A320s for Air China, AirAsia

Air China and AirAsia are ordering more of the popular A320 jets. Air China ordered 100 Airbus A320s worth $8.8 billion at list price. Sixty of the single-aisle planes will be used by the airline and 40 are for subsidiary Shenzhen Airlines. Airbus broke ground April 8 on a final assembly line for A320s at Mobile, Ala.'s Brookley Aeroplex. (Sources: al.com, Economic Times, 05/24/13) Meanwhile, AirAsia, Asia's largest budget carrier, could buy another 50 planes as it targets expansion in India. Discussion of an order for another 50 A320-family jets, worth $5 billion at list prices, comes weeks ahead of the Paris air show and five months after the Malaysian carrier added 100 jets to its order book to lift total purchases to 475 planes. (Source: Reuters, 05/24/13)

Panel nixes BRAC 2015

The House Armed Services' Readiness Subcommittee made it clear Thursday that it opposes the Pentagon's request for a base realignment and closure round in 2015. The panel approved language in its portion of the fiscal 2014 defense authorization bill that would preclude the Defense Department from using FY 2014 appropriations "to propose, plan for or execute an additional BRAC round." Subcommittee Chairman Rob Wittman, R-Va., said further review would be required before the committee could consider endorsing a new BRAC round. (Source: Defense Communities 360, 05/24/13) Gulf Coast note: The region is home to multiple military bases, many aviation-related.

Aging workforce a concern

MOBILE, Ala. – Collaboration with the Alabama Industrial Development Training program and aggressive development of diversified career paths will be key to ST Aerospace Mobile’s longevity as it grapples with an aging workforce. That's what Bill Hafner, vice president of operations for STA Mobile, told members of the Aviation and Aerospace Advisory Council Thursday at its quarterly meeting. The council was formed to identify and address skills gaps and working to meet the needs of the state’s growing aerospace sector. (Source: al.com, 05/23/13)

Sky's Profile features Alabama

Alabama's aerospace, automotive, health care and financial industries will be the focus of a 44-page section in Delta's Sky magazine in June. It will reach the millions who fly Delta. Sky's "Profile" section highlights a state or city each month, and this is the first time Alabama has been featured. The size of the profile section is determined by the level of support Sky gets from the featured community. This has 22 pages of ads and 22 pages of editorial. Gov. Robert Bentley said the timing is ideal since aerospace leaders from around the world will be flying to Paris in June for the 50th annual International Paris Air Show. (Source: MadeinAlabama, 05/23/13)

Contract: L-3, $53M

L-3 Communications, Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $53,002,714 indefinite-delivery requirements contract for logistics services support of the TH-57 aircraft fleet. Services to be provided include repair and/or overhaul of aircraft, engines, avionics and related components. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla., and is expected to be completed in June 2014. This contract was competitively procured via electronic request for proposals; five offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/23/13)

Contractor picked for training center

MOBILE, Ala. -- Rod Cooke Construction will serve as general contractor for the Alabama Aviation Training Center at Brookley Aeroplex. The $6 million, 35,600-square-foot facility for the Alabama Industrial Development Training program will house labs and classrooms to train potential Airbus employees. The project is slated for completion by March 2014. Airbus is building a $600 million final assembly line at Brookley that will produce A320 jetliners and have about 1,000 workers. (Source: al.com, 05/22/13)

Triton completes first flight

Triton on first flight Wednesday.
Navy photo courtesy Northrop Grumman

PALMDALE, Calif. -- The Navy's MQ-4C Triton unmanned surveillance aircraft today completed its first flight from Palmdale, Calif. The flight marks the start of tests that will validate the Northrop Grumman-built system for fleet operations. During the 80-minute flight, the Triton, controlled by ground-based personnel, reached an altitude of 20,000 feet. Triton will provide persistent maritime and littoral data collection and dissemination in the Navy’s Asia and Pacific regions. The Triton, an adjunct to the manned P-8A Poseidon, will fly missions for 24 hours at altitudes greater than 10 miles, allowing the monitoring of 2,000 nautical miles of ocean and littoral areas at a time. Flight tests will continue in California for the next several months before the team transitions the aircraft to Patuxent River, Md., in the fall. The MQ-4C Triton UAS will be based at five locations around the globe. (Source: NNS, 05/22/13) Gulf Coast note: Central fuselage work on Tritons is done in Moss Point, Miss.

