What do you do with a product that just two months ago was named the best invention of 2009? Well, what else? If you're the federal government, you scrap it. That appears to be in the future for the Ares I rocket.
People from Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans - and a host of other locations with NASA facilities - will be paying close attention Monday when President Barack Obama releases his budget request for fiscal year 2011. Published reports say it will include no money to fund the Constellation Program, NASA's Bush-era project to return astronauts to the moon and beyond.
And it won't just be the NASA workers that will be paying attention. Any company involved in building the Ares I, Ares V, Orion crew capsule, Altair Lunar Lander or lunar bases will be taking note of the budget request. And who can blame them? We're talking billions of dollars worth of work and thousands of jobs, some with NASA, some with contractors.
Reports indicate the administration wants NASA to forget about going back to the moon and instead focus on earth science projects like research on global warming. The budget reportedly calls for extending the life of the International Space Station and having commercial companies develop vehicles to ferry astronauts to the ISS. It means an entirely new set of winners and losers.
But the budget proposal is simply the opening round of a process that will take months. There will be a lot of hearings, and Congress will get a chance to pounce on the budget – and pounce they will. NASA and the Constellation Program have strong bipartisan support, and what eventually leaves the Hill may look nothing like the document handed to them.
You can bet your tax refund that political forces from California, Texas, Alabama, Florida, Utah and other states with voters who have a stake in the Constellation Program are mustering the troops. Many have already expressed outrage. You'll hear them say the proposed direction shift will end U.S. leadership in space. And for anyone who remembers the space race and the pride of overtaking the Soviet Union, that will resonate.
But pride aside, it will boil down to jobs. For an administration that’s placed a priority on job creation, this is a peculiar step. The most immediate impact will be the loss of jobs for those involved in Constellation, including companies like ATK, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
What's frustrating is just how much money is wasted as directions change from one administration to another. It's happened countless times before, and I suppose we should be used to it by now. In this case, some $9 billion has been spent on Constellation over the past six years, and a lot of intellectual capital has been put into the program.
We can see some of that work right here in the Gulf Coast. Stennis Space Center has been working on the A-3 test stand that will be used to test the Constellation Project’s J-2X engines, and construction is well underway at Michoud Assembly Facility to prepare it for work on the Ares I upper stage and avionics. The most public display of the Constellation Program was in October with the successful test launch in October of the Ares I-X from Kennedy Space Center.
A month after that launch, the Ares I rocket got top honors in TIME magazine's "Best Inventions of 2009" special edition. The magazine calls the rocket the "best and coolest and smartest thing built in 2009." The magazine’s Paul Kluger noted that Ares I's first flight "dazzled even the skeptics."
So stay tuned. The battle has just begun.
Now for the week in review:
Joint Strike Fighter
A pilot from the Royal Air Force during the week became the third active-duty service pilot - and the first from the United Kingdom - to pilot the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Squadron Leader Steve Long piloted BF-2, a short takeoff/vertical landing F-35B, over Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md.
Long flew the aircraft to 20,000 feet before landing 1.3 hours later. He said he was particularly pleased with the sensors and the level of situational awareness. Both the RAF and the Royal Navy plan to operate the F-35B. The other active-duty pilots to previously fly the F-35 were from the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon's 2011 budget will seek nearly $11 billion for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter according to a draft overview obtained by Defense News. The budget is due to be sent to Congress Monday. That's of interest to the Gulf Coast region, since Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center.
Tanker
A 10-month gap between World Trade Organization rulings on cases involving government subsidies to Boeing and Airbus could hinder the ability of the EU and U.S. to arrive at a settlement. During the week, an EU spokeswoman said the two cases are so similar that the WTO appeals body should rule on both at the same time.
The WTO in September said Airbus was receiving subsidies, but won’t rule on the alleged subsidies to Boeing until June. Airbus parent EADS is teamed with Northrop Grumman and competing against Boeing to build tankers for the Air Force. EADS plans to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala.
Bases
The commander of Air Force Space Command certified 24th Air Force for its initial operational capability Jan. 22. The 24th Air Force, activated in August 2009 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, is a component numbered Air Force subordinate to Air Force Space Command located at Peterson.
"Cyberspace operations represent one of the critical and major areas of growth within the Air Force today," said Maj. Gen. Richard Webber, the 24th Air Force commander. Air Force cyber training is done at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.
- Medics from the 1st Special Operations Support Squadron at Hurlburt Field, Fla., have performed dozens of surgeries, evacuated scores of citizens and delivered tons of supplies as part of the ongoing relief effort in Haiti after the Jan. 12 earthquake. The squadron's special operations surgical teams, special operations critical care evacuation teams, and special operations forces medical elements arrived in Haiti Jan. 13.
- The body of Lt. Clinton Wermers, a Navy pilot whose training plane crashed last weekend in Lake Pontchartrain, was recovered by divers.
Wermers, an instructor, and a student aviator were in a T-34C Turbo Mentor assigned to Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla., when they crashed around 7 p.m. Jan. 23 on approach to the New Orleans Lakefront Airport. The student was rescued Saturday.
A native of South Dakota, Wermer’s remains were recovered Wednesday. The plane was assigned to Training Squadron 6 and was on a routine training mission when it crashed.
4Q reports
Goodrich Corp. earned a $105 million profit in the fourth quarter, down 38 percent from $168.7 million in the last three months of 2008. The company has a service center in Foley, Ala. … Lockheed Martin Corp. reported fourth quarter 2009 net earnings of $827 million compared to $823 million in 2008. Lockheed Martin has multiple operations in the Gulf Coast region. … Raytheon Co. reported fourth quarter 2009 income from continuing operations of $517 million, up 21 percent compared to $428 million in the fourth quarter 2008. Raytheon has operations in the Gulf Coast region. … Teledyne Technologies reported fourth quarter 2009 sales of $454.4 million, compared with sales of $464.8 million for the same period of 2008. Teledyne Continental Motors of Mobile, Ala., is a subsidiary of California-based Teledyne Technologies. … United Technologies Corp. reported fourth quarter 2009 net income of $1.1 billion, down 6 percent over the year ago quarter. United Technologies has activities in the Gulf Coast region, in part through subsidiary Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. … General Dynamics reported 2009 fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations of $618 million compared to 2008 fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations of $630 million. General Dynamics has activities in the Gulf Coast region. … The Boeing Co. reported fourth-quarter net income of $1.3 billion as revenue rose 42 percent to $17.9 billion. Boeing has activities in the Gulf Coast region.
Contracts
Kachemak Research Development, Logan, Utah, was awarded a $9.8 million contract which will provide for robotics research in support of AutoScan 31G for robotic perimeter security applications. 325 CONS/LGCB, Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $23.7 million contract which will replace obsolete parts within the guidance section data processor module and modify the supporting missile hardware and software architecture as required to continue production of the existing missile systems. 695 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Dyncorp International, Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $6.7 million contract for continued contractor logistics support for 12 U.S. Navy UC-35C/D aircraft. Seventeen percent of the work will be done at Naval Air Station New Orleans, La. … CSC Applied Technologies of Fort Worth, Texas was awarded a $29.5 million contract which will provide for base operating support service at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. 81 CONS, Keesler Air Force Base, is the contracting activity.
PERSPECTIVES: Commentary and analysis on aerospace and defense activities in the Gulf Coast
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Week in review (1/17 to 1/23)
Little doubt one of the more interesting aerospace news items for the Gulf Coast region during the week continued to be the Army's decision to end its involvement in the Fire Scout unmanned helicopter. But just as interesting was the decision to slow down the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
The lesson from both: money's tight, and the Pentagon is looking for ways to save money.
The Army decided to disengage from Fire Scout in the belief that it can upgrade its Shadow UAVs with new sensors to get the job done. Fire Scout had been part of the now defunct Future Combat Systems family of unmanned vehicles, an ambitious, expensive project. But the realities of fighting two wars has forced the Pentagon to look at more immediate needs.
The Army's decision was not welcome news for the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss. It does the finishing work on Fire Scouts, and the cancelation of the Army Fire Scouts means the center will build 600 fewer Fire Scouts than originally planned.
That certainly puts the brakes on the growth of the Moss Point center, but it still has plenty of work. But the center is still building Fire Scouts for the Navy, and it also does fuselage work on Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk. And Northrop is continuing to pitch the Fire Scout to other potential customers.
Concerning the F-35, the Pentagon has decided to slow down the testing and acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - but it remains firmly behind the program. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said during a briefing that the path had been too aggressive, and there’s an effort underway to lengthen the test period, increase test assets and make the production rate less ambitious.
The F-35 will be ready for initial operational capability with the Air Force in 2013, Schwartz said. For Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is scheduled to be home to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training center, that will likely mean a delay in when the first fighters will arrive.
Space
First stage engine testing for the Taurus 2 rocket at Stennis Space Center, Miss., is expected in April or May. Orbital Sciences is still hoping for a March 2011 debut of the company’s medium-lift Taurus 2 rocket. Orbital is building the Taurus 2 to launch the company's Cygnus cargo freighter to the International Space Station. The Taurus 2 rocket first stage will use a pair of kerosene-fueled AJ26 main engines provided by Aerojet Corp. The first batch of AJ26 engines is slated to arrive at Stennis no earlier than March.
- NASA’s Shared Services Center at Stennis Space Center will manage a contract extension awarded to Lockheed Martin to continue the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative. The contract extension has a value of about $230 million and will continue through Oct. 31, 2011. Agency-wide services under the ODIN master contract and center delivery orders include desktop hardware and software, personal digital assistants, telephone operations, network services, information technology security and other services.
- The NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft completed 10.4 hours for pilot training and flight characterization in preparation for the Global Hawk Pacific Campaign set to start this spring. Five flights have been completed since the first flight of AV-6 on Oct. 23. Prior to this, the aircraft had not flown in more than 6 years. AV-6 is being modified to carry eleven earth science sensors in preparation for GloPac. Plans are still on track to use Global Hawks in August and September 2010 to track hurricanes for the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process Experiment.
- NASA astronauts were at Stennis Space Center during the week to thank employees for their work. Five of the six members of the Space Shuttle Crew Atlantis flew to Stennis, where space shuttle engines are tested. The Atlantis returned to earth in late November. The crew's 13 day mission included a trip to the International Space Station to deliver supplies and bring one of the astronauts back home.
Tanker
Mobile, Ala., Mayor Sam Jones wants President Barack Obama to reverse the Pentagon's plan and buy aerial tankers both Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team as a major job creation program. Jones, in a letter to Obama, said that would create nearly 100,000 jobs nationwide and help retire the existing fleet seven years earlier. He delivered the letter Thursday during a meeting at the White House with other city mayors. The Northrop/EADS team wants to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala.
- The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, says changes to the request for proposals for the aerial tanker will “lessen the financial risk” for bidders. But he characterizes the changes as “modest.” Schwartz says the final RFP will be issued within a month of the fiscal 2011 budget release scheduled for Feb. 1. Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team are expected to bid for the work, though Northrop has threatened not to bid if the RFP is not changed.
- Boeing's representative in France during the week accused the European nation of shielding its defense market behind a wall of "extreme protectionism." Yves Galland said Paris had few lessons to give America on opening up to foreign suppliers. Boeing is in a battle with Europe’s EADS/Airbus to supply tankers to the U.S. Air Force. Airbus and U.S. partner Northrop Grumman have called the draft request for proposal tilted in Boeing’s favor.
Bases
Oceanographers from the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center, Miss., are conducting hydrographic surveys of ports of interest around Haiti to determine navigational hazards for ships bringing aid to Haiti. Personnel from the command’s Naval Oceanographic Office have also conducted airborne lidar surveys of Port-au-Prince using the CHARTS system aboard a Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft. Other NAVO personnel are aboard the naval survey ship USNS Henson.
- The Flying Jennies of the 403rd Wing at Keesler returned home from four months in Southeast Asia. The Reservists of the 403rd's 815th Airlift Squadron set a record by airdropping 801 bundles in 24 missions over a one-week period. They logged 2,500 hours in just three months. Flying the C-130J-30 model aircraft, the 815th airdropped nearly 5,000 tons of cargo, including ammunition, medical supplies, food and water – and “care packages” with comfort items. They also flew more than 20,000 passengers and 500 aeromedical evacuation passengers during the deployment.
Contracts
Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $7 million modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery requirements contract to provide aircraft maintenance and logistics support for the T-34C at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas and NAS Whiting Field, Fla.
The lesson from both: money's tight, and the Pentagon is looking for ways to save money.
The Army decided to disengage from Fire Scout in the belief that it can upgrade its Shadow UAVs with new sensors to get the job done. Fire Scout had been part of the now defunct Future Combat Systems family of unmanned vehicles, an ambitious, expensive project. But the realities of fighting two wars has forced the Pentagon to look at more immediate needs.
The Army's decision was not welcome news for the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss. It does the finishing work on Fire Scouts, and the cancelation of the Army Fire Scouts means the center will build 600 fewer Fire Scouts than originally planned.
That certainly puts the brakes on the growth of the Moss Point center, but it still has plenty of work. But the center is still building Fire Scouts for the Navy, and it also does fuselage work on Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk. And Northrop is continuing to pitch the Fire Scout to other potential customers.
Concerning the F-35, the Pentagon has decided to slow down the testing and acquisition of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter - but it remains firmly behind the program. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz said during a briefing that the path had been too aggressive, and there’s an effort underway to lengthen the test period, increase test assets and make the production rate less ambitious.
The F-35 will be ready for initial operational capability with the Air Force in 2013, Schwartz said. For Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is scheduled to be home to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training center, that will likely mean a delay in when the first fighters will arrive.
Space
First stage engine testing for the Taurus 2 rocket at Stennis Space Center, Miss., is expected in April or May. Orbital Sciences is still hoping for a March 2011 debut of the company’s medium-lift Taurus 2 rocket. Orbital is building the Taurus 2 to launch the company's Cygnus cargo freighter to the International Space Station. The Taurus 2 rocket first stage will use a pair of kerosene-fueled AJ26 main engines provided by Aerojet Corp. The first batch of AJ26 engines is slated to arrive at Stennis no earlier than March.
- NASA’s Shared Services Center at Stennis Space Center will manage a contract extension awarded to Lockheed Martin to continue the Outsourcing Desktop Initiative. The contract extension has a value of about $230 million and will continue through Oct. 31, 2011. Agency-wide services under the ODIN master contract and center delivery orders include desktop hardware and software, personal digital assistants, telephone operations, network services, information technology security and other services.
- The NASA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft completed 10.4 hours for pilot training and flight characterization in preparation for the Global Hawk Pacific Campaign set to start this spring. Five flights have been completed since the first flight of AV-6 on Oct. 23. Prior to this, the aircraft had not flown in more than 6 years. AV-6 is being modified to carry eleven earth science sensors in preparation for GloPac. Plans are still on track to use Global Hawks in August and September 2010 to track hurricanes for the Genesis and Rapid Intensification Process Experiment.
- NASA astronauts were at Stennis Space Center during the week to thank employees for their work. Five of the six members of the Space Shuttle Crew Atlantis flew to Stennis, where space shuttle engines are tested. The Atlantis returned to earth in late November. The crew's 13 day mission included a trip to the International Space Station to deliver supplies and bring one of the astronauts back home.
Tanker
Mobile, Ala., Mayor Sam Jones wants President Barack Obama to reverse the Pentagon's plan and buy aerial tankers both Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team as a major job creation program. Jones, in a letter to Obama, said that would create nearly 100,000 jobs nationwide and help retire the existing fleet seven years earlier. He delivered the letter Thursday during a meeting at the White House with other city mayors. The Northrop/EADS team wants to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala.
- The Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Norton Schwartz, says changes to the request for proposals for the aerial tanker will “lessen the financial risk” for bidders. But he characterizes the changes as “modest.” Schwartz says the final RFP will be issued within a month of the fiscal 2011 budget release scheduled for Feb. 1. Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team are expected to bid for the work, though Northrop has threatened not to bid if the RFP is not changed.
- Boeing's representative in France during the week accused the European nation of shielding its defense market behind a wall of "extreme protectionism." Yves Galland said Paris had few lessons to give America on opening up to foreign suppliers. Boeing is in a battle with Europe’s EADS/Airbus to supply tankers to the U.S. Air Force. Airbus and U.S. partner Northrop Grumman have called the draft request for proposal tilted in Boeing’s favor.
