Week in review (6/27 to 7/3)

The Air Force tanker project, a source of amusement, anger and frustration for the Gulf Coast region for quite some time, just keeps getting more bizarre. Late in the week a new player, Ukranian aircraft manufacturer Antonov and its California partner US Aerospace, said they will submit a bid on the $40 billion to build the 179 planes. The bids are due July 9.

The joint venture is considering offering the An-124, An-122 and An-112. It would be built in the Ukraine with final assembly somewhere in the United States, reportedly in the Southeast or Midwest. Antonov builds some of the largest planes in the world and became a Ukranian company after the breakup of the Soviet Union. You might have even seen one. Antonov AN-124s bring huge Rolls-Royce Trent engines to Stennis International Airport for testing at NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss.

But even if it manages to put in a bid, what kind of a chance to you think this latest player has in the competition? If you think the subsidies bidder EADS gets from the European Union increases the blood pressure of Boeing supporters, imagine what they think of this competitor. Government owned? A U.S. partner with financial problems? Word is the venture wants an extension of the deadline, but will bid even without an extension.

Yeah, that's a horse I’ll bet on.

- On the subject of tankers, a potential game changer is waiting in the wings, so to speak. Ever hear of the KQ-X? Keep that tucked away in your "wave of the future" file.

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, better known by its abbreviation, DARPA, said last week that it will spend $33 million to have Northrop Grumman proceed with a demonstration of one unmanned aircraft refueling another.

Northrop will refit a high-flying Global Hawk with a hose-and-drogue refueling system to see if it can refuel another refitted drone, this one a NASA Global Hawk. The whole process will be completely autonomous.

The refueling will take place at a much higher altitude than has been previously demonstrated with manned aircraft. It will also be the first time that high-altitude UAVs have flown in formation.

The demonstration will mark yet another milestone in the move to replace manned missions with those that can be performed by unmanned aircraft. As it is, the thinking is that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter may be the last manned fighter. How long before we see the end of manned refueling aircraft?

Revealing is a sentence that was in the DoD contract announcement: "A successful outcome will allow developers of future unmanned aircraft to produce more cost-effective systems that rely on aerial refueling for the most demanding missions."

So let me see if I have this right. The Air Force will be spending $40 billion to replace 1950s era planes with a plane that's been flying for 30 years (767) or one that's been around for 20 (A330). Nevermind that the tankers are "new" versions. At the same time it's providing tax dollars to replace KC-135s, it's funding a project that points to the future – a drone tanker. Knowing the pace of technological change we've experienced, isn't it possible we'll start replacing manned tankers with unmanned tankers even before all the KC-135s are replace?

I feel certain there are people at the Pentagon that see this and know full well that technology changes exponentially. Look at what's happened with computers and communications. And the advancements in unmanned systems can be mind-boggling. In a relatively short time we've gone from UAVs that provide reconnaissance to those that can kill an enemy. A new generation of microdrones can mimic birds or insects, and yet another category that harks back to years past - airships - will be able to stay on station for weeks at a time, if not longer.

I'm not afraid to go out on the limb. So here goes: The Air Force KC-X tanker project won't last as long as people think. Sure, some of those tankers will be built. But at some point before the last KC-135s is replaced the program will be killed and replaced by a new multibillion-dollar tanker project for drone tankers or airships.

Certainly food for thought.

- Speaking of Global Hawks, the German version of the plane, called the Euro Hawk, successfully completed its first flight June 29. It took off from the company's Palmdale, Calif., manufacturing facility and climbed to 32,000 feet before landing nearly two hours later at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The UAV will be equipped with a signals intelligence mission system developed by EADS Defense and Security.

- In a ruling that could impact the current battle between Boeing and EADS - and the Antonov-US Aerospace team - over building Air Force tankers, the World Trade Organization ruled that aid European governments provided to Airbus violated global trade rules.

The WTO ruled that four decades of government-backed loans to Airbus helped it gain foreign sales, harming Boeing. The ruling was anticipated by the U.S. aerospace industry. The U.S. filed the case in 2004, accusing the European Union of unfair trade practices by subsidizing Airbus with hundreds of millions of dollars in "launch-aid loans."

Airbus officials said the EU would appeal the ruling.

The WTO is expected to rule next month on a countersuit accusing the U.S. of unfairly subsidizing Boeing. EADS, owner of Airbus, wants to assemble its tankers in Mobile, Ala.

- In Mobile, Ala., the city council, county commission, airport authority and city industrial development board modified incentive agreements each made in 2006 in an attempt to lure refueling tanker assembly to Mobile. The deals are similar to those granted at that time.

The Northrop Grumman/EADS team won the $40 million contract in February 2008, but it was overturned after a Boeing protest. Northrop dropped out after it determined the new requirements favored a smaller plane offered by Boeing.

- The Airbus Engineering Center at Mobile, Ala.’s Brookley Industrial Complex will be getting another 90 engineers. The center currently has 150. The employees at the center, opened in 2007, work on cabin interiors, cargo systems and escape systems on a wide range of Airbus jets.


Bases
St. Joe, a Florida real estate development company, provided a $1.25 million donation to the National Flight Academy at the National Aviation Museum, located at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The academy, which will provide week-long sessions to students in 7th through 12th grades, is set to open in 2012. Its purpose is to motivate students to learn more about science, technology, engineering and math in what's called a "learning adventure."

- An aircrew from the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., found that a storm that had been upgraded from tropical storm to hurricane status hours before they took off had reached Category 2 status by the time they returned home. They had been in the storm more than seven hours. Hurricane Alex came ashore late in the evening of June 29 on an unpopulated stretch of coast in northern Mexico.


Space
NASA is targeting Nov. 1 for the launch of space shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission and Feb. 26, 2011, for the liftoff of shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 flight from the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The target dates were adjusted because critical payload hardware for STS-133 will not be ready in time to support the previously planned Sept. 16 launch.

- NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems will hold a ceremony at 9 a.m. Thursday, July 8, at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to commemorate 37 years of tank deliveries and the final external tank's rollout. The last shuttle flight, STS 134, is scheduled for February 2011. The tank will travel by barge to Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

- A House panel agreed during the week to accept President Obama's proposed funding increase for NASA, but without taking a position on changing the agency's course. The House appropriations subcommittee governing NASA unanimously approved $19 billion for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The panel opted to take to take no position on White House plans to scrap NASA's moon-rocket program and replace the space shuttle with commercial rockets.

- Roy Estess, former director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, died June 25 at age 71. Estess had an allergic reaction to an insect string. His career at NASA spanned 37 years, with 25 of that at Stennis Space Center.


Joint Strike Fighter
Northrop Grumman delivered to the Lockheed Martin F-35 Integrated Training Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the first set of instructional materials needed to train pilots and aircraft maintainers for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The center will open this summer.

The electronic materials include all of the presentation materials that classroom instructors will use to teach pilots how to fly the F-35, and maintainers how to repair and support the aircraft. Northrop Grumman is a principal subcontractor for the Lockheed Martin-built plane that will be used by the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and foreign nations.


Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $51.3 million contract to provide aircraft maintenance and logistics life cycle support for 54 Navy and 11 Marine Corps C-12 aircraft. Works is at a variety of locations, including NAS New Orleans.

Week in review (6/20 to 6/26)

The Northrop Grumman Global Hawk has been under fire of late. The Air Force's acting acquisition chief, in a roundtable with reporters, had said the Air Force isn't happy about the pace of the program.

But according to Politico, the California congressional delegation is defending Global Hawk. The lawmakers sent a letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, touting the merits of the combat-tested surveillance vehicle. (Story)

Fuselage work on the newer versions of the Global Hawk is done in part in Moss Point, Miss.

On another UAV topic, new drones are being developed that are much smaller, and can look from the ground like a bird. AOL News had a report about a recent Special Operations Forces Conference in Tampa, Fla., where a lot of these microdrones were on display. One of them, the Wasp, by California-based AeroVironment, is the smallest drone around and is already being used by the Hurlburt Field, Fla.-based Air Force Special Operations Command.

Also on display was TiGER, which can carry two hand grenades, and the Spy Pigeon by the Air Force Research Laboratory, able to fly for a week. It can recharge by landing on a utility wire. Another microdrone is the Maveric, which folds into a small tube. The Navy is buying Maveric for SEALS to launch from mini-submarines. (Story)


Space
The president submitted to Congress a fiscal year 2011 budget amendment that targets up to $100 million toward spurring regional economic growth and job creation in the aerospace industry. The amendment would provide up to $40 million in aid for Florida's Space Coast and a maximum of about $60 million for other affected regions.

The funds would be made available from the Constellation Program transition element of the agency's exploration request. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in Constellation.

- NASA is considering new target launch dates for its last two shuttle missions to give engineers more time to prepare equipment for the International Space Station. Launch of Discovery would be Oct. 29. Endeavour would aim for liftoff on Feb. 28, 2011. Senior managers are expected to approve the new dates at a meeting on July 1. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the shuttle program.


Joint Strike Fighter
The first pilots and maintainers for the F-35 will start a training regimen this fall to learn the ins and outs of the Joint Strike Fighter on laptops and full-motion simulators. Instructors will do a dry run of the course at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in July. Right now, the wing has about 200 instructors from the Air Force, Navy and Marines, but should hit full strength of 2,000 by 2014. By then, the wing will have at least 59 F-35s for training. The first is scheduled to arrive in November.

