Week in review (9/21 to 9/27)

There were a lot of news stories of interest to the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor during the week, including "firsts" for the A320neo and F-22; a job posting for a test pilot in Mobile, Ala.; a magazine story about Mississippi's Stennis Space Center and its role in the Space Launch System program; and a story about a new customer for the F-35.

Here's your week in review:


Airbus
Airbus has posted more positions for its A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. One is for a test pilot. Successful candidates will be test pilot graduates holding a valid license from a recognized test pilot school and have earned a Class 1 medical certificate. (Post)

Airbus is also seeking additional liaison engineers. The three positions include liaison systems engineers for both cabin systems and power plant and electrical as well as liaison engineers for structure. (Post)

The plant at the Mobile Aeroplex will open in 2015 and produce its first aircraft in 2016. It will assemble 40 to 50 aircraft each year when it's producing at full speed. It's Airbus' fourth final assembly line for its A320 family of aircraft.

One of the aircraft the Mobile plant eventually will assemble is the A320neo, the more fuel efficient version of the popular single-aisle Airbus jetliner. That aircraft had a successful maiden flight late in the week in southwest France.

The plane, powered by Pratt and Whitney PW1100G-JM engines, flew for two hours and 22 minutes, kicking off a year of flight trials. The A320neo can also be purchased with LEAP-1A turbofans built by CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and Safran. (Post)

Airbus expects to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from the neo version of the plane. Neo is short for "new engine option," and is a more fuel-efficient variant of the "ceo" model, or current engine option. Airbus has received more than 3,000 orders for the new model. Airbus plans to deliver its first one in 2015.


F-22
Speaking of doing something for the first time, the fifth-generation F-22 Raptor jet fighter during the week flew its first combat operation. An Air Force official confirmed that the Raptor was used over Syria during nighttime operations against the Islamic State and other militant groups as part of a joint force of U.S. and Arabian Gulf region allies.

The F-22 fleet is relatively small. While the Pentagon originally planned on a major buy of the Lockheed Martin-built jets, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates pushed to end the plane’s production in the early days of the Obama administration. F-22 pilots are trained at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., which also has an operational squadron of the fighters. (Post)


F-35
Another fighter associated with the Gulf Coast region, the F-35, has won a new customer. The Republic of Korea decided to buy 40 Joint Strike Fighters. Korea opted for the conventional take off and landing variant, the F-35A, which is also used by the U.S. Air Force. Initial deliveries will begin in 2018. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center. (Post)

-- During the week a modification was awarded to Lockheed Martin, $331.4 million, to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for procurement of production non-recurring items, including special tooling, special test equipment items and software lab upgrades in support of F-35 aircraft for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, international partners, and foreign military sales.

Work will be done in Fort Worth, Texas; Nashua, N.H.; Orlando, Fla.; El Segundo, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Cameri, Italy; Palmdale, Calif.; Samlesbury, United Kingdom; Irvine, Calif.; Baltimore, Md.; Cheltenham, United Kingdom; East Aurora, N.Y.; and Marietta, Ga. Work is expected to be completed in December 2017.

This modification combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force (34 percent); U.S. Navy (17 percent); the U.S. Marine Corps (17 percent); international partners (19 percent); and foreign military sales (13 percent). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting authority. (Post)

Lockheed Martin also was awarded a $60 million modification to the previously awarded Lot IX F-35 advance acquisition contract to procure long lead parts, materials and components in support of the procurement of four additional F-35A Air Systems for the government of Japan under the Foreign Military Sales program. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in February 2015. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Post)

-- Also during the week, Alion Science and Technology Corp., Burr Ridge, Ill., was awarded a $49.9 million order to previously awarded contract for the F-35 program. The contractor will provide the application of materials, manufacturing and testing to increase supportability, survivability, producibility and affordability of the program.

The company also will develop, implement and enhance the analytical capabilities necessary to evaluate system performance, perform root cause analyses and identify failure modes or other support system deficiencies of components and end items modified through the application of advanced material, manufacturing and testing technology.

Work will be performed at Arlington, Va., and Rome, N.Y., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016. Air Force Installation Contracting Agency, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., is the contracting activity. (Post)


Space
In addition to all our military activities, this region is also heavily involved in space programs, thanks to Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

The October issue of Air and Space Smithsonian magazine has a well-written feature story on NASA's Space Launch System, which will be even more powerful than the Saturn V that played such a huge role in our nation’s space program.

The article focuses on Stennis Space Center, the nation's largest rocket engine test facility. Among the places visited by the writer was the room no larger than a convenience store that houses more than a billion dollars worth of irreplaceable RS-25 engines that will power the core stage of the SLS.

A lot of copy is also devoted to the historic B stand, where the four-engine SLS first stage will be tested in less than two years. This stand, listed as a National Historic Landmark, is where booster tests were done for both the Apollo program and the shuttle. It's a good read. (Post)


Airports/bases
The 801st Special Operations Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., is among the winners in the 2014 Department of Defense Maintenance Awards announced Friday. The awards for depot and field-level units are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievements in weapon system and military equipment maintenance. The 801st was one of two award winners of the field-level maintenance award in the medium category. (Post)

-- In Florida, Walton County officials are letting the sun set on a half-cent tourist development tax levied since 2009 to help recruit and promote low-cost air carriers at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The tax, part of the county bed tax, will expire at the end of the month. (Post)


Contracts
A lot of contracts were awarded during the week with some ties to the Gulf Coast aerospace region. In six of them, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. Three of them went to Raytheon.

Raytheon Co. Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded an $11 million modification to previously awarded contract for GPS-Aided Inertial Navigation System II Phase III. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missiles Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $15 million modification to previously awarded contract for the Advanced Electronic Protection Improvement program. Contractor will provide a schedule extension of the AEPI contract for design, development, integration, test and implementation of performance enhancements to the AIM-120C-7 missile. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. ... Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $12.9 million modification to a previously awarded contract for Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile production lot 27. This contract is for Life-of-Type-Buy parts for AMRAAM contract line item number 6020 being produced under the basic contract. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Zodiac Data Systems Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., was awarded a $10 million contract for sustainment of the current Airborne Data Recorder fleet. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Sept. 26, 2019. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. ... Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $9 million contract for Subminiature Flight Safety System integration onto the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Armament Directorate, Advanced Programs Division, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … PowerSecure Inc., Wake Forest, N.C., was awarded an $8.3 million contract to repair and relocate an 115 kV transmission line. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Oct. 10, 2015. Air Force Test Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.

Jacobs Technology, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded a $171.6 million modification to a previously awarded contract for services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division's Combat Environment Simulation Division. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity. … Exelis Inc., Clifton, N.J., was awarded a $71.5 million contract to provide Countermeasures System Operational Flight Program software deficiency analysis, block cycle software support, enhanced maintenance test set software support, original equipment manufacturer system sustaining engineering services and maintainability and reliability system line replaceable unit-10 final redesign. Hurlburt Field, Fla., will be one of the work locations. ... Fluor Federal Solutions LLC, Greenville, S.C., was awarded a $27.2 million modification under a previously awarded contract to exercise option three for base operations support services at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and the surrounding areas of Saufley Field, Corry Station, and Bronson Field. Work will be performed in Pensacola and is expected to be completed September 2015.

Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $7.3 million modification for extension of services for the C130J Maintenance and Aircrew Training System. Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., is among the work locations. ... Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Stratford, Conn., was awarded a $19.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for organizational, intermediate, depot-level maintenance for T-34 and T-44 aircraft, and organization and intermediate maintenance for T-6 aircraft. In addition, this modification provides for logistics support, including labor, services, facilities, equipment, tools, related support equipment, direct and indirect material to support 36 T-34s, 54 T-44s, 42 T-6As, and 207 T-6B aircraft, based primarily at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas; Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla.; and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Work will be performed in Corpus Christi (50 percent), Whiting Field (39 percent) Pensacola (8 percent) and various sites within the continental United States (3 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2014. … Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $78 million delivery order under a basic order agreement for initial Global Hawk Block 40 spare parts. Work will be performed at Warner Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and is expected to be complete by Sept. 24, 2018. Gulf Coast note: Central fuselage work on Global Hawks is done in Moss Point, Miss.