Bases
Oceanographers from the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center, Miss., are conducting hydrographic surveys of ports of interest around Haiti to determine navigational hazards for ships bringing aid to Haiti. Personnel from the command’s Naval Oceanographic Office have also conducted airborne lidar surveys of Port-au-Prince using the CHARTS system aboard a Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft. Other NAVO personnel are aboard the naval survey ship USNS Henson.
- The Flying Jennies of the 403rd Wing at Keesler returned home from four months in Southeast Asia. The Reservists of the 403rd's 815th Airlift Squadron set a record by airdropping 801 bundles in 24 missions over a one-week period. They logged 2,500 hours in just three months. Flying the C-130J-30 model aircraft, the 815th airdropped nearly 5,000 tons of cargo, including ammunition, medical supplies, food and water – and “care packages” with comfort items. They also flew more than 20,000 passengers and 500 aeromedical evacuation passengers during the deployment.
Contracts
Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., was awarded a $7 million modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery requirements contract to provide aircraft maintenance and logistics support for the T-34C at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas and NAS Whiting Field, Fla.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Week in review (1/10 to 1/16)
European Aeronautic Defense and Space said during the week that the Air Force’s latest specifications for an aerial tanker will not yield significant technological improvements over the current tanker fleet.
Sean O’Keefe, head of EADS North America, said the current draft request for proposals is not a modernization program, but a replacement program. Meanwhile, the CEO of Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security Systems Division, said that company is well positioned to meet the demands of a fixed-price contract, even though the company doesn’t like it.
EADS and partner Northrop Grumman, which want to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala., have threatened to withdraw from the contest if the RFP is not changed from the current version, which they say favors the smaller plane being offered by Boeing.
- Speaking of EADS, two Alabama Army National Guard UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters were unveiled during a ceremony last week. The guard is getting four of the helicopters from EADS North America. They’ll be based at the Army Aviation Support Facility #2 in Birmingham, Ala. EADS North America has delivered 93 Lakotas to the Army and five to the Navy. The UH-72As are built in Columbus, Miss., by the American Eurocopter business unit of EADS North America.
- Northrop Grumman got a bit of bad news during the week. The Army told Congress it’s terminating a robotic vehicle and unmanned aircraft program that were once part of the Army’s Future Combat Systems. The terminated unmanned ground vehicle is the Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment Countermine and Transport, and the UAV is the Fire Scout, which is built in part in Moss Point, Miss. But it hardly means the end of the program. The Navy is using Fire Scouts, and Northrop Grumman is also pitching the UAV to the Coast Guard.
Training
Air Force officials are testing the waters to see if training with avatars in a virtual environment is effective. It would allow students who are assigned on temporary duty to Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., to use computers at their home base for training. Keesler officials say if TDY students are able to complete the training from their home base, the savings to the military could be as high as $700,000 a year in housing, food, and transportation costs.
- The demand for training in explosive ordnance disposal is on the rise. The Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be at maximum capacity in fiscal 2010, with 1,786 students – up from 1,705 students in 2009 and 1,283 in 2008. The executive officer of the school said this year’s increase will be the last one until additional facilities are built.
Military missions
Military personnel from the Gulf Coast are heavily involved in providing help to Haiti. Two MC-130H Combat Talon IIs from the 15th Special Operations Squadron and multiple teams from the 720th Special Tactics Group at Hurlburt Field, Fla., deployed during the week to Haiti in support of humanitarian operations.
These teams brought an array of capabilities with them to the country devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake Jan. 12. In addition to opening up the airport at Port-au-Prince, combat controllers are trained to survey other areas to look for potential airdrop and landing zones so other cargo and personnel can be accepted into the country if required.
The Coast Guard assigned the new HU-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft based out of Mobile, Ala.'s, Coast Guard Aviation Training Center to help with relief efforts in Haiti. The Ocean Sentry is the new medium-range fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft. The Ocean Sentry is powered by two turboprop engines and has a crew of five or six.
Other military personnel helping to provide aid include Navy Seabees from Mississippi and medical personnel from Pensacola, Fla.
- The commander of Eglin Air Force Base told lawmakers in Tallahassee, Fla., during the week that oil and gas drilling in Florida waters could threaten military operations. Col. Bruce McClintock told the House Military Affairs and Local Policy Committee that when Eglin fires missiles at drones, the drones and the spent missiles “have to fall somewhere.” Drilling supports say the entire Gulf is not a military training area, and exclusion zones can be set up.
Next-gen air traffic system
A next-generation air traffic system is now in place covering the Gulf of Mexico. Houston air traffic controllers are now using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, a GPS-based technology, to separate and monitor aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico. The milestone was announced during the week by the FAA administrator. Philadelphia will roll out its ADB-B system next month, and the system will be available nationwide by 2013.
Aviation park
Nearly a half-million dollars will be used to begin work on Whiting Aviation Park, a 269-acre facility near Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla. The Santa Rosa County Commission voted to seek bids for infrastructure work. The commission discussed having county road crews do the work for some $315,000, but decided to seek bids to see if a private contractor can do it for less. Commissioners also approved $175,000 for a consultant to develop a master plan. The park, which will have access to one of Whiting's runways, is intended to attract aviation-related businesses.
Sean O’Keefe, head of EADS North America, said the current draft request for proposals is not a modernization program, but a replacement program. Meanwhile, the CEO of Boeing’s Defense, Space and Security Systems Division, said that company is well positioned to meet the demands of a fixed-price contract, even though the company doesn’t like it.
EADS and partner Northrop Grumman, which want to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala., have threatened to withdraw from the contest if the RFP is not changed from the current version, which they say favors the smaller plane being offered by Boeing.
- Speaking of EADS, two Alabama Army National Guard UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopters were unveiled during a ceremony last week. The guard is getting four of the helicopters from EADS North America. They’ll be based at the Army Aviation Support Facility #2 in Birmingham, Ala. EADS North America has delivered 93 Lakotas to the Army and five to the Navy. The UH-72As are built in Columbus, Miss., by the American Eurocopter business unit of EADS North America.
- Northrop Grumman got a bit of bad news during the week. The Army told Congress it’s terminating a robotic vehicle and unmanned aircraft program that were once part of the Army’s Future Combat Systems. The terminated unmanned ground vehicle is the Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment Countermine and Transport, and the UAV is the Fire Scout, which is built in part in Moss Point, Miss. But it hardly means the end of the program. The Navy is using Fire Scouts, and Northrop Grumman is also pitching the UAV to the Coast Guard.
Training
Air Force officials are testing the waters to see if training with avatars in a virtual environment is effective. It would allow students who are assigned on temporary duty to Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., to use computers at their home base for training. Keesler officials say if TDY students are able to complete the training from their home base, the savings to the military could be as high as $700,000 a year in housing, food, and transportation costs.
- The demand for training in explosive ordnance disposal is on the rise. The Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be at maximum capacity in fiscal 2010, with 1,786 students – up from 1,705 students in 2009 and 1,283 in 2008. The executive officer of the school said this year’s increase will be the last one until additional facilities are built.
Military missions
Military personnel from the Gulf Coast are heavily involved in providing help to Haiti. Two MC-130H Combat Talon IIs from the 15th Special Operations Squadron and multiple teams from the 720th Special Tactics Group at Hurlburt Field, Fla., deployed during the week to Haiti in support of humanitarian operations.
These teams brought an array of capabilities with them to the country devastated by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake Jan. 12. In addition to opening up the airport at Port-au-Prince, combat controllers are trained to survey other areas to look for potential airdrop and landing zones so other cargo and personnel can be accepted into the country if required.
The Coast Guard assigned the new HU-144A Ocean Sentry aircraft based out of Mobile, Ala.'s, Coast Guard Aviation Training Center to help with relief efforts in Haiti. The Ocean Sentry is the new medium-range fixed-wing search and rescue aircraft. The Ocean Sentry is powered by two turboprop engines and has a crew of five or six.
Other military personnel helping to provide aid include Navy Seabees from Mississippi and medical personnel from Pensacola, Fla.
- The commander of Eglin Air Force Base told lawmakers in Tallahassee, Fla., during the week that oil and gas drilling in Florida waters could threaten military operations. Col. Bruce McClintock told the House Military Affairs and Local Policy Committee that when Eglin fires missiles at drones, the drones and the spent missiles “have to fall somewhere.” Drilling supports say the entire Gulf is not a military training area, and exclusion zones can be set up.
Next-gen air traffic system
A next-generation air traffic system is now in place covering the Gulf of Mexico. Houston air traffic controllers are now using Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, a GPS-based technology, to separate and monitor aircraft flying over the Gulf of Mexico. The milestone was announced during the week by the FAA administrator. Philadelphia will roll out its ADB-B system next month, and the system will be available nationwide by 2013.
Aviation park
Nearly a half-million dollars will be used to begin work on Whiting Aviation Park, a 269-acre facility near Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla. The Santa Rosa County Commission voted to seek bids for infrastructure work. The commission discussed having county road crews do the work for some $315,000, but decided to seek bids to see if a private contractor can do it for less. Commissioners also approved $175,000 for a consultant to develop a master plan. The park, which will have access to one of Whiting's runways, is intended to attract aviation-related businesses.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Week in review (1/3 to 1/9)
First it was Boeing. Now Northrop Grumman.
I’m talking about the decision of Northrop Grumman to move its corporate offices and 300 jobs from Los Angeles to the Washington D.C. region by 2011. The aerospace giant is looking at the District, Maryland and Virginia, and will pick a location sometime this year.
The decision has to be painful for the West Coast’s aerospace industry. It was a decade ago that Boeing moved its world headquarters from Seattle to Chicago. Northrop says the reason for the move is that it has a lot of customers in the Washington, D.C., region, and this will help Northrop better serve those customers.
It will place Northrop corporate offices at the political center of the United States. Northrop’s partners in the aerial tanker competition already has corporate offices in the Washington D.C. region. Airbus Americas is headquartered in Herndon, Va., and EADS North America is headquartered in Arlington, Va.
For the Gulf Coast region, it could mean more face-to-face contact with Northrop executives. Los Angeles is almost 1,700 miles away, while Washington D.C. is about 1,000. And the movers and shakers from this region go to the nation’s capital more than they go to Los Angeles.
- Speaking of Airbus, the company during the week said it will add 80 jobs to its 210-worker engineering facility in Wichita, Kan., a project that Wichita officials had said they were competing against Mobile, Ala., to land. Airbus has a 150-worker engineering facility at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex. Airbus said the company's new engineering work is related to wings, already the primary focus in Wichita. Engineers in Mobile work on cabin interiors, cargo systems and escape systems.
- While Boeing and Airbus lock horns over the Air Force tanker, the two aerospace giants are keeping their eyes one some new competition that’s developing. The latest may well come from Canada.
Aviation Week reports that a Wall Street analyst, J.P. Morgan’s Joseph B. Nadol, believes Bombardier is planning a 150-seat version of its new CSeries jet. While the aircraft builder has only unveiled the 110-seat CS100 and 130-seat CS300, Nadol believes a 150-seat model would have real potential. It would move Bombardier into a segment of the passenger aircraft market that’s been dominated by the A320 and 737.
There are already two challengers on the horizon. China’s Comac is developing the 150-seat C919 and Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. is developing the MC-21. Can Brazil’s Embraer be far behind? (Story)
- In another big-company development during the week, Boeing consolidated some divisions and renamed its St. Louis-based defense unit Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It had been called Boeing Integrated Defense Systems since 2002, when the company consolidated its military aircraft and space business. (Story)
Joint Strike Fighter
During the week, Bloomberg reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a delay in the Lockheed Martin F-35 program, cutting the Pentagon’s planned purchases by 10 aircraft in fiscal 2011 and a total of 122 through 2015. More than $2.8 billion that was budgeted earlier to buy the military’s next-generation fighter would instead be used to continue its development. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to be home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center.
- Air Force officials published the notice of intent in the Federal Register to prepare an environmental impact statement to assess the impacts of establishing operational F-35 units at existing Air Force and Air National Guard installations. The candidate bases are Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; Hill AFB, Utah; Burlington Air Guard Station, Vt.; Shaw AFB/McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C.; and Jacksonville AGS, Fla. Air Force officials expect to complete the environmental impact analysis process in about one year.
- The short takeoff/vertical landing version of the F-35 for the first time engaged its STOVL propulsion system in flight in tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The F-35 is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine driving a Rolls-Royce LiftFan. The F135 system development and demonstration program has completed 164 hours of flight time, including cross-country flights to and from Edwards and Eglin Air Force Bases and Patuxent River Naval Air Station.
- Pratt & Whitney has delivered its final conventional take off and landing/carrier variant F135 flight test engine to the F-35 Joint Program Office as the program transitions from development and demonstration to production. Pratt & Whitney has delivered 17 flight test engines and expects to deliver the final short take off and vertical landing flight test engine early this year.
Airports/bases
In Mississippi, Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport topped its 2008 figures for departures and posted its third-highest count in the past eight years for incoming passengers. The airport finished 2009 with 12,365 boardings, a couple hundred departures more than 2008.
- In Florida, Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport is looking into how a college student from Korea ended up spending the night at the airport undetected. The Pensacola Christian College student was found asleep at a Delta airlines gate at 4:15 a.m. Sunday when an agent of the airline arrived to open the gate for business. The student told airport officials he spent the night sleeping in the concourse waiting for friends.
- At Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Northrop Grumman and the Army recently completed electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility testing on the first RC-12X Guardrail. The RC-12X is the Army's airborne SIGINT sensor and ground processing system. The EMI/EMC testing validates operation of the aircraft's electronic systems in a large, electromagnetically shielded chamber. EMI/EMC testing is required before an airworthiness certificate can be issued. Delivery to the Army is scheduled for summer 2010.
Space
This year will bring several milestones in the construction of the A-3 stand at Mississippi's Stennis Space Center. The stand will be used to test the J-2X engine, a key propulsion system for NASA’s Constellation Program. This year workers will install the stand’s test cell and diffuser, which let operators simulate altitudes of up to 100,000 feet using a series of chemical steam generators to create a vacuum. The test cell and diffuser is being manufactured by American Tank and Vessel Inc. at its facility in Lucedale, Miss. The stand is slated to be finished in late 2011.
I’m talking about the decision of Northrop Grumman to move its corporate offices and 300 jobs from Los Angeles to the Washington D.C. region by 2011. The aerospace giant is looking at the District, Maryland and Virginia, and will pick a location sometime this year.
The decision has to be painful for the West Coast’s aerospace industry. It was a decade ago that Boeing moved its world headquarters from Seattle to Chicago. Northrop says the reason for the move is that it has a lot of customers in the Washington, D.C., region, and this will help Northrop better serve those customers.
It will place Northrop corporate offices at the political center of the United States. Northrop’s partners in the aerial tanker competition already has corporate offices in the Washington D.C. region. Airbus Americas is headquartered in Herndon, Va., and EADS North America is headquartered in Arlington, Va.
For the Gulf Coast region, it could mean more face-to-face contact with Northrop executives. Los Angeles is almost 1,700 miles away, while Washington D.C. is about 1,000. And the movers and shakers from this region go to the nation’s capital more than they go to Los Angeles.
- Speaking of Airbus, the company during the week said it will add 80 jobs to its 210-worker engineering facility in Wichita, Kan., a project that Wichita officials had said they were competing against Mobile, Ala., to land. Airbus has a 150-worker engineering facility at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex. Airbus said the company's new engineering work is related to wings, already the primary focus in Wichita. Engineers in Mobile work on cabin interiors, cargo systems and escape systems.
- While Boeing and Airbus lock horns over the Air Force tanker, the two aerospace giants are keeping their eyes one some new competition that’s developing. The latest may well come from Canada.
Aviation Week reports that a Wall Street analyst, J.P. Morgan’s Joseph B. Nadol, believes Bombardier is planning a 150-seat version of its new CSeries jet. While the aircraft builder has only unveiled the 110-seat CS100 and 130-seat CS300, Nadol believes a 150-seat model would have real potential. It would move Bombardier into a segment of the passenger aircraft market that’s been dominated by the A320 and 737.