- A Lockheed Martin F-35C carrier variant successfully completed testing in which it was dropped from heights of more than 11 feet during a series of simulated aircraft-carrier landings. The tests helped confirm the F-35C's structural integrity for carrier operations. The jet underwent drop testing at Vought Aircraft Industries in Grand Prairie, Texas.


Contracts
SURVICE Engineering Co., Belcamp, Md., was awarded a $67.8 million contract to provide support to the Air Force Seek Eagle Office for the purpose of augmenting its workforce with contracted skills and expertise to provide modeling and simulation, and analysis and product development support. AAC/PKES, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Jacobs Technology Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., was awarded a $16.3 million contract modification to provide technical, engineering and acquisition support at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla, and various other tenant originations. AAC/PKES, Eglin Air Force Base is the contracting activity.

Week in review (6/13 to 6/19)

It will be mid-November before the Pentagon awards a contract for Air Force refueling tankers. That word came at the close of the week from Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford, the Air Force's top uniformed acquisition official, during a briefing with reporters.

The Pentagon, after it granted a 60-day extension to EADS to prepare a bid, had said the award date would not change from "early fall." EADS said it needed the extra time after partner Northrop Grumman dropped out of the competition.

The original deadline for EADS and rival Boeing to submit their bids was May 10, but it's now July 9. EADS is offering a tanker version of its Airbus A330 and Boeing is offering a modified 767.

EADS wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., at a site at Brookley Industrial Complex.


Space
Lawrence D. Thomas was appointed manager of NASA's Constellation Program, which manages the effort to take humans beyond low-Earth orbit and develop the next generation launch vehicle and spacecraft. He'll be based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Thomas most recently served as the deputy program manager of the Constellation Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Last month, lawmakers who support Constellation were upset the agency reassigned the former head of the program, Jeff Hanley, to a deputy position at Johnson Space Center.

Hanley had opposed administration efforts to shut down the program. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the Constellation Program.

- The Orion crew exploration vehicle took shape as the two halves of the crew module were fused together at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The Lockheed Martin Orion team welded the forward cone assembly to the aft barrel assembly using the next generation friction stir weld process.

Prior to flight testing, this crew module will be tested on the ground in flight-like environments, including static vibration, acoustic, and water landing tests.

- The STS-132 Atlantis space shuttle crew visited NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center Thursday to thank personnel for their role in the May mission to the International Space Station. Crew members presented a video recap of their mission, scheduled as the last flight for the Atlantis shuttle.

The 12-day mission of Atlantis carried the Russian Rassvet Mini-Research Module-1 to the ISS. Atlantis also was the first shuttle to dock to the Russian Space Station Mir. It traveled to the ISS 11 times. Atlantis now is being prepared to serve as a backup craft should an emergency arise during the final two scheduled shuttle missions.


Joint Strike Fighter
The Defense Department is threatening to withhold payments to Lockheed Martin starting as early as next month if it doesn't submit a suitable plan for fixing problems for tracking contract costs and schedules. The plan is due June 30 and a decision will come several weeks later on whether Lockheed has demonstrated it can fix the problems within six to nine months, according to Shay Assad, the Pentagon procurement director. It could impact payments on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be the JSF training center.

- The short-takeoff and vertical-landing version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter broke the sound barrier June 10. It's the first U.S. operational STOVL aircraft to exceed that milestone. A Marine pilot flew BF-2 to a speed of Mach 1.07 during a test at 30,000 feet over an off-shore range near Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Two Air Force F-35A conventional takeoff-and-landing test aircraft also have broken the sound barrier.


Bases/airports
Because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Air Force water survival courses have temporarily relocated from Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., to Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash. Training at NAS Pensacola was suspended June 4 when oil was discovered inside the training area used by Detachment 2 of the 66th Training Squadron.

Up to 55 students a week attend the three-day course. It's unclear how long training operations there will be suspended. The Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, killing 11 workers. Oil from the well has spewed into the Gulf of Mexico since then.

- At Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Cmdr. Cris Treharne turns over command of the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit to Cmdr. Angie Walker June 25 at Welch Auditorium. Walker is reporting from Stennis Space Center, Miss., where she served as the deputy assistant chief of staff for operations for the Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.

- The U.S. Transportation Security Administration unveiled a full-body X-ray scanner Friday at Mississippi's Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport’s security checkpoint. It's built by Rapiscan Systems plant in Ocean Springs, Miss. The scanner can detect metallic and non-metallic items including weapons and explosives, concealed beneath a passenger’s clothes. Rapiscan is part of OSI Systems of Hawthorne, Calif.

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

The fight between NASA leadership and Congress over the direction of the space agency is getting heated. NASA told major Constellation Program contractors last week that they must immediately cut back work by nearly $1 billion to comply with federal spending rules.

The move was seen by Constellation supports as a back door way of killing the program, despite a Congressional mandate that work continue on the program unless Congress specifically orders it killed. But NASA says it's simply abiding by the Anti-Deficiency Act, which requires contractors to set aside a portion of their payments to cover costs if a project is canceled. (Story)

The rift is of high interest to workers at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The two NASA facilities, about 40 miles apart, are both involved in the Constellation Program. Stennis' A-3 test stand is designed to test J-2X engines for the Constellation Program, and a Lockheed Martin team at Michoud earlier this month finished the structural framework for the Orion crew capsule ground test article.

- The six crew members of the last scheduled space shuttle mission visited Stennis Space Center during the week. The shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission, scheduled for November, will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the International Space Station. Shuttle crew traditionally visit NASA centers instrumental to the missions. Stennis has tested all of the main engines used on space shuttle missions.

- NASA is inviting members of the public to send an electronic image of their faces into orbit aboard one of the final remaining space shuttle missions. Visitors to the "Face in Space" Web site can upload their portrait to fly aboard shuttle Discovery's STS-133 mission or shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 mission. You can also just have your name sent up.

- NASA picked 18 projects for Phase II funding under the Small Business Technology Transfer program. Eighteen businesses are partnered with 15 universities in projects valued at $11 million. In a project of interest to Stennis Space Center, Miss., Combustion Research and Flow Technology of Pipersville, Pa., is teamed with the University of Florida to develop simulation software to predict potential damage to a propulsion system and test stands that can be caused by vibrations of liquid rockets.

Mississippi State University is involved in two of the 18 winning projects. In one, it's working with Keystone Synergistic Enterprises of Port Saint Lucie, Fla., on a process to solid-state weld high strength and temperature alloys used to make engine nozzel skirts. In another, MSU is working with Streamline Numerics of Gainesville, Fla., on an advanced simulation framework for design and analysis of space propulsion systems.


Tanker
EADS North America will transfer to Mobile, Ala., later this month 100 workers as it prepares to bid on the $35 million Air Force tanker project. According to the Mobile Press-Register, the company leased office space at Bel Air Mall to house employees now located in Arlington, Va., and Melbourne, Fla.

EADS and rival Boeing plan to bid on the contract. EADS, which already has operations in Mobile, wants to assemble the KC-45 at Brookley Industrial Complex. Boeing wants to build them in Washington state. EADS' former partner, Northrop Grumman, dropped out of the contest earlier this year, claiming the request for proposals favors the smaller Boeing offering.


Joint Strike Fighter
The Navy version of the F-35 made its inaugural flight last weekend. The carrier variant took off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas, and logged a 57-minute flight. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with principal industrial partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be the initial JSF training center.


Global Hawk
NASA's unmanned Global Hawk aircraft completed four science flights over the Pacific Ocean in April in a joint project between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and plans are on track to use the UAV later this year to track hurricanes in the Atlantic. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.


Contracts
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $98 million contract for the production of the Small Diameter Bomb I weapon system for various Foreign Military Sales customers. 680 ARSSG/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … R.C. Construction Co. Inc., Greenwood, Miss., was awarded a $37.5 million contract to construct a new taxiway extension, a new aircraft parking apron, and a new load area, including a load crew shelter, flare facility, and a munitions holding area at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. … L3 Communications Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $9.2 million contract for logistical support in the areas of aircraft workers, aircraft painters, and other areas at Corpus Christi, Texas. … Sunrise Beach Corp., Allen, Texas, was awarded a $59.5 million contract for aircraft paint and maintenance services for the 1108th Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot for the Mississippi Army National Guard at Gulfport, Miss., and other locations. National Guard Bureau, U.S. Property and Fiscal Office for Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $17.6 million contract to provide for the electronic protection improvement program. 696 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (5/30 to 6/5)

Although much of the attention here has been on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, at least one item likely caught the attention of workers at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

On Friday the first of a new generation of private rockets took off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Falcon 9, a 180-foot rocket, put a model of its Dragon capsule into orbit about 160 miles up. The launch is important to the Obama administration, which has proposed killing the Constellation Program - the program to return astronauts to the Moon and beyond - in favor of moving toward a far greater role for commercial space companies.

SpaceX plans to send a fully operational rocket and capsule into orbit later this summer and one to the space station next year. Both Stennis Space Center and Michoud are involved in the Constellation Program.


F-35
Despite fears that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is louder than the planes it's replacing, that's not stopping bases from making a pitch to get the aircraft. Eleven bases in seven states are hoping to convince the Pentagon to choose them to house the plane. The first round of selections is slated for 2011. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is already scheduled to become a joint training center.