Week in review (9/14 to 9/20)

The greater Gulf Coast aerospace corridor region is performing well when it comes to Gross Domestic Product. According to figures released during the week by the U.S. Commerce Department, all but one metro area along the Gulf Coast region had a higher GDP in 2013 over 2012.

The best performer was Alabama's Daphne-Fairhope-Foley MSA, a metro area that encompasses all of Baldwin County. In current dollars, its GDP improved 6.34 percent to just under $6.3 billion. Next best was Louisiana's Baton Rouge MSA, up 5.34 percent to over $52.2 billion.

Florida's two-county Panama City MSA, which includes Bay and Gulf counties, rose 4.9 percent to just over $7.4 billion, while Alabama's single-county Mobile MSA was up 4.25 percent to just under $18.4 billion. In Mississippi, the three-county Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula MSA improved 4.22 percent to just under $16.2 billion.

Alabama's Dothan was next, improving by 4.14 percent between 2012 and 2013 to nearly $4.9 billion. Mississippi's Hattiesburg was up 2.88 percent to over $5.4 billion, Florida's capital Tallahassee was up 2.68 percent to $13.8 billion, Florida's Pensacola-Ferry Pass-Brent was up 2.15 percent to just over $15.2 billion, and Florida's Crestview-Fort Walton Beach-Destin was up 1.14 percent to over $12.1 billion.

The largest metro area in the region, Louisiana's New Orleans-Metairie, has the 41st largest GDP in the nation. It was down 0.69 percent to over $81.8 billion. (Post)


Airbus
Airbus during the week posted two new engineering positions for the A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. It's seeking a flight test engineer and ground test engineer, both of which require six to nine months training abroad. (Post)

Meanwhile, orders to A320s continue to build up. Germany's Deutsche Lufthansa AG approved an order during the week to buy 25 more A320 family aircraft. That includes 15 fuel-efficient A320neo aircraft and 10 A320 current engine aircraft. Also, easyJet placed an order for 27 additional current engine option A320s. (Post)

-- Mexican low-cost carrier VivaAerobus, signed a 10-year contract to have Airbus handle some training. Airbus will provide training for maintenance personnel, flight operations engineers, pilots and cabin crew. The training will be done at the Airbus training center in Miami, and a new facility in Monterrey, Mexico, that opens in early 2016. (Post)

-- In another Airbus-related story during the week, a top GE Aviation executive said the company decided not to use a geared design for its new, more fuel-efficient engine for narrow-body jets because of concerns about weight and reliability.

GE Aviation rival Pratt and Whitney developed a geared turbofan that relies on a gearbox and lets the front fan operate at a different speed than the rest of the engine. In GE's traditionally configured engines the fans run at the same speed.

Through CFM International, GE's joint venture with France's Safran, GE competes against Pratt for customers who buy Airbus' new A320neo single-aisle plane. Both engines are options for those customers. GE has engine parts plants near Hattiesburg, Miss., and in Auburn, Ala. Safran has an engineering center in Mobile. (Post)

-- In one final Airbus item, Airbus Americas and the United Way of Southwest Alabama announced their joint participation in a new national education partnership and awarded four grants totaling $12,000 to Mobile area schools and programs. (Post)


Space
Boeing and SpaceX were chosen by NASA during the week to built the spacecraft that will be used to transport U.S. crews to and from the International Space Station. The spacecraft moving forward are the Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon.

The goal is to end the nation's reliance on Russia for transportation to the ISS in 2017. The contract includes at least one crewed flight test per company, and at least two flights with a crew of as many as six to the space station.

Boeing's contract is for $4.2 billion and SpaceX's is for $2.6 billion. The companies will own and operate the crew transportation systems and be able to sell human space transportation services to other customers in addition to NASA.

Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in NASA and commercial space programs. But this decision will primarily mean new jobs in Texas and Florida. (Post)

-- Blue Origin is teaming up with United Launch Alliance to develop a rocket engine to replace the Russian-built RD-180, a workhorse that powers the ULA heavy-lift Atlas V rocket. A scale model of the liquid natural gas and liquid oxygen BE-4 engine developed by Blue Origin was unveiled at a news conference during the week. The engine could be ready in four years. Blue Origin has tested engine components at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Meanwhile, Aerojet Rocketdyne plans to open a rocket propulsion development office in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Ala., with plans to deliver a new rocket engine, the AR 1, to replace the RD-180. Former Stennis Space Center director Gene Goldman will be involved in the project. Aerojet Rocketdyne has an operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)


Unmanned
The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $354 million contract to expand its RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system fleet by three aircraft. That’s good news for Moss Point, Miss., which does the aircraft's central fuselage work.

The Global Hawk operates multiple sensors simultaneously to gather intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance data. The newest aircraft will bring the Air Force RQ-4 fleet to 37 aircraft in 2017. (Post)

Meanwhile, the MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft – the Navy's version of the Global Hawk – during the week finished a cross-country flight from Northrop Grumman's Palmdale, Calif., facility to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.

The 11-hour, 3,290 nautical took the mile flight was over the southern U.S. border and Gulf of Mexico and across Florida via an approved instrument route. Operators navigated the aircraft up the Atlantic Coast and Chesapeake Bay at altitudes in excess of 50,000 feet. (Post)


F-35
Pratt and Whitney said its contracts with the Pentagon for the next two batches of engines for the F-35 fighter jet will result in combined cost savings of up to 8 percent. The president of Pratt's military engines division told reporters the company had already more than halved the cost of the F135 engine, and the savings from the next two contracts would come on top of that. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is an F-35 training center. (Post)

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $24.9 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in November 2016. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)


Contracts
Textron Marine and Land Systems, New Orleans, La., was awarded a $15.2 million foreign military sales contract for mobile strike force vehicles, related fielding hardware, and technical services, for the Bulgarian National Military Forces deployed in support of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Work will be performed in New Orleans and Afghanistan, with an estimated completion date of June 30, 2015. … Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Solutions, King of Prussia, Pa., was awarded a $7 million cost-plus-fixed-fee for Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) software maintenance. Work will be performed at King of Prussia, and is expected to be completed by Sept. 14, 2015. Air Force Lifecycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lakeview Center Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $12 million contract modification to exercise option year two for the procurement of "Full Food Galley Services" for U.S. Navy galleys at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.; the Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, Pensacola; and Naval Construction Battalion Command, Gulfport, Miss. Work is expected to be completed no later than Sept. 30, 2015. The award was issued to Lakeview Center under the AbilityOne Program supporting the blind and severely disabled.

Telspan Data LLC, Concord, Calif., was awarded a $10 million contract for data replay systems for the Air Force Test Center. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Oct. 6, 2014. The Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Calculex Inc., Las Cruces, N.M., was awarded a $9.7 million contract to support existing airborne data recorders for the Air Force Test Center. Work will be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Jan. 31, 2015. The Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. … Northrop Grumman Systems, Amherst Systems Inc., Buffalo, N.Y., was awarded a $9.6 million contract and the first delivery order at $1 million for spares and system engineering support. Work will be performed at Buffalo and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., with an expected completion date of Sept. 15, 2015. Air Force Test Center/PZIE, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $12 million modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for maintenance, repair, and logistics support for the chief of Naval Air Training Aircraft's intermediate maintenance departments located at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas. Work will be performed at NAS Pensacola (60 percent), and NAS Corpus Christi (40 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2015. … Summit Construction Inc., Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was awarded a $10.6 million contract to perform an architectural/refrigeration project on the commissary at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Work will be performed in Hawaii with an estimated completion date of February 2016. … Alion Science and Technology Corp., Burr Ridge, Ill., was awarded a $25 million order on the Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, and Testing Information Analysis Center contract for technical analysis, logistics and sustainment for Headquarters U. S. Marine Corps. The work will be performed at Panama City, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Dec. 29, 2016.