There are already two challengers on the horizon. China’s Comac is developing the 150-seat C919 and Russia’s United Aircraft Corp. is developing the MC-21. Can Brazil’s Embraer be far behind? (Story)
- In another big-company development during the week, Boeing consolidated some divisions and renamed its St. Louis-based defense unit Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It had been called Boeing Integrated Defense Systems since 2002, when the company consolidated its military aircraft and space business. (Story)
Joint Strike Fighter
During the week, Bloomberg reported that Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered a delay in the Lockheed Martin F-35 program, cutting the Pentagon’s planned purchases by 10 aircraft in fiscal 2011 and a total of 122 through 2015. More than $2.8 billion that was budgeted earlier to buy the military’s next-generation fighter would instead be used to continue its development. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to be home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center.
- Air Force officials published the notice of intent in the Federal Register to prepare an environmental impact statement to assess the impacts of establishing operational F-35 units at existing Air Force and Air National Guard installations. The candidate bases are Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; Hill AFB, Utah; Burlington Air Guard Station, Vt.; Shaw AFB/McEntire Joint National Guard Base, S.C.; and Jacksonville AGS, Fla. Air Force officials expect to complete the environmental impact analysis process in about one year.
- The short takeoff/vertical landing version of the F-35 for the first time engaged its STOVL propulsion system in flight in tests at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The F-35 is powered by a Pratt & Whitney F135 engine driving a Rolls-Royce LiftFan. The F135 system development and demonstration program has completed 164 hours of flight time, including cross-country flights to and from Edwards and Eglin Air Force Bases and Patuxent River Naval Air Station.
- Pratt & Whitney has delivered its final conventional take off and landing/carrier variant F135 flight test engine to the F-35 Joint Program Office as the program transitions from development and demonstration to production. Pratt & Whitney has delivered 17 flight test engines and expects to deliver the final short take off and vertical landing flight test engine early this year.
Airports/bases
In Mississippi, Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport topped its 2008 figures for departures and posted its third-highest count in the past eight years for incoming passengers. The airport finished 2009 with 12,365 boardings, a couple hundred departures more than 2008.
- In Florida, Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport is looking into how a college student from Korea ended up spending the night at the airport undetected. The Pensacola Christian College student was found asleep at a Delta airlines gate at 4:15 a.m. Sunday when an agent of the airline arrived to open the gate for business. The student told airport officials he spent the night sleeping in the concourse waiting for friends.
- At Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., Northrop Grumman and the Army recently completed electromagnetic interference/electromagnetic compatibility testing on the first RC-12X Guardrail. The RC-12X is the Army's airborne SIGINT sensor and ground processing system. The EMI/EMC testing validates operation of the aircraft's electronic systems in a large, electromagnetically shielded chamber. EMI/EMC testing is required before an airworthiness certificate can be issued. Delivery to the Army is scheduled for summer 2010.
Space
This year will bring several milestones in the construction of the A-3 stand at Mississippi's Stennis Space Center. The stand will be used to test the J-2X engine, a key propulsion system for NASA’s Constellation Program. This year workers will install the stand’s test cell and diffuser, which let operators simulate altitudes of up to 100,000 feet using a series of chemical steam generators to create a vacuum. The test cell and diffuser is being manufactured by American Tank and Vessel Inc. at its facility in Lucedale, Miss. The stand is slated to be finished in late 2011.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Week in review (12/27 to 1/2)
The uncertainty over where NASA is heading remains as the new year begins. And that’s got to be uncomfortable for those who work at the Gulf Coast’s NASA facilities at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.
But the uncertainty shouldn’t last much longer. The Obama administration is expected to reveal within the next few weeks where NASA will be heading. The president, who has expressed admiration for the space program, has been getting input from a lot of advisors. He also has the results of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Committee.
In October that panel said NASA's current funding puts it on an “unsustainable trajectory” to undertake ambitious missions of returning to the moon and beyond – the Constellation Program. It urged Obama to increase the agency’s budget by $3 billion a year, above the nearly $19 billion per year it receives now. The report also raised issues about the current lineup of space vehicles being developed by NASA and industry partners. (Story)
Both Michoud, which is involved in assembling the new generation of space vehicles, and Stennis, which is where the propulsion systems will be tested, are moving forward on Constellation despite the uncertainty. But then again, until told otherwise, what can they do?
But the space program isn't the only uncertainty. In 2010 we'll learn whether Boeing or the Northrop Grumman/EADS team will win the contract to produce aerial tankers for the Air Force. If Boeing wins, the planes will be built in Washington state, and if Northrop/EADS wins, they'll be assembled in Mobile, Ala.
I'm going to go out on a limb and again predict that the Pentagon will end up splitting the contract. The whole process has become so political it may be the only escape. And if that happens, we'll still have to see if the production rate is large enough for EADS to go ahead and commit to a facility in Mobile.
Stay tuned, folks.
Joint Strike Fighter
The 2010 mayor’s race in Valparaiso, Fla., may shape up as a referendum on the city’s face-off with the Air Force over the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The March 9 ballot so far pits current Mayor Bruce Arnold against challenger Brent Smith. Arnold was a driving force behind the city’s lawsuit against the Air Force, while Smith opposed the litigation from the start.
The Air Force is building the F-35 joint training center at Eglin, but some residents have been concerned over the noise the new plane will bring. Despite the ongoing concerns, more than $84 million for F-35 structures and a 96-room dormitory at Eglin is included in the $13.5 billion fiscal 2010 military construction budget.
- In another F-35 story during the past week, Lockheed Martin said the second F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing arrived early in the week at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The aircraft flew nonstop from Fort Worth, Texas, and completed an aerial refueling en route. Over the next year a team will ramp up the plane for flight testing.
- Also during the week, Kyodo News reported that Japan may become a partner in the F-35 development program – even without a firm commitment to buying the aircraft.
Airports
Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi may see an 8 to 10 percent passenger growth in 2010. That’s according to Bruce Frallic, the long-time airport’s director. He says the last two years have been tough on the industry, but he sees things turning around. The airport has spent millions in improvements, and will be spending millions more in 2010. The airport will be getting back AirTran Jan. 8 after a year’s absence.
- In Pensacola, Fla., Melinda Crawford was appointed during the week as the new director of Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. Crawford has been the interim director since May 15, when former director Frank Miller left the position for a job in San Antonio, Texas.
- Speaking of airports, the attempted attack of an airliner by a man wearing explosives under his clothing may mean more business for Rapiscan Systems of Torrance, Calif., and its 10,000 square-foot production facility in Ocean Springs, Miss. The plant, which builds scanners, recently hired 25 additional workers.
New market
Teledyne Continental Motors of Mobile, Ala., is making a push into diesel-powered engines to enter new markets worldwide – including small unmanned aerial vehicles. Teledyne Continental is hiring engineers and has bought diesel-related technology, licenses and hardware from an outside source. Teledyne plans to announce details this month. Teledyne Continental is a unit of Teledyne Technologies of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and has about 450 workers in Mobile.
Contracts
Vertex Aerospace, LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded an $11.4 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. … General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, Burlington, Vt., was awarded a $33.6 million contract for 144 Bradley reactive armor tile sets for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle systems. Most of the work will be done in Haifa, Israel; Burlington and Lyndonville, Vt., but McHenry, Miss., will do 1.7 percent of the work. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $12.4 million contract, with a task order from an existing requirements contract, to purchase 43 range safety systems necessary for decoy operational testings and miniature air launched decoy and jammer initial operational test and evaluation. 692 ARSS/PK Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $98 million modification to the previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for special tooling and special test equipment required for the manufacture of Joint Strike Fighter Air System low rate initial production aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become home to the JSF training center.
But the uncertainty shouldn’t last much longer. The Obama administration is expected to reveal within the next few weeks where NASA will be heading. The president, who has expressed admiration for the space program, has been getting input from a lot of advisors. He also has the results of the Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Committee.
In October that panel said NASA's current funding puts it on an “unsustainable trajectory” to undertake ambitious missions of returning to the moon and beyond – the Constellation Program. It urged Obama to increase the agency’s budget by $3 billion a year, above the nearly $19 billion per year it receives now. The report also raised issues about the current lineup of space vehicles being developed by NASA and industry partners. (Story)
Both Michoud, which is involved in assembling the new generation of space vehicles, and Stennis, which is where the propulsion systems will be tested, are moving forward on Constellation despite the uncertainty. But then again, until told otherwise, what can they do?
But the space program isn't the only uncertainty. In 2010 we'll learn whether Boeing or the Northrop Grumman/EADS team will win the contract to produce aerial tankers for the Air Force. If Boeing wins, the planes will be built in Washington state, and if Northrop/EADS wins, they'll be assembled in Mobile, Ala.
I'm going to go out on a limb and again predict that the Pentagon will end up splitting the contract. The whole process has become so political it may be the only escape. And if that happens, we'll still have to see if the production rate is large enough for EADS to go ahead and commit to a facility in Mobile.
Stay tuned, folks.
Joint Strike Fighter
The 2010 mayor’s race in Valparaiso, Fla., may shape up as a referendum on the city’s face-off with the Air Force over the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The March 9 ballot so far pits current Mayor Bruce Arnold against challenger Brent Smith. Arnold was a driving force behind the city’s lawsuit against the Air Force, while Smith opposed the litigation from the start.
The Air Force is building the F-35 joint training center at Eglin, but some residents have been concerned over the noise the new plane will bring. Despite the ongoing concerns, more than $84 million for F-35 structures and a 96-room dormitory at Eglin is included in the $13.5 billion fiscal 2010 military construction budget.
- In another F-35 story during the past week, Lockheed Martin said the second F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing arrived early in the week at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. The aircraft flew nonstop from Fort Worth, Texas, and completed an aerial refueling en route. Over the next year a team will ramp up the plane for flight testing.
- Also during the week, Kyodo News reported that Japan may become a partner in the F-35 development program – even without a firm commitment to buying the aircraft.
Airports
Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi may see an 8 to 10 percent passenger growth in 2010. That’s according to Bruce Frallic, the long-time airport’s director. He says the last two years have been tough on the industry, but he sees things turning around. The airport has spent millions in improvements, and will be spending millions more in 2010. The airport will be getting back AirTran Jan. 8 after a year’s absence.
- In Pensacola, Fla., Melinda Crawford was appointed during the week as the new director of Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport. Crawford has been the interim director since May 15, when former director Frank Miller left the position for a job in San Antonio, Texas.
- Speaking of airports, the attempted attack of an airliner by a man wearing explosives under his clothing may mean more business for Rapiscan Systems of Torrance, Calif., and its 10,000 square-foot production facility in Ocean Springs, Miss. The plant, which builds scanners, recently hired 25 additional workers.
New market
Teledyne Continental Motors of Mobile, Ala., is making a push into diesel-powered engines to enter new markets worldwide – including small unmanned aerial vehicles. Teledyne Continental is hiring engineers and has bought diesel-related technology, licenses and hardware from an outside source. Teledyne plans to announce details this month. Teledyne Continental is a unit of Teledyne Technologies of Thousand Oaks, Calif., and has about 450 workers in Mobile.
Contracts
Vertex Aerospace, LLC, Madison, Miss., was awarded an $11.4 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. … General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, Burlington, Vt., was awarded a $33.6 million contract for 144 Bradley reactive armor tile sets for the Bradley Fighting Vehicle systems. Most of the work will be done in Haifa, Israel; Burlington and Lyndonville, Vt., but McHenry, Miss., will do 1.7 percent of the work. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $12.4 million contract, with a task order from an existing requirements contract, to purchase 43 range safety systems necessary for decoy operational testings and miniature air launched decoy and jammer initial operational test and evaluation. 692 ARSS/PK Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $98 million modification to the previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for special tooling and special test equipment required for the manufacture of Joint Strike Fighter Air System low rate initial production aircraft. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become home to the JSF training center.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Week in review (12/20 to 12/26)
The Financial Times during the past week reported that Airbus fears a six-month delay in a crucial World Trade Organization report on Boeing could harm its chances of winning the multibillion-dollar Pentagon aerial tanker contract.
The WTO does not plan to release its interim report until June 2010 on Brussels’ claims that the United States had granted Boeing subsidies. Washington and Brussels accused one another of subsidising their respective aircraft makers illegally in October 2004, with each case being handled by a separate WTO panel. The one hearing the U.S. claim against Airbus handed down its draft report in September. (Story)
Bases
A developer has been chosen for the new Emerald Breeze Resort on Air Force Gulf-front property in Okaloosa County. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., chose Innisfree Hotels and Innisfree Development for the operation and development of a $24 million hotel and multi-use resort a dozen miles south of Eglin's west gate. The 17-acre property with 600 feet of Gulf frontage will continue its military function as a radar installation, and the resort will be open to military and civilian visitors.
- The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., was tasked by National Weather Service officials to fly its first winter storm of the season on the East Coast starting Dec. 25. The "Hurricane Hunters" normally collect weather data during tropical storms, but between hurricane seasons they have a lesser known role of collecting weather data during winter storms.
Weapon/systems
The United Kingdom received financial approval to buy its third Lockheed Martin F-35B operational test aircraft. The approval follows recent F-35 down-select or procurement commitments by Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy and the United States. More than 100 British companies are involved in the Joint Strike Fighter program. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become home of the JSF training center.
- AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., has received a $23.9 million firm fixed-price order under an existing contract to upgrade existing analog Raven systems being used by the Army and Marine Corps. The Raven unmanned aircraft is a 4.2-pound, hand-launched sensor platform that provides real-time video imagery for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in support of tactical units. AeroVironment has an operation in Navarre, Fla.
- An F-15C fired Raytheon’s AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder advanced, infrared-guided air-to-air missile as part of the missile's developmental testing program. The weapon successfully passed within lethal range of a BQM-74 target drone, meeting all primary test objectives. The Nov. 20 test occurred at the test range at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and marks the second time the missile has been fired.
Space
A 15-story shuttle external tank from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is now at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was a roughly 900-mile trip. The tank, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, will boost shuttle Discovery into orbit in March.
The WTO does not plan to release its interim report until June 2010 on Brussels’ claims that the United States had granted Boeing subsidies. Washington and Brussels accused one another of subsidising their respective aircraft makers illegally in October 2004, with each case being handled by a separate WTO panel. The one hearing the U.S. claim against Airbus handed down its draft report in September. (Story)
Bases
A developer has been chosen for the new Emerald Breeze Resort on Air Force Gulf-front property in Okaloosa County. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., chose Innisfree Hotels and Innisfree Development for the operation and development of a $24 million hotel and multi-use resort a dozen miles south of Eglin's west gate. The 17-acre property with 600 feet of Gulf frontage will continue its military function as a radar installation, and the resort will be open to military and civilian visitors.
- The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., was tasked by National Weather Service officials to fly its first winter storm of the season on the East Coast starting Dec. 25. The "Hurricane Hunters" normally collect weather data during tropical storms, but between hurricane seasons they have a lesser known role of collecting weather data during winter storms.
Weapon/systems
The United Kingdom received financial approval to buy its third Lockheed Martin F-35B operational test aircraft. The approval follows recent F-35 down-select or procurement commitments by Australia, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy and the United States. More than 100 British companies are involved in the Joint Strike Fighter program. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become home of the JSF training center.
- AeroVironment of Monrovia, Calif., has received a $23.9 million firm fixed-price order under an existing contract to upgrade existing analog Raven systems being used by the Army and Marine Corps. The Raven unmanned aircraft is a 4.2-pound, hand-launched sensor platform that provides real-time video imagery for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition in support of tactical units. AeroVironment has an operation in Navarre, Fla.
- An F-15C fired Raytheon’s AIM-9X Block II Sidewinder advanced, infrared-guided air-to-air missile as part of the missile's developmental testing program. The weapon successfully passed within lethal range of a BQM-74 target drone, meeting all primary test objectives. The Nov. 20 test occurred at the test range at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., and marks the second time the missile has been fired.
Space
A 15-story shuttle external tank from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is now at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It was a roughly 900-mile trip. The tank, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, will boost shuttle Discovery into orbit in March.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Week in review (12/13 to 12/19)
It wasn’t the most significant Gulf Coast-related aerospace story during the week, but it was certainly entertaining. I’m talking about the war of words over a comment made by a Washington politician about Alabama.
Sen. Patty Murray told NPR in early December that thousands of workers in Washington go to work every day building planes, but she challenged anyone to say they’ve seen “anybody build anything” in Alabama. Murray, of course, is a big supporter of Boeing's bid to build Air Force tankers.
Alabama politicians, who are backing the Northrop/EADS team that wants to build the planes in Mobile, Ala., immediately took up the challenge and got loads of ink and air time. They pointed out the many things produced in the state, not the least of which are high-tech space and defense systems.