Meanwhile, the first F-35 mission rehearsal trainer is now at Eglin's 33rd Fighter Wing. It replicates the cockpit of an F-35 and is a containerized, deployable version of the full mission simulator slated to arrive late this year.

The trainer is one of many new technologies the three U.S. military services and eight partner nations purchasing the F-35 will be using. From their arrival at the 33rd Academic Training Center, students will interact with the latest technology. When the wing reaches full strength in 2014, it will train Air Force, Marine, Navy and international partner operators and maintainers of the F-35.

Advanced Media Design Systems of Pensacola, Fla., was recently awarded the audio visual component of the Joint Strike Fighter Air Force/Navy/Marine Squad Ops at Eglin. AMDS will be renovating a hanger including over 45 rooms with new AV control systems and equipment.


Bases
Three units representing each component of the Air Force recently completed the first homeland defense operational readiness inspection. It was held in Mississippi at the Gulfport Combat Readiness Training Center, and marked the first time the Air Force validated a unit's wartime capability to defend the homeland by fighting an enemy on U.S. soil. The ORI was May 16 through 23.

Thirty-two physicians and dentists are getting ready to graduate from 81st Medical Group internship and residency training at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. It marks Keesler Air Force Base's first internal medicine residency graduating class since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The graduation is June 10 in Keesler Hospital's Don Wylie Auditorium.

Thirty-five units at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be getting name changes. Air Force Materiel Command officials notified commanders last month that headquarters approved converting the command structure from wings, groups and squadrons to directorates, divisions and branches. At Eglin, the 308th Armament Systems Wing will be impacted the most with all of its units undergoing a name change.

Week in review (5/23 to 5/29)

Boeing is seen as the favorite to win the $35 million contract to supply tankers to the Air Force, but you wouldn't guess it from the way it continues to pound rival EADS.

Boeing has been painting EADS as a security risk, saying the company has courted Iran and others at odds with the United States. EADS, for its part, accuses Boeing of trying to make the competition about anything other than the best tanker. Boeing wants lawmakers and the Pentagon to factor national-security into the competition.

Whether that will happen is unclear, but there's a legislative measure now to force the Pentagon to consider the role of illegal subsidies in the contest between Boeing and EADS. It was passed by the House during the week, though it still must be reconciled with a companion defense bill in the Senate.

EADS North America wants to assemble the tankers, based on a modified A330, in Mobile, Ala., at Brookley Industrial Complex. Boeing wants to build the tankers, based on a 767, at its assembly line in Washington.


Space
There's a new associate director at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Ken Human was named to the post late in the week. He'll work for Stennis Director Patrick Scheuermann and Deputy Center Director Rick Gilbrech. Human, who started his NASA career at Stennis in 1978, had been deputy manager of the External Integration Office at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

- In another personnel-related issue during the week, lawmakers who support the Constellation Program, NASA's bid to return astronauts to the moon and beyond, were outraged the agency reassigned the head of the program. Jeff Hanley was moved to a deputy position at Johnson Space Center in Houston. He has been an outspoken opponent of the administration efforts to shut down the Constellation Program. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the program.

- Lockheed Martin delivered the first satellite in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency program to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., in preparation for a July 30 launch aboard an Atlas V. The multi-satellite AEHF system will provide the U.S. military with global, protected, high capacity and secure communications – a successor to the five-satellite Milstar constellation. Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space and Technology Center personnel at Stennis Space Center, Miss., worked on the core propulsion modules for the AEHF program.


Joint Strike Fighter
Pratt and Whitney delivered the final F135 flight test engine and the first lot of F135 production engines for the F-35. The first lot of production engines consists of four conventional take off and landing engines. All the engines are destined for aircraft that will support the flight training program at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

- The U.S. House late in the week adopted its version of a fiscal 2011 defense spending bill that includes $485 million to keep alive an alternate engine for the F-35. This one is built by a joint venture of General Electric and Rolls-Royce. President Obama said he'd veto any legislation to fund the second engine. The Pentagon has said it doesn't want to fund the second powerplant.

Second-engine supports claim that without it, United Technologies Corp., parent of Pratt and Whitney, would have a decades-long monopoly on the projected $100 billion engine market for the more than 3,000 F-35s due to be bought by the United States and partner countries.

- The involvement of the Netherlands in the F-35 program will remain uncertain for several more months. The lower house of the Dutch parliament voted to cancel the purchase of an F-35 initial operational test and evaluation aircraft, but the caretaker government now in place wants the decision left to the new government. General elections are planned for June 9.


Airports
Officials during the week cut a ribbon at the new Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Facility at the growing Trent Lott International Airport in Moss Point, Miss. The 3,910 square-foot-facility cost $609,000. Six years ago the air traffic control tower was built and flights increased 50 percent, said Carol Snapp, the airport director. She said once the rescue facility is manned, flights will increase again.

The airport is right next to the Jackson County Aviation Technology Park, which hosts the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center. The facility builds portions of the Fire Scout and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles.

- Speaking of the Global Hawk, Northrop Grumman opened an office at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., to provide support for the RQ-4s being assigned to the base. The office could eventually employ more than 100 people and attract suppliers and subcontractors.


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $6 million contract which will sustain systems engineering support for the production and fielded systems of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range. 308 ARSG/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contacting activity. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded an $18 million contract to provide for additional logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate and depot-level maintenance of 13 T39N and 6 T-39G aircraft at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

Week in review (5/16 to 5/22)

The Gulf Coast now has the nation's newest commercial airport. A 4,000-acre airport in Panama City, Fla., opened over the weekend. But that's just one of the more high-profile aerospace-related events during the past week. In other activities, a contract was awarded to build simulated carrier decks at Florida's Eglin Air Force Base and Duke Field, two airlines added services in the region and military student pilots began training in a brand new aircraft.

Here's the week in review:


New airport, new routes
The nation's newest commercial airport, the 4,000-acre Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, held a grand opening Saturday and was scheduled to begin operations Sunday. The airport is on land donated by St. Joe Co., the largest landowner in northwest Florida. It replaces the Panama City-Bay County International Airport.

The airport, which initially will use a 10,000-foot runway while work continues on others, is served by Southwest and Delta. Southwest was lured to Panama City over Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola, thanks to the guarantee from St. Joe that it would make sure the airline does not lose any money on the venture.

- On the opposite end of the corridor, another low-cost carrier, AirTran, will launch a new nonstop flight between New Orleans and Milwaukee Oct. 7. The additional flight increases to three the number of cities the airline flies to from New Orleans.

- During the week, the first flight of Branson AirExpress landed at Mississippi’s Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. Nonstop flights on 50-seat jets are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.


Ares I moves forward
Although President Barack Obama wants to kill the Constellation Program and its Ares I rocket, NASA managers in charge of the rocket have put together an ambitious testing program to speed its development.

That schedule includes a flight in November 2014 with astronauts aboard. That would be earlier than NASA's current schedule, which calls for the first manned flight in March 2015, and much faster than the 2017 date predicted by a blue-ribbon panel that reviewed NASA's human spaceflight program last year.

For Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, it's got to be tough not knowing what the future holds for the space agency. Michoud was chosen as the location to build portions of the Constellation vehicles, while 40 miles away Stennis built a new test stand specifically for the Constellation program. Stennis knows that no matter what, it will still be the primary NASA facility for testing rocket engines. But things are a bit less certain for Michoud. Stay tuned.


New training aircraft
The transition to new aircraft will be slow, but it’s now underway. During the week at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, north of Milton, Fla., military flight students took to the sky for the first time at the controls of a new training aircraft.

Over the next three years the T-6B Texan II will be replacing the T-34 Turbo Mentor. And it's a big change for the students. It puts them in an aircraft that's a lot more like the aircraft now used by the military. The T-6B Texan is a single-engine, two-seat trainer with flight instruments on a digital display rather than gauges.

Meanwhile, two Air Force captains landed at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Friday, delivering the last of 22 T-6A Texan aircraft that will be used by Air Force students at NAS Pensacola. The Air Force trainers are blue and white and the Navy trainers are orange and white.

Speaking of the Navy, changes are in the works to adjust the aviation pipeline. The Navy wants to decrease the waiting time for aviation training by trimming back the number of candidates in the pipeline. Right now the waiting time between commissioning and entering the Aviation Preflight Indoctrination in Pensacola, Fla., is up to six months from three. The Navy plans to offer qualified candidate officers options other than aviation training.


Tanker milestone
Two A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft being certified in Australia recently completed tanker-to-tanker refueling missions. The tanker has previously successfully refueled F-16 and F/A-18 fighters and E-3 AWACS.

The MRTT is the same design as the KC-45 that EADS North America plans to offer in the contest to build U.S. tankers. If EADS wins, the planes will be assembled in Mobile, Ala. Boeing, the other company that plans to compete for the tanker project, will build its planes in Washington. Most experts believe Boeing will win the contest.


Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded two contracts related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. One was an $85.5 million modification to a previously awarded contract in support of the JSF low-rate initial production Lot II. The second was a $58 million modification to the previously awarded contract for technical services required to meet production ramp rates in support of the JSF low-rate initial production Lot III aircraft. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be home to the JSF training center. … R.C. Construction Co. Inc., Greenwood, Miss., was awarded a $23.1 million contract for the construction of short take off vertical landing simulated carrier practice landing decks at Eglin Air Force Base and nearby Duke Field, Fla. The U.S. Corps of Engineers Mobile Regional Contracting Center Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. … Tybrin Corp., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, Gaithersburg, Md., and L-3 Services Inc., Chantilly, Va., were each awarded contracts for services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division's Combat Environment Simulation Division. Tybrin's ceiling is $241,540,417. … Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $30 million contract for advance procurement long-lead associated with two Block 30 and two Block 40 Global Hawks and associated items to protect the production schedule for Lot 10. Also, Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems Air Combat Systems, San Diego, was awarded a $303.3 million contract which will provide production of two Global Hawk Block 30 air vehicles, two Global Hawk Block 40 air vehicles, and related program sustaining support efforts. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. … 2020 Company LLC, Falls Church, Va., Colsa Corp., Huntsville, Ala., and Oasis Systems Inc., Lexington, Mass., were awarded a $28.5 million contract which will provide a wide range of diverse, non-engineering, technical and acquisition management support required in the acquisition, development, production and support of various equipment and weapons systems within the Air Armament Center and other organizations at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. AAC/PKES, Eglin, is the contracting activity.

Week in review (5/9 to 5/15)

For a program that's been cricitized for delays and cost overruns, anything good that's said about the program is probably welcome. That's what happened during the week when the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was recognized for its "cutting-edge design and technology" by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The organization presented the award in Washington, D.C. during the week. Lockheed is developing the F-35 with principal partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be the home of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training center.


Space
Two big NASA contractors could be on the hook for millions in program shutdown costs if the Obama administration revamps manned space-exploration. ATK and Lockheed Martin are waging battle with NASA's leadership over who will cover possibly more than $1 billion in such expenses, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cites people familiar with the situation. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are NASA facilities in the Gulf Coast region.

- Developers plan to build a "green" Holiday Inn at the Stennis Technology Park that could bring more business to the 26-acre site at the intersection of Interstate 10 and Mississippi 603, just outside Stennis Space Center, Miss. The total investment is about $15 million. The hope is to begin construction in late summer.


Tanker
Lawmakers who support Boeing's bid to build tankers for the Air Force introduced legislation to require the Pentagon to add the value of government subsidies to a competing proposal from EADS. It would amount to $5 million per plane.

Boeing wants to build tankers based on the 767, and EADS wants to build modified A330s. The Pentagon won't consider the WTO ruling in part because of the appeals process, in part because of a counter complaint by the European Union against Boeing. EADS wants to assemble its tankers in Mobile, Ala.


Bases
Representatives from Northwest Florida were in North Carolina during the week holding a series of town hall meetings near Fort Bragg to provide information to thousands of military personnel who will be relocating to Eglin Air Force base next year.

About 30 organizations from Northwest Florida were represented. The bed down of the 7th Special Forces at Eglin will bring 2,200 new soldiers to the region by the middle of 2011. When spouses and children are added, the total population increase in the region has been estimated at more than 6,000.

- The 24th Naval Aviation Symposium was held during the past week at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon, was also inducted into the Hall of Honor during the event.


Contracts
Speegle Construction Inc., Niceville, Fla., was awarded an $11 million contract for the construction of the 7th Special Forces Group backyard training ranges, 7SFG compound, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile Regional Contracting Center, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. … A. E. New Jr. Inc, Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $16.1 million contract to design-build two single-story sprinkler-equipped child development center facilities. Work is to be performed at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $14 million contract action to provide aircraft maintenance and logistics services in support of the Navy's T-34 and T-44 aircraft. Half the work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., and half at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas

Week in review (5/2 to 5/8)

If there's one thing we know how to do in this country, it's creating special interest groups.

One of the newest came to light during the past week when Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo., announced the creation of the United States Senate Aerospace Caucus. Its purpose, says Murray, is to fight for the needs of the U.S. aerospace industry.

It might be hard to convince your average Joe and Jane that the U.S. aerospace industry needs the help. It's one of the real bright spots in the economy, chalking up in 2009 sales of $214 billion. That's the sixth record-breaking year in a row.

But Defense News reported that Murray said there are some warning signs that the aerospace industry is heading towards trouble. She claims it could go the way of the U.S. auto industry unless the industry and Congress develop a plan for the future. She wants a comprehensive national strategy for aerospace, formed by industry and government working closely together. Without it, "these companies risk being stagnant just as their foreign competition flies ahead, and we cannot let that happen," she said.

The caucus has some two dozen members, including both senators from Washington, where Boeing is the state’s largest employer. The Seattle P-I ran the list on a blog. The caucus has some representation from the states of the Gulf Coast. Sens. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and David Vitter, R-La., are members, but neither senator from Florida had joined at this writing.

Also missing are Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby of Alabama, who may be uncomfortable with talk about foreign competition. Alabama stands to gain an aircraft assembly plant in Mobile if Europe's EADS beats Boeing and wins the Air Force tanker competition. That's an unlikely scenario, but it's still possible.

"There is a lack of certainty among our aerospace manufacturers about what the future holds and what they should be building for," Murray is quoted as saying in the Defense News article. A lack of certainty? Welcome to the real world of commerce.

How many industries have certainty about what the future holds? Customers of any industry – whether it's Joe Blow average consumer or the deep-pocket Pentagon – can't tell you what they are going to want or need in the future. But that's how commerce works, and the biggest reward goes to those who think ahead of the curve. The U.S. aerospace industry has proven itself up to the challenge.


Space
President Obama's plans for NASA appear in big trouble. Few Democrats have publicly endorsed the entire plan, while opponents like Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., continue to blast the Obama plan as "destructive."

NASA appears to be hedging its bets that the president's vision might not pass muster with Congress. Kennedy Space Center officials and contractors, under direction from Johnson Space Center and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, are pressing ahead with plans for test flights of a multibillion-dollar Ares I rocket that Obama wants to cancel. NASA has operations at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

- The oil slick floating in the Gulf of Mexico caused a few headaches in the effort to ship an external fuel tank to Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The 15-story tank used in Space Shuttle launches is made at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, and it's sent in a covered barge to Kennedy. But the slick blocked the usual deep-water access. The barge was placed on a barge last weekened and taken to Gulfport, Miss., where it was retrieved by the Freedom Star to finish the 900-mile trek to Kennedy.


Training
The Air Force has launched a new training program for Combat Systems Officer students with the inaugural class of the 479th Flying Training Group. The year-long program combines navigator, electronic warfare and weapon systems training into a single pipeline.

The resulting CSOs will be trained in a common set of core skills to fill any of the roles once filled by navigators, WSOs or EWOs. There will also be a significant increase in hands-on flying. The CSO course will include 38 sorties in T-6 Texan II and modified T-1A Jayhawks, and 40 missions in simulators.

The 479th FTG became the 12th Flying Training Wing's newest group in October, when it started operations in Florida as part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Committee directive to relocate Air Force navigator training from Randolph Air Force Base to NAS Pensacola, where the Navy conducts its Naval Flight Officer training. With stand-up of the new group, nearly 35 percent of the 12th FTW is now in Florida.


Unmanned systems
Northrop Grumman and Bell Helicopter have unveiled a new unmanned helicopter, Fire-X, based on the four-blade, single engine Bell 407. The new drone borrows many of the systems that are used in the successful Fire Scout.

The new UAV will be able to keep tabs on adversaries for longer periods of time and deliver more cargo to more remote locations. The first flight of Fire-X is expected by the end of 2010. The new aircraft represents Northrop Grumman's entry in an anticipated U.S. Navy competition in 2011 to demonstrate a new medium-range unmanned system.

Northrop's Fire Scout is built in part in Moss Point, Miss.


Airports
A UH-1 Huey set up outside the terminal at Northwest Florida Regional Airport was dedicated during the week in honor of the late Michael J. Novosel Sr., who earned a Medal of Honor for his actions in Vietnam. Hundreds of people, including family members and soldiers from Fort Rucker, Ala., attended the ceremony. The Huey, which arrived at the airport April 23, will greet visitors at the airport’s entrance.


Tanker
Is EADS Chief Executive Louis Gallois a betting man? Who knows, but he came up with a bold statement in Frankfurt, Germany, during the week when he said he's certain EADS would win the $40 billion Air Force tanker contract. "I would even bet that we will get the contract," Gallois told German tabloid Bild. EADS wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala.

- The Pentagon wants bidders for the $40 billion tanker project to be ready to start the contract on Nov. 12. Bids are expected from Boeing Co. and EADS North America. The Pentagon said during the week that it still hopes to award the contract in the fall, but that it set the Nov. 12 start date so that bidders could plan around it. The request for proposals calls for the contract to be awarded on Aug. 12, but that appears unlikely since the Pentagon extended the bidding deadline to July 9 so that EADS could bid.


Contracts
L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $14 million contract to provide aircraft maintenance and logistics services in support of the Navy's T-34 and T-44 aircraft. Half the work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., and half at NAS Corpus Christi, Texas, and is expected to be completed in November 2010. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $96.7 million contract which will provide miniature air launched decoy low rate initial production contracts for a 24-month effort to include operational test and evaluation. 692 ARSS/PK Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., was awarded a $79.2 million contract for the procurement of 487 NexGen MWS sensors and 99 NexGen MWS processors, including associated technical data, for the H-53 and H-46 helicopters. Under two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Week in review (4/25 to 5/1)

Although there was plenty of aerospace news during the week, I can't write this weekly wrap-up without acknowledging one of the biggest stories in the Gulf Coast region during the week had nothing to do with aerospace, but with a potential environmental catastrophe.

