Pensacola threw out the red carpet Monday to mark the start of Southwest Airlines service to Houston and Nashville. About 200 people showed up at Pensacola International Airport for the official welcoming, highlighted by the arrival of a Southwest jet from Nashville.
OK, it was actually the second plane to arrive from Nashville. The first one came in the day before. But passengers who got off the Monday morning arrival were greeted by a crowd that included city movers and shakers and others who just wanted to see what was going on. While the passengers got off the plane, a band played music on one side of the concourse.
A story in USA Today pointed out that Southwest is now flying its own aircraft to the last of the AirTran cities that Southwest did not serve when it bought Airtran in 2011. Southwest-branded service began last weekend not only in Pensacola, but Memphis and Richmond - the last of the former AirTran cities now getting Southwest branded planes. Southwest dropped more than a dozen of the AirTran cities it inherited after it bought the low-cost carrier. But it kept Pensacola and others, and kept both brands flying during the transition.
According to the Pensacola News Journal, Southwest has plans to launch international flights to Central America and Mexico sometime in the next year from Pensacola International Airport.
-- The Greater Pensacola Chamber was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Florida Defense Support Task Force to establish a center of excellence for information dominance. “The Center of Excellence is the culmination of our on-going relationship and collaboration with our federal partners at Corry Station,” said Craig Dalton, the chamber's vice president of armed services. (Post)
In another grant from the task force, the city of Niceville was awarded $25,000 to prevent future development from impeding missions at Eglin Air Force Base. Niceville will use it to upgrade mapping software to track data on where the city should regulate development so as not to interfere with any base mission. (Post)
Statewide, the task force awarded more than $2 million in grant initiatives to local community organizations supporting Florida military installations, according to a press release from Gov. Rick Scott's office. The grants are designed to protect Florida's military bases ahead of any potential realignment or closure actions. The bases have a $73 billion economic impact. Nearly 760,000 jobs in the state are due to the defense industry.
-- Two Navy pilots were injured during the week when a T-45C Goshawk crashed on the runway at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Sherman Field. The T-45 training jet was attempting to land when something went wrong. The plane belongs to Training Squadron 86 of Training Air Wing 6. (Post)
The crash was the Navy's first training aircraft crash since May 30, 2012, when a student and instructor from Training Squadron 22 ejected safely from another T-45C during a training flight 45 miles southwest of Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas.
-- The 1st Special Operations Air Operations Squadron stood up during a squadron activation ceremony at Hurlburt Field, Fla., during the week. The 1st SOAOS mission is to integrate 1st Special Operations Wing assets into Special Operations Forces training events, support U.S. Special Operations Command-direct missions, and execute tactical-level command and control of all U.S aircraft and deploying 1st SOW aircraft. (Post)
Contracts
CTC Enterprise Ventures Corp., Johnstown, Pa., was awarded a $14.2 million modification to previously awarded contract for the production of 10 carriage, stream, tow and recovery system kits in support of the MH-60S Airborne Mine Countermeasures program. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $19.8 million option exercise to an existing contract to retrofit fielded mission training centers with visual systems upgrade and night vision goggles capability. Effort includes upgrades for F-22 training systems at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and four other bases. … URS Group Inc., Mobile, Ala. was awarded a $13 million contract for architect-engineering services for the Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, to support the Air Force KC-46C aircraft beddown in the continental United States. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting agency.
Shipbuilding/maritime
Dry dock: VT Halter Marine Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., said its new floating dry dock is open for business and already has its first customers. The 546-foot long dock is part of an overall expansion plan at the south yard. (Post)
UNO: The University of New Orleans computer science department has been awarded a five-year, $663,000 research contract by the Naval Research Laboratory to develop next-generation defense mapping systems. (Post)
Ingalls: Pascagoula, Miss., Mayor Jim Blevins read a proclamation celebrating Ingalls Shipbuilding's 75th anniversary and voted to give the company a 10-year exemption on ad valorem taxes. (Post)
Training center: Ingalls Shipbuilding officially opened the 70,000 square-foot Haley Reeves Barbour Maritime Training Academy in Pascagoula, Miss., during the week with a ribbon-cutting. (Post)
DDG 113: Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Miss., held a keel authentication ceremony early in the week for the destroyer John Finn (DDG 113), the 29th Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built at Ingalls. (Post)
PERSPECTIVES: Commentary and analysis on aerospace and defense activities in the Gulf Coast
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Week in review (10/27 to 11/2)
Boeing's decision to have much of the design work for the new 777X done outside Seattle has no direct impact on the Gulf Coast aerospace region, but could have an impact on aerospace in the broader Southeast. That, in turn, could impact the Gulf Coast.
Boeing engineering teams in Charleston, S.C., Huntsville, Ala., Long Beach, Calif., Philadelphia and St. Louis will be doing much of the design work of the next-generation 777, dubbed 777X. The Boeing Design Center in Moscow will also be tapped.
But no decision has been made about the role of Puget Sound, where Boeing designs and makes the current 777, in the new version of the plane. Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee called Boeing's decision about the design work "disappointing." (Post)
Reuters reported that the decision was seen as a sign that the jobs building the 777X could migrate to lower-cost, nonunion states. The 777X is a twin-engine medium-sized wide-body jet that will feature extra long carbon-fiber composite wings and leverage technologies from the 787.
The concern is great enough that Inslee is considering proposing a package of tax incentives to persuade Boeing to put 777X design and assembly work at its giant factory in Everett.
It's understandable that the folks in Washington state are concerned. It was once the headquarters for Boeing, until the company moved those jobs to Chicago. And now the state is watching as economic development folks from the Southeast make a pitch for suppliers to set up shop in the South.
The wealth of suppliers in Washington intrigues states in the Southeast with a foot in the aerospace door. Washington state has 1,256 companies in the aerospace supply chain with 131,000 workers. Nearly 75 percent of them supply Boeing, 40 percent supply Airbus, and up to 25 percent supply Embraer. Airbus alone spends $12 billion a year with U.S. suppliers and expects to double that.
Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield has said that as the Southeast increases its aerospace footprint, it will become even more attractive to suppliers serving Airbus, Boeing and other companies. He makes a good point.
In addition to Boeing's 787 assembly line in Charleston, S.C., and Airbus' A320 assembly line in Mobile, Embraer has a plant in Jacksonville, Fla., and Gulfstream has one in Savannah, Ga. Even the latest iteration of aircraft assembly, unmanned aerial systems, have found homes in Moss Point and Columbus, Miss., among other locations.
If you’re a supplier, you may find opening a facility somewhere in that triangular region makes sense. It’s about 400 miles between Mobile and Jacksonville, and another 240 miles between Jacksonville and Charleston, S.C.
We'll keep an eye on this.
Airbus
JetBlue Airways placed an order for 15 A321ceo and 20 A321neo aircraft. In addition, the airline has opted to upsize 8 A320ceo and 10 A320neo aircraft currently on backlog to 8 A321ceo and 10 A321neo, respectively. This order marks the 10,000th order for an Airbus A320 family aircraft.
JetBlue will be the first airline in the world to take delivery of an aircraft from Airbus’ newest assembly facility, currently under construction in Mobile, Ala. The facility will create 1,000 new jobs in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Deliveries at the Mobile facility will begin in 2016. (Post)
Meanwhile, the first 10 manufacturing-related employees hired for the Mobile assembly line reported during the week for orientation. Classroom training will begin the first full week of this month. Local training will last two months before the group goes to the final assembly line in Hamburg, Germany, for hands-on training that could last as many as nine months. (Post)
-- Airbus plans to offer to retrofit fuel-saving wingtips on older versions of its A320 jets
beginning in 2015. Airbus says the wingtips cut fuel costs by up to 4 percent and increase range by up to 185 kilometers. Airbus is matching Boeing in making the wingtips available on older models as an option. (Post)
Space
NASA's deep space craft, Orion, was powered on for the first time at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., recently. Preliminary data indicate Orion's vehicle management computer, as well as its innovative power and data distribution system performed as expected. All of Orion's avionics systems will be put to the test during its first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1, targeted to launch in the fall of 2014. Orion is built in part at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. (Post)
NASA's commercial partners are also making progress on their efforts. SpaceX, which recently said it would test its new Raptor rocket engines at Stennis Space Center, Miss., plans to demonstrate next summer the Dragon spacecraft's ability to carry astronauts to safety in the event of an in-flight emergency.
In the test along Florida's space coast, a Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket and an abort command will be issued when it’s flying through the area of maximum dynamic pressure. The test spacecraft will be retrieved from splashdown and returned to Port Canaveral by barge so data can be incorporated into the system's design.
SpaceX is one of three companies working under NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative to develop spaceflight capabilities that eventually could provide launch services to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. SpaceX has already flown successful cargo missions to the ISS. (Post)
Another one of those companies, Sierra Nevada, recently marked up the first free-flight test of its prototype Dream Chaser spacecraft. The flight in California went well, but the spacecraft was damaged when its landing gear failed to deploy properly.
The spacecraft, a lifting body spacecraft that looks like a mini-Space Shuttle, was unmanned during the test. It was released from an air-crane helicopter at 12,000 feet and adhered to the design flight trajectory throughout the flight profile.
Sierra Nevada contracted with Lockheed Martin to assemble the composite structure for the first space-bound Dream Chaser at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. (Post)
F-35
Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-501 recently completed its first short take-off and vertical landing mission in an F-35B at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center where pilots and maintainers train on all three variants of the F-35.
The flight happened late last month when Maj. Brendan M. Walsh flew the hour-long mission where the aircraft remained in the STOVL configuration the entire time. Walsh qualified in vertical landing operations six months ago at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.
Walsh is the only pilot at Eglin qualified to fly in the STOVL configuration. But he said the flight paved the way to locally train F-35B instructors and new students in STOVL operations. (Post)
In another F-35 milestone, this one at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., an F-35B dropped a 500-pound guided bomb at a tank. The laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway II was dropped from its internal weapons bay while the plane flew at around 25,000 feet.
The Pentagon's top arms buyer recently said the F-35 program had made sufficient progress to budget for higher production in fiscal year 2015. (Post)
Along those lines, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $422 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for recurring sustainment support for F-35 aircraft. Support to be provided includes ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities and more.
Work will be done in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland and the United Kingdom and is expected to be completed in October 2014. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Canada, Norway and Denmark. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Unmanned
A larger variant of the Northrop Grumman-built Fire Scout unmanned helicopter completed its first day of flying late in the week at Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu, Calif. In the first flight, the MQ-8C flew for seven minutes to validate the autonomous control systems. The second flight was a pattern around the airfield, where the Fire Scout reached an altitude of 500 feet.
The MQ-8C upgrade, based on a Bell 407 airframe, will eventually replace the MQ-8B, based on a Schweizer airframe. The MQ-8B has seen a lot of service, both on ships and on land in Afghanistan. It's currently operating aboard USS Samuel B. Roberts.
The MQ-8C is larger, has a range of 150 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 700 pounds. The MQ-8B from the start has been built in part in Moss Point, Miss., where work also will be done on the MQ-8C. (Post)
Airports
In Florida, Pensacola International Airport on Monday will hold a party to mark Southwest Airlines’ new daily, nonstop service to Nashville, Tenn., and Houston. The first flight will arrive Sunday from Nashville. The airport had courted Southwest for years, and got the airline when Southwest bought AirTran, which had been serving the airport. Southwest chose to keep the Pensacola service. (Post)
Another much smaller airline, startup Southern Airways Express, is having enough success with flights to Florida's Destin Airport that the airport will become a cornerstone of the Memphis carrier’s service next year.
The airline in May started offering direct flights on nine-seat Cessna Caravans between Destin and Memphis, Oxford, Miss., Birmingham, Ala., and New Orleans. The chief operating officer says the Destin flights are doing better than expected. (Post)
Bases
At Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., an advanced conventional precision effects warhead, the Kinetic Energy Projectile, was successfully tested at hypersonic speed by the 846th Test Squadron. The squadron is a geographically separated unit of the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
During the test, the sled train exceeded 3,500 feet-per-second greater than Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was responsible for the design and development of the warhead itself. (Post)
Meanwhile, back in Northwest Florida, the oldest CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft in the Air Force inventory conducted its last test flight with the 413th Flight Test Squadron on Thursday at Hurlburt Field. The plane has been used to test every major upgrade and modification of the CV-22 fleet.
The tilt-rotor will become a display piece at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The first operational CV-22 was delivered to the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt in January 2007. (Post)
-- Col. James Phillips was chosen to take command of the 919th Special Operations Wing at Duke Field, Fla., on Dec. 7. He succeeds Col. Anthony Comtois, who left in September to become commander of the Joint Special Operations Air Component for Special Operations Command Africa. (Post)
Contract
Cubic Defense Applications Inc., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $25 million contract for foreign military sales P5Combat Training System (P5CTS) combined hardware buy. Work will be done in San Diego, Calif., and Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and is expected to be complete by July 20, 2015. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBYK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Shipbuilding/maritime
USMI: United States Marine Inc., Gulfport, Miss., was awarded a $15.8 million contract for post-production and contractor logistical support services for the combatant craft assault. The work will be performed in Gulfport, Miss., and is expected to be completed by November 2017. (Post)
Zumwalt: General Dynamics Bath Iron Works successfully launched the Navy's first Zumwalt-class destroyer during the week at Bath, Maine shipyard. The ship’s composite deck and hangar were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Gulfport, Miss. (Post)
Station Pascagoula: Haskell Co. of Jacksonville, Fla., was awarded a $4.6 million U.S. Coast Guard design-build contract for infrastructure work needed to support Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) at Coast Guard Station Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
Boeing engineering teams in Charleston, S.C., Huntsville, Ala., Long Beach, Calif., Philadelphia and St. Louis will be doing much of the design work of the next-generation 777, dubbed 777X. The Boeing Design Center in Moscow will also be tapped.