But when Murray challenged anyone to say different about making things in Alabama, NPR should have taken up the challenge. It would have taken little to learn that in Alabama, major NASA and defense work is done in Huntsville, auto manufacturing plants dot the state and that shipbuilding is big business in Mobile. And that’s just the most cursory rundown. A sentence right after the Murray quote would have been appropriate.
It might not have stopped the reaction to the Murray quote, but it would have been the right thing to do. I went back to hear the report and the context. The audio for the “All Things Considered” story doesn’t have that particular quote from Murray, nor does the transcript. But the printed story on the NPR site does, along with other copy that never made it to the audio.
NPR had a follow-up story Saturday, saying the political bickering over the tanker has reached a new level. Perhaps the better word might have been “sunk” to a new level. The update notes that since the piece from earlier this month aired, NPR has received media requests for Murray's quote.
The update also points out that what’s been lost in the rhetoric is how long it will be before the Air Force gets new tankers. NPR says nobody has asked to rebroadcast the quote from a defense analyst that the arithmetic is starting to get a little worrisome.
Well of course not. That’s not nearly as entertaining.
- In a more newsworthy item on the tanker, the Pentagon is unlikely to change dramatically its list of requirements for a fleet of aerial tankers, despite objections, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said. Northrop Grumman and partner EADS have said the terms favor Boeing, and Northrop said it would not compete without significant changes that favor a smaller tanker. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R.-Ala., said he’s unsure what Congress will do if the Northrop makes good on its threat.
Space
An innovative method for joining composite structures passed a series of structural tests. The design was used to mate two segments of NASA’s composite crew module demonstrator test article, which represents the inner pressurized shell for the Orion crew module. Test results proved the mating process retains compartment pressure and withstands external loads at twice the level normally experienced in flight. The Orion is part of the Constellation program, NASA’s bid to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are both involved in Constellation.
- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne received the 2009 Large Business Prime Contractor Excellence Award from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The company was recognized for exemplary support of the center’s subcontracting programs under the J-2X upper stage engine and space shuttle main engine contracts. The J-2X engine will power the nation’s next generation space launch vehicles, Ares I and V. The space shuttle main engine – all tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. – is a reusable rocket engine that has powered the shuttles since 1981. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne also has an operation at Stennis Space Center.
- In another Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne item, the company during the week celebrated the opening of a new research facility on the campus of University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala. It’s part of a collaborative effort designed to develop new technologies and business strategies for both company and the university. UAH will provide offices, laboratories and support so Rocketdyne personnel can collaborate on planning, research and development activities.
Airparks/airports
Harrison County, Miss., is on its way to buying 600 acres for an industrial park north of Interstate 10 that likely will be marketed to aerospace companies. Larry Barnett, executive director of the Harrison County Development Commission, estimates the park will be ready for tenants in 2013. Barnett expects manufacturing appropriate for the aerospace corridor that runs along Interstate 10 from New Orleans to Florida.
- AirTran Airways flights will resume at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi on Jan. 8. The non-stop flights will initially be three days a week aboard a 117-seat Boeing 717. Jeremiah Gerald, director of air service and business development at the airport, said it’s been almost a year since AirTran pulled out of the Gulfport market.
Acquisition
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., announced it's acquired Tybrin Corp., a 1,500-person professional services firm headquartered in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Terms were not disclosed. Founded in 1972, Tybrin is a supplier of mission planning solutions, systems engineering, software development, modeling and combat environment simulation, engineering and testing, range safety, and other services to the government.
Contract extension
ST Aerospace Mobile said Friday that it has won a three-year extension of a contract to maintain/overhaul Airbus A330s, Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s and Boeing 767s for US Airways. No terms were announced. It’s the second big contract announced this month for the company at Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile, Ala. It earlier won a three-year $90 million contract to maintain Airbus A320s and Boeing 767s for an unnamed airline.
Contracts
Star Aviation of Mobile, Ala., won its first military subcontract. MacAulay-Brown Inc., an engineering firm based in Dayton, Ohio, awarded the company a deal to work on combat survivor locator systems for Air Force C-130s. The value was not released. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $19.8 million contract which will provide the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Production Lot 23 contract. 695 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $114.6 million contract to provide support for small diameter bomb Increment 1 production for munitions, carriages and technical supports. 681 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Sen. Patty Murray told NPR in early December that thousands of workers in Washington go to work every day building planes, but she challenged anyone to say they’ve seen “anybody build anything” in Alabama. Murray, of course, is a big supporter of Boeing's bid to build Air Force tankers.
Alabama politicians, who are backing the Northrop/EADS team that wants to build the planes in Mobile, Ala., immediately took up the challenge and got loads of ink and air time. They pointed out the many things produced in the state, not the least of which are high-tech space and defense systems.
But when Murray challenged anyone to say different about making things in Alabama, NPR should have taken up the challenge. It would have taken little to learn that in Alabama, major NASA and defense work is done in Huntsville, auto manufacturing plants dot the state and that shipbuilding is big business in Mobile. And that’s just the most cursory rundown. A sentence right after the Murray quote would have been appropriate.
It might not have stopped the reaction to the Murray quote, but it would have been the right thing to do. I went back to hear the report and the context. The audio for the “All Things Considered” story doesn’t have that particular quote from Murray, nor does the transcript. But the printed story on the NPR site does, along with other copy that never made it to the audio.
NPR had a follow-up story Saturday, saying the political bickering over the tanker has reached a new level. Perhaps the better word might have been “sunk” to a new level. The update notes that since the piece from earlier this month aired, NPR has received media requests for Murray's quote.
The update also points out that what’s been lost in the rhetoric is how long it will be before the Air Force gets new tankers. NPR says nobody has asked to rebroadcast the quote from a defense analyst that the arithmetic is starting to get a little worrisome.
Well of course not. That’s not nearly as entertaining.
- In a more newsworthy item on the tanker, the Pentagon is unlikely to change dramatically its list of requirements for a fleet of aerial tankers, despite objections, Air Force Secretary Michael Donley said. Northrop Grumman and partner EADS have said the terms favor Boeing, and Northrop said it would not compete without significant changes that favor a smaller tanker. U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R.-Ala., said he’s unsure what Congress will do if the Northrop makes good on its threat.
Space
An innovative method for joining composite structures passed a series of structural tests. The design was used to mate two segments of NASA’s composite crew module demonstrator test article, which represents the inner pressurized shell for the Orion crew module. Test results proved the mating process retains compartment pressure and withstands external loads at twice the level normally experienced in flight. The Orion is part of the Constellation program, NASA’s bid to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are both involved in Constellation.
- Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne received the 2009 Large Business Prime Contractor Excellence Award from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. The company was recognized for exemplary support of the center’s subcontracting programs under the J-2X upper stage engine and space shuttle main engine contracts. The J-2X engine will power the nation’s next generation space launch vehicles, Ares I and V. The space shuttle main engine – all tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss. – is a reusable rocket engine that has powered the shuttles since 1981. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne also has an operation at Stennis Space Center.
- In another Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne item, the company during the week celebrated the opening of a new research facility on the campus of University of Alabama in Huntsville, Ala. It’s part of a collaborative effort designed to develop new technologies and business strategies for both company and the university. UAH will provide offices, laboratories and support so Rocketdyne personnel can collaborate on planning, research and development activities.
Airparks/airports
Harrison County, Miss., is on its way to buying 600 acres for an industrial park north of Interstate 10 that likely will be marketed to aerospace companies. Larry Barnett, executive director of the Harrison County Development Commission, estimates the park will be ready for tenants in 2013. Barnett expects manufacturing appropriate for the aerospace corridor that runs along Interstate 10 from New Orleans to Florida.
- AirTran Airways flights will resume at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport in Mississippi on Jan. 8. The non-stop flights will initially be three days a week aboard a 117-seat Boeing 717. Jeremiah Gerald, director of air service and business development at the airport, said it’s been almost a year since AirTran pulled out of the Gulfport market.
Acquisition
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Pasadena, Calif., announced it's acquired Tybrin Corp., a 1,500-person professional services firm headquartered in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. Terms were not disclosed. Founded in 1972, Tybrin is a supplier of mission planning solutions, systems engineering, software development, modeling and combat environment simulation, engineering and testing, range safety, and other services to the government.
Contract extension
ST Aerospace Mobile said Friday that it has won a three-year extension of a contract to maintain/overhaul Airbus A330s, Boeing 737s, Boeing 757s and Boeing 767s for US Airways. No terms were announced. It’s the second big contract announced this month for the company at Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile, Ala. It earlier won a three-year $90 million contract to maintain Airbus A320s and Boeing 767s for an unnamed airline.
Contracts
Star Aviation of Mobile, Ala., won its first military subcontract. MacAulay-Brown Inc., an engineering firm based in Dayton, Ohio, awarded the company a deal to work on combat survivor locator systems for Air Force C-130s. The value was not released. … Raytheon Co., Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $19.8 million contract which will provide the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Production Lot 23 contract. 695 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $114.6 million contract to provide support for small diameter bomb Increment 1 production for munitions, carriages and technical supports. 681 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Week in review (12/6 to 12/12)
It was an unusually slow week for Gulf Coast aerospace news, but then again, it usually is slower during the holiday season, what with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Here's a recap of the aerospace stories of interest to the Gulf Coast:
Propulsion systems
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engines, the RS-68 and RL10, helped boost into orbit the third in a series of Wideband Global SATCOM satellites designed to improve military communications capabilities. The mission launched Dec. 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV. The Rocketdyne engines provided the booster (RS-68) and upper stage (RL10) propulsion. RS-68 engines are assembled and tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
- Rolls-Royce engines were chosen by United Airlines to power its new fleet of Airbus A350 XWB aircraft. The contract for 25 Airbus A350 XWB plus long-term service support is worth $2 billion. The aircraft are due to be delivered between 2016 and 2019. In addition, the airline has also announced future purchase rights for a further 50 aircraft. There are some 1,000 orders on the books now from 33 customers for the Trent XWB engine, which enters service in 2013. This story has several Gulf Coast tie-ins: Rolls-Royce next year or the year after will begin testing XWB engines at Stennis Space Center, and ATK will produce composite structures and tooling for the A350 XWB in Iuka, Miss. ATK, by the way, also has an operation in Northwest Florida.
Airshows
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., during the week confirmed that the base will host an air show in 2010. "75 Years of Eglin Pride" is the theme for the air show scheduled for April 10-11. A variety of aerial performers, including the Thunderbirds, will headline the show. Maj. Gen. C.R. Davis, Air Armament Center commander, said air shows allow the public to better understand the military mission.
- While on the topic of air shows and the Thunderbirds, Keesler Air Force Base’s “Thunder on the Bay” air show held this past April was named the Air Force Thunderbirds Best Military Show Site 2009. Thunder on the Bay was held April 4 and 5 at the base in Biloxi, Miss., and drew an estimated crowd of 142,000. Keesler's next air show will be March 19-20, 2011, and will feature the Navy Blue Angels, based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.
Aircraft
The first Block 40 configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system successfully completed its first flight last month. Designated AF-18, the Global Hawk flew about two hours from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The company performs Global Hawk subassembly work at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss., and final assembly at its Antelope Valley Manufacturing Center in Palmdale.
- On the topic of aircraft, the Army earlier this month awarded the fifth year contract for the Lakota Light Utility Helicopter to EADS North America for $247.2 million. The contract funds fiscal year 2010 production of UH-72A Lakotas to be delivered through June 2011, and brings the total number of Light Utility Helicopters ordered by the U.S. Army to 178. The contract ensures continuity of UH-72A deliveries from the American Eurocopter facility in Columbus, Miss.
Propulsion systems
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engines, the RS-68 and RL10, helped boost into orbit the third in a series of Wideband Global SATCOM satellites designed to improve military communications capabilities. The mission launched Dec. 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta IV. The Rocketdyne engines provided the booster (RS-68) and upper stage (RL10) propulsion. RS-68 engines are assembled and tested at Stennis Space Center, Miss.
- Rolls-Royce engines were chosen by United Airlines to power its new fleet of Airbus A350 XWB aircraft. The contract for 25 Airbus A350 XWB plus long-term service support is worth $2 billion. The aircraft are due to be delivered between 2016 and 2019. In addition, the airline has also announced future purchase rights for a further 50 aircraft. There are some 1,000 orders on the books now from 33 customers for the Trent XWB engine, which enters service in 2013. This story has several Gulf Coast tie-ins: Rolls-Royce next year or the year after will begin testing XWB engines at Stennis Space Center, and ATK will produce composite structures and tooling for the A350 XWB in Iuka, Miss. ATK, by the way, also has an operation in Northwest Florida.
Airshows
Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., during the week confirmed that the base will host an air show in 2010. "75 Years of Eglin Pride" is the theme for the air show scheduled for April 10-11. A variety of aerial performers, including the Thunderbirds, will headline the show. Maj. Gen. C.R. Davis, Air Armament Center commander, said air shows allow the public to better understand the military mission.
- While on the topic of air shows and the Thunderbirds, Keesler Air Force Base’s “Thunder on the Bay” air show held this past April was named the Air Force Thunderbirds Best Military Show Site 2009. Thunder on the Bay was held April 4 and 5 at the base in Biloxi, Miss., and drew an estimated crowd of 142,000. Keesler's next air show will be March 19-20, 2011, and will feature the Navy Blue Angels, based at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla.
Aircraft
The first Block 40 configuration of the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system successfully completed its first flight last month. Designated AF-18, the Global Hawk flew about two hours from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The company performs Global Hawk subassembly work at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss., and final assembly at its Antelope Valley Manufacturing Center in Palmdale.
- On the topic of aircraft, the Army earlier this month awarded the fifth year contract for the Lakota Light Utility Helicopter to EADS North America for $247.2 million. The contract funds fiscal year 2010 production of UH-72A Lakotas to be delivered through June 2011, and brings the total number of Light Utility Helicopters ordered by the U.S. Army to 178. The contract ensures continuity of UH-72A deliveries from the American Eurocopter facility in Columbus, Miss.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Week in review (11/29 to 12/5)
The aerospace industry already knows the market for unmanned aerial systems is going to grow. And now an effort is under way to open up the potential customer base even more by changing the current limitation on sales to foreign customers.
Reuters reported during the week that in a letter to President Obama, signed by more than 100 chief executives, the Aerospace Industries Association urged a broad overhaul of the U.S. export control system. (Story) The industry wants to change the Missile Technology Control Regime, an agreement aimed at limiting the spread of unmanned delivery systems that could be used for weapons of mass destruction. MTCR was created in 1987 by Canada, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, but membership has since grown to more than 30 countries.
But the AIA says subjecting slow, unarmed unmanned aerial systems with limited maneuverability and performance capability to the same restrictions as cruise missiles is unnecessary and inappropriate. The MTCR hasn’t stopped the United States from selling UAVs to other countries, it does complicate the process and makes it more time-consuming.
What a chance in the MTCR might do is unclear. As it is, worldwide spending on remotely piloted aircraft will more than double to $7.3 billion from $3.4 billion annually within a decade and total nearly $55 billion in the next 10 years, Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy, estimated in a 2008 market study.
Any increase in the potential customer base would be of high interest to the Gulf Coast. Global Hawk and Fire Scout UAVs are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., and there are other operations in the region involved in UAV work.
- Speaking of UAVs, 15 NATO nations will fund an air surveillance command and control system at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily. The Air Ground Surveillance system consists of eight Northrop Grumman Global Hawks. The NATO project is expected to cost between $1.5 billion to $2.3 billion. The project will be in place by 2012.
- The Coast Guard is actively pursuing a vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned aerial vehicle for its National Security Cutter, built in Pascagoula, Miss. In October, the service used Northrop Grumman's company-owned P6 Fire Scout for land-based tests in Maryland. It was equipped with off-the-shelf imaging surveillance radar. Northrop used its own money to integrate the radar on the P6, and in fact has been pouring R&D funds into the Fire Scout to reduce risk for potential customers.
Tanker
During the week a letter from Northrop Grumman to the Pentagon saying it would not bid on the $40 billion tanker project unless changes are made in the draft request for proposals made a lot of headlines.
Northrop, which is teaming with EADS to offer the Airbus A330 and plans to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala., says that under the draft RFP the contest shows a clear preference for a smaller aircraft, like the one Boeing is expected to offer in the 767.