The drilling well that exploded April 20 is still releasing thousands of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico - and perhaps more. The oil slick that's resulted is invading the Gulf Coast's fragile coastline, already coming ashore at some locations in southeast Louisiana. The whole areas between Louisiana and Northwest Florida is scurrying to protect the coastline and sensitive beach and marsh lands.

The spill promises to alter the debate about additional drilling wells.


Joint Strike Fighter
The squadron serving as the sole Department of Defense provider of electronic warfare support for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter activated last month in a ceremony at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. It's the 513th Electronic Warfare Squadron, which will provide EW support for all three variants on the F-35. The squadron has more than 30 technicians and engineers, but will grow to 130 and operate a $300 million reprogramming lab. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to become home of the F-35 training center.

- Lockheed Martin, Magestic Systems Inc. and Nikon Metrology jointly won a first-place JEC Innovation Award in composites manufacturing for technology used in the production of the F-35. The 2010 JEC Innovation Award was presented in Paris last month in recognition of the cured laminate compensation process, a composite manufacturing process for achieving precision, as-built laminate thickness without post-cure machining.

- Representatives from the Italian air force and navy visited the 33rd Fighter Wing at Eglin Air Force Base to check on progress of the first F-35 integrated training. "A lot of work has been done. A lot of work has to be done," said Rear Adm. Paolo Treu, director of Naval Aviation Department and commander of the Italian Fleet Air Arm. Italy is one of the partner nations that will be training Joint Strike Fighter pilots and maintainers at the 33rd FW.


Tanker
EADS North America, which plans to compete against Boeing to build tankers for the Air Force, now has a new Web site for information on its offering. The site is www.kc-45now.com, and it features video and photography of the KC-45 tanker in flight conducting refueling operations, as well as facts and information about the aerial refueling system. Boeing, which is offering the 767, has its site at www.unitedstatestanker.com, and it, too, provides video and photography of its offering. Boeing plans to build the planes in Washington State, while EADS wants to build them in Mobile, Ala.

- EADS' former partner in the tanker competition, Northrop Grumman, has chosen Virginia as the site for its new corporate office. The company also looked at Maryland and the District of Columbia before deciding on Virginia. The company expects to initiate operations in the new corporate office in the summer of 2011 with about 300 people. The move of corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington area is designed to let the company be closer to its primary customer, the Pentagon. Northrop Grumman has a major presence on the Gulf Coast, including shipyards and an unmanned systems center.

- Speaking of tankers, a new tanker aircraft designed and engineered at the Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Boeing office has been delivered to the Japan Air Self-Defense Forces. Boeing Fort Walton Beach partnered with Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Cobham Mission Systems to convert a C-130H into a flying refueling station. The project got its start with work Boeing Fort Walton Beach completed for the Air Force Special Operations Command, converting 20 C-130Hs into tankers. That caught the eye of the Japan, which needed tankers for UH-60 rescue helicopters.


Space
Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., says he's "gained assurances" that NASA's Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi will have a robust future as a testing facility whether or not Congress agrees to the sweeping changes proposed for NASA by the Obama administration. Cochran questioned NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr. about Stennis during a hearing to review the FY2011 budget request for the space agency. Bolden stressed the need for a "robust testing program," and and pointed to $312 million for commercial space testing, some of which will take place at Stennis. "Stennis is critical," Bolden testified.


Bases
During the week, Brig. Gen. Dan Wyman passed leadership of the 81st Medical Group to Brig. Gen. Kory Cornum during a change of command ceremony at Keesler Medical Center, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Cornum had been Air Combat Command command surgeon since 2007.

- Craig Fugate, who was appointed last year to head up the Federal Emergency Management Agency, visited the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron Hurricane Hunters at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., during the week. He saw the C-130Js and got an update of the squadron's missions. The hurricane season begins June 1.

- The Navy's Blue Angels flight demonstration team, based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., announced the commanding officer for the 2011 and 2012 teams will be Cmdr. David E. Koss. He's commanding officer of Strike Fighter Squadron 14, the "Tophatters."


Contracts
Several contracts of interest to the Gulf Coast were awarded during the week. Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $6.8 million contract which will provide fiscal 2010 and fiscal 2011 option year sustaining support to the Lot 6 production contract. 681 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $53.1 million contract which will provide for the engineering and manufacturing development for the Miniature Air Launched Decoy-Jammer. 692 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded a $10.3 million modification to a previously awarded contract to provide specialized technical services in support of depot level maintenance work performed at the Fleet Readiness Center, Southwest on aircraft and rework of associated components and materials. … Satterfield & Pontikes Construction Inc., Houston, Texas, was awarded a $22.5 million contract for construction of a 202-room combat systems officer bachelor housing at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.

Week in review (4/18 to 4/24)

A sliver of hope has returned to Mobile, Ala., that it may yet get to build tankers for the U.S. Air Force. EADS North America announced during the week that it intends to submit a proposal by July 9 to offer the KC-45 to replace the Air Force's fleet of old tankers.

The contract is a big one - $35 billion to $40 billion.

EADS is still in discussions with potential partners to replace Northrop Grumman, which last month decided to quit the contest on grounds the request for proposals heavily favors the smaller 767 being offered by Boeing.

EADS agreed with Northrop Grumman at the time, but there was a change of heart following talks in Washington and the Pentagon's willingness to extend the deadline for submitting bids. In announcing plans to again enter the competition, EADS restated plans it announced much earlier to also assemble A330 commercial freighters at the site in Mobile if it wins the tanker contract.


Space
Speaking of Boeing, the company's unmanned orbital vehicle, X-37B, was successfully launched from Florida during the week aboard an Atlas V rocket into low-earth orbit. The Orbital Test Vehicle looks much like the space shuttle, and its mission is classified.

The X-37B, designed to return from space and land on its own, is being used to demonstrate a reliable, reusable unmanned space test platform for the Air Force. How the Air Force intends to use it in the future is unclear.

- NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss., during the week marked the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 flight with exhibits and remembrances from Biloxi native Fred Haise Jr., who served as lunar module pilot on the mission.

Apollo 13 launched April 11, 1970 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Two days into the flight, the command module spacecraft was crippled by an oxygen tank explosion, forcing a free-trajectory return to Earth. The astronauts were forced to power down the command module and use the lunar module as a space "lifeboat."


F-35/aircraft
During the week, the Air Force version of the F-35A flew for an hour from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base, Texas. It's the seventh F-35 Lightning II to fly.

AF-2, the conventional takeoff and landing aircraft, is the Air Force's version of the Joint Strike Fighter. This fifth-generation fighter was the first one to carry an internal GAU-22/A 25-millimeter Gatling gun weapon system.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to become home to the Joint Strike Fighter training center.

- Okaloosa County rejected paying Valparaiso's legal fees in a lawsuit over the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Valparaiso sought to be reimbursed $61,000. The county sued Valparaiso in April 2009 to halt the city's lawsuit against the Air Force over the possibility of the F-35s coming to Eglin Air Force Base. The lawsuit was settled in February.

- The U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command, based at Hurlburt Field, Fla., wants to improve the self-protection system on the CV-22 Osprey to bolster its defenses against surface-to-air missiles, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology.(Story)

The Pentagon wants to boost the amount of chaff and flare available to crew beyond what is now available with the ALE-47 dispenser. The goal is to allow CV-22 crew to dispense flares pre-emptively as they enter a threat zone.

The system should be able to handle special covert flares designed to spoof surface-to-air missiles but not be visible to the human eye to avoid revealing the tiltrotor’s presence. The initiative is only the latest in a string of actions the Pentagon has taken in the past few years to improve rotorcraft countermeasures.

Meanwhile, an investigation continues into the loss of a CV-22, attached to Hurlburt's 8th Special Operations Squadron. The CV-22 went down earlier this month west of Qalat City, in Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan. Three military personnel died in the accident, as well as one civilian. The plane was inbound to a landing zone at the time. There were no indications of hostile fire.


Bases/airports
A building at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been renamed to honor one of the Doolittle Raiders. Building 68 was named the Horton J-Primes Test Facility in honor of retired Master Sgt. Ed Horton, who passed away in 2008. Horton was a gunner on one of the B-25s that launched from a carrier to bomb Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Horton was among the group that trained at Eglin for the risky mission.

- A Boeing 787 is at Eglin Air Force Base to undergo extreme weather testing at the Air Force’s McKinley Climatic Laboratory. According to Boeing, the 787 flight-test fleet logged its 500th hour of flying April 16. The 787 at Eglin is designated ZA003.

The McKinley Climatic Lab is part of the 46th Test Wing. In addition to Air Force testing, it can be used by other government agencies and private industry. It can create any climatic environment in the world.

- United Airlines will start a daily nonstop flight from Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport to Chicago beginning Nov. 4. The new daily service was the result of United successful weekend service to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport that began in February.

United recently entered the Pensacola market in February with two daily departures to Washington Dulles International Airport. Service for the United Express flight will be operated by Express Jet on a 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 jet.

Week in review (4/4 to 4/17)

Perhaps you're wondering why the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor news feed hasn't had anything since late March on the Air Force tanker project. At that time, there was a brief saying the Pentagon would grant an extension of 60 days if EADS does, in fact, decides to bid.

We're tracking developments, of course, but nothing of significance has happened. EADS is talking to potential partners - and it still is interested in assembling the tankers in Mobile, Ala. But so far Europ's EADS hasn't found a U.S. partner. And that's crucial for EADS to bid.