But no decision has been made about the role of Puget Sound, where Boeing designs and makes the current 777, in the new version of the plane. Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee called Boeing's decision about the design work "disappointing." (Post)
Reuters reported that the decision was seen as a sign that the jobs building the 777X could migrate to lower-cost, nonunion states. The 777X is a twin-engine medium-sized wide-body jet that will feature extra long carbon-fiber composite wings and leverage technologies from the 787.
The concern is great enough that Inslee is considering proposing a package of tax incentives to persuade Boeing to put 777X design and assembly work at its giant factory in Everett.
It's understandable that the folks in Washington state are concerned. It was once the headquarters for Boeing, until the company moved those jobs to Chicago. And now the state is watching as economic development folks from the Southeast make a pitch for suppliers to set up shop in the South.
The wealth of suppliers in Washington intrigues states in the Southeast with a foot in the aerospace door. Washington state has 1,256 companies in the aerospace supply chain with 131,000 workers. Nearly 75 percent of them supply Boeing, 40 percent supply Airbus, and up to 25 percent supply Embraer. Airbus alone spends $12 billion a year with U.S. suppliers and expects to double that.
Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield has said that as the Southeast increases its aerospace footprint, it will become even more attractive to suppliers serving Airbus, Boeing and other companies. He makes a good point.
In addition to Boeing's 787 assembly line in Charleston, S.C., and Airbus' A320 assembly line in Mobile, Embraer has a plant in Jacksonville, Fla., and Gulfstream has one in Savannah, Ga. Even the latest iteration of aircraft assembly, unmanned aerial systems, have found homes in Moss Point and Columbus, Miss., among other locations.
If you’re a supplier, you may find opening a facility somewhere in that triangular region makes sense. It’s about 400 miles between Mobile and Jacksonville, and another 240 miles between Jacksonville and Charleston, S.C.
We'll keep an eye on this.
Airbus
JetBlue Airways placed an order for 15 A321ceo and 20 A321neo aircraft. In addition, the airline has opted to upsize 8 A320ceo and 10 A320neo aircraft currently on backlog to 8 A321ceo and 10 A321neo, respectively. This order marks the 10,000th order for an Airbus A320 family aircraft.
JetBlue will be the first airline in the world to take delivery of an aircraft from Airbus’ newest assembly facility, currently under construction in Mobile, Ala. The facility will create 1,000 new jobs in the U.S. Gulf Coast region. Deliveries at the Mobile facility will begin in 2016. (Post)
Meanwhile, the first 10 manufacturing-related employees hired for the Mobile assembly line reported during the week for orientation. Classroom training will begin the first full week of this month. Local training will last two months before the group goes to the final assembly line in Hamburg, Germany, for hands-on training that could last as many as nine months. (Post)
-- Airbus plans to offer to retrofit fuel-saving wingtips on older versions of its A320 jets
beginning in 2015. Airbus says the wingtips cut fuel costs by up to 4 percent and increase range by up to 185 kilometers. Airbus is matching Boeing in making the wingtips available on older models as an option. (Post)
Space
NASA's deep space craft, Orion, was powered on for the first time at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., recently. Preliminary data indicate Orion's vehicle management computer, as well as its innovative power and data distribution system performed as expected. All of Orion's avionics systems will be put to the test during its first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1, targeted to launch in the fall of 2014. Orion is built in part at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans. (Post)
NASA's commercial partners are also making progress on their efforts. SpaceX, which recently said it would test its new Raptor rocket engines at Stennis Space Center, Miss., plans to demonstrate next summer the Dragon spacecraft's ability to carry astronauts to safety in the event of an in-flight emergency.
In the test along Florida's space coast, a Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket and an abort command will be issued when it’s flying through the area of maximum dynamic pressure. The test spacecraft will be retrieved from splashdown and returned to Port Canaveral by barge so data can be incorporated into the system's design.
SpaceX is one of three companies working under NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability initiative to develop spaceflight capabilities that eventually could provide launch services to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. SpaceX has already flown successful cargo missions to the ISS. (Post)
Another one of those companies, Sierra Nevada, recently marked up the first free-flight test of its prototype Dream Chaser spacecraft. The flight in California went well, but the spacecraft was damaged when its landing gear failed to deploy properly.
The spacecraft, a lifting body spacecraft that looks like a mini-Space Shuttle, was unmanned during the test. It was released from an air-crane helicopter at 12,000 feet and adhered to the design flight trajectory throughout the flight profile.
Sierra Nevada contracted with Lockheed Martin to assemble the composite structure for the first space-bound Dream Chaser at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. (Post)
F-35
Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron-501 recently completed its first short take-off and vertical landing mission in an F-35B at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center where pilots and maintainers train on all three variants of the F-35.
The flight happened late last month when Maj. Brendan M. Walsh flew the hour-long mission where the aircraft remained in the STOVL configuration the entire time. Walsh qualified in vertical landing operations six months ago at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.
Walsh is the only pilot at Eglin qualified to fly in the STOVL configuration. But he said the flight paved the way to locally train F-35B instructors and new students in STOVL operations. (Post)
In another F-35 milestone, this one at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., an F-35B dropped a 500-pound guided bomb at a tank. The laser-guided GBU-12 Paveway II was dropped from its internal weapons bay while the plane flew at around 25,000 feet.
The Pentagon's top arms buyer recently said the F-35 program had made sufficient progress to budget for higher production in fiscal year 2015. (Post)
Along those lines, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $422 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for recurring sustainment support for F-35 aircraft. Support to be provided includes ground maintenance activities, action request resolution, depot activation activities and more.
Work will be done in Texas, California, Florida, New Hampshire, Maryland and the United Kingdom and is expected to be completed in October 2014. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and the governments of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Canada, Norway and Denmark. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Unmanned
A larger variant of the Northrop Grumman-built Fire Scout unmanned helicopter completed its first day of flying late in the week at Naval Base Ventura County at Point Mugu, Calif. In the first flight, the MQ-8C flew for seven minutes to validate the autonomous control systems. The second flight was a pattern around the airfield, where the Fire Scout reached an altitude of 500 feet.
The MQ-8C upgrade, based on a Bell 407 airframe, will eventually replace the MQ-8B, based on a Schweizer airframe. The MQ-8B has seen a lot of service, both on ships and on land in Afghanistan. It's currently operating aboard USS Samuel B. Roberts.
The MQ-8C is larger, has a range of 150 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 700 pounds. The MQ-8B from the start has been built in part in Moss Point, Miss., where work also will be done on the MQ-8C. (Post)
Airports
In Florida, Pensacola International Airport on Monday will hold a party to mark Southwest Airlines’ new daily, nonstop service to Nashville, Tenn., and Houston. The first flight will arrive Sunday from Nashville. The airport had courted Southwest for years, and got the airline when Southwest bought AirTran, which had been serving the airport. Southwest chose to keep the Pensacola service. (Post)
Another much smaller airline, startup Southern Airways Express, is having enough success with flights to Florida's Destin Airport that the airport will become a cornerstone of the Memphis carrier’s service next year.
The airline in May started offering direct flights on nine-seat Cessna Caravans between Destin and Memphis, Oxford, Miss., Birmingham, Ala., and New Orleans. The chief operating officer says the Destin flights are doing better than expected. (Post)
Bases
At Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., an advanced conventional precision effects warhead, the Kinetic Energy Projectile, was successfully tested at hypersonic speed by the 846th Test Squadron. The squadron is a geographically separated unit of the 96th Test Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.
During the test, the sled train exceeded 3,500 feet-per-second greater than Mach 3 or three times the speed of sound. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was responsible for the design and development of the warhead itself. (Post)
Meanwhile, back in Northwest Florida, the oldest CV-22 tilt-rotor aircraft in the Air Force inventory conducted its last test flight with the 413th Flight Test Squadron on Thursday at Hurlburt Field. The plane has been used to test every major upgrade and modification of the CV-22 fleet.
The tilt-rotor will become a display piece at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The first operational CV-22 was delivered to the 1st Special Operations Wing at Hurlburt in January 2007. (Post)
-- Col. James Phillips was chosen to take command of the 919th Special Operations Wing at Duke Field, Fla., on Dec. 7. He succeeds Col. Anthony Comtois, who left in September to become commander of the Joint Special Operations Air Component for Special Operations Command Africa. (Post)
Contract
Cubic Defense Applications Inc., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $25 million contract for foreign military sales P5Combat Training System (P5CTS) combined hardware buy. Work will be done in San Diego, Calif., and Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and is expected to be complete by July 20, 2015. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBYK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Shipbuilding/maritime
USMI: United States Marine Inc., Gulfport, Miss., was awarded a $15.8 million contract for post-production and contractor logistical support services for the combatant craft assault. The work will be performed in Gulfport, Miss., and is expected to be completed by November 2017. (Post)
Zumwalt: General Dynamics Bath Iron Works successfully launched the Navy's first Zumwalt-class destroyer during the week at Bath, Maine shipyard. The ship’s composite deck and hangar were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Gulfport, Miss. (Post)
Station Pascagoula: Haskell Co. of Jacksonville, Fla., was awarded a $4.6 million U.S. Coast Guard design-build contract for infrastructure work needed to support Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) at Coast Guard Station Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Week in review (10/20 to 10/26)
It was an active week for the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor, with SpaceX announcing it will test a next generation engine at Stennis Space Center, Miss.; Italy's Comau Aerospace joining the Airbus team in Mobile, Ala., as the assembly line robotics supplier; a $5 billion order for A320s from Mexico; a Stennis Space Center partner chalking up a successful space mission; a $24.7 million contract modification for QF-16 drones for Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; several F-35 contracts, including a $508 million deal for engines; and a key aerospace gathering in Washington state.
Here's your week in review:
Last week during an aerospace conference in Washington state, a reporter for the Puget Sound Business Journal asked Barry Eccleston, president and CEO of Airbus Americas, if Airbus will eventually establish a facility in Washington.
"We probably don't need another engineering center in the U.S. We're happy with what we are doing in Mobile," he said. That belief in Mobile and the Gulf Coast region affirms what Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas, has been saying for quite some time now.
Back in November during a meeting with the media, McArtor said he was excitement about the future of this region, and what the Mobile campus can be. "I intend to make this the example within Airbus," so when projects come along Mobile will be a strong contender.
Indeed, as recently as the Paris Air Show McArtor told the Seattle Times that in 10 years Airbus will build "more than just A320s in Mobile." He said that the wide-body A330 could still be in production then, and could be built in Mobile, perhaps as a military conversion to a freighter or a tanker.
So why was Airbus in Washington? Here are some figures that make that clear. According to the Washington Department of Commerce, that state has 1,256 companies in the aerospace supply chain and 131,000 workers. Nearly 75 percent of them supply Boeing, 40 percent supply Airbus, over 25 percent serve Spirit and another 20-25 percent Brazil's Embraer.
"What we do need from the state of Washington is a high-quality, innovative supply chain," Eccleston told the Puget Sound Business Journal. Airbus is spending $12 billion a year in the United States and expects to double that. Of that amount, Airbus buys about $180 million worth of parts from Washington suppliers, and it hopes to get that up to $300 million in seven years.
The number of suppliers in Washington can't help but intrigue Alabama and other states in the Southeast with a foot in the aerospace door. Alabama and South Carolina officials were also in Seattle to develop relationships with aerospace suppliers during the annual conference.
According to the Alabama Department of Commerce, Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield told the Seattle Times that he expects the aerospace industry to grow in Alabama in the same way the automotive industry has, through assembly plant expansions and the creation of an ever-widening supplier base.
"We fully expect the Airbus experience will be the same," he told the newspaper.
Canfield also told the Puget Sound Business Journal that the growth of aviation manufacturing in the Southeast means the region will become even more attractive to suppliers serving Airbus, Boeing and other companies.
All of this interest from the Southeast does concern economic development oficials in Washington state, according to the Seattle Times. The South has been a big player for years – it's where the military placed a lot of aviation-related bases and where NASA built facilities for the space program. But aircraft manufacturing is a concern in Washington state.
In addition to Boeing's 787 assembly line in Charleston, S.C., and Airbus' A320 assembly line in Mobile, Embraer has a plant in Jacksonville, Fla., and Gulfstream has one in Savannah, Ga. Even the latest iteration of aircraft assembly, unmanned aerial systems, have found homes in Moss Point and Columbus, Miss., among other locations.
No wonder Washington state is a bit concerned.
Airbus-Mobile
Italy's Comau Aerospace was picked by Airbus to supply the aircraft main assembly and test stations for the A320 plant being built in Mobile, Ala. The $600 million final assembly line will produce A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Comau Aerospace will provide all jigs and tooling for the Mobile plant, and plans to open an integration center near the plant that will offer full project support.