CACI-ISS Inc., Chantilly, Va., was awarded a $14.8 million contract modification in support of the Air Force Expeditionary/Contingency Medical Materiel Program performed at Department of Defense and Air Reserve/Guard installations within the continental United States and in the Pacific theater of operations. In this region, work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Fla.; Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; and Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. … The Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $6.9 million modification to exercise the second option for the firm-fixed-price contract FA3010-13-C-0005 for full food services. Work will be performed at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., with an expected completion date of Sept. 30, 2017. The 81st Contracting Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.

Week in review (9/7 to 9/13)

An aerospace company with an operation in Mobile inked an agreement to open a second operation in Pensacola; a nod from the Ex-Im Bank chief to apply export financing for any Mobile-built A320 that's sold overseas; a fast-track work program for Dothan's Commercial Jet; a ribbon cutting for a weapons development research institute in Fort Walton Beach; and a visit to the region by NASA's chief were among the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor stories during the week.

Here's your week in review:


Airbus
The U.S. Export-Import Bank, which may or may not last beyond the Sept. 30 deadline, would provide financing for exports of Mobile-built Airbus jetliners, provided they are built with sufficient content from domestic suppliers. That's what Ex-Im Bank President Fred Hochberg said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington during the week.

The bank, which supports loans for U.S. manufacturers selling products to foreign companies, is the subject of a debate over whether Congress should renew its authority to operate beyond the end of this month.

Close to half the bank's financial exposure is for jetliners made by Airbus rival Boeing and sold to overseas airline companies. It became clear once Airbus decided to build an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., that at some point those planes might be sold to overseas customers, and that it might want to get Ex-Im Bank backing.

The Mobile plant will make its first plane delivery in 2016, and it intends at this point to sell the Alabama-built planes to U.S. airlines. Now the door is open for U.S. export credit support for foreign airlines interested in those planes. Airbus has said the U.S. supplies more than 40 percent of its aircraft-related purchasing, and while Hochberg did not provide a threshhold percentages, that's a significant percentage. (Post)

-- Speaking of suppliers, here's an item from the Mobile paper. It said Airbus Americas chose a Grand Rapids., Mich., company to furnish and provide space design for the A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile. Steelcase Inc. will design a variety of individual and team spaces for all assembly line work areas at the FAL, and then manufacture and provide furniture from its other facilities, including one in Athens, Ala. (Post)


Economic development
The city of Pensacola, Fla., signed a lease with VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering to establish a 300-employee maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at Pensacola International Airport. The city will build a hangar complex on 18.66 acres and lease it to VT MAE for 30 years. The complex will be big enough for two wide-body aircraft and is expected to be ready for operations in 2016. VT MAE, a subsidiary of Singapore's ST Engineering, has an larger MRO at Alabama's Mobile Aeroplex. (Post)

That brings me to a comment made during the week by Lee Lawson, executive director of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. According to the Mobile paper, Lawson was speaking at an economic development meeting in Mobile and pointed out that Baldwin County has a lot of lifestyle options, from beaches to rural areas, along with plenty of shovel-ready sites to lure prospects. But Lawson said he really could use large buildings and office space for prospects who aren't interested in building from scratch. (Post)

We've heard that lament before. More than a year ago Neal Wade, the Bay County Economic Development Alliance director, said Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport near Panama City needs new hangars to lure aerospace companies. Even earlier, Wade pointed out that Commercial Jet, an MRO company, opened a facility at Alabama's Dothan Regional Airport because they had hangars available.

A good point, and one that's of interest to a lot of economic development officials in the region.

-- Since I mentioned Commercial Jet, there was another story involving that company during the week. Dothan and the company now have a new fast-track work program. Called the CJET Academy, it partners Commercial Jet with Alabama Industrial Development Training, the Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce and others in a training course allowing selected applicants to complete a free eight-week training course and receive a job offer from Commercial Jet upon graduation. (Post)

-- While we are on the subject of airports, Mobile Regional Airport in Alabama is continuing with facility renovations, and more work will begin Sept. 15. It's a road construction project that will be finished in phases and will involve closing all lanes of traffic on the departures side of the terminal. Departure and arrival traffic will operate on the arrivals side of the terminal. (Post)

-- In another economic development item during the week, three states with a piece of the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor were listed as among the Top States for Doing Business. In the fifth annual survey of site consultants by the publication Area Development, Alabama was ranked No. 4, Louisiana No. 6 and Mississippi No. 10. (Post)


Bases
The Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., had an official ribbon cutting ceremony early in the week at Fort Walton Beach's Doolittle Institute, an organization in the works for several years that brings together military, business and academic experts to collaborate on munitions and weapons research. It’s located at Uptown Station on Eglin Parkway. (Post)

-- The television program "Mysteries at the Museum" is aired a story about a small plane on display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. The two-seat Cessna was used to evacuate a South Vietnamese family of seven during the fall of Saigon in 1975. What makes the plane noteworthy is the pilot managed to land the single-engine plane on the deck of the carrier USS Midway. If you missed it Friday, no doubt you can see it in repeats. (Post)

-- The Air Force launched its new "I am an American Airman" recruiting campaign this month. One of the commercials features current active duty airmen from Northwest Florida's Eglin Air Force Base and Hurlburt Field. The commercials will be broadcast on major cable television and prime-time channels. (Post)


Space
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was in New Orleans and South Mississippi at the end of the week for events marking NASA's Space Launch System program. He was at the ribbon cutting for the newly finished Vertical Assembly Center at Michoud Assembly Facility in east New Orleans. It will be used to build the core stage of the SLS.

Bolden also went to Stennis Space Center, Miss., some 40 miles away from Michoud, to talk to the media at the base of the historic B-2 Test Stand. That stand was used to test the S-1C stage on the Saturn V moon rocket and the Space Shuttle engines. The stand will next be used to test the four RS-25 engines. (Post ; Sun Herald update; Times-Picayune letter to the editor update by director of Marshall Space Flight Center)

-- NASA picked 23 proposals from small business and research institution teams to continue the development of innovative technologies that will support future agency missions and may prove viable as commercial products and services. Two proposals involve technology being administered by the Office of the Chief Technologist at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)

Contract
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., was awarded a $28 million modification to a previously awarded contract for the Large Aircraft Infrared Counter Measures C-130 Group A Kits and Installations. The contractor will provide the kits and the associated installations to 28 C-130 aircraft (11 AC-130H, 12 MC-130U, and five EC-130J). Work will be performed at Crestview, Fla., and is expected to be completed by April 30, 2017.

Week in review (8/31 to 9/6)

A story during the week about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter provided details for the first time on just what happened to the jet that caught fire at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., back in June. In addition, a separate story about the F-35 shows just how critical suppliers – and supplier honesty – is to a multibillion-dollar program.

First, the June 23 fire. Lt. Gen. Christopher Bodgan, head of the F-35 program, said during a Sept. 3 conference that the fire was caused by excessive rubbing of a fan blade inside the plane's Pratt and Whitney-built F135 engine. That we knew from earlier reports.

The Air Force Times wrote that Bogdan went into further detail for the first time on what caused the damage to the F-35 at Eglin, the training center for the fifth-generation fighter. Bogdan said the issue actually began three weeks before the fire when a pilot took the F-35 up and executed a two-second maneuver involving adding Gs, roll rate and yaw to the plane at the same time. That was "well within the envelope of the airplane," he said.

But those two-seconds led to the engine rubbing against a rubber piece at a much higher rate, and at nearly double the temperature than it was designed to do. That, in turn, led to what Bogdan called "microcracks" that over the next few weeks grew.