Northrop Grumman's decision to pull out of the contest pretty much left EADS with few options. Northrop, you'll recall, felt the requirements tilted in favor of the smaller Boeing plane. And there's little if any reason to think the requirements will change.

I anticipate the next time you'll read something on our news feed about the tanker project is when EADS either finds a partner or announces a decision on whether it will or will not bid. So stay tuned.


Unmanned systems
The Fire Scout unmanned helicopter returned to Mayport, Fla., during the past week from its first operational deployment. The UAV was aboard USS McInerney during its recent six-month deployment to the U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility. Among other things, the Fire Scout, built in part in Moss Point, Miss., was used in a drug bust.

Makes me think about the Iraqi soldiers who surrendered to a drone during the Gulf War.

Now about the drug bust: The Fire Scout was on a routine flight in the Eastern Pacific Ocean when it saw a suspected narcotics "go-fast" on radar. Over three hours, Fire Scout monitored the go-fast, feeding real-time video back to McInerney. Fire Scout saw it meeting with a fishing vessel, and that's when the McInerney's Coast Guard detachment seized about 60 kilos of cocaine.

- A couple of weeks ago a BQM-167 drone out of Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., was recovered by a fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico. The drone had been lost March 10 due to an engine flame-out during a routine training exercise. The drone, found in the Tampa area, belongs to the 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, a tenant unit at Tyndall.


Joint Strike Fighter
The city of Valparaiso, Fla., has asked Okaloosa County to pay its legal fees related to recent litigation over the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The county sued Valparaiso last April to halt the city's lawsuit against the Air Force over the possibility of the aircraft coming to Eglin Air Force Base. The county claimed Valparaiso officials violated the state’s Government in the Sunshine law when they voted to sue the Air Force. The lawsuit was settled last month. The legal fees come to $61,000.

- Despite recent problems with the F-35 cost and development schedule, establishment of a training pipeline for pilots and maintainers for the JSF remains on track. Navy Capt. Mike Saunders, deputy commander of the 33rd Operations Group at Eglin, told Navy Times the plan is to be ready with the first jet arrives. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps plan to begin flying the F-35 within the next two years. The first simulators arrived in late March. The Marine Corps' training squadron, Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, stood up earlier this month. The Air Force created the 58th Fighter Squadron last year and the Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron 101 will stand up next year.


Airports and bases
Four people aboard a Navy T-39N Sabreliner that crashed in a wooded area north of Atlanta Monday were identified as retired Lt. Cmdr. Charles McDaniel, 67, of Cantonment, Fla., Marine Capt. Jason Paynter, 38, of Pensacola, Fla., Marine 1st Lt. Shawn Nice, 26, of Levittown, Pa., and Navy Ensign Zachary Eckhart, 25, of Orefield, Pa. Assigned to Training Squadron 86 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, they were on a routine training mission. The cause of the crash is being investigated.

- Officials from the airports in Gulfport, Miss., and Panama signed a cooperation agreement to promote cargo trade in both countries. Bruce Frallic, director of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, said several initiatives already are being implemented. Rafael Flores, general manager of the Tocumen International Airport in Panama, said his country is a transfer point of goods and the Gulfport also can become a hub for this trade.

- The number of passengers going through the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport dropped a bit in February. The airport reported 618,201 passengers boarded and left flights in February, down from 620,814 in February 2009. For the first two months of the year, traffic is down 1.5 percent over the first two months of 2009.

- Brig. Gen. Ian R. Dickinson, commander of the 81st Training Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., will be the new communications director and chief information officer for the Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. Dickinson will replace Brig. Gen. David B. Warner, who retires July 1.

- The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds headlined the 75th Anniversary Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Air Show April 10-11. In addition to the air performances there were a wide range of static displays.


Space
Rick Gilbrech is now deputy director of John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. The appointment was effective immediately. Gilbrech had been director of SSC when he became associate administrator for the exploration systems mission directorate. He retired, then returned to NASA and was named associate director at SSC before his recent promotion.

- A signing ceremony for the contract to build a 72,000 square foot state-of-the-art science center near NASA's Stennis Space Center was held recently in Gulfport, Miss. Roy Anderson Corp. will start construction May 1. The center to be located along Interstate 10 near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line is expected to be a big tourist draw. Infinity is designed to highlight the activities at Stennis Space Center and inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers in the fields of earth, ocean and space science.


Contracts
Over the past couple of weeks there were a number of contracts awarded that are of interest to the Gulf Coast Aerospace Corricor. NASA's Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi awarded a contract to M&D Mechanical Contractors, Inc. of Decatur, Ala., to provide general construction services at the center. The contract value is not to exceed $25 million. … Northrop Grumman System Corp., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $10 million contract which will provide for additional long-lead funding of two Global Hawk Block 30M systems and two Global Hawk Block 40 systems. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. … Star Aviation of Mobile, Ala., won a contract to help install wireless Internet systems on 105 planes owned by Alaska Airlines. The work is supposed to be completed by the end of the year. … McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $10.3 million contract which provided for the purchase of 89 carriage load crew trainers and 356 weapons load crew trainers to support F-16 Block 40/50, F-35, and F-22 integrations and training requirements. 681 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Gulf Power Co., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $5.6 million contract for the construction of Freedom Way substation and transmission line extension, Hurlburt Field, Fla. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District, Mobile, Ala., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (3/28 to 4/3)

Countries worldwide are lining up to buy one of the most coveted pieces of military technology in the world, the Northrop Grumman-built Global Hawk. That's the gist of an AP story during the week.

The popularity of the unmanned aircraft is good news for South Mississippi. Some of the fuselage work for the Global Hawk fuselage is done in Moss Point, Miss., at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center.

Northrop Grumman just wrapped up an Asian tour, and in addition to Japan, other nations considering adding the surveillance aircraft to their arsenals are South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Britain, Spain, New Zealand and Canada. Germany already has a contract for a variant called the EuroHawk, which will be delivered this year.

The Global Hawk also has civilian applications. They've been used to respond to natural disasters, most recently to support relief efforts in Haiti. And NASA, which has two Global Hawks of its own, plans are to use them during the upcoming hurricane season.

Gemma Loochkartt, a spokeswoman for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in San Diego, Calif., told AP that the Global Hawk fleet is now 21 planes finished or under construction. But she says that's likely to grow substantially.


Tanker
Europe's EADS during the week got a deadline extension, but not as much as it wanted.

The Pentagon said it will extend the deadline by 60 days if EADS officially decides to submit a bid to build Air Force tankers. EADS had said it needed a minimum of 90 days. Folks in Alabama were encouraged somewhat. It means Mobile, Ala., still has a shot - slim though it may be - of getting an EADS assembly plant.

Nobody else seemed entirely happy with the extension. EADS, which may still have to find a U.S. partner even though it can compete as the prime contractor, didn't get the extension it wanted. Boeing and its supporters were, predictably, angered over any extension of the deadline.

EADS had partnered with Northrop Grumman for the $35 billion contract to replace the current fleet of tankers. The team won in February 2008, but that was overturned following a Boeing protest. The request for proposals was redone, and Northrop Grumman dropped out in March on grounds that the new requirements favor Boeing's smaller aircraft.

During the week, Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said the government would extend the deadline from May 10 to July 9 if EADS expressed an interest in bidding. EADS spokesman Guy Hicks said the company made it clear it needed 90 days as a minimum, but it's looking closely at the 60-day extension.


Training
In a ceremony at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 451 was reactivated after a 13-year absence. The unit is being redesignated Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 and will train Marines to pilot F-35 fighters. It will train at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which will be used by all the services for initial training in the F-35. The Marines will use the short-takeoff, vertical landing variant of the Lockheed Martin-built plane.


Airports
Two airports in South Mississippi won federal grants for improvements. Trent Lott International Airport in Moss Point will receive $809,753 for runway and taxiway lighting work. Stennis International Airport in Bay St. Louis will get $104,500 for airport apron construction and wildlife hazard assessment. The Department of Transportation grants are part of $8.6 million in funding through the Airport Improvement Program.

- Two airports in the region are launching new air service. In Mississippi, Branson Air Express will begin service between Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and Branson, Mo., starting May 17. It will use 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 regional planes operated under charter by ExpressJet Airlines Inc. In Florida, American Airline's regional affiliate American Eagle will offer twice-daily non-stop flights from Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport to Miami International Airport. The service begins Tuesday.


Weapons
Raytheon Co. has delivered an operationally significant quantity of the Miniature Air Launched Decoy to the Air Force, allowing the service to reach its "required assets available" as scheduled. The 300-pound MALD decoy is modular, air-launched and programmable with a range of 575 miles. Currently integrated on the B-52 bomber and F-16 fighter aircraft, MALD can be certified on any aircraft with a 14-inch suspension carriage. Raytheon is also developing a jamming variant of the MALD and expects to deliver its first system in 2012.