Comau, a subsidiary of the diversified manufacturer Fiat Group, was founded in 1973. It makes automation systems for the aerospace and automotive industries and operates in 23 locations in 13 countries. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, its North American operation is in Southfield, Mich. (Post)
In addition, Hoar Program Management awarded the Mobile office of Terracon Consultants Inc. Terracon will provide construction material testing and special inspections to support the prime contractor for the $600 million project’s Package A, which includes the final assembly line hangar, logistics building and service building at Brookley Aeroplex. Terracon is an employee owned engineering consulting firm that employs more than 3,000 at 140 offices in 40 states. (Post)
-- Mexican budget airline VivaAerobus has ordered 52 Airbus A320-family jets in a record deal worth $5.1 billion. It includes 40 A320neo jets. Airbus said the deal was the biggest ever order for its aircraft by a single airline in Latin America. News that VivaAerobus would place a large order with Airbus was previously reported by Reuters as far back as June. (Post)
Space
SpaceX, the first commercial company to successfully fly a cargo mission to the International Space Station, has chosen Stennis Space Center, Miss., for initial testing of its next generation Raptor methane rocket engine.
The E-2 test stand at SSC will be made methane capable, and testing will be in early 2014.
SpaceX is just the latest commercial spaceflight company to pick SSC for rocket engine testing. Orbital Sciences, which just last week successfully completed its resupply mission to the International Space Station, tests AJ26 engines that power its Antares launch vehicle at SSC. Commercial company Blue Origin also tests engine at SSC. (Post)
The Raptor rocket engine is significant. It's capable of generating nearly 300 tons of thrust in vacuum, around four times more powerful than the Merlin 1D used in SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle. And that's the engine that may well take SpaceX to Mars.
Nicknamed "Red Dragon" – SpaceX has made no secret about heading to Mars, even publishing a graphic of their spacecraft touching down on the Red Planet. The Raptor engine is a key element of that plan. According to Spaceflight.com, Raptor is a sea-change in SpaceX’s propulsion approach since it shuns RP-1 and liquid oxygen, currently used in the Falcon 9's Merlin engines, in favor of methane and liquid oxygen.
According to Spaceflight.com, initially the new engine was mentioned for a role powering an upper stage, but now it appears it will serve as the main engine for the first stage of a new rocket.
We'll keep a close eye on this one.
-- As I mentioned above, one of the commercial companies using engine test facilities at SSC, Orbital Sciences, celebrated last week its first successful resupply demonstration to the International Space Station.
The Cygnus spacecraft, loaded with items no longer needed at the ISS, burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere. Unlike SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, Cygnus is designed to burn up. Cygnus launched Sept. 18 atop an Antares rocket and docked with ISS on Sept. 29.
Dragon was the first private company to successfully dock with ISS.
Both SpaceX and Orbital Science have billion-dollar NASA contracts to deliver cargo to the ISS on multiple missions over the coming years. (Post)
-- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was at Stennis Space Center, Miss., to welcome employees back to work after the 16-day U.S. government shutdown. Bolden held separate meetings with SSC and NASA Shared Services Center workers. He also toured the B-2 Test Stand, which is being prepared to test the core stage of NASA’s new Space Launch System, which will carry humans deeper into space than ever before. (Post)
Unmanned
A decision on whether the University of Florida and the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County will build a dedicated robot vehicle testing center is expected by early 2014.
UF and the EDC have been exploring building an unmanned aerial vehicle test facility just south of the college's Research and Engineering Education Facility outside Eglin Air Force Base.
Nathan Sparks, the EDC's executive director, said a decision could be made in the next two to three months. The project has an estimated cost of $4.5 million, but the college and EDC are evaluating ways to lower that.
Unmanned systems are of high interest to the Gulf Coast region. The military at Tyndall Air Force Base, Eglin AFB, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, all in Florida, Camp Shelby and Stennis Space Center, Miss., all work with unmanned systems. In addition, Pensacola’s Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is internationally known for its work with robotic systems. Also, Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and Global Hawk are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)
-- A full-scale mockup of Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned combat air system is now at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. In May 2013 the X-47B made its first successful catapult launch from the USS George H.W. Bush, and in July it made its first successful arrested landing aboard the ship. In August the Navy decided to delay the retirement of the prototype aircraft and look for new testing opportunities. (Post)
-- Boeing of St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $24.7 million modification for an existing contract for QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target low rate initial production. The drones will go to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The contract modification is for the exercise of the low rate initial production option under the basic contract, and is for the purchase of 13 QF-16s, 12 drone peculiar support equipment, and integration engineering support. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBYK (Aerial Targets), Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Post)
-- Defense Support Services LLC, Marlton, N.J., was awarded a $14.9 million modification exercising option year five under an existing Aerial Targets contract to support live-fire weapons system testing with the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group in the testing for all air-to-air missiles for F-22, F-35, F-16, and F-15 aircraft. Work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and Holloman AFB, N.M., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2014. (Post)
F-35
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center and right now has more F-35s than any other location. As of the end of the week the 33rd Fighter Wing had 33 of the fifth generation fighters, and all three variants, on station. There were several F-35 updates during the week.
United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a $508.2 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lot VI low rate initial production advance acquisition contract. It provides for the procurement of 18 F135 conventional take off and landing engines for the U.S. Air Force; six short take-off and vertical landing engines for the U.S. Marine Corps; and seven carrier variant engines for the U.S. Navy.
In addition, this contract procures three F135 CTOL engines for Italy; two CTOL propulsion systems for Australia; one F135 CTOL spare propulsion system for Italy; and one F135 spare propulsion system for Australia. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (42 percent); the U.S. Air Force (41 percent); and the international partners (17 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)
-- Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $30 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract to provide long lead-time parts, materials and components required for the delivery of two additional Low Rate Initial Production Lot VIII F-35 conventional takeoff and landing aircraft for the government of Japan.
Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in July 2014. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting authority. (Post)
Flightglobal reports that the $30 million contract will let Japan perform the local assembly of its first two F-35s. In December 2011 Tokyo picked the conventional take-off and landing F-35A for a 42-aircraft requirement.
The first four will be delivered from Lockheed’s Fort Worth site in Texas, with the remainder to be completed using a final assembly and check-out (FACO) line being established with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya. (Post)
Bases/airports
The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is funded for 2014 and expected to return to a full demonstration schedule. The team is scheduled to perform 65 shows at 34 locations in 2014. They’ve been grounded most of 2013 due to sequestration. (Post)
-- Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced during the week the full operational capability of the command's five-center system. Prior to the reorganization, AFMC was made up of 12 centers. The Armament Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is under the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson, and Eglin's 96th Test Wing reports to the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (Post)
-- The 36th Electronic Warfare Squadron of the 53rd Electronic Warfare Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., earned an Air Force Outstanding Unit award and five individual awards from the Association of Old Crows. (Post)
-- The 96th Test Wing reached an historic testing milestone this summer. The 2,000th sled test mission was conducted at the 96th TW's Kinetic Energy Munitions Test Facility at the Eglin Test and Training Complex Test Area C-74. (Post)
-- Officials at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in West Bay, near Panama City, Fla., hope to get a $17 million crosswind runway by 2017. The board during the week accepted a $5.5 million grant from the Department of Transportation that's the first step in the process. (Post)
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $26.7 million modification to the existing contract to retrofit fielded Mission Training Centers with Out the Window visual systems upgrade and night vision goggles capability. Effort includes upgrades for F-22 Training Systems at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and other bases. … Electronic Metrology Laboratory LLC, Franklin, Tenn., was awarded a $9.6 million contract for base operating support services at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla. Work is expected to be completed by November 2014. … Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., Rancho Cordova, Calif., was awarded a $16 million contract for the procurement of a classified quantity of BLU-129 warhead casings. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … M1 Support Services, Denton, Texas, was awarded a $16.9 million modification to exercise option year two under a previously existing contract for T-38 support for the T-38 Companion Trainer program. Work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and other bases. … Asset Group Inc., Oklahoma City, Okla., was awarded $7.3 million task order under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract for renovations to building 600 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Work will be performed in Pensacola and is expected to be completed by January 2015.
Shipbuilding/maritime
LCS 1: Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom suffered flooding in its bilge from discharge piping from a gas turbine motor lube oil cooler on Oct. 20. The Freedom class LCS ships are built in Wisconsin and the Independence class variants are built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
Tug: Construction of Signet Maritime's seventh ASD tug in less than four years, M/V Signet VIGILANT, is underway at Signet Shipbuilding & Repair in Pascagoula. The 30 metric ton vessel will be the first Castleman Maritime design for Signet with delivery slated for July 2014. (Post)
Anniversary: Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., held a Family Day last weekend to commemorate 75 years of building ships on the banks of the Pascagoula River. Mississippi's largest private employer builds Aegis-guided missile destroyers, amphibious assault ships and amphibious transport ships for the U.S. Navy and National Security Cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard. (Post)
Lockheed: Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $21.4 million modification to previously awarded contract for AEGIS Weapon System work on the DDG 51 class ships. Twenty-six percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
Somerset: Ingalls Shipbuilding in Avondale, La., delivered the amphibious transport dock Somerset (LPD 25) to the U.S. Navy. Somerset is the ninth ship in the San Antonio (LPD 17) class of ships Ingalls has delivered to the Navy. (Post)
NSC: The U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter Hamilton was christened at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., Saturday. Hamilton is the fourth of eight planned ships in the Legend-class of technologically advanced multi-mission cutters. (Post)
Here's your week in review:
Last week during an aerospace conference in Washington state, a reporter for the Puget Sound Business Journal asked Barry Eccleston, president and CEO of Airbus Americas, if Airbus will eventually establish a facility in Washington.
"We probably don't need another engineering center in the U.S. We're happy with what we are doing in Mobile," he said. That belief in Mobile and the Gulf Coast region affirms what Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas, has been saying for quite some time now.
Back in November during a meeting with the media, McArtor said he was excitement about the future of this region, and what the Mobile campus can be. "I intend to make this the example within Airbus," so when projects come along Mobile will be a strong contender.
Indeed, as recently as the Paris Air Show McArtor told the Seattle Times that in 10 years Airbus will build "more than just A320s in Mobile." He said that the wide-body A330 could still be in production then, and could be built in Mobile, perhaps as a military conversion to a freighter or a tanker.
So why was Airbus in Washington? Here are some figures that make that clear. According to the Washington Department of Commerce, that state has 1,256 companies in the aerospace supply chain and 131,000 workers. Nearly 75 percent of them supply Boeing, 40 percent supply Airbus, over 25 percent serve Spirit and another 20-25 percent Brazil's Embraer.
"What we do need from the state of Washington is a high-quality, innovative supply chain," Eccleston told the Puget Sound Business Journal. Airbus is spending $12 billion a year in the United States and expects to double that. Of that amount, Airbus buys about $180 million worth of parts from Washington suppliers, and it hopes to get that up to $300 million in seven years.
The number of suppliers in Washington can't help but intrigue Alabama and other states in the Southeast with a foot in the aerospace door. Alabama and South Carolina officials were also in Seattle to develop relationships with aerospace suppliers during the annual conference.
According to the Alabama Department of Commerce, Alabama Secretary of State Greg Canfield told the Seattle Times that he expects the aerospace industry to grow in Alabama in the same way the automotive industry has, through assembly plant expansions and the creation of an ever-widening supplier base.
"We fully expect the Airbus experience will be the same," he told the newspaper.
Canfield also told the Puget Sound Business Journal that the growth of aviation manufacturing in the Southeast means the region will become even more attractive to suppliers serving Airbus, Boeing and other companies.
All of this interest from the Southeast does concern economic development oficials in Washington state, according to the Seattle Times. The South has been a big player for years – it's where the military placed a lot of aviation-related bases and where NASA built facilities for the space program. But aircraft manufacturing is a concern in Washington state.
In addition to Boeing's 787 assembly line in Charleston, S.C., and Airbus' A320 assembly line in Mobile, Embraer has a plant in Jacksonville, Fla., and Gulfstream has one in Savannah, Ga. Even the latest iteration of aircraft assembly, unmanned aerial systems, have found homes in Moss Point and Columbus, Miss., among other locations.
No wonder Washington state is a bit concerned.
Airbus-Mobile
Italy's Comau Aerospace was picked by Airbus to supply the aircraft main assembly and test stations for the A320 plant being built in Mobile, Ala. The $600 million final assembly line will produce A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Comau Aerospace will provide all jigs and tooling for the Mobile plant, and plans to open an integration center near the plant that will offer full project support.
Comau, a subsidiary of the diversified manufacturer Fiat Group, was founded in 1973. It makes automation systems for the aerospace and automotive industries and operates in 23 locations in 13 countries. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, its North American operation is in Southfield, Mich. (Post)
In addition, Hoar Program Management awarded the Mobile office of Terracon Consultants Inc. Terracon will provide construction material testing and special inspections to support the prime contractor for the $600 million project’s Package A, which includes the final assembly line hangar, logistics building and service building at Brookley Aeroplex. Terracon is an employee owned engineering consulting firm that employs more than 3,000 at 140 offices in 40 states. (Post)
-- Mexican budget airline VivaAerobus has ordered 52 Airbus A320-family jets in a record deal worth $5.1 billion. It includes 40 A320neo jets. Airbus said the deal was the biggest ever order for its aircraft by a single airline in Latin America. News that VivaAerobus would place a large order with Airbus was previously reported by Reuters as far back as June. (Post)
Space
SpaceX, the first commercial company to successfully fly a cargo mission to the International Space Station, has chosen Stennis Space Center, Miss., for initial testing of its next generation Raptor methane rocket engine.