From what the Pentagon is saying, it doesn’t plan to make any substantial changes in the RFP when the final one is issued in January. But if you’ve been following this tanker issue, you know how quickly things can change. There’s a lot of behind the scenes maneuvering, no doubt. Some analysts said they believed Northrop Grumman is posturing, and preparing for a future protest. It does appear unlikely the Northrop/EADS team will simply walk away. A lot has been invested in the lucrative contract, and it’s simply too big a deal.
- In another Airbus-related item during the week, David Trent, head of the Airbus Engineering Center at Brookley Industrial Complex, was named 2010 chairman of the board of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. The Airbus center has 145 employees who do interior design work on several Airbus commercial aircraft.
Space
A congressional hearing during the week on astronaut safety turned into a pep rally for NASA’s Constellation program. Lawmakers and witnesses at the hearing endorsing Constellation and its Ares system as the best replacement for the shuttle. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who heads the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, organized the hearing as a counter to a presidential panel that raised questions about the value of Constellation's Ares I rocket in favor of commercial launchers. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are involved in the Constellation program.
Airport/bases
Alliant Techsystems and Elbit Systems Ltd. successfully conducted flight tests of the Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket fired from an Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. The tests took place at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. GATR can be used in urban areas and against targets where a low collateral damage solution is required. GATR uses advanced acquisition, tracking and guidance algorithms to achieve one-meter accuracy against stationary and moving targets.
- Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans has begun $755 million worth of projects to modernize its facilities. It includes construction of a new concourse and the eventual abandonment of two old ones. The airport has identified 16 projects, including new signs and lighting at the terminal curbside and rescue station.
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $329.4 million modification to the previously awarded Joint Strike Fighter air system low rate initial production Lot III contract for special tooling and special test equipment. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home to the JSF training center. … Composite Engineering Inc., Sacramento, Calif., was awarded a $29.3 million contract which will provide Lot 7 option to procure a quantity of 36 additional BQM-167As. 691 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $19 million modification to a previously awarded contract for AIM-9X Sidewinder (Block II) missile obsolescence and engineering technical support for the Navy and Air Force. Five percent of the work will be done at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $247.2 million contract for the funding of program year 2005 of the Army's Light Utility Helicopter program for 45 light utility helicopters and more. Work is to be performed in Columbus, Miss. EADS also has operations in Mobile, Ala. … GCC/Thomco LLC, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and CCI Group LLC, Shalimar, Fla., each were awarded $10 million contracts to provide base engineering requirements, maintenance, repair and minor construction efforts. 96 CONS/PKAC, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … ST Aerospace Mobile, Mobile, Ala., won a new airplane maintenance contract to maintain Airbus A320 and Boeing 767 planes belonging to an unnamed airline. The contract is worth $90 million for the first three years with an option for another two years worth another $80 million.
Reuters reported during the week that in a letter to President Obama, signed by more than 100 chief executives, the Aerospace Industries Association urged a broad overhaul of the U.S. export control system. (Story) The industry wants to change the Missile Technology Control Regime, an agreement aimed at limiting the spread of unmanned delivery systems that could be used for weapons of mass destruction. MTCR was created in 1987 by Canada, France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, but membership has since grown to more than 30 countries.
But the AIA says subjecting slow, unarmed unmanned aerial systems with limited maneuverability and performance capability to the same restrictions as cruise missiles is unnecessary and inappropriate. The MTCR hasn’t stopped the United States from selling UAVs to other countries, it does complicate the process and makes it more time-consuming.
What a chance in the MTCR might do is unclear. As it is, worldwide spending on remotely piloted aircraft will more than double to $7.3 billion from $3.4 billion annually within a decade and total nearly $55 billion in the next 10 years, Teal Group, an aerospace consultancy, estimated in a 2008 market study.
Any increase in the potential customer base would be of high interest to the Gulf Coast. Global Hawk and Fire Scout UAVs are built in part in Moss Point, Miss., and there are other operations in the region involved in UAV work.
- Speaking of UAVs, 15 NATO nations will fund an air surveillance command and control system at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily. The Air Ground Surveillance system consists of eight Northrop Grumman Global Hawks. The NATO project is expected to cost between $1.5 billion to $2.3 billion. The project will be in place by 2012.
- The Coast Guard is actively pursuing a vertical-takeoff-and-landing unmanned aerial vehicle for its National Security Cutter, built in Pascagoula, Miss. In October, the service used Northrop Grumman's company-owned P6 Fire Scout for land-based tests in Maryland. It was equipped with off-the-shelf imaging surveillance radar. Northrop used its own money to integrate the radar on the P6, and in fact has been pouring R&D funds into the Fire Scout to reduce risk for potential customers.
Tanker
During the week a letter from Northrop Grumman to the Pentagon saying it would not bid on the $40 billion tanker project unless changes are made in the draft request for proposals made a lot of headlines.
Northrop, which is teaming with EADS to offer the Airbus A330 and plans to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala., says that under the draft RFP the contest shows a clear preference for a smaller aircraft, like the one Boeing is expected to offer in the 767.
From what the Pentagon is saying, it doesn’t plan to make any substantial changes in the RFP when the final one is issued in January. But if you’ve been following this tanker issue, you know how quickly things can change. There’s a lot of behind the scenes maneuvering, no doubt. Some analysts said they believed Northrop Grumman is posturing, and preparing for a future protest. It does appear unlikely the Northrop/EADS team will simply walk away. A lot has been invested in the lucrative contract, and it’s simply too big a deal.
- In another Airbus-related item during the week, David Trent, head of the Airbus Engineering Center at Brookley Industrial Complex, was named 2010 chairman of the board of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. The Airbus center has 145 employees who do interior design work on several Airbus commercial aircraft.
Space
A congressional hearing during the week on astronaut safety turned into a pep rally for NASA’s Constellation program. Lawmakers and witnesses at the hearing endorsing Constellation and its Ares system as the best replacement for the shuttle. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona Democrat who heads the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, organized the hearing as a counter to a presidential panel that raised questions about the value of Constellation's Ares I rocket in favor of commercial launchers. Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are involved in the Constellation program.
Airport/bases
Alliant Techsystems and Elbit Systems Ltd. successfully conducted flight tests of the Guided Advanced Tactical Rocket fired from an Army OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. The tests took place at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. GATR can be used in urban areas and against targets where a low collateral damage solution is required. GATR uses advanced acquisition, tracking and guidance algorithms to achieve one-meter accuracy against stationary and moving targets.
- Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans has begun $755 million worth of projects to modernize its facilities. It includes construction of a new concourse and the eventual abandonment of two old ones. The airport has identified 16 projects, including new signs and lighting at the terminal curbside and rescue station.
Contracts
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $329.4 million modification to the previously awarded Joint Strike Fighter air system low rate initial production Lot III contract for special tooling and special test equipment. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home to the JSF training center. … Composite Engineering Inc., Sacramento, Calif., was awarded a $29.3 million contract which will provide Lot 7 option to procure a quantity of 36 additional BQM-167As. 691 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., is being awarded a $19 million modification to a previously awarded contract for AIM-9X Sidewinder (Block II) missile obsolescence and engineering technical support for the Navy and Air Force. Five percent of the work will be done at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. … EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $247.2 million contract for the funding of program year 2005 of the Army's Light Utility Helicopter program for 45 light utility helicopters and more. Work is to be performed in Columbus, Miss. EADS also has operations in Mobile, Ala. … GCC/Thomco LLC, Fort Walton Beach, Fla., and CCI Group LLC, Shalimar, Fla., each were awarded $10 million contracts to provide base engineering requirements, maintenance, repair and minor construction efforts. 96 CONS/PKAC, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … ST Aerospace Mobile, Mobile, Ala., won a new airplane maintenance contract to maintain Airbus A320 and Boeing 767 planes belonging to an unnamed airline. The contract is worth $90 million for the first three years with an option for another two years worth another $80 million.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Week in review (11/22 to 11/28)
You might not have heard much about it during the week, but the announcement that the United States won’t share the F-35’s sensitive software codes with allies who buy the Joint Strike Fighter is bound to have implications down the road.The software coding is key to the stealthy plane's electronic brains, controlling systems ranging from weapons to radar and flight performance. The United States is concerned about protecting the code from falling into the wrong hands. But without the code, allies won't be able to maintain or upgrade the aircraft without U.S. help. And that irritates the British.
The Mail in the United Kingdom reports that British defense chiefs are furious, and see the decision as a blow to the “special relationship” between the two countries. The U.K., which has been pushing for access for years, doesn’t want to have to depend on the United States to maintain or modify the F-35s. It’s a question of sovereignty.
The F-35 built by Lockheed Martin and its partners is promoted as an international fighter development program. The United States has been shouldering most of the cost, but Britain is its biggest partner. Other core partners are Italy, Holland, Turkey, Canada, Australia, Denmark and Norway.
Lockheed Martin projects it will sell up to 4,500 F-35s worldwide. But whether this decision about the coding will lower the numbers remains to be seen. Australia just this past week approved the purchase of its first 14 F-35s. And Canadian officials are not concerned about the codes. A Canadian defense spokeswoman told the Ottawa Citizen that Canada knew it would not be provided with the codes.
The decision could be a boost to F-35 competitors, including Boeing’s F/A-18E/F SuperHornet, the Eurofighter Typhoon made by a consortium of British, German, Italian and Spanish companies, Saab’s Gripen, Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, and Russia’s MiG-35 and Sukhoi Su-35.
For the Gulf Coast, the decision to withhold the coding may wind up giving this region yet another crucial aerospace asset. To address the concerns of allies, the United States plans to set up a "reprogramming facility," probably at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which is also the home of the first Joint Strike Fighter Training Center.
That reprogramming facility will further develop F-35-related software and distribute upgrades. Software changes will be integrated there and new operational flight programs will be disseminated out to everybody who is flying the jet.
Tanker
The Pentagon's chief arms buyer during the week spurned pressure from Boeing allies in Congress to factor a World Trade Organization ruling against Airbus into the competition to build aerial tankers to the Air Force.
Ashton Carter told reporters the Pentagon addressed the trade issue when it put out draft bidding rules in September for a tanker rematch between Boeing and the team of Northrop Grumman and Airbus parent EADS. The Pentagon said the WTO findings were preliminary.
The issue is being watched closely in Mobile, Ala. If the Northrop Grumman/EADS team wins the competition, it will assemble the tankers in that city.
- An Australian A330 tanker has performed the first simultaneous fuel transfer with its all-digital hose-and-drogue system, fueling two fighter aircraft at the same time, according to EADS. The hose-and-drogue fuel transfers occurred Nov. 18 during a flight test sortie that utilized both the A330 MRTT's left and right under-wing pods. The plane conducted 11 simultaneous airborne refueling contacts with two NATO F/A-18 fighters and transferred more than 25,000 lbs of fuel. The tanker is the same type being offered by the Northrop Grumman/EADS team to the Air Force.
Space
NASA has selected for development 368 small business innovation projects that include research to minimize aging of aircraft, new techniques for suppressing fires on spacecraft and advanced transmitters for deep space communications. Chosen from more than 1,600 proposals, the awards are part of NASA's Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs. Six of the awards will develop technologies for the Innovative Partnership Program at John C. Stennis Space Center.
- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will present astronaut Fred Haise Jr. with NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award during a Dec. 2 ceremony at the Gorenflo Elementary School in Biloxi, Miss. Haise will present the award, consisting of a moon rock encased in Lucite for display, to the superintendent of the Biloxi Public School System and the school’s principal. Haise attended Gorenflo many years ago.
Unmanned systems
Northrop Grumman completed the first three MQ-8B Fire Scout production deliveries to the Navy, which completes the first year of Low Rate Initial Production for the UAV helicopter. Two of the three Fire Scouts were deployed aboard the USS McInerney for use on a scheduled operational deployment.
Fire Scouts have been aboard the USS McInerney four times since December 2008, completing 110 ship takeoffs and landings and 45 landings with the harpoon grid, accumulating over 47 hours of flight time. Fire Scouts are made in part in Moss Point, Miss.
Layoffs and recalls
Goodrich in Foley, Ala., will lay off 78 people in January. The layoffs are from the maintenance, repair, and overhaul division. A representative from the company blamed it on slow demand and the global recession. Company leaders say employees will be offered severance packages and will be eligible to keep their health insurance for six months. Goodrich employs about 800 people in Foley.
- Teledyne Continental Motors in Mobile, Ala., is recalling and replacing an engine part in several hundred airplane engines after the part began to wear out more rapidly than normal. The Federal Aviation Administration grounded all the planes containing the hydraulic lifters until the parts are replaced. About 450 engines and parts sets were in question, and more than two-thirds have already been replaced.
Airports
Passenger levels were up nearly 9 percent last month at Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. Figures show there were 704,686 passengers, compared to 648,544 in October 2008. It’s attributed to concert-goers, conventioners and football fans.
Contracts
Composite Engineering Inc. was awarded a $37.6 million contract which procures additional subscale aerial targets. 691 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Week in review (11/15 to 11/21)
Anyone who wants the U.S. military to get the best equipment available has to be disgusted by the entire aerial tanker fight. It hasn’t been about the best aircraft for a long time. It’s been about political clout, jobs and public relations. The Pentagon is forced to walk such a fine line that it’s no longer looking for value, but the path of least resistance.
And that does not bode well for America’s leadership role.
This nation's procurement system is captive to parochial interests. Politicians and the companies that are in their backyard have teamed up to the point where the welfare of the United States – and notably the warfighters we send in harm’s way – has taken a back seat to winning contracts and creating or maintaining jobs back home. And that means fighting for nearly every dollar the Pentagon awards.
The proof can be found in the numbers. Back in April the Government Accountability Office found that Pentagon contract protests rose 24 percent in 2008 from the previous year. The Pentagon is trying to figure out the cause and the cost of the record 611 contract award protests in 2008. I can save them some time. The cause is the chase for dollars, and the cost is a denigration of U.S. warfighting capability.
Military procurement has taken the normal relationship between customer and manufacturer and turned it on its head. It’s not the customer deciding what he or she wants, but the manufacturer and its supporters. That’s a recipe for disaster. Ask yourself this: Who should be responsible for the nation’s defense, the political-industrial teams or the Pentagon? Before you answer, take a close look at what motivates them.
A politician’s first order of business is getting elected, and that means showing constituents they are protecting jobs. For companies, it’s the bottom line – bringing in money and making shareholders happy. And the Pentagon? Its mission is to defend the nation. The Pentagon should have the same mindset as the men and women who are in the field. Ask the warfighter if they care who’s making the equipment. My guess is the only concern is if that it work and provide them with competitive advantage on the battlefield.
Politics and parochial interests also threaten our leadership role in space. A panel of experts during the week told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics that America’s once clear dominance in space is eroding as other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, step up their activities. Sixty nations now have their own space agencies, and 13 have active space programs. Eight are capable of launching their own satellites.
Panelists attributed the relative decline in U.S. space leadership to NASA's fluctuating budgets and repeated changes of direction as administrations and congresses come and go. There you have it. Politics, once again.
In the current tanker fight, it might help Boeing, Northrop Grumman and EADS to take a longer view. If they did, they’d realize that, while they are competitors this year and in the immediate future, they won’t be the only game in town in coming years. China is making a big push to become a major player in aerospace, and so is Brazil. How many other players there might be in years to come is unclear. But it’s time this tanker fight wind to a close. Split the contract, build tankers in Washington state and Mobile, Ala., and move on to contract battles yet to come.
- In other tanker-related items during the week, Mayor Sam Jones of Mobile, Ala., in the wake of a lobbying trip to Washington this week, expressed hope that lawmakers are open to the possibility of buying new aerial refueling tankers from both Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. Jones said the Mobile group met with nine lawmakers Wednesday and Thursday. Earlier this week, a group of more than a dozen lawmakers who are Boeing supporters began a push to have the Pentagon factor a World Trade Organization dispute over aircraft subsidies into the tanker competition.
Unmanned systems
The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $302.9 million fixed price incentive fee contract for five RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial systems. Under the Lot 7 production contract, the company will build two Block 30 systems and three Block 40 systems for the 303d Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
- Northrop Grumman during the week said the Air Force has granted the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle a military Airworthiness Certification, a step on the path to routine unmanned flight within the United States. The AWC process verifies an aircraft design has met performance requirements within the mission profile to safely fly in national airspace and assures operators and mission managers that the production articles conform to the design.