"And eventually on the day this happened, that fan-blade system just cracked too much, the whole circular part of that engine — through centrifugal force — stretched out and became a spear; that spear went up through the left aft fuselage of the fuel tank and it was the fuel tank that caused the fire," he said, according to Air Force Times.

Bogdan said no microcracks were discovered in other F-35s, but there were marks that indicate potentially similar, if lesser, issues. Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies, will cushion the cost of any retrofit that's necessary to fix the problem.

But that's not the only problem confronting Pratt and Whitney. According to the same article, the company in May discovered what it called "conflicting documentation" about the origin of titanium used in the F-35 engine, supplied from a Massachusetts firm called A&P Alloys. That led Pratt and Whitney to pause deliveries of the F135 while it investigated.

While Pratt has since determined that the titanium in the existing engines does not pose a flight risk – and has no connection to the fire aboard the F-35 – the company purged its supply of titanium and sued A&P Alloys. It dropped the company from its supply chain and also alerted federal authorities of the issue.

Flightglobal reports that the titanium in question came from Russia, and U.S. law prohibits the Defense Department from purchasing titanium from foreign sources.

Another publication, the Hartford Courant, provided a detailed look at the titanium issue, based on information from the suit. The paper covered the issue because Pratt and Whitney is a division of Hartford's United Technologies.

According to the suit, all the hunting for information, testing of titanium and replacement of parts that had already made it into delivered military engines cost Pratt & Whitney more than $1 million. The Courant points out that the case provides unique glimpse into how Pratt & Whitney maintains quality and compliance among its field of suppliers for hundreds of thousands of parts. With production increases on the horizon, the incident shows just how much the company relies on the honesty of its suppliers and redundant testing measures to keep the operation on track.


Commercial aviation
Airbus and Boeing both topped 1,000 new jet orders in the first eight months of the year, but Boeing is far ahead after adjusting for cancellations. Boeing also has delivered more planes this year than Airbus. The planemaking subsidiary of Airbus Group sold 21 aircraft in August, bringing its total gross orders for the year to 1,001 aircraft. Boeing booked 107 orders in the same month, bringing total gross orders for the year to 1,004.

Adjusting for cancellations, Airbus reported 722 net orders between January and August. That compares with 941 net orders for Boeing from Jan. 1 to Sept. 2, after accounting for 63 cancellations. Both companies have operations in the Gulf Coast aerospace region, including an Airbus A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. (Post)

In another story, Boeing projected a demand in China for 6,020 new airplanes over the next 20 years. That information was in the company’s annual China Current Market Outlook. It shows Chinese carriers will take delivery of nearly 45 percent of the total demand for airplanes in the Asia Pacific region during the forecast period. (Post)


Airbus
Speaking of China, the Airbus assembly line in Tianjin during the week received parts for the 200th A320 family aircraft, which will be delivered to China Eastern Airlines in December. Sections included the forward and aft fuselage, horizontal and vertical tail, main landing gear doors, inner flaps and engine pylons.

Those parts and components were produced at different Airbus sites in Europe and carried by a commercial cargo vessel from Hamburg to Tianjin. The wings for the jetliners assembled in Tianjin are produced in Tianjin by Xi'an Aircraft Industry Co., while the engines will arrive at a later date directly from the engine supplier. (Post)

-- Airbus posted three new positions during the week for its A320 final assembly line being built at Alabama's Mobile Aeroplex. The company is seeking power plant systems coordinator, engine quality inspector and paint quality inspector. The $600 million plant will open next year and produce its first plane in 2016. It expects to have 1,000 workers when it reaches full production. (Post)

Meanwhile, Airbus awarded a $10 million contract to Alaska's Alutiiq Pacific to provide security services at the Mobile plant. Alutiiq Pacific, a subsidiary of Afognak Native Corp., is providing security officers, fire and rescue services, surveillance, control center operation, entry and exit control, reception and more. Open positions will be posted at the Alutiiq jobs site. (Post)


Economic development
Three utilities that serve the I-10 region were among 10 singled out by Site Selection magazine for their economic development teams. The companies are Alabama Power of Birmingham, Ala., Entergy of New Orleans and Gulf Power of Pensacola, Fla. They were singled out for, among other things, job creation, innovative programs and incentives for businesses. (Post)


Airports
The Pensacola City Council will vote Tuesday on a proposed lease of Pensacola International Airport facilities to VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering. The company, which has had a maintenance, repair and overhaul operation in Mobile, Ala., since the 1990s, is expanding into Pensacola where it plans an MRO that will employ about 300 people at two hangars. The project is being funded by the Florida Department of Transportation, Escambia County, the city of Pensacola and BP oil spill money. (Story)

-- Southern Airways Express plans to shift its service at Florida's Destin Airport from seasonal to year-round this fall. Southern Airways Express will provide daily service from Destin to Memphis, Tenn., Atlanta and Jackson, Miss., and weekend service to Oxford, Miss. The Memphis, Tenn.-based airline launched its first flight in June 2013. The company operates a fleet of three, 10-seat Cessna Caravans. (Post)

-- Nearly a year after the groundbreaking, the Baldwin County school system's $2.7 million aviation training facility is still under construction at the H.L. "Sonny" Callahan Airport in Fairhope, Ala. If there are no weather delays, the building should be completed by the end of December and students will begin classes at the site in January. (Post)


Testing
The Rolls-Royce composite carbon/titanium (CTi) fan system for the Advance and UltraFan engine designs has completed its most recent phase of testing at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The fan system underwent crosswind testing on a Trent 1000 Advanced Low Pressure System technology engine, ahead of flight testing on the 747 flying test bed based in Tucson, Ariz.

The CTi fan system includes carbon/titanium fan blades and a composite casing that reduce weight by up to 1,500 pounds per aircraft. Opened in 2007 and expanded in 2013 to include a second test stand, the 50-employee Rolls-Royce Outdoor Jet Engine Testing Facility at SSC is one of three Rolls-Royce test sites in the world. It conducts specialist development engine testing including noise, crosswind, thrust reverse, cyclic and endurance testing on all current Rolls-Royce large engine types. Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi is NASA's rocket engine test center. (Post)

Testing of a very different type was done recently at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., by Boeing and the U.S. Army. It involved the High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD). In the test in maritime conditions, HEL MD targeting a variety of aerial targets. The 10-kilowatt, high energy laser was installed on an Oshkosh tactical military vehicle for the tests. Earlier HEL MD tests were done at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The next step is with a higher kilowatt unit. (Post)


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., was awarded a $42.9 million
modification to a previously awarded contract for dual band telemetry, tracking and communications capability for the Space-Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbiting 5-6 space vehicles. The work will be done in Sunnyvale, but work on the internal propulsion system for the SBIRS is done by Lockheed Martin at Stennis Space Center, Miss. … Integrated Solutions for Systems Inc., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded a $10 million contract for enhanced lethality ordnance and modeling. Contractor will provide research and development in three research weapons core competencies: weapon effectiveness, damage mechanisms and energetic materials. Work will be performed at Huntsville. Air Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (8/24 to 8/30)

The Interstate 10 corridor is becoming quite the place for aircraft manufacturing.

Bell Helicopter broke ground during the week on an 82,300-square-foot helicopter assembly plant in Lafayette, La., some 135 miles west of New Orleans. That's where the company will assemble the new line of Short Light Single helicopters, the Bell 505, a five-seat, single-engine turbine helicopter.

The Lafayette Aircraft Assembly Center at the 14.5-acre airport site is funded by Louisiana and will be owned by Lafayette Regional Airport. It will be leased by Texas-based Bell. The new plant will create 115 new direct jobs and another 136 new permanent indirect jobs. Bell Helicopter will retain more than 60 jobs in the Lafayette area at two existing facilities that perform rotor blade and composite repair and overhaul. (Post)

Another helicopter, this one unmanned, is assembled to the east of Lafayette in Moss Point, Miss. The newest variant, the MQ-8C Fire Scout, uses a Bell 407 airframe. Moss Point is also where fuselage work is done for the Global Hawk family of unmanned aircraft.