The E-2 test stand at SSC will be made methane capable, and testing will be in early 2014.
SpaceX is just the latest commercial spaceflight company to pick SSC for rocket engine testing. Orbital Sciences, which just last week successfully completed its resupply mission to the International Space Station, tests AJ26 engines that power its Antares launch vehicle at SSC. Commercial company Blue Origin also tests engine at SSC. (Post)
The Raptor rocket engine is significant. It's capable of generating nearly 300 tons of thrust in vacuum, around four times more powerful than the Merlin 1D used in SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch vehicle. And that's the engine that may well take SpaceX to Mars.
Nicknamed "Red Dragon" – SpaceX has made no secret about heading to Mars, even publishing a graphic of their spacecraft touching down on the Red Planet. The Raptor engine is a key element of that plan. According to Spaceflight.com, Raptor is a sea-change in SpaceX’s propulsion approach since it shuns RP-1 and liquid oxygen, currently used in the Falcon 9's Merlin engines, in favor of methane and liquid oxygen.
According to Spaceflight.com, initially the new engine was mentioned for a role powering an upper stage, but now it appears it will serve as the main engine for the first stage of a new rocket.
We'll keep a close eye on this one.
-- As I mentioned above, one of the commercial companies using engine test facilities at SSC, Orbital Sciences, celebrated last week its first successful resupply demonstration to the International Space Station.
The Cygnus spacecraft, loaded with items no longer needed at the ISS, burned up on re-entry into the atmosphere. Unlike SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, Cygnus is designed to burn up. Cygnus launched Sept. 18 atop an Antares rocket and docked with ISS on Sept. 29.
Dragon was the first private company to successfully dock with ISS.
Both SpaceX and Orbital Science have billion-dollar NASA contracts to deliver cargo to the ISS on multiple missions over the coming years. (Post)
-- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was at Stennis Space Center, Miss., to welcome employees back to work after the 16-day U.S. government shutdown. Bolden held separate meetings with SSC and NASA Shared Services Center workers. He also toured the B-2 Test Stand, which is being prepared to test the core stage of NASA’s new Space Launch System, which will carry humans deeper into space than ever before. (Post)
Unmanned
A decision on whether the University of Florida and the Economic Development Council of Okaloosa County will build a dedicated robot vehicle testing center is expected by early 2014.
UF and the EDC have been exploring building an unmanned aerial vehicle test facility just south of the college's Research and Engineering Education Facility outside Eglin Air Force Base.
Nathan Sparks, the EDC's executive director, said a decision could be made in the next two to three months. The project has an estimated cost of $4.5 million, but the college and EDC are evaluating ways to lower that.
Unmanned systems are of high interest to the Gulf Coast region. The military at Tyndall Air Force Base, Eglin AFB, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, all in Florida, Camp Shelby and Stennis Space Center, Miss., all work with unmanned systems. In addition, Pensacola’s Institute for Human and Machine Cognition is internationally known for its work with robotic systems. Also, Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and Global Hawk are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)
-- A full-scale mockup of Northrop Grumman's X-47B unmanned combat air system is now at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. In May 2013 the X-47B made its first successful catapult launch from the USS George H.W. Bush, and in July it made its first successful arrested landing aboard the ship. In August the Navy decided to delay the retirement of the prototype aircraft and look for new testing opportunities. (Post)
-- Boeing of St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $24.7 million modification for an existing contract for QF-16 Full-Scale Aerial Target low rate initial production. The drones will go to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. The contract modification is for the exercise of the low rate initial production option under the basic contract, and is for the purchase of 13 QF-16s, 12 drone peculiar support equipment, and integration engineering support. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBYK (Aerial Targets), Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Post)
-- Defense Support Services LLC, Marlton, N.J., was awarded a $14.9 million modification exercising option year five under an existing Aerial Targets contract to support live-fire weapons system testing with the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group in the testing for all air-to-air missiles for F-22, F-35, F-16, and F-15 aircraft. Work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and Holloman AFB, N.M., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2014. (Post)
F-35
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center and right now has more F-35s than any other location. As of the end of the week the 33rd Fighter Wing had 33 of the fifth generation fighters, and all three variants, on station. There were several F-35 updates during the week.
United Technologies Corp., Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, East Hartford, Conn., is being awarded a $508.2 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lot VI low rate initial production advance acquisition contract. It provides for the procurement of 18 F135 conventional take off and landing engines for the U.S. Air Force; six short take-off and vertical landing engines for the U.S. Marine Corps; and seven carrier variant engines for the U.S. Navy.
In addition, this contract procures three F135 CTOL engines for Italy; two CTOL propulsion systems for Australia; one F135 CTOL spare propulsion system for Italy; and one F135 spare propulsion system for Australia. This contract combines purchases for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (42 percent); the U.S. Air Force (41 percent); and the international partners (17 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)
-- Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $30 million modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract to provide long lead-time parts, materials and components required for the delivery of two additional Low Rate Initial Production Lot VIII F-35 conventional takeoff and landing aircraft for the government of Japan.
Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in July 2014. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting authority. (Post)
Flightglobal reports that the $30 million contract will let Japan perform the local assembly of its first two F-35s. In December 2011 Tokyo picked the conventional take-off and landing F-35A for a 42-aircraft requirement.
The first four will be delivered from Lockheed’s Fort Worth site in Texas, with the remainder to be completed using a final assembly and check-out (FACO) line being established with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya. (Post)
Bases/airports
The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team is funded for 2014 and expected to return to a full demonstration schedule. The team is scheduled to perform 65 shows at 34 locations in 2014. They’ve been grounded most of 2013 due to sequestration. (Post)
-- Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, commander of Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced during the week the full operational capability of the command's five-center system. Prior to the reorganization, AFMC was made up of 12 centers. The Armament Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is under the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Wright-Patterson, and Eglin's 96th Test Wing reports to the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (Post)
-- The 36th Electronic Warfare Squadron of the 53rd Electronic Warfare Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., earned an Air Force Outstanding Unit award and five individual awards from the Association of Old Crows. (Post)
-- The 96th Test Wing reached an historic testing milestone this summer. The 2,000th sled test mission was conducted at the 96th TW's Kinetic Energy Munitions Test Facility at the Eglin Test and Training Complex Test Area C-74. (Post)
-- Officials at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in West Bay, near Panama City, Fla., hope to get a $17 million crosswind runway by 2017. The board during the week accepted a $5.5 million grant from the Department of Transportation that's the first step in the process. (Post)
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $26.7 million modification to the existing contract to retrofit fielded Mission Training Centers with Out the Window visual systems upgrade and night vision goggles capability. Effort includes upgrades for F-22 Training Systems at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and other bases. … Electronic Metrology Laboratory LLC, Franklin, Tenn., was awarded a $9.6 million contract for base operating support services at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla. Work is expected to be completed by November 2014. … Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc., Rancho Cordova, Calif., was awarded a $16 million contract for the procurement of a classified quantity of BLU-129 warhead casings. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … M1 Support Services, Denton, Texas, was awarded a $16.9 million modification to exercise option year two under a previously existing contract for T-38 support for the T-38 Companion Trainer program. Work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and other bases. … Asset Group Inc., Oklahoma City, Okla., was awarded $7.3 million task order under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract for renovations to building 600 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Work will be performed in Pensacola and is expected to be completed by January 2015.
Shipbuilding/maritime
LCS 1: Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom suffered flooding in its bilge from discharge piping from a gas turbine motor lube oil cooler on Oct. 20. The Freedom class LCS ships are built in Wisconsin and the Independence class variants are built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
Tug: Construction of Signet Maritime's seventh ASD tug in less than four years, M/V Signet VIGILANT, is underway at Signet Shipbuilding & Repair in Pascagoula. The 30 metric ton vessel will be the first Castleman Maritime design for Signet with delivery slated for July 2014. (Post)
Anniversary: Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., held a Family Day last weekend to commemorate 75 years of building ships on the banks of the Pascagoula River. Mississippi's largest private employer builds Aegis-guided missile destroyers, amphibious assault ships and amphibious transport ships for the U.S. Navy and National Security Cutters for the U.S. Coast Guard. (Post)
Lockheed: Lockheed Martin, Mission Systems and Training, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $21.4 million modification to previously awarded contract for AEGIS Weapon System work on the DDG 51 class ships. Twenty-six percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
Somerset: Ingalls Shipbuilding in Avondale, La., delivered the amphibious transport dock Somerset (LPD 25) to the U.S. Navy. Somerset is the ninth ship in the San Antonio (LPD 17) class of ships Ingalls has delivered to the Navy. (Post)
NSC: The U.S. Coast Guard National Security Cutter Hamilton was christened at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., Saturday. Hamilton is the fourth of eight planned ships in the Legend-class of technologically advanced multi-mission cutters. (Post)
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Week in review (10/13 to 10/19)
When the Aerospace Alliance was established in 2009, the most pressing goal was to get behind Mobile, Ala., and its effort to become home of an Air Force tanker manufacturing center. I recall thinking at the time that the group wouldn't last once a decision was made.
Well the tanker project went to Boeing and Washington state, but the Aerospace Alliance didn't go away. Here it is 2013, and the group that promotes aerospace activities in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi hosted its third aerospace summit, this time in Huntsville, Ala.
More than 200 people showed up at the Von Braun Center for the two-day fall summit. It included discussions on commercial space activities and unmanned aerial systems, and there was an update on Airbus’ $600 million final assembly line being built in Mobile.
Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce, pointed out the unusual nature of the Aerospace Alliance during his opening remarks. He said you don’t normally find states that compete with one another being engaged in a group where they collaborate like this.
"The aviation and aerospace sectors are critically important to the economies of these four states," Canfield said. Indeed, the four states are home to major NASA facilities, military aviation bases and operations of every major aerospace and defense company in the nation.
Facilities in the four states build, test and launch NASA vehicles, and are heavily involved in commercial and military space activities. It's where pilots are trained to fly and maintain the nation's most sophisticated aircraft in the military's inventory, and where both Boeing and Airbus are or will be building passenger jets. There are multiple aerospace clusters in the four states, including Huntsville, the Space Coast and the Gulf Coast I-10 corridor.
Airports
OK, while I'm on the subject of gatherings, Florida airports from Pensacola to Tallahassee next week will team up at a trade show in a single exhibit as part of a new marketing strategy to draw aerospace companies to the Panhandle.
The National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas is Tuesday and Wednesday, and it’s one of the largest trade shows in the country.
Pensacola International Airport, Okaloosa County Airports, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and Tallahassee Regional Airport will be working together under the Florida's Great Northwest banner. It's a first for the airports. (Post)
Aircraft
The Dutch air force will begin training pilots and ground personnel in the F-35A later this month at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Royal Netherlands Air Force personnel will initially begin with class-room training, then pilots and maintenance personnel will move to the tarmac in December to begin flying the F-35A and hands-on mechanical training. (Post)
-- Less than two weeks after the F-22's 10-year anniversary of arriving at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Team Tyndall achieved the 25,000th F-22 sortie during a 43rd Fighter Squadron Basic Course training mission Oct. 7. The 43rd FS is the only squadron in the world that trains and develops F-22 pilots. The students learn air-to-air combat techniques during their B-course training by primarily flying sorties against the T-38 Talon from the 325th Training Support Squadron and other fighters replicating adversary aircraft. (Post)
Meanwhile, Tyndall’s new F-22 Raptor squadron was officially named the 95th Fighter Squadron earlier this month. The unit is currently preparing for the transfer of 24 F-22s and more than 1,100 positions to the base.
The additional F-22s bring the total number of the fifth generation fighters to more than 50 at Tyndall. This is the largest contingent of F-22s at one location. Aircraft for the new squadron will start arriving in early 2014.
The squadron has started receiving an average of 50 to 60 personnel per month and will continue to do so for the next several months. The new squadron's arrival, which has been years in the making, will take Tyndall air power directly into a combat role. (Post)
Unmanned
The Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator was named one of Popular Mechanics Magazine's 2013 Breakthrough Award recipients. In July the pilot-less X-47B built by Northrop Grumman landed aboard the USS George H.W. Bush. The magazine listed the jet under awards for innovators who changed the world in 2013. Northrop Grumman builds portions of the unmanned Fire Scout and all variants of the Global Hawk in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)
Boeing and Airbus
The Airbus A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., will be so efficient that when it swings into production in 2015 that one shift will be able to handle four planes per month by working
five days a week with no night work or weekends. That's what Jennifer Ogle, human resources director, said at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Roundtable during the week. (Post)
-- Airbus is poised to win a $5 billion order as Aeroenlaces Nacionales SA, the Mexican airline known as VivaAerobus, expands and upgrades its fleet of Boeing 737s. The deal is for 40 single-aisle A320neos with new engines and 12 of the current A320 models. VivaAerobus, Mexico's fourth-biggest carrier, may announce the transaction as soon as next week. (Post)
-- The French-American Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta chapter, is honoring Airbus during the 9th Annual Crystal Peach Awards luncheon next month at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Airbus Americas Inc. is being recognized for an economic development award. Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
-- That government shutdown that finally ended during the week didn’t hurt Boeing, but did hurt Airbus. Financial Times reported that Airbus had been unable to deliver four jetliners to U.S. customers because the aircraft needed certificates or registrations from the Federal Aviation Administration. But Boeing has been approved by the FAA to inspect and approve several well-established aircraft types for delivery on the government’s behalf. (Post)
Engines
Rolls-Royce North America officially opened its second test stand at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, an investment of $50 million that will mean 35 new jobs when fully operational. SSC is where NASA and commercial companies test rocket engines, but Rolls-Royce opened its first jetliner engine test stand here in 2007. (Post)
-- Development of the engine designed for fuel-efficient versions of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 jet families are running smoothly, according to leaders of CFM International. CFM, a joint venture between GE and Safran, is making the new LEAP engines for the Airbus A320neo, the Boeing 737MAX and the COMAC C919 jet. (Post)
Weapons
The fixed-wing variant of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System laser-guided rocket has wrapped up some successful tests at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.. Fixed wing APKWS uses a different guidance control system to compensate for the higher altitude and longer range employments of the weapon. During the tests at Eglin, APKWS rockets were fired from various aircraft at different altitudes. (Post)
Well the tanker project went to Boeing and Washington state, but the Aerospace Alliance didn't go away. Here it is 2013, and the group that promotes aerospace activities in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi hosted its third aerospace summit, this time in Huntsville, Ala.