Contracts
Several contracts awarded during the week have Gulf Coast connections. Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $13.5 million contract which provides support for four months of AMRAAM system engineering and program management due to delay of Lot 24. 695ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Bell-Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, was awarded a $55.1 million modification to a previously awarded contract for non-recurring efforts associated with Increment III of the CV-22 aircraft Block 20 upgrade program. Four percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. … Computer Sciences Corp., Falls Church, Va., was awarded a $31.5 million contract for information technology support services to sustain the Naval Education Technology and Professional Development Training Command, Pensacola, Fla. Fifty-seven percent of the work will be done in Pensacola. … L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC, Madison, Miss., received a modification of $6.3 million to provide an additional six months of lease services of four helicopters for pilot training in support of Air Force Special Operations Command. Work will be performed at Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Week in review (3/21 to 3/27)

Although the Army decided to eliminate the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter from its modernization program, Northrop Grumman continues to fly and test the UAV for the service. And, according to an article in Aviation Week and Space Technology, it’s showing capabilities the Army had not previously considered.

The Army owns eight Fire Scouts now stored at the Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss., which is also building Fire Scouts for the Navy and performing some of the work on Global Hawks. For the Army, which said the lower-cost Shadow with improvements could meet Army needs, the issue boils down to cost.

The decision to drop Fire Scout came just before the month-long demonstration at the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment at Fort Benning, Ga. Northrop Grumman used the demonstration to show the suitability of the Fire Scout for the Army. It delivered cargo, deployed an unmanned ground vehicle and served as a surveillance and communications tool.

Lt. Gen. Michael Vane, director of the Army Capabilities Integration Center, said there are operational requirements emerging that the Army hadn't previously considered for UAVs, notably cargo. It's keeping close tabs on the Marines, who are evaluating that capability.

According to the article, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey promised Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., he would investigate the options and have an answer by the end of April. (Story)


Tanker
The Russians won’t be bidding - no real surprise there - but Europe's EADS may be leaning towards bidding on the Air Force tanker contract after all. At least that's what a Reuters analysis said by week's end.

EADS now has prime contractor status, and it hopes to get a 90-day extension on the May 10 bid deadline. EADS and its former teammate, Northrop Grumman, won the $35 billion contest in February 2008, but it was overturned on a Boeing protest. Northrop earlier this month dropped out of the battle on grounds the new request for proposals favors the smaller Boeing tanker. EADS, should it bid and win, would assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala.

- Meanwhile, the World Trade Organization said during the week that Airbus received improper subsidies for the A380 jet and several other airplanes. The ruling affirmed interim findings last September on the U.S. complaint. The WTO found loans from European governments to develop the A380 were at below market rates and amounted to prohibited subsidies.


Testing
An A-10 using a 50-50 mixture of biofuel and conventional JP-8 aviation fuel was tested during the week at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. It was the first time the mixture was tested in both engines. The fuel is derived in part from camelina, a common plant that's been used for lamp fuel and ointments. The military is testing new fuels to diversify its fuel sources.

- In another test at Eglin earlier in the month, Lockheed Martin's Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb completed a series of six flight tests. The bomb uses an enhanced laser guidance package, improving precision when compared to existing Paveway II LGBs. The weapons were launched from altitudes between 10,000 and 30,000 feet against a billboard target angled at 45 degrees. Each successfully initiated laser acquisition at the expected time and guided to the intended target.

- While we’re on the topic of Eglin, an updated study of the impact of the Joint Strike Fighter training school at Eglin shows 59 planes will have an impact of $613 million, down from the $2.15 billion that would have occurred between 2010 and 2016 with all 107 planes originally planned. Though the other 48 planes may still come to Eglin, the Air Force is looking at other bases as well.


Space
A bill was filed in the Senate during the week to prohibit NASA from suspending work on the Constellation Program without justification. The legislation reaffirms language in the FY2010 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that directs NASA to continue moving forward with Constellation and prohibits termination or modification of existing contracts unless separate legislation is passed by Congress. Constellation, the program to take astronauts to the moon and beyond, was canceled in the proposed Obama budget.

The measure was introduced by Sen. George LeMieux of Florida and cosponsored by Mississippi Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, Alabama Sens. Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, and Utah's Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the Constellation program.

- Contracts were awarded Thursday to two firms to oversee construction of the Infinity Science Center, south of Stennis Space Center. Roy Anderson Corp. of Gulfport, Miss., submitted the low bid of $15.6 million to construct the building and Eley Guild Hardy of Biloxi was named executive architect. Work will begin May 3. The science center will provide a fun way for visitors to learn about the Earth, oceans and space.

- Also during the week, Stennis Space Center awarded a $26 million contract to A2 Research, JV, of Huntsville, Ala., to provide technical laboratory services at the center. The firm, fixed-priced contract includes a one-year base contract period, plus a one-year option and one three-year option period.

- Four members of the STS-130 Endeavor space shuttle crew thanked employees at Stennis Space Center during the week for their role in a successful mission to the International Space Station. The STS-130 crew delivered a third connecting nodule to the space station, which will increase the interior space for crew members and many life support and environmental control systems. Four more shuttle missions are scheduled.


Airports
Continental Airlines plans to lay off 150 ground workers at seven U.S. airports, including Pensacola, Fla., and hire contractors to do the work. The other layoffs to occur June 1 are in Providence, R.I., Greensboro, N.C., Richmond and Norfolk, Va., St. Louis and Kansas City. The company said the seven airports were the only all-regional service airports where Continental still uses its own employees for ground handling work.

Week in review (3/14 to 3/20)

In the long-running drama "As the Tanker Turns," every week ends with a cliffhanger. The latest: Will Europe's EADS go it alone and re-enter the competition? Will a Russian company with an as-yet-unnamed U.S. partner enter the fray? Will the Pentagon opt for another cooling off period and come up with a new request for proposals, this one calling for an unmanned tanker that might double as a taxi to the International Space Station? Oh wait, I'm mixing that up with another soap opera, "All My Spacecraft," the drama about NASA's space program.

This bungled attempt to replace the Air Force's tanker fleet would all be quite hilarious if it didn't involve real men and real women who rely on the government to get its act together and provide them with the tools to do their job. The effort has gone on for a decade now, and it's beginning to look like it will go on for another decade. The problem here is that the primary mission now seems to be making everyone happy, or at least not ticking them off.

And that's impossible.

What's badly needed right now is for someone, somewhere, to say this whole thing has gone far enough. We've lost sight of what's important here - getting replacement aircraft to our warfighters. It's become a story about jobs, international commerce and getting re-elected. It's time to take everyone by the shirt, slap them once and say, "Snap out of it!" They may or may not say, "Thanks. I needed that."

For what it's worth, here's a reality check.

On the possibility of EADS re-entering the race, don't hold your breath. EADS said one requirement is that the deadline be extended. That's possible, and the Pentagon has said so much. But EADS also said that it needs to believe it has a real chance of winning. Good luck with that one. If the Pentagon wouldn't alter the request for proposals when Northrop Grumman threatened to pull out, why would it do a 180 degree now?

But then again, this is the tanker competition and stranger things have happened. So for the sake of argument, let's say the Pentagon did change the rules and it satisfied EADS enough that the company submits a bid with or without a U.S. partner. What would Northrop Grumman say? Do you think the phones of Northrop's legal team would be ringing? Can you say protest? Granted, Northrop said it wouldn't protest the RFP, but that was the current RFP. Do you think that if the Pentagon altered the RFP Northrop would sit back and just note the irony? Unlikely.

And how about the possibility of the Russians entering and winning the race? That has the chance of a Siberian snowball in hell. United Aircraft Corp. apparently plans to offer the Ilyushin Il-96 wide-body, which would be largely built in Russia and assembled in the United States. And how do you think that will play?

Well if you thought the idea of buying tankers with European ties made the "buy American" crowd froth at the mouth, just wait until this Russian airship hits the fan. Admittedly, it would be entertaining to hear a sound bite from a certain senator who wasn’t aware anyone made anything in Alabama. What, pray tell, would be said about buying planes from our former Cold War adversary.

And for Mobile and Alabama, there's the site and incentives issue. Northrop Grumman, Alabama and Mobile-area governments have formally ended their incentives agreements after Northrop threw in the towel. One could assume EADS is still interested in the Mobile site. But apparently so too is the Russian company. Attorney John Kirkland, United Aircraft's representative in Los Angeles, said the group would probably approach officials in Mobile. I suppose they could work out something where the site goes to whichever team wins – if they win.

Stay tuned.

- In one of the more striking bits of news during the week, word came that that EADS-owned Airbus plans to sell about 210 of its A400M military airlifters in the United States.

Domingo Urena, chief of Airbus Military, said it's too early to tell if Airbus would seek a U.S. partner. But it may or may not need one. EADS North America is a prime contractor for the Mississippi-built UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopters.

I couldn't help wondering if this means Airbus will assemble those 210 airlifters in the United States. Any ideas of a site that might be available?


Joint Strike Fighter
The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program may be under the gun for running over budget and delays, but the aircraft continues to mark milestones. And that's of interest to the Gulf Coast since Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be the JSF initial training center.

In the latest milestone, an F-35B made a vertical landing for the first time Thursday during testing at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The jet performed a 93 miles per hour short takeoff, then 13 minutes into the flight, the pilot positioned the aircraft 150 feet above the airfield, where the F-35 hovered for a minute then descend to the runway.

The aircraft, BF-1, is one of three F-35B STOVL jets undergoing flight trials at the Patuxent River test site. The Air Force, Navy and Marines, as well as a group of allied nations, will be buying F-35s in the coming years.

- In another F-35 story during the week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates nominated Vice Adm. David Venlet to run the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. The nomination requires Senate approval.

Gates said in early February that he would remove Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Heinz as manager of the JSF and replace him with a three-star officer. The nomination comes as the Pentagon prepares to formally tell Congress that the cost of the F-35 has increased by more than 50 percent.