Then keep going east and in Mobile, Ala., production will begin next year on another aircraft, this one the Airbus A320. That's the plane that’s received the most publicity from this region, and small wonder since it's a major inroad into this region by the European aircraft maker.

Keep heading east from Mobile and another helicopter, the Safari 400, is built in the small Interstate 10 town of Marianna. The two-seat helicopter is built by CHR International, and can be purchased either as a kit or assembled by the company.

From there you head to Jacksonville and you’ll find an Embraer plant in a hangar at Jacksonville International Airport. That's where Embraer and partner Sierra Nevada are assembling the A-29 Super Tucano light support aircraft.

If you want to take a look at other aerospace products made along the I-10 corridor, take a look at Chapter 1 of this year's Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor book. Aircraft assembly is just one aspect of the aerospace products made along the corridor.


F-35
The engine for the F-35 fighter continues to make headlines.

F135 engine-maker Pratt and Whitney briefly suspended delivery of the engine in May because of questions about titanium provided to a parts supplier. The company said Friday that it discovered conflicting documentation in late May that raised questions about the origin of the titanium.

The company determined that the material didn't pose a flight safety risk, and that the part will be replaced by attrition. A federal investigation is being conducted into the source of the titanium. Pratt and Whitney said it was no longer accepting parts made from material provided by the supplier. (Post)

In another F135 story during the week, Pratt and Whitney said it's close to performing tests on a potential design change for its F135 engine following a June fire aboard an F-35 fighter at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

That June 23 fire was caused by excessive rubbing of a fan blade inside the engine of an F-35A model, the Air Force variant. Inspectors are still investigating the root cause of the incident to determine if it was a manufacturing or design flaw. But the company nonetheless came up with an apparent fix. The fire hit as the plane was getting ready to take off. The incident forced the grounding of the F-35, which was not able to make two shows in the UK. (Post)

There were four contracts awarded during the week in connection with the F-35.

Pratt and Whitney Military Engines of East Hartford, Conn., was awarded a $9.5 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract. This modification provides for support equipment for the F135 propulsion systems to include handling, testing, and maintenance equipment and parts required to keep systems operational such as borescope inspection kits, main engine inlet covers, lift nozzle module slings, lift gearbox adapters, and water wash cart systems. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Post)

In another contract, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $122.2 million modification to a previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract for the procurement of support equipment for the F-35 such as sensor covers, tool sets, vacuum clamp sets, and heat gun assemblies. The Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland is the contracting activity. (Post)

The company also was awarded a $20 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract. This modification provides site activation efforts required for the stand-up of the United Kingdom Joint Strike Fighter Academic Training Center at Royal Air Force Marham, UK. The Naval Air Systems Command in Maryland is the contracting activity. (Post)

Also, the company was awarded an $8.2 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract. This modification provides for the maintenance and support for the F-16 chase aircraft supporting the F-35. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity. (Post)


Military aircraft
While we're on the subject of military aircraft, here's a couple of additional items of interest to the Gulf Coast I-10 aerospace corridor.

The Air Force soon will finalize the conversion of a fleet of F-16s into unmanned target drone aircraft by shooting one with an air-to-air missile fired from an F-15. The missile will not have a warhead.

Boeing in 2010 was awarded the contract to convert retired F-16 A and C models into QF-16 drones to replace QF-4s, converted Phantom jets. Low-rate initial production in Jacksonville, Fla., is expected to begin in September. Most of those QF-16s will go to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

Interestingly, Boeing is studying the suitability of using the F-16 as an operational unmanned air vehicle like the General Atomics Predator or Reaper. (Post)

In another military aircraft story, the American Beagle Squadron returned to Tyndall after being deactivated for four years. The 325th Operations Group Adversary Air program became the 2nd Fighter Training Squadron during a reactivation ceremony Aug. 22, marking the return of the World War II American Beagle Squadron.

The new 2nd FTS' mission is to provide adversary threat replication. The Beagles fly T-38 Talons as adversaries against Tyndall's F-22 Raptors during training. The T-38 costs around six to seven times less than the F-22, and cost far less to fly. The 2nd FTS has 18 T-38s. (Post)

While we're on the subject military aircraft, there was an item in Politico during the week that said major defense contractors are getting smaller. The number of employees at the five largest U.S. defense firms dropped 14 percent from a peak in 2008, and 10 percent over the past decade, according to an analysis of employment figures filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The analysis included Lockheed Martin, Boeing's defense unit, Raytheon, General Dynamics and Northrop. The five have in total eliminated 70,000 jobs since 2008, largely through layoffs, buyouts, attrition or, in the case of Boeing, moving employees to the commercial side of the business. (Post)


Commercial aircraft
Airbus Americas is hiring quality inspectors for its $600 million A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. The company, which will eventually build 40 to 50 A320s a year in Mobile, is seeking both final assembly line and flight line quality inspectors. (Post)

-- China Aircraft Leasing reached an agreement with Airbus to buy four A320 jetliners for an aggregate basic price of about $375.6 million. The company also said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange that it had signed agreements to lease two Airbus A320 aircraft to Sichuan Airlines and another four to Chengdu Airlines. (Post)

-- Bank of China’s aircraft leasing subsidiary, Singapore-based BOC Aviation, announced an order for 82 Boeing planes with a listed value of $8.8 billion. It includes 50 737 MAX 8s, 30 737-800s and two 777-300ERs. The announcement came less than six weeks after the company ordered 43 A320s from Airbus at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Meanwhile, French aerospace group Safran said BOC Aviation placed an engine order worth an estimated $2 billion with CFM International, a joint venture between Safran and General Electric. The order is for 100 LEAP-1B engines to power 50 new 737 Max 8 aircraft and 60 CFM56-7BE engines to power 30 next generation 737s. Safran has an engineering center in Mobile, Ala., and GE Aviation has engine parts plants near Hattiesburg, Miss., and Auburn, Ala. (Post)

-- India’s Air One Aviation Pvt. is seeking $2 billion worth of jets to take on Singapore Airline Ltd’s venture in the country. Air One, among six companies that last month got initial approval to start airlines in India, is looking at Airbus A320s and Boeing 737s. Air One plans to start full-service flights in mid-2015. (Post)

-- Qantas Airways has converted orders for 21 Airbus A320 aircraft into the re-engined A320neo variant and deferred the delivery by four years. This means Australia's flag carrier now has orders for 99 Airbus A320neos, and the airline said the move is part of the latest restructuring of its order book. (Post)

-- Rising demand for new airplanes from airlines around the world has increased shipments of engines and airplane parts from United Technologies’ aerospace division, consisting of Pratt and Whitney and UTC Aerospace System segments. UTC Aerospace Systems in Foley, Ala., is Baldwin County’s largest manufacturing employer, and does original equipment work and maintenance, repair and overhaul work on nacelle components. (Post)

-- General Electric has redesigned the engines that will power the Boeing 777X to have thinner and stronger blades than any GE engine in service. GE has designed advanced carbon-fiber composite fan blades for its GE9x engine, and the 777X will have two of them. It has been a decade since GE designed a new composite fan blade for the GEnx engine. IHI Corp., Snecma and Techspace Aero and MTU Aero Engines have also joined the effort to develop the GE9X. (Post)