- Navy researchers are asking industry to develop a collision avoidance system to enable unmanned aerial vehicles to operate in civil airspace. The Office of Naval Research issued a broad agency announcement for the Unmanned Air System Autonomous Collision Avoidance System to enable UAVs to sense and avoid other aircraft while operating in the National Air Space System. Initial research to develop a UAVcollision-avoidance system will focus on the Navy Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and Army Tier 2 Shadow fixed-wing UAV. Air Force researchers are pursuing a similar initiative. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
- Unmanned aerial systems may be the rage, but Boeing has just announced the successful test of a mobile laser system to bring them down. The test was conducted in May, and demonstrated the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to track and destroy small UAVs. During the tests at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, Calif., the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX) used a single, high-brightness laser beam to shoot down five UAVs at various ranges. Boeing has operations in the Gulf Coast; the Gulf Coast has several unmanned systems operations.
Space
NASA’s Ares I rocket got top honors in TIME magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2009” special edition. The magazine calls the rocket the "best and coolest and smartest thing built in 2009." The magazine’s Paul Kluger noted that in 2004 the nation committed itself to sending astronauts back to the moon and beyond, and Ares I’s first flight last month "dazzled even the skeptics." Alliant Techsystems is the prime contractor for the solid rocket motor first stage of the Ares I. The company’s air-burst munitions system, XM25, was No. 46 in the best inventions list. Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are both involved in NASA's program to return astronauts to space.; ATK has an operation in Northwest Florida.
F-35
A Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing fighter arrived in Maryland last weekend and will soon conduct its first hovers and vertical landings. The ferry flight initiates a sequence of F-35 arrivals at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., this year and next. The F-35 flew from Fort Worth, Texas, with one stop in Georgia. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become home of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training center.
Aircraft
Airbus SAS and partners Aerolia SA, Premium Aerotec GmbH and Spirit AeroSystems Inc. selected Alliant Techsystems to produce composite structures and tooling for its A350 XWB aircraft. Total expected revenues for ATK is about $1 billion. Combined with the previous announcement for A350 XWB composite engine components, this new selection makes the aircraft the largest commercial program in ATK's history. The company will produce the components at its composite manufacturing center of excellence in Iuka, Miss. ATK has an operation in Northwest Florida; Airbus has an engineering center in Mobile, Ala.
Airport/bases
The secretary of the Air Force presented the 2008 and 2009 Small Business Programs Special Achievement Awards at the Air Force Office of Small Business Programs Conference Nov. 17 in Arlington, Va. Among the eight recipients of the fiscal 2009 awards: the 693rd Armament Systems Squadron, Lethal Suppression of Enemy Air Defense Harm Targeting System Team at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which won the team award.
- Airport officials say they hope to select a new aviation director for the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans during the first quarter of 2010. Monday is the last day for candidates to file resumes. About 30 applications have been received so far, according to Aviation Board Chairman Dan Packer. The board began its search in mid-September.
Contracts
There were three contracts during the week of interest to the Gulf Coast region. Sierra Nevada Corp., Centennial, Colo., was awarded a $9.1 million contract to provide aircraft weapon integration. AAC/PKES, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … DTS Aviation Services Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $13.9 million contract which will provide aircraft backshop maintenance, munitions and equipment support services for the Air Armament Center and for their command and control, communications, computers and intelligence systems testing for a 12 month period. 96 CONS/PKB, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $18.4 million contract which will provide for the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Mission Targeting System fiscal year 10 contractor logistics support option. 693 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
And that does not bode well for America’s leadership role.
This nation's procurement system is captive to parochial interests. Politicians and the companies that are in their backyard have teamed up to the point where the welfare of the United States – and notably the warfighters we send in harm’s way – has taken a back seat to winning contracts and creating or maintaining jobs back home. And that means fighting for nearly every dollar the Pentagon awards.
The proof can be found in the numbers. Back in April the Government Accountability Office found that Pentagon contract protests rose 24 percent in 2008 from the previous year. The Pentagon is trying to figure out the cause and the cost of the record 611 contract award protests in 2008. I can save them some time. The cause is the chase for dollars, and the cost is a denigration of U.S. warfighting capability.
Military procurement has taken the normal relationship between customer and manufacturer and turned it on its head. It’s not the customer deciding what he or she wants, but the manufacturer and its supporters. That’s a recipe for disaster. Ask yourself this: Who should be responsible for the nation’s defense, the political-industrial teams or the Pentagon? Before you answer, take a close look at what motivates them.
A politician’s first order of business is getting elected, and that means showing constituents they are protecting jobs. For companies, it’s the bottom line – bringing in money and making shareholders happy. And the Pentagon? Its mission is to defend the nation. The Pentagon should have the same mindset as the men and women who are in the field. Ask the warfighter if they care who’s making the equipment. My guess is the only concern is if that it work and provide them with competitive advantage on the battlefield.
Politics and parochial interests also threaten our leadership role in space. A panel of experts during the week told the House subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics that America’s once clear dominance in space is eroding as other nations, including China, Iran and North Korea, step up their activities. Sixty nations now have their own space agencies, and 13 have active space programs. Eight are capable of launching their own satellites.
Panelists attributed the relative decline in U.S. space leadership to NASA's fluctuating budgets and repeated changes of direction as administrations and congresses come and go. There you have it. Politics, once again.
In the current tanker fight, it might help Boeing, Northrop Grumman and EADS to take a longer view. If they did, they’d realize that, while they are competitors this year and in the immediate future, they won’t be the only game in town in coming years. China is making a big push to become a major player in aerospace, and so is Brazil. How many other players there might be in years to come is unclear. But it’s time this tanker fight wind to a close. Split the contract, build tankers in Washington state and Mobile, Ala., and move on to contract battles yet to come.
- In other tanker-related items during the week, Mayor Sam Jones of Mobile, Ala., in the wake of a lobbying trip to Washington this week, expressed hope that lawmakers are open to the possibility of buying new aerial refueling tankers from both Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. Jones said the Mobile group met with nine lawmakers Wednesday and Thursday. Earlier this week, a group of more than a dozen lawmakers who are Boeing supporters began a push to have the Pentagon factor a World Trade Organization dispute over aircraft subsidies into the tanker competition.
Unmanned systems
The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman a $302.9 million fixed price incentive fee contract for five RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial systems. Under the Lot 7 production contract, the company will build two Block 30 systems and three Block 40 systems for the 303d Aeronautical Systems Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
- Northrop Grumman during the week said the Air Force has granted the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle a military Airworthiness Certification, a step on the path to routine unmanned flight within the United States. The AWC process verifies an aircraft design has met performance requirements within the mission profile to safely fly in national airspace and assures operators and mission managers that the production articles conform to the design.
- Navy researchers are asking industry to develop a collision avoidance system to enable unmanned aerial vehicles to operate in civil airspace. The Office of Naval Research issued a broad agency announcement for the Unmanned Air System Autonomous Collision Avoidance System to enable UAVs to sense and avoid other aircraft while operating in the National Air Space System. Initial research to develop a UAVcollision-avoidance system will focus on the Navy Fire Scout unmanned helicopter and Army Tier 2 Shadow fixed-wing UAV. Air Force researchers are pursuing a similar initiative. Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.
- Unmanned aerial systems may be the rage, but Boeing has just announced the successful test of a mobile laser system to bring them down. The test was conducted in May, and demonstrated the ability of mobile laser weapon systems to track and destroy small UAVs. During the tests at the Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, Calif., the Mobile Active Targeting Resource for Integrated eXperiments (MATRIX) used a single, high-brightness laser beam to shoot down five UAVs at various ranges. Boeing has operations in the Gulf Coast; the Gulf Coast has several unmanned systems operations.
Space
NASA’s Ares I rocket got top honors in TIME magazine’s “Best Inventions of 2009” special edition. The magazine calls the rocket the "best and coolest and smartest thing built in 2009." The magazine’s Paul Kluger noted that in 2004 the nation committed itself to sending astronauts back to the moon and beyond, and Ares I’s first flight last month "dazzled even the skeptics." Alliant Techsystems is the prime contractor for the solid rocket motor first stage of the Ares I. The company’s air-burst munitions system, XM25, was No. 46 in the best inventions list. Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are both involved in NASA's program to return astronauts to space.; ATK has an operation in Northwest Florida.
F-35
A Lockheed Martin F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing fighter arrived in Maryland last weekend and will soon conduct its first hovers and vertical landings. The ferry flight initiates a sequence of F-35 arrivals at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., this year and next. The F-35 flew from Fort Worth, Texas, with one stop in Georgia. Lockheed Martin is developing the F-35 with its principal industrial partners Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become home of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter training center.
Aircraft
Airbus SAS and partners Aerolia SA, Premium Aerotec GmbH and Spirit AeroSystems Inc. selected Alliant Techsystems to produce composite structures and tooling for its A350 XWB aircraft. Total expected revenues for ATK is about $1 billion. Combined with the previous announcement for A350 XWB composite engine components, this new selection makes the aircraft the largest commercial program in ATK's history. The company will produce the components at its composite manufacturing center of excellence in Iuka, Miss. ATK has an operation in Northwest Florida; Airbus has an engineering center in Mobile, Ala.
Airport/bases
The secretary of the Air Force presented the 2008 and 2009 Small Business Programs Special Achievement Awards at the Air Force Office of Small Business Programs Conference Nov. 17 in Arlington, Va. Among the eight recipients of the fiscal 2009 awards: the 693rd Armament Systems Squadron, Lethal Suppression of Enemy Air Defense Harm Targeting System Team at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which won the team award.
- Airport officials say they hope to select a new aviation director for the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans during the first quarter of 2010. Monday is the last day for candidates to file resumes. About 30 applications have been received so far, according to Aviation Board Chairman Dan Packer. The board began its search in mid-September.
Contracts
There were three contracts during the week of interest to the Gulf Coast region. Sierra Nevada Corp., Centennial, Colo., was awarded a $9.1 million contract to provide aircraft weapon integration. AAC/PKES, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … DTS Aviation Services Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded a $13.9 million contract which will provide aircraft backshop maintenance, munitions and equipment support services for the Air Armament Center and for their command and control, communications, computers and intelligence systems testing for a 12 month period. 96 CONS/PKB, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. … Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $18.4 million contract which will provide for the High-Speed Anti-Radiation Mission Targeting System fiscal year 10 contractor logistics support option. 693 ARSS/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Week in review (11/8 to 11/14)
A few issues came up during the week in the aerial tanker competition, the battle between Boeing and Northrop Grumman/EADS to replace the Air Force’s fleet of KC-135s. It’s of interest to the Gulf Coast because the Northrop/EADS team plans to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala.
Sen. John McCain raised concerns about the Pentagon's latest attempt to replace the aircraft. In an Oct. 29 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, McCain asked detailed questions about how bids for the program would be evaluated, how decisions were made about requirements for the new airplanes and whether the new rules would favor mostly smaller airplanes. Reuters obtained a copy of the letter.
But McCain is hardly alone. Robert Burton, a former deputy administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement, told InsideDefense that the tanker request for proposals is inconsistent with federal regulations and may violate the law. He said the draft request “goes against the spirit of the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act.” Burton focused on the draft request's use of a pass/fail approach for 373 mandatory criteria and awarding the contract to the lowest-priced plane that meets those criteria. (Story)
- The tanker competition came up during the week at the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation’s annual investors dinner in Moss Point, Miss. Mitch Waldman, Northrop Grumman’s point man on the tanker, said that if Northrop Grumman and teammate EADS win it will bring thousands of jobs to the area. Another speaker, Sen. Roger Wicker, called that process “politicized beyond what I’ve seen in my 15 years in Congress.” (Story)
- In another tanker story, EADS North America said the A330 tanker – the same type of plane that is being offered to the Air Force - achieved a milestone with its first nighttime refueling operation using the advanced Aerial Refueling Boom System. The Royal Australian Air Force A330 transferred more than 3,300 pounds of fuel through the ARBS during a multi-contact mission involving two F-16 fighter aircraft.
- Speaking of EADS North America, that company during the week delivered the first of five H-72A training helicopters to the Navy. The H-72A fleet will be based at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., where it is to be used to train test pilots from the U.S. military and allied countries. The H-72A shares the same airframe and is manufactured on the same production line as the Army’s UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter, both of which are produced in Mississippi by EADS North America’s American Eurocopter subsidiary in Columbus.
Joint Strike Fighter
There was also news during the week on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become the home of the Joint Strike Fighter Training Center, which will train pilots on all variants of the plane.
The Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine powering the F-35 completed altitude qualification ground testing, the final testing that demonstrates the operability and performance required for conventional take-off and landing and carrier variant initial service release (ISR). ISR is the government’s recognition that the F135 engine is ready for operational use and clears Pratt & Whitney to deliver and field production F135 engines.
- Also during the week, Vought Aircraft Industries said it has taken possession of an F-35C JSF test article from Lockheed Martin and will perform full-scale drop testing on the aircraft in early 2010. The tests are to verify the strength of the F-35C Navy variant landing gear and airframe structure for carrier landing operations. Actual drop testing is currently estimated to start in January and continue through April at the Vought Structures Test Lab in Dallas.
Airports/bases
The Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been awarded the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award. The center manages a $52 billion portfolio of air-launched precision attack, combat support and special project weapon applications. The center also provided full spectrum battle space test capabilities to more than 1,000 ongoing test programs to include aircraft, weapons, command and control and special operations for multiple joint and non-DoD agencies.
- The 8th Special Operations Squadron returned to Hurlburt Field, Fla., with their CV-22s during the week, wrapping up their first operational deployment with the tilt-rotor aircraft. The squadron deployed to Iraq with a Boeing contractor as part of the team. The Osprey, which came to Hurlburt in 2007, has the vertical takeoff and landing and hover capabilities of a helicopter and the long-range and speed of a turboprop fixed-wing airplane.
- The new airport being built near Panama City, Fla., is getting yet another name change. The airport authority voted during the week to change the name to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. It was a month ago that the authority settled on the name Northwest Florida-Panama City International Airport. The new airport is scheduled to open in May.
Space
NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi is teaming with students at four Mississippi high schools to develop prototype hardware for the next-generation rockets being built to carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit. In the next few months, students at East Central High School in Hurley, Gulfport High School, New Albany School of Career and Technical Education and Petal High School will participate in the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware initiative. They’ll partner with NASA engineers and mentors and use materials provided by the space agency to develop prototype models for the next generation J-2X engine and the Ares I rocket.
Unmanned systems
News involving unmanned aerial systems is always of high interest to the Gulf Coast region, in part because a number of UAV activities take place here.
BAE Systems has successfully flown the largest fully autonomous unmanned aircraft ever to be built in the United Kingdom. MANTIS completed its maiden flight in Woomera, Australia. Mantis has a 65.6-foot wingspan and is intended to be able to carry electro-optical and radar sensors, as well as a range of air-to-surface weapons. BAE System’s partners in the project include Roll-Royce, QinetiQ, GE Aviation, Meggit and Selex Galileo. Of note to the Gulf Coast, BAE Systems, Roll-Royce, QinetiQ and Selex Galileo all have operations in the region. (Story)
- In another UAV-related story, Boeing received a $500,000 Air Force Research Laboratory contract for the first phase of a program to demonstrate miniature weapon technology for use on unmanned aerial vehicles. As the prime contractor during the initial nine-month program, Boeing will use its experience on the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small Diameter Bomb programs to develop the system integration, seeker, avionics, guidance and control, and mission planning systems. (Story)
Contracts
W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Biloxi, Miss., is being awarded a $37.3 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a community hospital tower at Keesler Air Force Base. Work will be performed in Biloxi and is expected to be completed by September 2011.
Sen. John McCain raised concerns about the Pentagon's latest attempt to replace the aircraft. In an Oct. 29 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, McCain asked detailed questions about how bids for the program would be evaluated, how decisions were made about requirements for the new airplanes and whether the new rules would favor mostly smaller airplanes. Reuters obtained a copy of the letter.
But McCain is hardly alone. Robert Burton, a former deputy administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement, told InsideDefense that the tanker request for proposals is inconsistent with federal regulations and may violate the law. He said the draft request “goes against the spirit of the Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act.” Burton focused on the draft request's use of a pass/fail approach for 373 mandatory criteria and awarding the contract to the lowest-priced plane that meets those criteria. (Story)
- The tanker competition came up during the week at the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation’s annual investors dinner in Moss Point, Miss. Mitch Waldman, Northrop Grumman’s point man on the tanker, said that if Northrop Grumman and teammate EADS win it will bring thousands of jobs to the area. Another speaker, Sen. Roger Wicker, called that process “politicized beyond what I’ve seen in my 15 years in Congress.” (Story)
- In another tanker story, EADS North America said the A330 tanker – the same type of plane that is being offered to the Air Force - achieved a milestone with its first nighttime refueling operation using the advanced Aerial Refueling Boom System. The Royal Australian Air Force A330 transferred more than 3,300 pounds of fuel through the ARBS during a multi-contact mission involving two F-16 fighter aircraft.