Unmanned systems
Two military drones built in part in Mississippi appear on some promotional material Northrop Grumman has placed at the Capitol South metro stop in Washington, D.C. Close-up images of the Fire Scout and Global Hawk appear on some of the two-dozen banners and signs used to highlight Northrop Grumman’s weapons capabilities.

The Fire Scout and Global Hawk are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

Northrop Grumman by next year will be moving corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington D.C. area to be close to its biggest customers. It's wasting no time putting its name in front of powerful lawmakers and Pentagon officials.


Bases
Capt. Christopher Plummer has been selected to take over as commander of Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., in mid-April. Plummer, a naval aviator, is attending Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va. Capt. William Reavey was relieved of command earlier this month after allegations of inappropriate conduct. Cmdr. Greg Thomas is serving as commanding officer until Plummer arrives.

- Also at NAS Pensacola during the week, the Blue Angels flight demonstration team returned home to Sherman Field. The team had been in El Centro, Calif., for off-season training. The Blue Angels will perform 67 shows in the upcoming season.


Contracts
Three military contracts with a Gulf Coast connection were awarded during the week, with Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., the contracting activity. Rockwell Collins Inc. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was awarded an $11.1 million contract modification to provide systems development, integration, and verification phase of the P5 range instrumentation waveform in support of the F-22 and F-35 aircraft. 689 ARSS, Eglin, is the contracting activity. .. Kaman Precision Products Inc. of Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $46.3 million contract modification to provide 12,994 joint programmable fuze systems. 679 ARSS, Eglin, is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co. of Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $19.5 million contract for an Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air-Missile system improvement program. 696 ARSS, Eglin, is the contracting activity.

Week in review (3/7 to 3/13)

The decision by Northrop Grumman and EADS early in the week to drop out of the competition to build tankers for the Air Force shouldn't have surprised anyone. Northrop had been saying it may not submit a bid since it appeared the Air Force now wanted a smaller tanker. Boeing will now be the sole bidder for the $40 billion contract, and it means Mobile, Ala., will not be assembling KC-45 tankers at Brookley.

Done deal? Likely, but by the end of the week there was at least one report, by Reuters, saying the deadline for bids on the tanker might be extended to give EADS a chance to consider whether it still wants to compete. Seems unlikely, but in this highly politicized program, nothing is surprising anymore.

In throwing in the towel, Northrop CEO Wes Bush, he said the company "will not protest" the request for proposals, even though it feels it has substantial grounds to support a GAO or court ruling to overturn the revised source selection process. Bush said America's warfighters have waited too long for a tanker.

That's certainly true. The Air Force has been trying to replace the tankers for a decade now. Leasing the replacements from Boeing fell apart after a scandal, then Northrop/EADS won the competition in February 2008, but that was overturned after a protest by Boeing. The Air Force came up with a new competition and a new RFP. Northrop said this one favored the smaller Boeing plane. The company, which has to answer to shareholders, decided it would be a waste of money to compete.

The reaction from Boeing supporters and Northrop Grumman/EADS supporters was just what you would have expected. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said the Air Force had a chance to provide the most capable plane for warfighters and “blew it.” Washington’s Gov. Chris Gregoire applauded Northrop’s decision not to protest the RFP.

Two leaders in Jackson County, Miss., right next door to Mobile, chose to look at it all a bit differently. George Freeland, executive director of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation, said he was disappointed with the Northrop decision not to bid. But he said the Gulf Coast region "still possesses all the ingredients necessary to support new aerospace and technical development and job creation." Jerry St. Pe, former president of Ingalls Shipbuilding, agreed, saying that there are "other opportunities in this whole sphere of aerospace technology that this region is ideally positioned to take advantage of."

Valid point. Take some time to look at the overview of the Gulf Coast aerospace region. That will give you a better sense of what Freeland and St. Pe are talking about.


Space
The tanker is far from the only aerospace activity of interest to the Gulf Coast region. Folks from Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi will be paying close attention to an event in Florida next month.

That’s when President Obama will, apparently, spell out his vision for the future of American astronauts in space. It will be at a conference April 15.

The president has been criticized over plans to kill the Constellation Program, designed to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said he hopes Obama will use the meeting to lay out a goal and a timetable for sending astronauts to Mars. Although Constellation is under the gun, the program passed a two-day preliminary design review recently.


Joint Strike Fighter
It was reported during the week that the projected cost of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has increased 60 to 90 percent in real terms since 2001, well past a level requiring the program to be revamped. Pentagon officials said the estimated price of each F-35 jumped to $80 million to $95 million, as measured in 2002 dollars, from $50 million when Lockheed Martin was awarded the contract in 2001.

Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is slated to be the location for the Joint Strike Fighter Training School. More than 100 of the initial cadre at 33rd Fighter Wing have arrived. Training is still expected to begin this year, but it could be on simulators.


Bases
South Mississippi's Keesler Air Force Base's total economic impact for fiscal year 2009 has been calculated at more than $1.1 billion. In addition to employee payroll figures and construction and purchases, the total impact includes military retiree pay and the value of volunteer services as well as jobs indirectly created on the Gulf Coast. Keesler, in Biloxi, is where the Air Force does training in electronics. It's also home to the 403rd Reserve Wing.


Contracts
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $148.7 million contract to provide for 6,565 Lot `4 guided vehicle kits procured for the Joint Direct Attack Munition. 678 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. ... McDonnell Douglas also was awarded an $8.8 million contract for 100 focused lethality munitions-small diameter bomb I variant. 681 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … BAE Systems Technology Solutions and Services Inc., Rockville, Md., was awarded a $23.2 million modification to a previously awarded contract for maintenance, logistics, and life cycle services in support of communication-electronic equipment/systems and subsystems for various Navy, Army, Air Force, special operations forces and other federal agencies. Two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. … Boeing Co., St Louis, Mo., was awarded a $69.7 million contract which will provide for the QF-16 full scale aerial target basic contract. 691 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.

Week in review (2/28 to 3/6)

John C. Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi has a new head honcho.

Patrick Scheuermann is the new director of Stennis Space Center, moving up from deputy director to replace Arthur "Gene" Goldman, who goes to Huntsville, Ala., as the new deputy director of Marshall Space Flight Center.

Before being named deputy director of Stennis, Scheuermann was associate director at the center and previously served as chief operating officer of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

- Speaking of Michoud, Lockheed Martin expects to finish the last of 134 space shuttle external tanks by the end of June before shutting down the production line for the aluminum-lithium structures. What the future holds is still uncertain.

The government-owned fabrication facility in east New Orleans was scheduled to assemble the upper stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle as well as assembly of the Orion crew vehicle. But the Obama administration has proposed canceling the Constellation Program of post-shuttle space vehicles.

That move by the administration has caused Louisiana put a hold on the remaining $46 million in previously approved money to help Michoud transition from the shuttle to Constellation. Louisiana previously allocated $102 million to help in the transition.

Despite the uncertainty over Constellation, the Lockheed Martin-led team developing the Orion crew exploration vehicle completed fabrication of the heat shield that protects the spacecraft and crew from the extreme temperatures of re-entry. The work was completed at Lockheed's composite development facility in Denver, Colo. The heat shield is to be affixed to the Orion ground test article being built at Michoud.


Joint Strike Fighter
The city of Valparaiso, Fla., and the Air Force finally settled the legal battle over the F-35. City residents have been concerned over the noise expected when Eglin opens the F-35 joint training center. The suit was filed over use of a runway close to the city of Valparaiso. The agreement has the Air Force using it only when necessary. The Air Force also agreed to set up a committee to address any future noise issues.

- The Pratt and Whitney F135 conventional takeoff and landing/carrier variant engine for the F-35 has received approval for operational use. Called initial service release, it indicates the engine meets all requirements for safety, reliability and performance. It’s now approved for low-rate initial production. The F-35 will be used by the Air Force, Navy and Marines, as well as the military from eight foreign partners.


Aerial tanker
As expected, Boeing said during the week that it will offer a 767-based aerial refueling tanker for the Air Force's multibillion-dollar tanker competition. The 767 will have an updated digital flight deck and a fly-by-wire refueling boom. Boeing said the tanker would meet all the Air Force's 372 requirements and offered a low-risk manufacturing option.

There's no word yet on whether the Northrop Grumman/EADS team, which said the current rules favor the smaller Boeing plane, will bid. Northrop Grumman did say during the week that it's getting closer to a decision.

Just how much that will be influenced by EADS is unclear. But a source in Europe told Reuters during the week that EADS wants to bid, despite the odds. The Northrop Grumman/EADS team won the contract in February 2008, but it was overturned following a Boeing protest. The Northrop/EADS team wants to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala.

- Also during the week, the Senate approved three Defense Department nominees whose confirmation had been blocked for weeks by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., amid concerns about an Air Force tanker project.


Airports/bases
The commanding officer of Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., was permanent relieved of command during the week following an inquiry into alleged "inappropriate conduct." Capt. William P. Reavey was relieved by Rear Adm. Tim Alexander, commander of Navy Region Southeast, due to loss of confidence in Reavey's judgment and ability to command.

- Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans ranks next-to-last among 24 small American airports in customer satisfaction. That's according to a biennial survey released by J.D. Power and Associates. At least 100 passengers provided ratings for 27 attributes in six major categories: airport accessibility, baggage claim, check-in process, terminal facilities, security check and food and retail services.