More than 200 people showed up at the Von Braun Center for the two-day fall summit. It included discussions on commercial space activities and unmanned aerial systems, and there was an update on Airbus’ $600 million final assembly line being built in Mobile.
Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce, pointed out the unusual nature of the Aerospace Alliance during his opening remarks. He said you don’t normally find states that compete with one another being engaged in a group where they collaborate like this.
"The aviation and aerospace sectors are critically important to the economies of these four states," Canfield said. Indeed, the four states are home to major NASA facilities, military aviation bases and operations of every major aerospace and defense company in the nation.
Facilities in the four states build, test and launch NASA vehicles, and are heavily involved in commercial and military space activities. It's where pilots are trained to fly and maintain the nation's most sophisticated aircraft in the military's inventory, and where both Boeing and Airbus are or will be building passenger jets. There are multiple aerospace clusters in the four states, including Huntsville, the Space Coast and the Gulf Coast I-10 corridor.
Airports
OK, while I'm on the subject of gatherings, Florida airports from Pensacola to Tallahassee next week will team up at a trade show in a single exhibit as part of a new marketing strategy to draw aerospace companies to the Panhandle.
The National Business Aviation Association’s Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas is Tuesday and Wednesday, and it’s one of the largest trade shows in the country.
Pensacola International Airport, Okaloosa County Airports, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and Tallahassee Regional Airport will be working together under the Florida's Great Northwest banner. It's a first for the airports. (Post)
Aircraft
The Dutch air force will begin training pilots and ground personnel in the F-35A later this month at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Royal Netherlands Air Force personnel will initially begin with class-room training, then pilots and maintenance personnel will move to the tarmac in December to begin flying the F-35A and hands-on mechanical training. (Post)
-- Less than two weeks after the F-22's 10-year anniversary of arriving at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Team Tyndall achieved the 25,000th F-22 sortie during a 43rd Fighter Squadron Basic Course training mission Oct. 7. The 43rd FS is the only squadron in the world that trains and develops F-22 pilots. The students learn air-to-air combat techniques during their B-course training by primarily flying sorties against the T-38 Talon from the 325th Training Support Squadron and other fighters replicating adversary aircraft. (Post)
Meanwhile, Tyndall’s new F-22 Raptor squadron was officially named the 95th Fighter Squadron earlier this month. The unit is currently preparing for the transfer of 24 F-22s and more than 1,100 positions to the base.
The additional F-22s bring the total number of the fifth generation fighters to more than 50 at Tyndall. This is the largest contingent of F-22s at one location. Aircraft for the new squadron will start arriving in early 2014.
The squadron has started receiving an average of 50 to 60 personnel per month and will continue to do so for the next several months. The new squadron's arrival, which has been years in the making, will take Tyndall air power directly into a combat role. (Post)
Unmanned
The Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator was named one of Popular Mechanics Magazine's 2013 Breakthrough Award recipients. In July the pilot-less X-47B built by Northrop Grumman landed aboard the USS George H.W. Bush. The magazine listed the jet under awards for innovators who changed the world in 2013. Northrop Grumman builds portions of the unmanned Fire Scout and all variants of the Global Hawk in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)
Boeing and Airbus
The Airbus A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., will be so efficient that when it swings into production in 2015 that one shift will be able to handle four planes per month by working
five days a week with no night work or weekends. That's what Jennifer Ogle, human resources director, said at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Roundtable during the week. (Post)
-- Airbus is poised to win a $5 billion order as Aeroenlaces Nacionales SA, the Mexican airline known as VivaAerobus, expands and upgrades its fleet of Boeing 737s. The deal is for 40 single-aisle A320neos with new engines and 12 of the current A320 models. VivaAerobus, Mexico's fourth-biggest carrier, may announce the transaction as soon as next week. (Post)
-- The French-American Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta chapter, is honoring Airbus during the 9th Annual Crystal Peach Awards luncheon next month at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Airbus Americas Inc. is being recognized for an economic development award. Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
-- That government shutdown that finally ended during the week didn’t hurt Boeing, but did hurt Airbus. Financial Times reported that Airbus had been unable to deliver four jetliners to U.S. customers because the aircraft needed certificates or registrations from the Federal Aviation Administration. But Boeing has been approved by the FAA to inspect and approve several well-established aircraft types for delivery on the government’s behalf. (Post)
Engines
Rolls-Royce North America officially opened its second test stand at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, an investment of $50 million that will mean 35 new jobs when fully operational. SSC is where NASA and commercial companies test rocket engines, but Rolls-Royce opened its first jetliner engine test stand here in 2007. (Post)
-- Development of the engine designed for fuel-efficient versions of the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 jet families are running smoothly, according to leaders of CFM International. CFM, a joint venture between GE and Safran, is making the new LEAP engines for the Airbus A320neo, the Boeing 737MAX and the COMAC C919 jet. (Post)
Weapons
The fixed-wing variant of the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System laser-guided rocket has wrapped up some successful tests at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.. Fixed wing APKWS uses a different guidance control system to compensate for the higher altitude and longer range employments of the weapon. During the tests at Eglin, APKWS rockets were fired from various aircraft at different altitudes. (Post)
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Week in review (10/6 to 10/12)
This just seems to be the year for Airbus.
The company, which is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., beat its full-year goal of selling 1,000 planes in just the first nine months of 2013. And now it's on track for selling more than 1,200 aircraft in 2013. It was just in July that Airbus sales chief John Leahy raised the expected sales figure from 800 to 1,000. (Post)
It's only natural that Airbus sales would be of high interest to Mobile. In addition to the final assembly line, it's also home to an engineering center. But one sales announcement during the week was also of interest to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss.
Japan Airlines during the week announced a $9.5 billion order for 31 Airbus A350 XWBs, along with options for an additional 25 aircraft. Those JAL planes, 18 A350-900 and 13 A350-1000 aircraft, will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. Those huge engines are tested at SSC at Rolls-Royce's outdoor test stand, which has been in operation in South Mississippi since 2007 and is the first RR test stand outside the United Kingdom. (Post)
That Rolls-Royce presence is growing. On Wednesday Rolls-Royce will officially open its second jet engine test stand at the outdoor facility. The test stand represents a $50 million investment. In addition to marking the official opening, Rolls-Royce will donate a Trent 1000 engine to Infinity Science Center, just outside SSC. The engine, which was tested at SSC, will serve as a centerpiece for aviation engineering and STEM career education.(Post)
F-35
The fifth-generation F-35fighter surpassed 10,000 flight hours last month, with more than half those hours accumulated in the past 11 months. The milestone was set by aircraft operating at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., Edwards AFB, Calif., Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and Nellis AFB, Nev.
Meanwhile, the first F-35 for Australia, a conventional takeoff and landing variant, is in production in Texas. AU-1 began the process where major components of the aircraft are joined together. Two F-35s for Australia are now in production and will be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force next year. (Post)
-- Two small cracks were found in one of four load-bearing wing bulkheads in an F-35B in August during airframe durability ground tests. Airframes are designed to last through 8,000 flight hours, and the cracks were found after the plane accumulated 9,400 hours. The Pentagon described the cracks as minor. The F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing variant will be flown by Marines, the U.K., and Italy. (Post)
-- The Pentagon is going with the original team of Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems for the F-35 helmet, dropping an alternative design from BAE Systems. The helmet provides a 360-degree digital view, letting a pilot “look” through the cockpit floor and walls. In addition, data is projected directly onto the visor of the pilot, providing enhanced situational awareness. (Post)
Airport
The Municipal Airport at DeFuniak Springs, Fla., broke ground during the week for one of several projects to keep up with the community's growth. Construction will begin on 10 T-hangars, enclosed protective structures, to house an additional 20 planes. Several more hangars are expected in the near future. The airport runway is 4,146 feet long and officials are planning an extension that will make it at least 5,000 feet long. (Post)
Shutdown
In Florida, most of the civilians furloughed at Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field went back to work after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the end of furloughs for almost all of the 350,000 defense department civilians who had been sent home. Over 3,750 employees from Eglin and Hurlburt were furloughed. (Post)
But the shutdown continues to cause problems. The Air Force Armament Museum just outside Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., closed early in the week. That followed a review of guidance from both the Air Force and the Department of Defense. The National Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla., is also closed during the government shutdown. (Post)
Hero awarded
The Distinguished Flying Cross was presented during the week to Capt. John D. Easton during a ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Easton is assigned to the 86th Fighter Weapon Squadron and was honored for achievement while participating in aerial flight to successfully strike a strategic surface-to-air missile site in Libya. (Post)
Shipbuilding/maritime
Zumwalt: The christening of the future USS Zumwalt, slated for Oct. 19, has been postponed because of the government shutdown. The ship was built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, but large composite structures on the ship were fabricated in Gulfport, Miss., by Ingalls Shipbuilding. (Post)
LPD 25: The amphibious transport dock Somerset returned to the Ingalls Avondale, La., facility from successful U.S. Navy acceptance sea trials last month. (Post)
NSC: Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., has started fabrication on the U.S. Coast Guard's sixth National Security Cutter, Munro. (Post)
The company, which is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., beat its full-year goal of selling 1,000 planes in just the first nine months of 2013. And now it's on track for selling more than 1,200 aircraft in 2013. It was just in July that Airbus sales chief John Leahy raised the expected sales figure from 800 to 1,000. (Post)
It's only natural that Airbus sales would be of high interest to Mobile. In addition to the final assembly line, it's also home to an engineering center. But one sales announcement during the week was also of interest to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss.
Japan Airlines during the week announced a $9.5 billion order for 31 Airbus A350 XWBs, along with options for an additional 25 aircraft. Those JAL planes, 18 A350-900 and 13 A350-1000 aircraft, will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. Those huge engines are tested at SSC at Rolls-Royce's outdoor test stand, which has been in operation in South Mississippi since 2007 and is the first RR test stand outside the United Kingdom. (Post)
That Rolls-Royce presence is growing. On Wednesday Rolls-Royce will officially open its second jet engine test stand at the outdoor facility. The test stand represents a $50 million investment. In addition to marking the official opening, Rolls-Royce will donate a Trent 1000 engine to Infinity Science Center, just outside SSC. The engine, which was tested at SSC, will serve as a centerpiece for aviation engineering and STEM career education.(Post)
F-35
The fifth-generation F-35fighter surpassed 10,000 flight hours last month, with more than half those hours accumulated in the past 11 months. The milestone was set by aircraft operating at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 training center, Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz., Edwards AFB, Calif., Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., and Nellis AFB, Nev.
Meanwhile, the first F-35 for Australia, a conventional takeoff and landing variant, is in production in Texas. AU-1 began the process where major components of the aircraft are joined together. Two F-35s for Australia are now in production and will be delivered to the Royal Australian Air Force next year. (Post)
-- Two small cracks were found in one of four load-bearing wing bulkheads in an F-35B in August during airframe durability ground tests. Airframes are designed to last through 8,000 flight hours, and the cracks were found after the plane accumulated 9,400 hours. The Pentagon described the cracks as minor. The F-35B short-takeoff and vertical landing variant will be flown by Marines, the U.K., and Italy. (Post)
-- The Pentagon is going with the original team of Lockheed Martin, Rockwell Collins and Elbit Systems for the F-35 helmet, dropping an alternative design from BAE Systems. The helmet provides a 360-degree digital view, letting a pilot “look” through the cockpit floor and walls. In addition, data is projected directly onto the visor of the pilot, providing enhanced situational awareness. (Post)
Airport
The Municipal Airport at DeFuniak Springs, Fla., broke ground during the week for one of several projects to keep up with the community's growth. Construction will begin on 10 T-hangars, enclosed protective structures, to house an additional 20 planes. Several more hangars are expected in the near future. The airport runway is 4,146 feet long and officials are planning an extension that will make it at least 5,000 feet long. (Post)
Shutdown
In Florida, most of the civilians furloughed at Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field went back to work after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered the end of furloughs for almost all of the 350,000 defense department civilians who had been sent home. Over 3,750 employees from Eglin and Hurlburt were furloughed. (Post)
But the shutdown continues to cause problems. The Air Force Armament Museum just outside Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., closed early in the week. That followed a review of guidance from both the Air Force and the Department of Defense. The National Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla., is also closed during the government shutdown. (Post)
Hero awarded
The Distinguished Flying Cross was presented during the week to Capt. John D. Easton during a ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Easton is assigned to the 86th Fighter Weapon Squadron and was honored for achievement while participating in aerial flight to successfully strike a strategic surface-to-air missile site in Libya. (Post)
Shipbuilding/maritime
Zumwalt: The christening of the future USS Zumwalt, slated for Oct. 19, has been postponed because of the government shutdown. The ship was built by Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, but large composite structures on the ship were fabricated in Gulfport, Miss., by Ingalls Shipbuilding. (Post)
LPD 25: The amphibious transport dock Somerset returned to the Ingalls Avondale, La., facility from successful U.S. Navy acceptance sea trials last month. (Post)
NSC: Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., has started fabrication on the U.S. Coast Guard's sixth National Security Cutter, Munro. (Post)
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Week in review (9/29 to 10/5)
At this writing, folks from this region are keeping a close eye on the Gulf of Mexico and Tropical Storm Karen. It's weakening but will still cause some problems. Bases moved aircraft or secured them in hangars (post), and at least one airport had plans to close Saturday. (Story)
The storm is just the latest problem to hit. Earlier this month the government went into a partial shutdown. That's meant furloughs for federal workers and much uncertainty for anyone who works for a company that does work for the federal government.