- Speaking of EADS North America, that company during the week delivered the first of five H-72A training helicopters to the Navy. The H-72A fleet will be based at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., where it is to be used to train test pilots from the U.S. military and allied countries. The H-72A shares the same airframe and is manufactured on the same production line as the Army’s UH-72A Lakota Light Utility Helicopter, both of which are produced in Mississippi by EADS North America’s American Eurocopter subsidiary in Columbus.
Joint Strike Fighter
There was also news during the week on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will become the home of the Joint Strike Fighter Training Center, which will train pilots on all variants of the plane.
The Pratt & Whitney’s F135 engine powering the F-35 completed altitude qualification ground testing, the final testing that demonstrates the operability and performance required for conventional take-off and landing and carrier variant initial service release (ISR). ISR is the government’s recognition that the F135 engine is ready for operational use and clears Pratt & Whitney to deliver and field production F135 engines.
- Also during the week, Vought Aircraft Industries said it has taken possession of an F-35C JSF test article from Lockheed Martin and will perform full-scale drop testing on the aircraft in early 2010. The tests are to verify the strength of the F-35C Navy variant landing gear and airframe structure for carrier landing operations. Actual drop testing is currently estimated to start in January and continue through April at the Vought Structures Test Lab in Dallas.
Airports/bases
The Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been awarded the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award. The center manages a $52 billion portfolio of air-launched precision attack, combat support and special project weapon applications. The center also provided full spectrum battle space test capabilities to more than 1,000 ongoing test programs to include aircraft, weapons, command and control and special operations for multiple joint and non-DoD agencies.
- The 8th Special Operations Squadron returned to Hurlburt Field, Fla., with their CV-22s during the week, wrapping up their first operational deployment with the tilt-rotor aircraft. The squadron deployed to Iraq with a Boeing contractor as part of the team. The Osprey, which came to Hurlburt in 2007, has the vertical takeoff and landing and hover capabilities of a helicopter and the long-range and speed of a turboprop fixed-wing airplane.
- The new airport being built near Panama City, Fla., is getting yet another name change. The airport authority voted during the week to change the name to Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. It was a month ago that the authority settled on the name Northwest Florida-Panama City International Airport. The new airport is scheduled to open in May.
Space
NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi is teaming with students at four Mississippi high schools to develop prototype hardware for the next-generation rockets being built to carry humans beyond low-Earth orbit. In the next few months, students at East Central High School in Hurley, Gulfport High School, New Albany School of Career and Technical Education and Petal High School will participate in the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware initiative. They’ll partner with NASA engineers and mentors and use materials provided by the space agency to develop prototype models for the next generation J-2X engine and the Ares I rocket.
Unmanned systems
News involving unmanned aerial systems is always of high interest to the Gulf Coast region, in part because a number of UAV activities take place here.
BAE Systems has successfully flown the largest fully autonomous unmanned aircraft ever to be built in the United Kingdom. MANTIS completed its maiden flight in Woomera, Australia. Mantis has a 65.6-foot wingspan and is intended to be able to carry electro-optical and radar sensors, as well as a range of air-to-surface weapons. BAE System’s partners in the project include Roll-Royce, QinetiQ, GE Aviation, Meggit and Selex Galileo. Of note to the Gulf Coast, BAE Systems, Roll-Royce, QinetiQ and Selex Galileo all have operations in the region. (Story)
- In another UAV-related story, Boeing received a $500,000 Air Force Research Laboratory contract for the first phase of a program to demonstrate miniature weapon technology for use on unmanned aerial vehicles. As the prime contractor during the initial nine-month program, Boeing will use its experience on the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Small Diameter Bomb programs to develop the system integration, seeker, avionics, guidance and control, and mission planning systems. (Story)
Contracts
W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co., Biloxi, Miss., is being awarded a $37.3 million firm-fixed-price contract for construction of a community hospital tower at Keesler Air Force Base. Work will be performed in Biloxi and is expected to be completed by September 2011.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Week in review (11/1 to 11/7)
NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi was officially designated a “Project Ready” site in a formal event Friday. It’s the first site to earn certification in the “technology park” category of the Mississippi Power program.
The Project Ready designation indicates a site is “shovel-ready” for new businesses that are interested in locating at the facility. The 14,000-acre SSC has about 4,000 acres of developable space. It’s now the second Project Ready site in South Mississippi. The 300-acre Jackson County Aviation Technology Park in Moss Point, Miss., where unmanned aerial systems are built, received the designation in August.
Stennis Space Center is a huge complex. It's where NASA tests propulsion systems, and it remains the facility’s primary function. But over the years it’s attracted more than 30 other tenants. The largest is the Navy, which has its Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at the center. There’s also a detachment of the Naval Research Lab at Stennis, and it’s home to the National Data Buoy Center.
One of the key attractions of SSC is the security. It's surrounded by a 125,000-acre acoustical buffer zone.
- The first Space Based Infrared System missile warning satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit is on track for delivery to the Air Force by the fourth quarter of calendar year 2010, according to Lockheed Martin. It will be a milestone for the $10.4 billion program, which has undergone restructuring, overruns and delays. Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space & Technology Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss., builds subsystems for the SBIRS program.
Bases
Capt. Pete Hall has been installed as the new commanding officer of Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., replacing Capt. Enrique Sadsad. More than 2,000 people were at the change of command ceremony Thursday. Hall said he looked forward to becoming part of the Whiting family. Sadsad is being assigned to Bahrain. Whiting Field provides initial training for naval aviators.
- Brig. Gen. O.G. Mannon, 82nd Training Wing commander at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, has been named the next vice commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The announcement was made by the Defense Department Nov. 2. Mannon, who has spent most of his career in the special operations community, said he looks forward to working with old friends.
Tanker
In the tanker competition pitting Boeing against the Northrop Grumman/EADS team, no “first” goes unnoticed. Boeing said it delivered the first Remote Aerial Refueling Operator Trainer to the Japan Air Self Defense Force last month to support the Boeing KC-767J tanker. It simulates the system that allows boom operators to refuel aircraft while sitting near the tanker cockpit at a console using an array of cameras and remote controls. Meanwhile, in Toulouse, France, the Airbus A330-200 freighter flew Thursday, a milestone for a plane that could eventually be assembled in Mobile, Ala. The Northrop/EADS team wants to assemble the A330-based tanker and the freighter in Mobile, Ala., if the team wins the Air Force competition.
Unmanned systems
The Navy's top admiral said he hoped to speed up work on unmanned weapons systems, including underwater vehicles and an unmanned combat plane. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead cited the Navy's earlier-than-planned deployment last month of the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, which he said is performing “wonderfully.” Roughead also said he’s pressing to accelerate development of the Unmanned Combat Aerial System. The Fire Scout and UCAV are both Northrop Grumman products. Northrop Grumman Fire Scout finishing work is done in Moss Point, Miss.
The Project Ready designation indicates a site is “shovel-ready” for new businesses that are interested in locating at the facility. The 14,000-acre SSC has about 4,000 acres of developable space. It’s now the second Project Ready site in South Mississippi. The 300-acre Jackson County Aviation Technology Park in Moss Point, Miss., where unmanned aerial systems are built, received the designation in August.
Stennis Space Center is a huge complex. It's where NASA tests propulsion systems, and it remains the facility’s primary function. But over the years it’s attracted more than 30 other tenants. The largest is the Navy, which has its Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at the center. There’s also a detachment of the Naval Research Lab at Stennis, and it’s home to the National Data Buoy Center.
One of the key attractions of SSC is the security. It's surrounded by a 125,000-acre acoustical buffer zone.
- The first Space Based Infrared System missile warning satellite bound for geosynchronous orbit is on track for delivery to the Air Force by the fourth quarter of calendar year 2010, according to Lockheed Martin. It will be a milestone for the $10.4 billion program, which has undergone restructuring, overruns and delays. Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space & Technology Center at Stennis Space Center, Miss., builds subsystems for the SBIRS program.
Bases
Capt. Pete Hall has been installed as the new commanding officer of Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., replacing Capt. Enrique Sadsad. More than 2,000 people were at the change of command ceremony Thursday. Hall said he looked forward to becoming part of the Whiting family. Sadsad is being assigned to Bahrain. Whiting Field provides initial training for naval aviators.
- Brig. Gen. O.G. Mannon, 82nd Training Wing commander at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, has been named the next vice commander of Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. The announcement was made by the Defense Department Nov. 2. Mannon, who has spent most of his career in the special operations community, said he looks forward to working with old friends.
Tanker
In the tanker competition pitting Boeing against the Northrop Grumman/EADS team, no “first” goes unnoticed. Boeing said it delivered the first Remote Aerial Refueling Operator Trainer to the Japan Air Self Defense Force last month to support the Boeing KC-767J tanker. It simulates the system that allows boom operators to refuel aircraft while sitting near the tanker cockpit at a console using an array of cameras and remote controls. Meanwhile, in Toulouse, France, the Airbus A330-200 freighter flew Thursday, a milestone for a plane that could eventually be assembled in Mobile, Ala. The Northrop/EADS team wants to assemble the A330-based tanker and the freighter in Mobile, Ala., if the team wins the Air Force competition.
Unmanned systems
The Navy's top admiral said he hoped to speed up work on unmanned weapons systems, including underwater vehicles and an unmanned combat plane. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead cited the Navy's earlier-than-planned deployment last month of the MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned helicopter, which he said is performing “wonderfully.” Roughead also said he’s pressing to accelerate development of the Unmanned Combat Aerial System. The Fire Scout and UCAV are both Northrop Grumman products. Northrop Grumman Fire Scout finishing work is done in Moss Point, Miss.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Week in review (10/25 to 10/31)
A new military joint training program has been launched at a Navy outlying field near Holley in Santa Rosa County, Fla. It's yet another indication of the growing importance of unmanned systems for the nation's military.
The Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems will teach special operations personnel from all branches of the military how to operate Battlefield Air Targeting Micro Vehicles, unmanned aircraft used in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are the smaller aircraft launched by personnel on the field. The training center has its first class of 11 students.
Santa Rosa County is home to Whiting Field Naval Air Station. To its east is Hurlburt Field, home of Air Force Special Operations Command, and Eglin Air Force Base, where the Air Force develops air weapons systems. To the county's west is Naval Air Station Pensacola.
The Gulf Coast region has a growing footprint in the UAV field. Northrop Grumman builds portions of large UAVs - Global Hawks and Fire Scouts - at its Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss. Further to the west, there's at least one company that builds modules for sensors of UAVS at Stennis Space Center, Miss. And in Navarre, Fla., AeroVironment has a training site. In South Mississippi there's also a lot of work in the related field of sensors.
Don't be surprised if you see more activity in this field in this region. It's the wave of the future.
Joint Strike Fighter
There were some disappointed people in the Tyndall Air Force Base area near Panama City, Fla. They heard last week that the Air Force had come up with a short list of bases that are being considered for the Joint Strike Fighter - the F-35 - and Tyndall wasn't on the list. The base is losing its F-15 aircraft, and had hoped to convince the Air Force to bring in some F-35s. Now it looks like there best hope is with more F-22s.
The list did include Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which has already been chosen as the location for the JSF training school for all branches of the military. This list indicates it's being considered for more of the planes. Hardly a surprise. The short list includes 11 Air Force and Air Guard bases.
- Speaking of Eglin, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, JASSM, successfully completed Lot 7 Reliability Assessment Program flight tests with 15 successes out of 16 flights Oct. 22. The tests were done at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., using B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and F-16 fighters from Eglin. The tests pave the way for awarding the Lot 8 production contract to Lockheed Martin. Eglin, home of the Air Armament Center, oversees the development of air weapons systems.
Boeing, Northrop, EADS and tankers
Boeing will have a new 787 production line in North Charleston, S.C. It's the second production line for the aircraft. The news came out last week, and was not really much of a surprise. Washington state had feared that was the direction Boeing was going. The facility will also be used to support the testing and delivery of the plane.
This was an incredibly big deal for Washington state. A group called the Washington Roundtable, which is composed of representatives from private sector employers in the state, said the decision by Boeing shows the group needs to work harder to make the state more competitive.
It was many years ago that Boeing moved its headquarters from Washington state to Chicago. And in more recent years the company has begun to outsource some production services. The production line in the South, where costs are lower and the unions are far weaker, certainly doesn't bode well for Washington state.
Many folks in the Gulf Coast are keeping a close eye on anything involving Boeing. Mobile, Ala., still hopes the team of Northrop Grumman/EADS will end up winning the contest against Boeing to build tankers for the Air Force. If the Northrop/EADS team wins, the planes will be assembled in Mobile.
- During the week, Northrop Grumman left open the possibility it might boycott the new aerial tanker competition. It faulted the draft bidding rules and continued to complain about the pricing information that had been given to Boeing after that company lost the competition in 2008. That loss was, of course, overturned, but Northrop was never given similar information on Boeing's pricing. The Pentagon has said that information is no longer relevant, then asked Boeing if it would agree to release it to its competition. Boeing declined. Seems like nobody likes this new competition. Boeing is also complaining.
- In another Boeing-tanker-Northrop-EADS story during the week, the governors of Alabama and Mississippi jointly announced on Monday formation of the "Aerospace Alliance," which also involves Louisiana and Florida. Their first order of business is doing what they can to help Northrop and EADS win the tanker project.
Space
NASA successully launched the Ares I-X rocket during the week. The prototype rocket flew for about two minutes. The Ares I-X is part of the Constellation Program, which is designed to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. The Gulf Coast region is involved in Constellation through Michoud Assembly Facility, which is used to build some of the hardware, and Stennis Space Center, Miss., which tests propulsion systems for the program. The test was an important step for the Constellation Program, which is being re-evaluated by the Obama administration.
- Aerospace industry leaders will meet in Washington, D.C., on Monday to debate the future of America's space programs. A hot topic no doubt will be the findings of the Augustine Commission, which raised the issue of whether NASA has the necessary funds to pursue its plan to return astronauts to space. But another hot topic no doubt will the the successful launch of Ares I-X. Should be a fascinating meeting.
- Speaking of Stennis Space Center, on Friday of this coming week - Nov. 6 - the NASA center will receive official designation as a Project Ready site. The designation means it's shovel-ready for new projects. The 14,000-acre facility has been in existence since the 1960s, and has attracted over the years about 30 agencies, including the Navy. NASA says there are about 4,000 acres that are available for green field development.
- One final Stennis-related note: Meridian Community Collge established an engineering scholarship in honor of alumnus Gene Goldman, director of the NASA center. The first $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to an engineering student during the 2010 spring semester. After graduating from MCC, Goldman went on to earn degrees from Mississippi State University in Starkville.
Contracts
W R Systems of Fairfax, Va., was awarded a $26.9 million contract for in-service engineering technical support services for various navigation systems. Three percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. ... Bell Aerospace Services of Bedford, Texas, was awarded a $13.2 million contract to provide up to 145,152 hours of contractor engineering technical servides training for airframe, avionics and electrical systems of the H-1 aircraft. Nine percent of the work will be done in New Orleans, La. ... McDonnell Douglas of St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $72 million contract to provide guided vehicle kits for joint direct attack munitions. Eglin Air Force Base., Fla., is the contracting activity.
The Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems will teach special operations personnel from all branches of the military how to operate Battlefield Air Targeting Micro Vehicles, unmanned aircraft used in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are the smaller aircraft launched by personnel on the field. The training center has its first class of 11 students.
Santa Rosa County is home to Whiting Field Naval Air Station. To its east is Hurlburt Field, home of Air Force Special Operations Command, and Eglin Air Force Base, where the Air Force develops air weapons systems. To the county's west is Naval Air Station Pensacola.
The Gulf Coast region has a growing footprint in the UAV field. Northrop Grumman builds portions of large UAVs - Global Hawks and Fire Scouts - at its Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss. Further to the west, there's at least one company that builds modules for sensors of UAVS at Stennis Space Center, Miss. And in Navarre, Fla., AeroVironment has a training site. In South Mississippi there's also a lot of work in the related field of sensors.