Contracts
Defense Support Services LLC, Marlton, N.J., was awarded a $14.9 million modification exercising option year six under the Aerial Targets contract. The modification provides for Air Combat Command Acquisition Management and Integration Center contracting and program management oversight to include functional and quality assurance support for the aerial targets program which directly supports live-fire weapons system testing and enables the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group in the developmental and operational weapons testing for all air-to-air missiles, and for the F-22, F-35, F-16, and F-15 aircraft. Work will be performed primarily at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. … Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Va., was awarded a maximum $144 million contract for supply chain management of industrial hardware used in aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul. Locations of performance are Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and California, with a Sept. 30, 2017, performance completion date. … Whitesell-Green Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was among six companies awarded a $537.8 million contract for construction services for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Southwestern Division and other Southwestern Fort Worth and Southwestern Division on a limited nationwide basis. Work and funding will be determined with each order. … Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, was awarded $21.4 million delivery order 0096 against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement for non-recurring engineering in support of the MV-22 Integrated Aircraft Survivability Equipment Universal Urgent Needs Statement Effort. Four percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. … Areté Associates, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $10.3 million modification to previously awarded contract for engineering services in support of AN/DVS-1 Coastal Battlefield Reconnaissance and Analysis (COBRA) Block 1 program. The primary mission of AN/DVS-1 COBRA is to conduct unmanned aerial tactical reconnaissance in littoral battle space for detection and localization of mine fields and obstacles in the surf zone and beach zone prior to amphibious assault. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity. … M1 Support Services, Denton, Texas, was awarded a $17.7 million modification, exercising option year three to the fixed-price-plus-award-fee contract to continue T-38 program management, organizational and intermediate maintenance services support for Air Combat Command's T-38 Companion Trainer program. Some of the work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

Week in review (8/17 to 8/23)

You could put this under the category of the growing Airbus Group footprint in the Gulf Coast region.

Lawmakers during the week approved the Army's request to reprogram $111 million to pay for 21 more UH-72A Lakota helicopters for training at Fort Rucker, Ala.. That's according to sources cited by InsideDefense.

Those twin-engine helicopters with a four-blade main rotor are made by Airbus Helicopters in Columbus, Miss., which earlier this month signed a contract to lease office space in Daleville, Ala., not far from Fort Rucker. The space will be occupied Sept. 1.

As part of the Army's plan to reduce costs, it's restructuring its helicopter fleet. That includes divesting OH-58 Kiowa Warriors and using AH-64 Apaches to meet the armed aerial scout mission. In addition, Lakotas are replacing the Bell TH-67 as the Army's primary training helicopter at Fort Rucker. (Post)

Add that to Airbus' growing presence in this region.

In Mobile, Ala., Airbus is building a $600 million final assembly line for A320 jetliner at the Mobile Aeroplex. It will begin production in 2015 and roll out its first jetliner in 2016, and eventually produce 40 to 50 aircraft each year. Airbus also has an engineering center at the Aeroplex, which pre-dates the assembly line.

Across town at the Mobile Regional Airport you'll find Airbus Military North America's MRO delivery center. And lest we forget, about two hours away from Mobile in Andalusia there's an operation of Vector Aerospace, which in 2011 was bought by what's now Airbus Helicopters.

Think Airbus Group likes it here?

-- In another Airbus story this week, Information Transport Solutions Inc., of Wetumpka, Ala., was awarded the networking contract for the A320 final assembly line in Mobile. ITS will provide Airbus with network components for its local area network, fixed port and wireless, IP telephony and video teleconferencing. ITS will conduct the Airbus project from its Mobile offices and provide backup redundancy from the Wetumpka headquarters near Montgomery. (Post)


Expansions
Enterprise State Community College's Alabama Aviation Center wants to expand its footprint at Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley. It offers the state's only aviation maintenance program, provides both airframe and powerplant training as well as dual-enrollment programs in both Mobile and Baldwin counties for high school students. It's wants to secure space in the Aeroplex's warehouse area. (Post)

-- Over in Northwest Florida, the Santa Rosa County got a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to resurface and expand the tarmac at Peter Prince Airport. One business at the airport, Trident Aviation, expects to benefit from that expansion. It broke ground during the week on a new hanger and office building. Trident provides aviation students with their first training in the cockpit before they start flying in military aircraft. (Post)


Space
Orbital Sciences successfully completed its third cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station. The Cygnus spacecraft was launched July 13 atop the company's Antares rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in east Virginia. The Antares rocket is powered by AJ-26 engines tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Post)

But for SpaceX things didn't go so well during the week. The company, the first commercial company to successfully bring supplies to the ISS, suffered a setback Friday when an unmanned test flight of a rocket exploded over Texas. The test was of a three-engine version of the F9R test vehicle. There were no injuries. SpaceX also has ties to Stennis Space Center, which it plans to use to help it develop its Raptor engine.


Unmanned
Northrop Grumman is talking to Britain, Germany and Norway about its Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance plane, according to a company executive. The Global Hawks are all built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

Andrew Tyler, Northrop’s UK and European chief, thinks a $1.7 billion contract the company signed with NATO for a five-drone surveillance and intelligence system in 2012 will help boost European sales.

Germany is already familiar with the Global Hawk. Northrop remains in long-running talks with the country about a stalled $1.6 billion purchase of four Euro Hawks. (Post)

Another of Northrop Grumman’s unmanned aircraft, the X-47B combat plane, returned to carrier operations aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Aug. 17. It completed a series of tests, operating safely with manned aircraft.

The first series of manned/unmanned operations began when the ship launched an F/A-18 and an X-47B, then after an eight-minute flight the X-47B executed an arrested landing, folded its wings and taxied out of the landing area. The F/A-18 landed right after the X-47B. (Post) You can bet the naval aviators who begin their training in Northwest Florida are keeping close tabs on this.


Bases
Honolulu-based Navatek Boat Builders has delivered its “Bladerunner 35” high-speed vessel to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., for use as a military target support boat. The 35-foot rigid-hull inflatable boat was built in 2006. It has a top speed of more than 50 knots and will be used in simulated missions and military exercises. (Post)


Contracts
OroconCarothers, JV1, Oxford, Miss., was awarded $28.4 million task order under a multiple award construction contract for renovation and repairs of Building 603, Saufley Field at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Work will be done in Pensacola and is expected to be completed by August 2016. … L-3 Communications Corp., Link Simulation and Training Division, Arlington, Texas, was awarded $15.5 million delivery order against a previously issued agreement for the procurement of 25 system configuration sets, Navy Aviation Simulation Master Plans, Next Generation Threat System upgrades and 25 liquid crystal display spare kits in support of the F/A-18 Tactical Operational Flight Trainer Suites. Ten percent of the work will be performed at Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. … Nova Technologies, Panama City, Fla., was awarded a $55 million modification to a contract for modification of the fire training system for simulated battlefield training of fire support specialists, joint fire observers and soldiers at the institutional and unit level. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $13.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide logistics services for aircraft availability of 96 TH-57 aircraft. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla., and is expected to be completed in May 2015.

Week in review (8/10 to 8/16)

NASA is looking at two proposals to develop green space around the 43-acre Michoud Assembly Facility in east New Orleans. The federal agency in early May issued a notice seeking input from parties interested in developing some 300 acres of green space around the complex.

No details are available at this point about the proposals, but it's not surprising that there would be interest. This is all happening at a time when commercial companies are getting more and more involved in space. And the Stennis-Michoud area has a lot to offer.

Michoud is a huge production facility with a history of building large aerostructures for NASA programs. It's just off Interstate 10 and where production work was done on the first space-bound Orion. It's also where the core stage of the Space Launch System is being built, and the site where composite structures for Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser are being built.

The acreage around Michoud would be ideal for a variety of space-related activities of commercial companies. And keep in mind, while initially these companies are taking on cargo missions to the International Space Station, plans go well beyond that. Some are intent on setting up habitats in space.

What makes the Michoud acreage even more appealing is that some 40 miles away is Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The center for rocket engine testing also has acreage available for development, as well as underutilized facilities being offered for space-related ventures.

To read Lisa Monti’s newsletter story on Michoud and the development proposals, click here.


F-35
Nine Airmen are now the first Air Force recruits to graduate initial skills technical training as F-35 crew chiefs. They completed Mission-Ready Airmen training at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., earlier this month.

The airmen went through months of training within the 82nd Training Wing that spanned two bases and three squadrons. After basic training, they headed to Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, for aircraft fundamentals with the 362nd Training Squadron.