All the events surrounding the 50th anniversary celebration at Pensacola's National Naval Aviation Museum were postponed to a date yet to be determined. The museum itself is also closed until further notice due to the furlough of museum employees. (Post)
The shutdown is even having an impact on this feed. The Pentagon is still awarding contracts, but it's not publicly announcing those awards because of the shutdown Oct. 1. It won't resume contract announcements until the shutdown ends, and when it does the plan is to catch up with one big announcement.
So, thanks Washington for the extra work. As it is, the list can be very long. The catch-up announcement will likely be a monster.
The military's awards notices, which reveal competitive and sometimes market-moving information, are closely followed by contractors, attorneys, investors and the media, including our daily news digest. And the number of items posted is significant. Out of 77 news briefs that were posted on the daily feed in September, 32 were contracts awarded by the Pentagon. Some were for local companies, some for projects that have ties to the Gulf Coast, like the F-35.
But before the shutdown, three contracts of interest to the Gulf Coast region were awarded and publicly announced. Two of those awards, both for military aircraft maintenance, went to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC of Madison, Miss.
Regular readers will remember that last week's column mentioned four contracts that were awarded to L-3 Vertex for aircraft maintenance work, one worth $102.6 million and much of the work being done in this region.
During the past week, L-3 Vertex was awarded a $65 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for additional logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance required to support 36 T-45A and 168 T-45C aircraft based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., NAS Meridian, Miss., NAS Kingsville, Texas; and Patuxent River, Md. Most of the work will be done in Kingsville, Texas. But 36 percent will be done in Meridian and 6 percent in Pensacola. (Post)
The company was also awarded an $11 million modification to exercise option four of the existing contract for helicopter maintenance at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. That work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2014. (Post)
In addition, a Shalimar, Fla., company, CCI Solutions LLC, was awarded an $11.6 million contract with options to repair airfield and roadway pavements. The work will be done at Homestead Army Reserve Base, Fla. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Economic development
Alabama's participation in the Paris Air Show last summer cost $86,609, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. The total expense of the June trip, including a booth, travel, lodging and meals for seven people, was $222,015. But it was offset by $135,406 in income from sponsors, reception passes and money from communities and companies who participated. (Post)
-- The two-day 17th annual Gulf Power Economic Symposium attracted a record 600 movers and shakers from Northwest Florida to the Sandestin Resort in Destin Monday and Tuesday. Workforce training was the most consistent theme, but the vision of a region on the cusp of change was the most compelling message. Much of the change was attributed to the Airbus’ A320 assembly plant being built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
-- Some 400 Northwest Florida middle school, high school and vocational students participated in tours of manufacturing operations in order to see first-hand that manufacturing today is nothing like it was in the past. It was all part of National Manufacturing Day. The Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council hosted the tours at 11 facilities. (Story)
For a background story on manufacturing careers and training, take a look at a story that appeared in in September issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Quarterly. For a story on the creation of the manufacturers council, click here.
F-35
The Navy's version of the F-35 fighter was officially rolled out during a ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., during the week. The long-planned ceremony went on despite a shutdown of the federal government. Hundreds of guests attended in a hangar ceremony hosted by Strike Fighter Squadron 101. (Post)
Meanwhile, the Pentagon Inspector General found hundreds of flaws in the way defense contractors produced the F-35 fighter jet, flaws that led to a higher price tag for the fifth-generation fighter. The IG's 126-page report describes 719 "issues" with the jet's primary manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, and five other major contractors.
It also listed failures of the F-35 Joint Program Office for not ensuring the prime and subcontractors were applying rigor to design, manufacturing, and quality assurance." Both Lockheed Martin and the JPO said the report was old news and that the issues have been mostly addressed. (Post)
-- The Japanese and U.S. government announced a sweeping defense cooperation effort between the two countries that involves F-35 fighters, new ballistic missile radars, and increased bilateral cyber and IRS programs. In addition, several U.S.-operated Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft will be based on Japanese soil beginning in 2014 at U.S. bases. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)
Space
Orbital Science's Cygnus cargo spacecraft made history during the week when it successfully docked with the International Space Station. Cygnus was launched by Orbital's Antares rocket Sept. 18 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Cygnus is the second commercial spacecraft to dock with ISS. The SpaceX Dragon capsule was the first. The Antares engines were tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
-- Stennis Space Center, it provided a $74,523 grant to a Loyola University New Orleans physics professor Patrick Garrity to do beta testing of his new invention. If his work proves successful, smart phones could one day be charged in a pocket using only body heat. Even sooner, rocket sensors needed to monitor an engine's health could use sensors powered solely by the heat generated from the rocket. (Post)
Airports/bases
In Mississippi, Picayune Municipal Airport hopes to expand its runway so it can handle larger planes for the city north of Stennis Space Center. Director of Operations Andy Greenwood asked the council to approve a letter to SSC to expand the airport runway further into the buffer zone around NASA's primary rocket engine testing facility. The request is to extend the runway south by 2,000 feet to 7,000 feet. (Post)
-- Pilot error has been identified as the primary cause of the Feb. 28, 2012 helicopter crash that killed four crewmembers. The U.S. Coast Guard said there also were contributing factors, and said investigators concluded there was no misconduct involving the crash of the MH-65C helicopter. (Post)
Shipbuilding/maritime
Signal: Signal International, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., said new contract awards over the past month have prompted the company to hire 500 workers at its Pascagoula, Miss., yard this year. (Post)
BAE Systems: BAE Systems' Mobile, Ala., shipyard was chosen to build a subsea support vessel for Oceaneering International Inc., a gas and oil field engineering company. BAE Systems shipyards in Mobile and Jacksonville, Fla., employ about 1,300. (Post)
Signet: Signet Shipbuilding & Repair in Pascagoula, Miss., purchased a heavy lift crane for new construction and repair. (Post)
Lockheed: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $23.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for Undersea Warfare Product Support across USW Systems. Three percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
The storm is just the latest problem to hit. Earlier this month the government went into a partial shutdown. That's meant furloughs for federal workers and much uncertainty for anyone who works for a company that does work for the federal government.
All the events surrounding the 50th anniversary celebration at Pensacola's National Naval Aviation Museum were postponed to a date yet to be determined. The museum itself is also closed until further notice due to the furlough of museum employees. (Post)
The shutdown is even having an impact on this feed. The Pentagon is still awarding contracts, but it's not publicly announcing those awards because of the shutdown Oct. 1. It won't resume contract announcements until the shutdown ends, and when it does the plan is to catch up with one big announcement.
So, thanks Washington for the extra work. As it is, the list can be very long. The catch-up announcement will likely be a monster.
The military's awards notices, which reveal competitive and sometimes market-moving information, are closely followed by contractors, attorneys, investors and the media, including our daily news digest. And the number of items posted is significant. Out of 77 news briefs that were posted on the daily feed in September, 32 were contracts awarded by the Pentagon. Some were for local companies, some for projects that have ties to the Gulf Coast, like the F-35.
But before the shutdown, three contracts of interest to the Gulf Coast region were awarded and publicly announced. Two of those awards, both for military aircraft maintenance, went to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC of Madison, Miss.
Regular readers will remember that last week's column mentioned four contracts that were awarded to L-3 Vertex for aircraft maintenance work, one worth $102.6 million and much of the work being done in this region.
During the past week, L-3 Vertex was awarded a $65 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for additional logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance required to support 36 T-45A and 168 T-45C aircraft based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., NAS Meridian, Miss., NAS Kingsville, Texas; and Patuxent River, Md. Most of the work will be done in Kingsville, Texas. But 36 percent will be done in Meridian and 6 percent in Pensacola. (Post)
The company was also awarded an $11 million modification to exercise option four of the existing contract for helicopter maintenance at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. That work is expected to be completed by Sept. 30, 2014. (Post)
In addition, a Shalimar, Fla., company, CCI Solutions LLC, was awarded an $11.6 million contract with options to repair airfield and roadway pavements. The work will be done at Homestead Army Reserve Base, Fla. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Economic development
Alabama's participation in the Paris Air Show last summer cost $86,609, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. The total expense of the June trip, including a booth, travel, lodging and meals for seven people, was $222,015. But it was offset by $135,406 in income from sponsors, reception passes and money from communities and companies who participated. (Post)
-- The two-day 17th annual Gulf Power Economic Symposium attracted a record 600 movers and shakers from Northwest Florida to the Sandestin Resort in Destin Monday and Tuesday. Workforce training was the most consistent theme, but the vision of a region on the cusp of change was the most compelling message. Much of the change was attributed to the Airbus’ A320 assembly plant being built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
-- Some 400 Northwest Florida middle school, high school and vocational students participated in tours of manufacturing operations in order to see first-hand that manufacturing today is nothing like it was in the past. It was all part of National Manufacturing Day. The Northwest Florida Manufacturers Council hosted the tours at 11 facilities. (Story)
For a background story on manufacturing careers and training, take a look at a story that appeared in in September issue of the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor Quarterly. For a story on the creation of the manufacturers council, click here.
F-35
The Navy's version of the F-35 fighter was officially rolled out during a ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., during the week. The long-planned ceremony went on despite a shutdown of the federal government. Hundreds of guests attended in a hangar ceremony hosted by Strike Fighter Squadron 101. (Post)
Meanwhile, the Pentagon Inspector General found hundreds of flaws in the way defense contractors produced the F-35 fighter jet, flaws that led to a higher price tag for the fifth-generation fighter. The IG's 126-page report describes 719 "issues" with the jet's primary manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, and five other major contractors.
It also listed failures of the F-35 Joint Program Office for not ensuring the prime and subcontractors were applying rigor to design, manufacturing, and quality assurance." Both Lockheed Martin and the JPO said the report was old news and that the issues have been mostly addressed. (Post)
-- The Japanese and U.S. government announced a sweeping defense cooperation effort between the two countries that involves F-35 fighters, new ballistic missile radars, and increased bilateral cyber and IRS programs. In addition, several U.S.-operated Global Hawk unmanned surveillance aircraft will be based on Japanese soil beginning in 2014 at U.S. bases. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)
Space
Orbital Science's Cygnus cargo spacecraft made history during the week when it successfully docked with the International Space Station. Cygnus was launched by Orbital's Antares rocket Sept. 18 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Cygnus is the second commercial spacecraft to dock with ISS. The SpaceX Dragon capsule was the first. The Antares engines were tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
-- Stennis Space Center, it provided a $74,523 grant to a Loyola University New Orleans physics professor Patrick Garrity to do beta testing of his new invention. If his work proves successful, smart phones could one day be charged in a pocket using only body heat. Even sooner, rocket sensors needed to monitor an engine's health could use sensors powered solely by the heat generated from the rocket. (Post)
Airports/bases
In Mississippi, Picayune Municipal Airport hopes to expand its runway so it can handle larger planes for the city north of Stennis Space Center. Director of Operations Andy Greenwood asked the council to approve a letter to SSC to expand the airport runway further into the buffer zone around NASA's primary rocket engine testing facility. The request is to extend the runway south by 2,000 feet to 7,000 feet. (Post)
-- Pilot error has been identified as the primary cause of the Feb. 28, 2012 helicopter crash that killed four crewmembers. The U.S. Coast Guard said there also were contributing factors, and said investigators concluded there was no misconduct involving the crash of the MH-65C helicopter. (Post)
Shipbuilding/maritime
Signal: Signal International, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., said new contract awards over the past month have prompted the company to hire 500 workers at its Pascagoula, Miss., yard this year. (Post)
BAE Systems: BAE Systems' Mobile, Ala., shipyard was chosen to build a subsea support vessel for Oceaneering International Inc., a gas and oil field engineering company. BAE Systems shipyards in Mobile and Jacksonville, Fla., employ about 1,300. (Post)
Signet: Signet Shipbuilding & Repair in Pascagoula, Miss., purchased a heavy lift crane for new construction and repair. (Post)
Lockheed: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $23.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for Undersea Warfare Product Support across USW Systems. Three percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Week in review (9/22 to 9/28)
Airbus raised its forecast for the number of jetliners that will be needed over the next 20 years, and also inked a large number of deals for A320s; three contracts are awarded for production of F-35s, including one for $3.4 billion; the Navy on Monday will hold an F-35C rollout ceremony; a QF-16 drone made its first unmanned flight at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.; Dothan-Houston County airport gets $1 million for upgrades; ground was broken on an aviation training center in Fairhope, Ala.; an economic symposium gets under way in Destin, Fla.; and a new marketing strategy by Florida’s Great Northwest were among the news items of interest to the Gulf Coast region during the week.