Don't be surprised if you see more activity in this field in this region. It's the wave of the future.
Joint Strike Fighter
There were some disappointed people in the Tyndall Air Force Base area near Panama City, Fla. They heard last week that the Air Force had come up with a short list of bases that are being considered for the Joint Strike Fighter - the F-35 - and Tyndall wasn't on the list. The base is losing its F-15 aircraft, and had hoped to convince the Air Force to bring in some F-35s. Now it looks like there best hope is with more F-22s.
The list did include Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., which has already been chosen as the location for the JSF training school for all branches of the military. This list indicates it's being considered for more of the planes. Hardly a surprise. The short list includes 11 Air Force and Air Guard bases.
- Speaking of Eglin, the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, JASSM, successfully completed Lot 7 Reliability Assessment Program flight tests with 15 successes out of 16 flights Oct. 22. The tests were done at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., using B-52 bombers from Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and F-16 fighters from Eglin. The tests pave the way for awarding the Lot 8 production contract to Lockheed Martin. Eglin, home of the Air Armament Center, oversees the development of air weapons systems.
Boeing, Northrop, EADS and tankers
Boeing will have a new 787 production line in North Charleston, S.C. It's the second production line for the aircraft. The news came out last week, and was not really much of a surprise. Washington state had feared that was the direction Boeing was going. The facility will also be used to support the testing and delivery of the plane.
This was an incredibly big deal for Washington state. A group called the Washington Roundtable, which is composed of representatives from private sector employers in the state, said the decision by Boeing shows the group needs to work harder to make the state more competitive.
It was many years ago that Boeing moved its headquarters from Washington state to Chicago. And in more recent years the company has begun to outsource some production services. The production line in the South, where costs are lower and the unions are far weaker, certainly doesn't bode well for Washington state.
Many folks in the Gulf Coast are keeping a close eye on anything involving Boeing. Mobile, Ala., still hopes the team of Northrop Grumman/EADS will end up winning the contest against Boeing to build tankers for the Air Force. If the Northrop/EADS team wins, the planes will be assembled in Mobile.
- During the week, Northrop Grumman left open the possibility it might boycott the new aerial tanker competition. It faulted the draft bidding rules and continued to complain about the pricing information that had been given to Boeing after that company lost the competition in 2008. That loss was, of course, overturned, but Northrop was never given similar information on Boeing's pricing. The Pentagon has said that information is no longer relevant, then asked Boeing if it would agree to release it to its competition. Boeing declined. Seems like nobody likes this new competition. Boeing is also complaining.
- In another Boeing-tanker-Northrop-EADS story during the week, the governors of Alabama and Mississippi jointly announced on Monday formation of the "Aerospace Alliance," which also involves Louisiana and Florida. Their first order of business is doing what they can to help Northrop and EADS win the tanker project.
Space
NASA successully launched the Ares I-X rocket during the week. The prototype rocket flew for about two minutes. The Ares I-X is part of the Constellation Program, which is designed to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. The Gulf Coast region is involved in Constellation through Michoud Assembly Facility, which is used to build some of the hardware, and Stennis Space Center, Miss., which tests propulsion systems for the program. The test was an important step for the Constellation Program, which is being re-evaluated by the Obama administration.
- Aerospace industry leaders will meet in Washington, D.C., on Monday to debate the future of America's space programs. A hot topic no doubt will be the findings of the Augustine Commission, which raised the issue of whether NASA has the necessary funds to pursue its plan to return astronauts to space. But another hot topic no doubt will the the successful launch of Ares I-X. Should be a fascinating meeting.
- Speaking of Stennis Space Center, on Friday of this coming week - Nov. 6 - the NASA center will receive official designation as a Project Ready site. The designation means it's shovel-ready for new projects. The 14,000-acre facility has been in existence since the 1960s, and has attracted over the years about 30 agencies, including the Navy. NASA says there are about 4,000 acres that are available for green field development.
- One final Stennis-related note: Meridian Community Collge established an engineering scholarship in honor of alumnus Gene Goldman, director of the NASA center. The first $1,000 scholarship will be awarded to an engineering student during the 2010 spring semester. After graduating from MCC, Goldman went on to earn degrees from Mississippi State University in Starkville.
Contracts
W R Systems of Fairfax, Va., was awarded a $26.9 million contract for in-service engineering technical support services for various navigation systems. Three percent of the work will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. ... Bell Aerospace Services of Bedford, Texas, was awarded a $13.2 million contract to provide up to 145,152 hours of contractor engineering technical servides training for airframe, avionics and electrical systems of the H-1 aircraft. Nine percent of the work will be done in New Orleans, La. ... McDonnell Douglas of St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $72 million contract to provide guided vehicle kits for joint direct attack munitions. Eglin Air Force Base., Fla., is the contracting activity.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Week in review (10/18 to 10/24)
The governors of Mississippi and Alabama have scheduled a briefing Monday in Bay Minette, Ala., to announce a new effort to promote the Gulf Coast's aerospace corridor. Its first order of business: land the Air Force refueling tanker project.
Alabama’s Bob Riley will be at Faulkner State Community College and he’ll be joined by Mississippi's Haley Barbour via satellite to announce the launch of a 501(c)(6) group designed to promote the four-state aerospace corridor.
The region between New Orleans and Northwest Florida has a long history in aviation. It’s where the Navy trained its first aviators, and where NASA began testing rocket engines in the 60s (details). But the contest pitting Boeing against Northrop Grumman and partner EADS to build aerial tankers has galvanized efforts to promote the region’s aerospace activities. EADS wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., a move that would also benefit Northwest Florida and South Mississippi.
There are now multiple efforts to highlight the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor or portions of the corridor. In Northwest Florida, three counties formed the Gulf Coast Aerospace and Defense Coalition, which promotes Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. In Alabama, the Mobile County Commission has its Keep Our Tanker site, a strong advocates for the tanker project.
Further to the west, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic Development’s Mississippi Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor highlights news and information about South Mississippi’s aerospace infrastructure. Even further to the west, Sen. David Vitter helped organize a group called the Stennis-Michoud Corridor, which wants to promote the 40-mile region between NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility and John C. Stennis Space Center.
And there's this site, Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor, which provides news and data about the full range of aerospace activities in the Gulf Coast region.
- There was a fair amount of tanker-related news during the week. One of the more interesting: Reuters reported that Boeing declined a Pentagon request to release its pricing information from the last aerial tanker competition to Northrop Grumman. The Pentagon gave Boeing information on the winning bidders pricing after Boeing lost the contest in 2008 to the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. That’s common. But Boeing’s protest of the award was upheld and the battle over the tanker contract has been renewed. That led Northrop to seek Boeing’s pricing information. A Pentagon general counsel told Northrop in a letter Sept. 23, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, that the Pentagon "sought Boeing's permission to release this information, and Boeing declined." The Pentagon has said the information is dated and irrelevant. It doesn’t appear Boeing feels the same.
- Reuters also reported during the week that industry executives are starting to raise questions about the Pentagon’s draft rules for the tanker, saying the bid for a "fixed-price" deal on such a big development program is unprecedented and risky. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are not saying much, but some executives are beginning to privately air concerns about the rules, according to Reuters.
- One of the key concerns about the Airbus tanker has been addressed, it seems. A Royal Australian Air Force A330 tanker, the same type EADS hopes to sell to the U.S. Air Force, conducted its first in-flight refueling. The test involved the integrated Aerial Refueling Boom System, which transferred fuel to two F-16. The test lasted four hours and 30 minutes.
- In the final tanker-related item, EADS North America announced during the week that former NASA leader Sean O'Keefe will become chief executive of EADS NA. Ralph Crosby, current chief executive of EADS North America, will stay on as nonexecutive chairman. O'Keefe is a former Navy secretary who served as NASA administrator from 2001 to 2005. He also served as chancellor of Louisiana State University from 2005-2008 and most recently was GE Aviation vice president. His EADS appointment is effective Nov. 1.
Aerospace parks
NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center next month will be formally recognized as a “Project Ready” site, a designation that indicates it is “shovel-ready” for new businesses that come calling. The Mississippi Power program was created last year and Stennis is the fifth site to receive the designation, and the first one to fall under the “technology park” category. The formal recognition is Nov. 6. In August, the Jackson County Aviation Technology Park in Moss Point, Miss., was awarded Project Ready status.
- Speaking of the Jackson County Aviation Technology Park, there as another item of interest during the week for Northrop Grumman workers at that park. The park is home to the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center, which builds portions of the Global Hawk and Fire Scout unmanned systems. During the week, a much earlier version of the Global Hawk made its initial flight as a NASA vehicle, one that will be used for environmental science research. The fight was Friday at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. NASA has two Global Hawks, both of which were among seven Global Hawks built and flown in the original Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program. The aircraft that flew for about four hours Friday last took to the skies in May 2003.
Airports/bases
Southwest Airlines plans to begin serving the new Panama City, Fla., airport, when the facility opens in May 2010. Three Florida cities, Panama City, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach, all hoped to get the discount airliner. Mobile, Ala., also made a pitch for the airliner.
- Frontier Airlines will return to the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans next year for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, offering a daily service to Denver beginning June 15. In addition, Southwest Airlines, which trimmed New Orleans service after the hurricane, is adding two daily trips in May. One is a direct flight to St. Louis and the other is a second flight to Denver.
- The 708th Armament Systems Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been recognized for unprecedented acquisition management success with selection by the Department of Defense as the winner of 2009 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award. The award singles out the group as the best acquisition team in the Air Force. The 708th delivered a new laser-guided version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition to warfighters in 11 months. The award will be presented Nov. 3.
Joint Strike Fighter
Okaloosa County commissioners received an introduction and update of the F-35 program during the week from J.R. McDonald, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of corporate and business development. McDonald, who moved to Okaloosa County a few months ago to oversee the company’s activities from Pensacola to Panama City, is the first vice president the company has stationed at its office in Shalimar. McDonald said he anticipated the first F-35 to arrive next summer, a few months later than the original March goal.
3Q reports
Goodrich Corp. saw profit and revenue continue to fall in the third quarter. The company had a profit of $145.4 million in the third quarter, down 13 percent from a high-water mark in the same quarter of 2008. … Teledyne Technologies profit per share hit a record in the third quarter, helped by cost cutting and a tax windfall. Total profit rose to $35.1 million, up 14 percent from $30.9 million in the same quarter of 2008. … Boeing Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $1.6 billion and reduced its full-year profit forecast, hurt by $3.5 billion in charges for the delayed 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 jumbo jet programs. … Northrop Grumman reported that third quarter 2009 earnings from continuing operations totaled $487 million compared with $509 million in the third quarter of 2008.
Alabama’s Bob Riley will be at Faulkner State Community College and he’ll be joined by Mississippi's Haley Barbour via satellite to announce the launch of a 501(c)(6) group designed to promote the four-state aerospace corridor.
The region between New Orleans and Northwest Florida has a long history in aviation. It’s where the Navy trained its first aviators, and where NASA began testing rocket engines in the 60s (details). But the contest pitting Boeing against Northrop Grumman and partner EADS to build aerial tankers has galvanized efforts to promote the region’s aerospace activities. EADS wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., a move that would also benefit Northwest Florida and South Mississippi.
There are now multiple efforts to highlight the Gulf Coast aerospace corridor or portions of the corridor. In Northwest Florida, three counties formed the Gulf Coast Aerospace and Defense Coalition, which promotes Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties. In Alabama, the Mobile County Commission has its Keep Our Tanker site, a strong advocates for the tanker project.
Further to the west, the Mississippi Gulf Coast Alliance for Economic Development’s Mississippi Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor highlights news and information about South Mississippi’s aerospace infrastructure. Even further to the west, Sen. David Vitter helped organize a group called the Stennis-Michoud Corridor, which wants to promote the 40-mile region between NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility and John C. Stennis Space Center.
And there's this site, Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor, which provides news and data about the full range of aerospace activities in the Gulf Coast region.
- There was a fair amount of tanker-related news during the week. One of the more interesting: Reuters reported that Boeing declined a Pentagon request to release its pricing information from the last aerial tanker competition to Northrop Grumman. The Pentagon gave Boeing information on the winning bidders pricing after Boeing lost the contest in 2008 to the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. That’s common. But Boeing’s protest of the award was upheld and the battle over the tanker contract has been renewed. That led Northrop to seek Boeing’s pricing information. A Pentagon general counsel told Northrop in a letter Sept. 23, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters, that the Pentagon "sought Boeing's permission to release this information, and Boeing declined." The Pentagon has said the information is dated and irrelevant. It doesn’t appear Boeing feels the same.
- Reuters also reported during the week that industry executives are starting to raise questions about the Pentagon’s draft rules for the tanker, saying the bid for a "fixed-price" deal on such a big development program is unprecedented and risky. Boeing and Northrop Grumman are not saying much, but some executives are beginning to privately air concerns about the rules, according to Reuters.
- One of the key concerns about the Airbus tanker has been addressed, it seems. A Royal Australian Air Force A330 tanker, the same type EADS hopes to sell to the U.S. Air Force, conducted its first in-flight refueling. The test involved the integrated Aerial Refueling Boom System, which transferred fuel to two F-16. The test lasted four hours and 30 minutes.
- In the final tanker-related item, EADS North America announced during the week that former NASA leader Sean O'Keefe will become chief executive of EADS NA. Ralph Crosby, current chief executive of EADS North America, will stay on as nonexecutive chairman. O'Keefe is a former Navy secretary who served as NASA administrator from 2001 to 2005. He also served as chancellor of Louisiana State University from 2005-2008 and most recently was GE Aviation vice president. His EADS appointment is effective Nov. 1.
Aerospace parks
NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center next month will be formally recognized as a “Project Ready” site, a designation that indicates it is “shovel-ready” for new businesses that come calling. The Mississippi Power program was created last year and Stennis is the fifth site to receive the designation, and the first one to fall under the “technology park” category. The formal recognition is Nov. 6. In August, the Jackson County Aviation Technology Park in Moss Point, Miss., was awarded Project Ready status.
- Speaking of the Jackson County Aviation Technology Park, there as another item of interest during the week for Northrop Grumman workers at that park. The park is home to the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center, which builds portions of the Global Hawk and Fire Scout unmanned systems. During the week, a much earlier version of the Global Hawk made its initial flight as a NASA vehicle, one that will be used for environmental science research. The fight was Friday at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base. NASA has two Global Hawks, both of which were among seven Global Hawks built and flown in the original Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration program. The aircraft that flew for about four hours Friday last took to the skies in May 2003.
Airports/bases
Southwest Airlines plans to begin serving the new Panama City, Fla., airport, when the facility opens in May 2010. Three Florida cities, Panama City, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach, all hoped to get the discount airliner. Mobile, Ala., also made a pitch for the airliner.
- Frontier Airlines will return to the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans next year for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, offering a daily service to Denver beginning June 15. In addition, Southwest Airlines, which trimmed New Orleans service after the hurricane, is adding two daily trips in May. One is a direct flight to St. Louis and the other is a second flight to Denver.
- The 708th Armament Systems Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been recognized for unprecedented acquisition management success with selection by the Department of Defense as the winner of 2009 David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award. The award singles out the group as the best acquisition team in the Air Force. The 708th delivered a new laser-guided version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition to warfighters in 11 months. The award will be presented Nov. 3.
Joint Strike Fighter
Okaloosa County commissioners received an introduction and update of the F-35 program during the week from J.R. McDonald, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of corporate and business development. McDonald, who moved to Okaloosa County a few months ago to oversee the company’s activities from Pensacola to Panama City, is the first vice president the company has stationed at its office in Shalimar. McDonald said he anticipated the first F-35 to arrive next summer, a few months later than the original March goal.
3Q reports
Goodrich Corp. saw profit and revenue continue to fall in the third quarter. The company had a profit of $145.4 million in the third quarter, down 13 percent from a high-water mark in the same quarter of 2008. … Teledyne Technologies profit per share hit a record in the third quarter, helped by cost cutting and a tax windfall. Total profit rose to $35.1 million, up 14 percent from $30.9 million in the same quarter of 2008. … Boeing Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $1.6 billion and reduced its full-year profit forecast, hurt by $3.5 billion in charges for the delayed 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 jumbo jet programs. … Northrop Grumman reported that third quarter 2009 earnings from continuing operations totaled $487 million compared with $509 million in the third quarter of 2008.
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