Then it was on to Eglin, first for F-35-specific training with the 359th Training Squadron followed by Mission-Ready Airmen training with Detachment 19, 372nd Training Squadron. (Post)

Meanwhile, the Pentagon eased more limitations on flights of some F-35s. Limitations were imposed in the wake of a June 23 engine failure at Eglin. That fire led to the grounding of the F-35 fleet for more than three weeks.

Twenty-plus F-35 test planes now will be able to fly six hours between engine inspections, up from three. But test flights of dozens of F-35 trainers, operated by the Air Force and Marine Corps, are still subject to the three-hour mandatory engine inspections, according to the F-35 program office.

Some flight restrictions were already lifted last month. The cause of the fire aboard an F-35 as it was taking off at Eglin is still being investigated. (Story)

In another F-35 news item during the week, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $232.8 million modification to the previously awarded F-35 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI contract.

The modification provides for non-recurring sustainment activities, including procurement of 19 training devices and 69 items of complex support equipment. Nearly all the work, 96 percent, will be done in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be completed in June 2017. (Post)

A lot of what we write about when it comes to Lockheed Martin involves its operations elsewhere in the country. But the nation's No. 1 defense contractor has a fairly large footprint in the Gulf Coast region, including an operation at Fort Walton Beach that focused on the F-35 program.

Lockheed opened its Fort Walton Beach shop less than 20 years ago and now has 1,000 workers in the area. It provides much of the maintenance and support for the F-35 at Eglin, as well as most of the academic and simulator training. But it’s also involved in Eglin’s weapons programs, as well as other aircraft programs.

To read Will Rabb's newsletter story on Lockheed's Fort Walton Beach operation, click here.


F-22
While much of the fifth-generation fighter stories from this region are about the F-35, the Gulf Coast is also home to the F-22 fighter. Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an operational squadron, and also where Raptor pilots are trained.

Along those lines, the 43rd Fighter Squadron at Tyndall graduated eight F-22 Raptor B-course students in a ceremony earlier this month. The students completed an eight-month course of instruction, including 388 academic hours, 26 examinations, 39 sorties and 47 simulator missions.

The B-course entails transition and emergency procedures, instrument tasks, as well as day and night air-to-air refueling. The students are also educated on air-to-air employment, air-to-ground employment, basic low altitude employment and night employment.

At course completion, students have flown approximately 55 hours and are prepared to begin mission qualification training in their combat unit. Once complete with MQT these students will be fully qualified to employ the F-22 in an air dominance role. (Post)


Airbus
Airbus during the week posted its latest round of hourly manufacturing positions for its A320 final assembly line being built in Mobile, Ala. Airbus is seeking candidates for systems installation, cabin interiors, sheet metal specialists, corrosion protectors, ground handling technicians, tool shop attendants and composite rework specialists. (Post)

In addition to A320 plant jobs, any supplier-related story is of interest to this region. That said, core assembly of the first pair of CFM International Leap-1A engines to power the Airbus A320neo is underway. The flight-test engines are being assembled at General Electric’s production facility in Durham, N.C. The engine competes with Pratt and Whitney's PW1100G for the A320neo market.

CFM International is a joint venture of GE Aviation, a division of General Electric, and Snecma, and division of France's Safran, which has an engineering center in Mobile. GE Aviation has an engine parts plant in Auburn, Ala., Ellisville and Batesville, Miss. (Post)

In another supplier-related story, Airbus signed a contract with the Aerospace Industrial Development Corp., a state-owned Taiwanese aerospace company, making it a new tier-one supplier. The company will supply composite panels for the aft belly fairings of the A320 aircraft family. As all of you who follow Airbus know, the company has an A320 final assembly line in Tianjin, China. (Story)


Airports
Officials at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) in West Bay near Panama City, Fla., hope a federal transportation grant will be key to landing daily air service from Bay County to New York City.

One airline is supporting the effort is JetBlue. ECP Director Parker McClellan said a letter of support from low-cost airline, and McClellan says it will give the Airport Authority some teeth as it seeks funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Small Community Air Service Development Grant.

The letter says the airline is considering service to Northwest Florida from Kennedy International Airport as part of its five-year growth plan. (Post) By the way, if you like to spot other connections to the Gulf Coast region, JetBlue is the airline that will take delivery of the first A320 being built in Mobile.


Company profile
If you took a look at our bi-monthly newsletter, you know that one of our goals is to highlight aerospace companies in this region. One that we tackled was TPR Systems Inc., which is already expecting to grow. The company, begun in 2002 and formerly named Turbine Parts and Repair, recently relocated to the Santa Rosa County Industrial Park in Milton, Fla.

Its new site has an extra 2.5 acres for expansion for the company that specializes in machining and manufacturing, but can also do repairs and testing on existing equipment. TPR Systems Chief Operations Manager Chuck Pyritz expects the company to need the space in two years. To read Duwayne Escobedo's story on the company, click here.

Another company we highlighted was Star Aviation of Mobile, Ala. It's marking its 15th anniversary this month, and has grown from a five-man operation to a company with 115 employees. So what does it do?

The ability to text, email and surf the Web on a jet flying tens of thousands of feet above the earth is taken for granted by travelers these days. But behind the scenes there are companies like Star Aviation working to make that happen.

Gordon Smart, executive vice president of operations, says the goal over the next five years is to grow the company by 30 to 50 percent. Not bad. To read Kaija Wilkinson's newsletter story on the company, click here.


Contracts
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $240.7 million modification for three Block 30M RQ-4B Global Hawk air vehicles, each containing an Enhanced Integrated Sensor Suite and an Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload (ASIP), plus two additional ASIP sensors as retrofit kits. Global Hawk central fuselage work is done in Moss Point, Miss. … HDR Engineering Inc., Pensacola, Fla., Thompson Engineering Inc., Mobile, Ala., and Baskerville-Donovan Inc., also of Mobile, were among five companies awarded a $36 million contract for architect and engineering services to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers design program for the Mobile District's Central, South America, Caribbean, and South Atlantic Division. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Mobile is the contracting activity.

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

The August edition of the Gulf Coast Reporters' League aerospace newsletter will be published Tuesday. You can get the 8-page PDF at Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor.com. Individual stories also will be posted on the daily aerospace news feed during the week. Prefer to get the newsletter delivered to you? Just ask and we’ll include you on our list.

In the latest issue, Lisa Monti will tell you about a couple of proposals that NASA is looking at to develop some 300 acres around the 43-acre Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Then Kaija Wilkinson writes about Star Aviation of Mobile. Some of the things you take for granted while flying can be traced to the work of this company.

William Rabb will fill you in on what the nation’s No. 1 defense contractor, Lockheed Martin, does at its Fort Walton Beach, Fla., operation. Think F-35, think weapons. And then Duwayne Escobedo will tell you all about TPR Systems, a newcomer to an industrial park in Milton, Fla. It’s already thinking expansion.

Now for the week in review:


Airbus
Airbus, which is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala., overtook Boeing in unadjusted aircraft orders for 2014 after last month's Farnborough Airshow, but continued to lag when cancellations are included. Airbus won 980 aircraft orders between January and July, and said it had 705 net orders. Airbus has said its haul of orders at Farnborough marked its best ever performance at the UK's biennial aerospace event. Boeing reported 837 gross orders and 783 net sales after cancellations between Jan. 1 and July 29. (Post)

-- With the Gulf Coast region hoping to attract Airbus suppliers, an item out of China shows another possibility. China's Xian Aircraft Industry is now sole supplier of wings to the Airbus A320 final assembly line in Tianjin.