Here's your week in review:
Airbus
Airbus has adjusted its jet demand forecast, placing much of the increase on Asia’s increasingly affluent middle class. The latest Global Market Forecast said more than 29,220 new passenger and freighter jets worth $4.4 trillion would be needed over the next 20 years. It increased the figure for passenger jets 3.7 percent from its previous estimate, and for freighters it rose the number 1.6 percent. Boeing during the summer also revised upward its own 20-year market demand forecast by 3.8 percent. Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line at Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
Not long after that market forecast was released, a host of orders came in for the Airbus A320 family. More than 40 of the orders valued at $4.2 billion were announced at the 15th Aviation Expo China in Beijing, and another $10 billion memorandum of understanding was announced outside the expo. Buying the planes are VietJetAir, BOC Aviation, Qingdao Airlines and Zhejiang Loong Airlines. (Post)
While all that was going on, Airbus Americas posted two new managerial job openings for the $600 million assembly line being built at Brookley Aeroplex. One position is director of aircraft delivery, and the other is manufacturing engineer manager. Both positions require a minimum of nine months' training abroad. The final assembly plant will eventually have about 1,000 workers. (Post)
F-35
Lockheed Martin anticipates dozens of international orders or commitments for the F-35 in coming months, according to government and industry officials. The program got a boost during the week when South Korea rejected the Boeing F-15 and said it needed a fifth-generation fighter. Singapore may also announce an order for a dozen F-35s during the Singapore air show in February. (Post)
Meanwhile, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 joint training center, the Navy will mark the F-35C's introduction to the fleet with a roll-out ceremony Tuesday. Strike Fighter Squadron 101 (VFA-101) will host the ceremony. The squadron stood up last year with 20 personnel and now has more than 100. The initial cadre of aviators will become instructor pilots to prepare for the transition of the first fleet squadron from the F/A-18 Hornet to the F-35C. (Post)
Speaking of training, air battle managers from the 337th Air Control Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., have begun working with the F-35. The plane requires a different set of operating rules than other fighters, and those rules are being written by air battle manager instructors who have had the chance to control the F-35. Air battle managers provide pilots with information they may not have. It could include vectors to the nearest refueling tanker. Information a pilot may need varies from aircraft to aircraft. Air battle managers must know the different capabilities of each aircraft, and making sure the information they pass is relevant. (Post)
There were also three contracts awarded for production of F-35s.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded two during the week. One was a $3.4 billion modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for Low Rate Initial Production Lot VII F-35 aircraft. The contract includes 19 Air Force F-35As, six Marine Corps F-35Bs, four Navy F-35Cs, two F-35As for Norway and three F-35As for Italy; and one F-35B for the United Kingdom. Aircraft deliveries are expected to be completed in October 2016. (Post)
The other contract for LM was a $742.7 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lot VI advance acquisition contract. It includes the manufacture and delivery of two F-35As for the Australia and three F-35As for Italy. Work is expected to be completed in April 2016. (Post)
In addition, Pratt and Whitney Military Engines of East Hartford, Conn., designer and producer of the F135 engine for the F-35, was awarded a $214.8 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lot VI low rate initial production advance acquisition contract. This modification provides for initial spare modules, initial spare parts, replenishment spare parts, and production non-recurring efforts, including tooling, for the Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and Norway. Work is expected to be completed in April 2016. (Post)
Unmanned
Hey, who’s controlling this thing!
That might have been what someone asked had they seen the cockpit of the QF-16 drone that flew around Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Sept. 19. Nobody was sitting in the plane. The 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron and Boeing conducted the first unmanned flight of the drone at Tyndall as the first step in a two year process to phase out the QF-4 Full Scale Aerial Target.
A pilot performed all the normal preflight checks before climbing out of the cockpit and locking the canopy from the outside. Control was then turned over to Thomas Mudge, 82nd ATRS pilot controller, sitting in a control room on the opposite side of base. The plane had a one-hour flight, conducting a series of maneuvers and reaching supersonic speeds before returning to base. (Post)
Another drone had a first during the week in California. Northrop Grumman turned on the power to the Navy's first MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and rotated the aircraft's four blades for the first time during initial ground testing and engine runs at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu, Calif., Sept. 20.
The C model upgrade to the Fire Scout system provides the Navy with more than twice the endurance and three times the payload carrying capacity. Northrop Grumman is under contract to produce MQ-8C aircraft for deployment beginning in 2014. Some of the work on the C model will eventually be done in Moss Point, Miss., which from the start has been involved in the production of the earlier B model Fire Scout. (Post)
The maritime surveillance sensors for another unmanned system built in part in Moss Point, the Navy's Triton, completed more than 25 flight tests aboard a Gulfsteam II surrogate craft off the California cost. The risk mitigation tests of the Multi-Function Active Sensor have to be finished before the sensors are placed on the Tritons, a variant of the Global Hawk. The Navy's program calls for 68 aircraft to be built. (Post)
While on the topic of Global Hawks, Northrop Grumman was awarded an $114.2 million contract for Global Hawk Low Rate Initial Production Lot 11 advance procurement. The contract provides for advance procurement of long lead items associated with three Block 30 Global Hawk Air Vehicles, three in-line Airborne Signals Intelligence Payloads (ASIP), three in-line Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS) Sensors, two ASIP retrofit kits, and other items and activities required to protect the production schedule for Lot 11. Central fuselage work on Global Hawks is done in Moss Point. (Post)
Airports/bases
Dothan-Houston County Airport Authority Inc. during the week was awarded a $1 million federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The money will be used for roadway and water system improvements to support an aircraft maintenance and inspection business. Dothan was one of 16 projects in 11 states to get $21.1 million to support economic development projects. (Post)
Another airport in the region, H.L. “Sonny” Callahan Airport in Fairhope, had a ground breaking Friday on a $2.7 million aviation training facility. The school will teach students from Baldwin County high schools aviation technical skills, industrial maintenance and welding. The center is a partnership of Baldwin County Board of Education, Falkner State Community College, Enterprise State Community College and the Fairhope Airport Authority. (Post)
-- The restoration of the 1930-era Lakefront Airport terminal in New Orleans was unveiled this weekend. Construction on the original building began around 1929, and the airport started taking commercial flights in 1933, although it wasn't officially christened until 1934. During the Cold War the building was remodeled, turned into a virtual fortress with concrete two inches thick. But the architects recognized the importance of the art deco design and were careful to protect it. Damage from Hurricane Katrina led to the decision to restore the terminal to its original Depression-era look. (Post)
-- Who will land a 10-year food concession contract at Florida’s Pensacola International Airport? The city council decided to punt on the issue during the week and take more time to consider the options. On one side is a group that wants to bring five national brands to the airport, and on the other a team that wants local eateries represented. (Post)
-- The chief of naval personnel visited Naval Education and Training Command's tenant commands at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., during the week. It was Vice Adm. William F. Moran's first visit to Pensacola as CNP. (Post)
Economic development
The 2013 Gulf Power Economic Symposium will be held Monday and Tuesday in Destin, Fla. The topic is “Building the Future.” On the agenda are talks about Airbus, which is building an assembly line in Mobile, Ala., creating a culture of innovation, the role of the state in economic development, Northwest Florida talent development initiatives and a range of other topics. (Post)
Next month a city long known as one of the nation’s premiere aerospace and defense centers will host the third aerospace summit of the four-state Aerospace Alliance. The agenda includes discussions about unmanned aerial systems, a session on composites manufacturing, commercial space programs and the Airbus final assembly line. (Post)
Speaking of economic development, Florida's Great Northwest, a regional economic development group representing 16 counties, has launched an 18-month strategy to market the Panhandle to aerospace companies. It includes a postcard campaign, a promotional video and attendance at industry events. (Post)
Space
Changes to the U.S. space-object tracking network, adopted to replace the recently shuttered Air Force Space Surveillance System, appears to be working. That’s what Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said at a conference in Hawaii.
The Air Force shut down Space Fence, a line of radars stretching across the southern United States, and modified operating modes for some of its other space tracking assets, specifically the Perimeter Acquisition Radar Characterization System at Cavalier Air Force Station in North Dakota and the space surveillance radar at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. It appears to be working out. Shelton said that at Eglin there was one day during which the number of observations of space objects doubled. (Post)
-- Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $96.3 million modification o an existing contract for Space Based Infrared Systems contractor logistics support. Work is expected to be completed on Sept. 30, 2014. Portions of the work on the A2100-based SBIRS satellites is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
Contracts - aircraft maintenance
Five contracts for military aircraft support were awarded during the week. Four of them were awarded to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace of Madison, Miss. One was a $102.6 million modification to an existing contract for logistics support of the T-1A aircraft at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., Vance AFB, Okla., Randolph AFB, Texas, and Laughlin AFB, Texas. Work will be performed at Madison and is expected to be completed by Oct. 1, 2014. (Post)
Another award was an $11 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for logistics support services in support of the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Half the work will be done in Pensacola and half in Corpus Christi, and is expected to be completed in September 2014. (Post)
The company also was awarded an $8.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract for contractor logistics services in support of T-39N and T-39G aircraft and associated equipment used in student naval flight officer training. Work will be done at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and is expected to be completed in March 2014. (Post)
The company’s Systems Field Support was awarded a $55.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for aircraft maintenance and logistical life cycle support for 54 C-12 aircraft for the Navy (48) and Marine Corps (6). Work will be performed in New Orleans, Texas, Maryland, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina, Virginia, California, Bahrain, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Japan. (Post)
Rolls-Royce Defense Services Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., was awarded a $50.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for intermediate and depot level maintenance and related logistics support for about 223 in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines. Work will be done at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., NAS Meridian, Miss., NAS Kingsville, Texas, and NAS Patuxent River, Md., and is expected to be completed in March 2014. (Post)
Contracts - munitions
Chemring Ordnance Inc., Perry, Fla., was awarded a $16.1 million contract with options for procurement of the Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System MK 7 MOD 2, National Stock Number 1375-01-508-4975. APOBS is an explosive live charge system that allows safe breaching through complex antipersonnel obstacles, particularly land mines. This procurement is in support of critical U.S. Army, Marine, and Navy requirements. The performance location is Perry, Fla. (Post)
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $11.2 million contract for 16 GBU-49 telemetry, 17 GBU-50 telemetry and a ten year warranty. Work will be done at Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by July 1, 2025. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Contracts - other
Raytheon Co., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded $39 million delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the procurement of 15 AN/APG-79 AESA radar systems for the F/A-18 E/F aircraft. Eighty percent of the work will be done in Forest, Miss., and is expected to be completed in November 2015. … Gulf Coast Architectural Group Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $30 million contract for complete architect and engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast area of responsibility. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by March 2014. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Southeast AOR including, but not limited to Texas (50 percent), Louisiana (25 percent), and Mississippi (25 percent). … Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $29.4 million modification to an existing contract for the fiscal 2014 C-130J aircrew instruction and contractor logistic support for the C-130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System devices. Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is one of the locations where work will be done and will be completed on Sept. 30, 2014. … Summit Construction Inc., Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., is being awarded two contracts. One is a $13 million contract to add/alter the commissary at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Fort Eustis, Va. The contract is for a 594-day period based on the issuance of the notice-to-proceed which is expected in November 2013. The other contract is a $12.9 million contract for the architectural/refrigeration upgrade to the commissary at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The contract is for a 597-day period based on the issuance of the notice-to-proceed which is expected in November 2013. … Del-Jen Inc., Clarksville, Tenn., was awarded a $26.7 million modification under a previously awarded contract to exercise option two for base operation support services at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and surrounding areas including Saufley Field, Corry Station, and Bronson Field.
Shipbuilding/maritime
LCS 4: The Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Coronado (LCS 4) during a ceremony at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala., Friday. Coronado is the fourth littoral combat ship to deliver to the Navy, and the second of the Independence variant, noted for its trimaran hull. (Post)
Horizon: Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc., Bayou La Batre, Ala., was awarded an $11.1 million contract with options for the Shorty Baird Replacement which is one inland river, all welded steel towboat for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District. The performance location is Bayou La Batre, Ala. (Post)
Avondale union: Huntington Ingalls Industries said members of the New Orleans Metal Trades Council and the Metal Trades Department approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the company's Avondale subsidiary. (Post)
NSC: Northrop Grumman won a $6.9 million subcontract from Huntington Ingalls Industries to supply the ship integrated control system (SICS) for the Coast Guard's sixth National Security Cutter (NSC). Work will be performed in Charlottesville, Va., Ocean Springs, Miss., and Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
DDG hangar: The Ingalls Shipbuilding in Gulfport, Miss., has delivered the composite hangar that will be used on the U.S. Navy's second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001). (Post)
Trinity: In Gulfport, Miss., Trinity Yachts has finished a superyacht big enough for a king-size berth complete with his and her baths yet with a shallow draft. (Post)
Here's your week in review:
Airbus
Airbus has adjusted its jet demand forecast, placing much of the increase on Asia’s increasingly affluent middle class. The latest Global Market Forecast said more than 29,220 new passenger and freighter jets worth $4.4 trillion would be needed over the next 20 years. It increased the figure for passenger jets 3.7 percent from its previous estimate, and for freighters it rose the number 1.6 percent. Boeing during the summer also revised upward its own 20-year market demand forecast by 3.8 percent. Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line at Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Ala. (Post)
Not long after that market forecast was released, a host of orders came in for the Airbus A320 family. More than 40 of the orders valued at $4.2 billion were announced at the 15th Aviation Expo China in Beijing, and another $10 billion memorandum of understanding was announced outside the expo. Buying the planes are VietJetAir, BOC Aviation, Qingdao Airlines and Zhejiang Loong Airlines. (Post)
While all that was going on, Airbus Americas posted two new managerial job openings for the $600 million assembly line being built at Brookley Aeroplex. One position is director of aircraft delivery, and the other is manufacturing engineer manager. Both positions require a minimum of nine months' training abroad. The final assembly plant will eventually have about 1,000 workers. (Post)
F-35
Lockheed Martin anticipates dozens of international orders or commitments for the F-35 in coming months, according to government and industry officials. The program got a boost during the week when South Korea rejected the Boeing F-15 and said it needed a fifth-generation fighter. Singapore may also announce an order for a dozen F-35s during the Singapore air show in February. (Post)
Meanwhile, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., home of the F-35 joint training center, the Navy will mark the F-35C's introduction to the fleet with a roll-out ceremony Tuesday. Strike Fighter Squadron 101 (VFA-101) will host the ceremony. The squadron stood up last year with 20 personnel and now has more than 100. The initial cadre of aviators will become instructor pilots to prepare for the transition of the first fleet squadron from the F/A-18 Hornet to the F-35C. (Post)
Speaking of training, air battle managers from the 337th Air Control Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., have begun working with the F-35. The plane requires a different set of operating rules than other fighters, and those rules are being written by air battle manager instructors who have had the chance to control the F-35. Air battle managers provide pilots with information they may not have. It could include vectors to the nearest refueling tanker. Information a pilot may need varies from aircraft to aircraft. Air battle managers must know the different capabilities of each aircraft, and making sure the information they pass is relevant. (Post)
There were also three contracts awarded for production of F-35s.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded two during the week. One was a $3.4 billion modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for Low Rate Initial Production Lot VII F-35 aircraft. The contract includes 19 Air Force F-35As, six Marine Corps F-35Bs, four Navy F-35Cs, two F-35As for Norway and three F-35As for Italy; and one F-35B for the United Kingdom. Aircraft deliveries are expected to be completed in October 2016. (Post)
The other contract for LM was a $742.7 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lot VI advance acquisition contract. It includes the manufacture and delivery of two F-35As for the Australia and three F-35As for Italy. Work is expected to be completed in April 2016. (Post)
In addition, Pratt and Whitney Military Engines of East Hartford, Conn., designer and producer of the F135 engine for the F-35, was awarded a $214.8 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Lot VI low rate initial production advance acquisition contract. This modification provides for initial spare modules, initial spare parts, replenishment spare parts, and production non-recurring efforts, including tooling, for the Navy and Marine Corps, Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom, Italy, The Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and Norway. Work is expected to be completed in April 2016. (Post)
Unmanned
Hey, who’s controlling this thing!
That might have been what someone asked had they seen the cockpit of the QF-16 drone that flew around Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., Sept. 19. Nobody was sitting in the plane. The 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron and Boeing conducted the first unmanned flight of the drone at Tyndall as the first step in a two year process to phase out the QF-4 Full Scale Aerial Target.
A pilot performed all the normal preflight checks before climbing out of the cockpit and locking the canopy from the outside. Control was then turned over to Thomas Mudge, 82nd ATRS pilot controller, sitting in a control room on the opposite side of base. The plane had a one-hour flight, conducting a series of maneuvers and reaching supersonic speeds before returning to base. (Post)
Another drone had a first during the week in California. Northrop Grumman turned on the power to the Navy's first MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and rotated the aircraft's four blades for the first time during initial ground testing and engine runs at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu, Calif., Sept. 20.
The C model upgrade to the Fire Scout system provides the Navy with more than twice the endurance and three times the payload carrying capacity. Northrop Grumman is under contract to produce MQ-8C aircraft for deployment beginning in 2014. Some of the work on the C model will eventually be done in Moss Point, Miss., which from the start has been involved in the production of the earlier B model Fire Scout. (Post)
The maritime surveillance sensors for another unmanned system built in part in Moss Point, the Navy's Triton, completed more than 25 flight tests aboard a Gulfsteam II surrogate craft off the California cost. The risk mitigation tests of the Multi-Function Active Sensor have to be finished before the sensors are placed on the Tritons, a variant of the Global Hawk. The Navy's program calls for 68 aircraft to be built. (Post)
While on the topic of Global Hawks, Northrop Grumman was awarded an $114.2 million contract for Global Hawk Low Rate Initial Production Lot 11 advance procurement. The contract provides for advance procurement of long lead items associated with three Block 30 Global Hawk Air Vehicles, three in-line Airborne Signals Intelligence Payloads (ASIP), three in-line Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite (EISS) Sensors, two ASIP retrofit kits, and other items and activities required to protect the production schedule for Lot 11. Central fuselage work on Global Hawks is done in Moss Point. (Post)
Airports/bases
Dothan-Houston County Airport Authority Inc. during the week was awarded a $1 million federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The money will be used for roadway and water system improvements to support an aircraft maintenance and inspection business. Dothan was one of 16 projects in 11 states to get $21.1 million to support economic development projects. (Post)
Another airport in the region, H.L. “Sonny” Callahan Airport in Fairhope, had a ground breaking Friday on a $2.7 million aviation training facility. The school will teach students from Baldwin County high schools aviation technical skills, industrial maintenance and welding. The center is a partnership of Baldwin County Board of Education, Falkner State Community College, Enterprise State Community College and the Fairhope Airport Authority. (Post)
-- The restoration of the 1930-era Lakefront Airport terminal in New Orleans was unveiled this weekend. Construction on the original building began around 1929, and the airport started taking commercial flights in 1933, although it wasn't officially christened until 1934. During the Cold War the building was remodeled, turned into a virtual fortress with concrete two inches thick. But the architects recognized the importance of the art deco design and were careful to protect it. Damage from Hurricane Katrina led to the decision to restore the terminal to its original Depression-era look. (Post)
-- Who will land a 10-year food concession contract at Florida’s Pensacola International Airport? The city council decided to punt on the issue during the week and take more time to consider the options. On one side is a group that wants to bring five national brands to the airport, and on the other a team that wants local eateries represented. (Post)
-- The chief of naval personnel visited Naval Education and Training Command's tenant commands at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., during the week. It was Vice Adm. William F. Moran's first visit to Pensacola as CNP. (Post)
Economic development
The 2013 Gulf Power Economic Symposium will be held Monday and Tuesday in Destin, Fla. The topic is “Building the Future.” On the agenda are talks about Airbus, which is building an assembly line in Mobile, Ala., creating a culture of innovation, the role of the state in economic development, Northwest Florida talent development initiatives and a range of other topics. (Post)
Next month a city long known as one of the nation’s premiere aerospace and defense centers will host the third aerospace summit of the four-state Aerospace Alliance. The agenda includes discussions about unmanned aerial systems, a session on composites manufacturing, commercial space programs and the Airbus final assembly line. (Post)
Speaking of economic development, Florida's Great Northwest, a regional economic development group representing 16 counties, has launched an 18-month strategy to market the Panhandle to aerospace companies. It includes a postcard campaign, a promotional video and attendance at industry events. (Post)
Space
Changes to the U.S. space-object tracking network, adopted to replace the recently shuttered Air Force Space Surveillance System, appears to be working. That’s what Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said at a conference in Hawaii.
The Air Force shut down Space Fence, a line of radars stretching across the southern United States, and modified operating modes for some of its other space tracking assets, specifically the Perimeter Acquisition Radar Characterization System at Cavalier Air Force Station in North Dakota and the space surveillance radar at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. It appears to be working out. Shelton said that at Eglin there was one day during which the number of observations of space objects doubled. (Post)
-- Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $96.3 million modification o an existing contract for Space Based Infrared Systems contractor logistics support. Work is expected to be completed on Sept. 30, 2014. Portions of the work on the A2100-based SBIRS satellites is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)
Contracts - aircraft maintenance
Five contracts for military aircraft support were awarded during the week. Four of them were awarded to L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace of Madison, Miss. One was a $102.6 million modification to an existing contract for logistics support of the T-1A aircraft at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Columbus Air Force Base, Miss., Vance AFB, Okla., Randolph AFB, Texas, and Laughlin AFB, Texas. Work will be performed at Madison and is expected to be completed by Oct. 1, 2014. (Post)
Another award was an $11 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for logistics support services in support of the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Half the work will be done in Pensacola and half in Corpus Christi, and is expected to be completed in September 2014. (Post)
The company also was awarded an $8.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract for contractor logistics services in support of T-39N and T-39G aircraft and associated equipment used in student naval flight officer training. Work will be done at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and is expected to be completed in March 2014. (Post)
The company’s Systems Field Support was awarded a $55.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for aircraft maintenance and logistical life cycle support for 54 C-12 aircraft for the Navy (48) and Marine Corps (6). Work will be performed in New Orleans, Texas, Maryland, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina, Virginia, California, Bahrain, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Japan. (Post)
Rolls-Royce Defense Services Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., was awarded a $50.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for intermediate and depot level maintenance and related logistics support for about 223 in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines. Work will be done at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., NAS Meridian, Miss., NAS Kingsville, Texas, and NAS Patuxent River, Md., and is expected to be completed in March 2014. (Post)
Contracts - munitions
Chemring Ordnance Inc., Perry, Fla., was awarded a $16.1 million contract with options for procurement of the Anti-Personnel Obstacle Breaching System MK 7 MOD 2, National Stock Number 1375-01-508-4975. APOBS is an explosive live charge system that allows safe breaching through complex antipersonnel obstacles, particularly land mines. This procurement is in support of critical U.S. Army, Marine, and Navy requirements. The performance location is Perry, Fla. (Post)
Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $11.2 million contract for 16 GBU-49 telemetry, 17 GBU-50 telemetry and a ten year warranty. Work will be done at Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be completed by July 1, 2025. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/EBDK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Post)
Contracts - other
Raytheon Co., El Segundo, Calif., is being awarded $39 million delivery order against a previously issued basic ordering agreement for the procurement of 15 AN/APG-79 AESA radar systems for the F/A-18 E/F aircraft. Eighty percent of the work will be done in Forest, Miss., and is expected to be completed in November 2015. … Gulf Coast Architectural Group Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $30 million contract for complete architect and engineering services in the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southeast area of responsibility. Work for this task order is expected to be completed by March 2014. Work will be performed at various Navy and Marine Corps facilities and other government facilities within the NAVFAC Southeast AOR including, but not limited to Texas (50 percent), Louisiana (25 percent), and Mississippi (25 percent). … Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $29.4 million modification to an existing contract for the fiscal 2014 C-130J aircrew instruction and contractor logistic support for the C-130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System devices. Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is one of the locations where work will be done and will be completed on Sept. 30, 2014. … Summit Construction Inc., Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., is being awarded two contracts. One is a $13 million contract to add/alter the commissary at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Fort Eustis, Va. The contract is for a 594-day period based on the issuance of the notice-to-proceed which is expected in November 2013. The other contract is a $12.9 million contract for the architectural/refrigeration upgrade to the commissary at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas. The contract is for a 597-day period based on the issuance of the notice-to-proceed which is expected in November 2013. … Del-Jen Inc., Clarksville, Tenn., was awarded a $26.7 million modification under a previously awarded contract to exercise option two for base operation support services at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and surrounding areas including Saufley Field, Corry Station, and Bronson Field.
Shipbuilding/maritime
LCS 4: The Navy accepted delivery of the future USS Coronado (LCS 4) during a ceremony at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala., Friday. Coronado is the fourth littoral combat ship to deliver to the Navy, and the second of the Independence variant, noted for its trimaran hull. (Post)
Horizon: Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc., Bayou La Batre, Ala., was awarded an $11.1 million contract with options for the Shorty Baird Replacement which is one inland river, all welded steel towboat for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District. The performance location is Bayou La Batre, Ala. (Post)
Avondale union: Huntington Ingalls Industries said members of the New Orleans Metal Trades Council and the Metal Trades Department approved a new collective bargaining agreement with the company's Avondale subsidiary. (Post)
NSC: Northrop Grumman won a $6.9 million subcontract from Huntington Ingalls Industries to supply the ship integrated control system (SICS) for the Coast Guard's sixth National Security Cutter (NSC). Work will be performed in Charlottesville, Va., Ocean Springs, Miss., and Pascagoula, Miss. (Post)
DDG hangar: The Ingalls Shipbuilding in Gulfport, Miss., has delivered the composite hangar that will be used on the U.S. Navy's second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001). (Post)
Trinity: In Gulfport, Miss., Trinity Yachts has finished a superyacht big enough for a king-size berth complete with his and her baths yet with a shallow draft. (Post)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)