After starting with system installation on Broughton, UK-made wings in 2009, Xian Aircraft started producing wing structures, then entire wing boxes. Since this summer, all wings for the Tianjin FAL are supplied by XAIC. (Post)

-- Dave Trent, site director for Airbus Americas, was among the greeters Thursday morning as B.C. Rain High School students returned to campus for the first day of school. Airbus is the school’s “Signature Business Partner” for its Aviation and Aerospace Academy. (Post)


Unmanned
The Mississippi-built fuselage of the first Global Hawk Block 40 unmanned aerial vehicle for NATO has been completed. It was built at Northrop Grumman’s Moss Point plant. It will go to California where the aircraft will be completed. The aircraft is one of five for NATO's Alliance Ground Surveillance project. The Global Hawks will be located at the AGS main operating base at Sigonella Air Base, Italy. (Post)


Innovation
A fuel-resistant asphalt mix that’s already being used at several airports has now been approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Called P-601 Fuel Resistant Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement, it was developed by Niceville, Fla.-based engineering firm AVCON and retired engineer Bob Boyer. The mixture uses smaller pieces of rock than traditional asphalt, and plastic is added to make it more rigid. (Post)


Contracts
L-3 Communications Corp., SFS, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $15.8 million modification to a contract to add eight C-12s to the life cycle contractor support maintenance contract for the Army's fleet of C-12/RC-12/UC-35 aircraft. Work will be performed in Madison. … Veteran Corps of America, O'Fallon, Ill., was awarded a $10 million contract for TruDefender FTX Handheld Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) for chemical identification. Work will be performed at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and is expected to be completed by Jan. 28, 2015. 772 Enterprise Sourcing Squadron/PKD, Tyndall Air Force Base is the contracting activity.


Shipbuilding/maritime
LCS: Both variants of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships, including the type made in Mobile, Ala., are being cranked out in an anticipated 2015 banner-year fashion. (Post)
DDG: Ingalls Shipbuilding has delivered the composite deckhouse for the destroyer Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) to the U.S. Navy. (Post)
JHSV4: The Austal USA-built Joint High-Speed Vessel Fall River (JHSV 4) has completed its last significant milestone, before delivery to the Navy, concluding acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico at the end of July. (Post)
Barges: More ships are in the works to be built in Escatawpa, Miss., by VT Halter Marine. (Post)

Week in review (7/27 to 8/2)

I'll get to the week in review in a moment, but first, every now and then it makes sense to remind my readers, new and old, the aerospace news and information publications we have available. There's something for everyone at www.gulfcoastaerospacecorridor.com. Here's a summary:

Daily: If you want to follow activities in this region as they develop, try the daily aerospace news digest. It monitors newspapers, broadcasters, public relations offices and more to tell you what's going on in this region on the aerospace front. It provides you with a link to the original source.

Weekly: This provides all the information from the daily feed but is designed for folks who want to get it all once a week. It groups the information based on topics, and puts it in context. It also occasionally has items not found on the daily feed.

Bi-monthly newsletter: Last year we introduced a quarterly, 8-page newsletter, and it's been popular enough and there are enough aerospace and aviation stories that we decided to publish it more frequently. Next month it begins publishing every other month. It will always appear on the website listed above, but if you want we can send it to you via email. Write to me and I’ll put you on the list.

Annual: We publish an annual book on aerospace and aviation activities in the region, and we just published the fourth edition in June. Like all the other publications, it's free thanks to our underwriters who want this work to continue.

OK, now for your week in review:


Newcomer
French engineering company Assystem is the latest company to announce plans for a Mobile, Ala., operation. The Paris-based company has 11,000 employees in 19 countries and is expected to have about 10 people in Mobile.

The company has worked with Airbus, General Electric, Rolls Royce, Safran and others. It offers aerospace, energy, automotive and other clients project consulting and IT services, specializing in outsourced research and development in fields such fields as embedded computing, optics and infrared, digital modeling and simulation and ergonomics. (Post)


Commercial aviation
Boeing forecasts growth in demand for commercial pilots and maintenance technicians as the global fleet expands over the next 20 years. The 2014 Pilot and Technician Outlook says that between 2014 and 2033, there will be a need for 533,000 new commercial airline pilots and 584,000 new commercial airline maintenance technicians. North America is projected to need 88,000 pilots and
109,000 technicians. (Post)

-- The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $12 million civil penalty against Southwest Airlines for failing to comply with regulations in three enforcement cases related to repairs on Boeing 737 jetliners.

The FAA claims that beginning in 2006, Southwest conducted alterations to eliminate potential cracking of the aluminum skin on 44 jetliners. The FAA conducted an investigation that included both the airline and its contractor, Aviation Technical Services Inc. of Everett, Wash.

The FAA determined that ATS failed to follow proper procedures for replacing the fuselage skins on these aircraft. Southwest has 30 days to respond. In this region, Southwest serves New Orleans, Pensacola and Panama City. (Post)

-- In New Orleans, Florida-based Spirit Airlines has added direct flights to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Houston's Bush Intercontinental. It also plans nonstop flights from Louis Armstrong International Airport to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Detroit beginning Nov. 6. (Post)

-- Relocation of the Panama City–Bay County International Airport to West Bay, further from Panama City itself, hindered general aviation activity. But the airport's fixed-base operator, Sheltair, sees improvements and now want more space at Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. The request will go before the authority next month. Sheltair, a Fort Lauderdale-based company, operates 14 facilities across the U.S., with locations in Florida, Georgia and New York. (Post)


Military
The 815th Airlift Squadron will remain at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., for now, and when it might be deactivated is unclear. Community leaders are waiting to hear whether the decision to delay deactivation of the 815th could lead to C-130 aircraft remaining at Keesler Air Force Base. The Air Force has been planning to move 10 C-130s from Keesler to Arkansas, but those plans have been tabled for now. (Post)

-- The F35B Joint Strike Fighter recently completed required wet runway and crosswind testing at Edward Air Force Base, Calif. It's an important program milestone enabling U.S. Marines Corps Initial Operational Capability certification.

In other achievements, four aircraft surpassed flight hour milestones, demonstrating program maturity and reliability: F-35C aircraft CF-1 and F-35A aircraft AF-4 achieved 500 flight hours, and F-35C aircraft CF-5 achieved 100 flight hours.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center for the three plane variants. (Post)

-- The cost to develop the Triton unmanned reconnaissance plane for the Navy has increased by at least 25 percent, or $720 million, according to the Navy and congressional investigators. The scheduled dates to begin production and then deployment of the Northrop Grumman-built drone have each slipped by more than two years. The Navy plans to buy some 70 of the MQ-4 Tritons, which are based on the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft.

The projected start of initial production has been delayed by 31 months to December 2015 from the original goal of May 2013. The target date to declare an initial squadron of the drones ready for combat has slipped to April 2018 from December 2015. The projected start of full-rate production, the most lucrative phase for a contractor, has slipped to January 2018 from December 2015. Triton central fuselage work is done in Moss Point, Miss. (Post)


Space
NASA's Orion spacecraft is not ready for liftoff, but the spacecraft thinks it's already flown six missions. Since Orion's crew module was stacked on top of its service module in June, the vehicle has been put through a series of tests designed to verify all the individual systems work on their own in the new configuration and that they'll work together as a functional unit during flight.

And the best way to do that is to trick the vehicle into thinking that it's flying, so that it will perform exactly the same functions it will be called upon to perform in December, when Orion launches into space for the first time.

The Orion capsule was built at Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans; Stennis Space Center, Miss., will test the RS-25 engines that will be power the first stage of the Space Launch System, which will eventually be used to launch Orion. (Post)


Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $29.8 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance and logistics support for T45TS aircraft based at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas, and Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Six percent of the work will be done in Pensacola. … Science Applications International Corp., McLean, Va., was awarded a $10.4 million modification under a previously awarded contract for information technology ashore operations support services in support of Military Sealift Command's Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems directorate. Some 2.4 percent of the work will be done in Pensacola, Fla.


Shipbuilding/maritime
RO/RO: The Alabama State Port Authority has identified a site for a $54 million automotive shipping terminal. (Post)