Airbus hires customs manager

MOBILE, Ala. -- Airbus Americas named Christopher “Kit” Johnson customs manager for the A320 final assembly line at Brookley Aerolex. He's the second hire for the $600 million plant. Johnson served most recently as foreign trade zone and customs group manager for John S. James Co. at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. in Vance, Ala. He'll be responsible for securing and improving the Toulouse, France-based company's customs activities in the United States. (Source: al.com, 05/22/13)

Flight changes may lessen noise

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Changes to local military flight procedures may mean less noise on the ground. The changes, which began last week, include raising minimum flight altitudes over populated areas. Col. Don Johnson, commander of the 96th Operations Group at Eglin, said his primary concern was safety and carrying out the Air Force’s mission, but added that the new policies also should help make things quieter. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 05/21/13)

Company wins B-2 task order

Sauer Inc., of Jacksonville, Fla., won a $6.5 million NASA task order to renovate the B-2 rocket test stand at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Sauer expects to complete the project in 10 months, the company said in a news release. The B-2 Test Stand at Stennis was originally built to test Saturn rocket stages. It’s being completely renovated to test NASA’s new Space Launch System core stage in late 2016 and early 2017. (Source: Jacksonville Business Journal, 05/21/13)

Dream Chaser tests underway

A Colorado company developing a spaceship to take astronauts to the International Space Station is testing landing-related elements at NASA facilities. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser will carry seven people and land like a plane. Astronauts are using a flight simulator at the Langley, Va., facility to simulate what it would be like to land Dream Chaser. The company has also delivered a Dream Chaser engineering test craft to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., to test the craft's nose strut, brakes and tires. (Source: AP via Washington Post, 05/16/13) Gulf Coast note: Lockheed Martin will assemble the composite structure for the first space-bound Dream Chaser at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Two squadrons move to Hurlburt

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Two Air Force squadrons moved to a new hangar Monday morning by running 15 miles across town. More than 50 people from the 9th Special Operations and the 1st Special Operations Maintenance squadrons ran a relay to carry their flags, or guidons, from their hangar at Eglin Air Force Base to their new home at Hurlburt Field. The move, discussed for more than 20 years, finally reunites all 1st Special Operations Wing squadrons under one roof. About 400 people and eight MC-130P Combat Shadow aircraft relocated. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 05/20/13)

3 Gulf Coast bases win awards

Three bases in the Gulf Coast region were among five that won the Commander in Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced today that the 2013 award winners. The Gulf Coast bases are the U.S. Army Garrison Fort Rucker, Ala.; Naval Support Activity Panama City, Fla.; and Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Miss. The other winners are Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif., and Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, Columbus, Ohio. The award recognizes the outstanding and innovative efforts of the people who operate and maintain U.S. military installations. The five recipients of this highly competitive presidential award were selected for their exemplary support of Department of Defense missions. (Source: DoD, 05/20/13) Previous

728th ACS victim of cuts

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- One of the oldest squadrons in the Air Force has been shelved. The Air Force was just three years old when 728th Air Control Squadron was activated Sept. 2, 1950, at Turner Air Force Base in Albany, Ga. The squadron was inactivated Friday at Eglin Air Force Base as part of broad budget cuts in the Department of Defense. The 728th provided command and control of joint air operations by conducting surveillance, identification, weapons control, battle management and theater communications data links. The squadron moved to Duke Field in 1977 then Eglin in 1994. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 05/17/13)

Drone marks another first

X-47B prepares for touch and go. Navy photo

ATLANTIC OCEAN -- The Navy's X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstrator (UCAS-D) has performed touch and go landings aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77). It's another first for the Northrop Grumman-built drone. Earlier in the week the ship conducted the first-ever launch of the UAV. The UCAS-D program plans to conduct shore-based arrested landings of the X-47B at NAS Patuxent River, Md., in the coming months before final carrier-based arrestments later in 2013. (Source: NNS, 05/17/13) Previous Gulf Coast note: Northrop Grumman builds portions of two drones in Moss Point, Miss.; naval aviators receive initial training in Northwest Florida.

Female chair chosen

The New Orleans Aviation Board, which governs the city-owned Louis Armstrong International Airport, picked New Orleans lawyer Cheryl Teamer to be its first female chairperson. She will oversee the launch of an $826 million overhaul the airfield that Mayor Mitch Landrieu has dictated must be done in five years. Teamer was selected Thursday. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 05/17/13)

Army SFG welcomes public

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) opened its doors Wednesday to the public. About 2,000 people showed up at the Special Forces' cantonment south of Crestview. The event was part of the group's Red Empire Week, designed to reunite soldiers with their families after year-long deployments to Afghanistan and to show appreciation for the community. Visitors Day featured about 15 displays for the public to inspect the weapons, vehicles and technologies soldiers use and to let them explain their day-to-day duties. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 05/15/13)

Contract: Jacobs, $8.5M

Jacobs Technology Inc., Lincoln, Mass., was awarded an $8,527,294 cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-reimbursable contract for interim support of services to provide engineering and technology acquisition support services. The types of services to be acquired under this contract includes but are not limited to: engineering services, engineering support, technical support, provisioning and logistics, modeling and simulation, configuration and data management, architectural support, test and evaluation, security engineering and certification, capability based planning, commercial-off-the-shelf integration, integrated master plans and scheduling and technical reviews. Work will be done at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., with primary geographically separated units at Peterson AFB, Colo.; Langley AFB, Va.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; Maxwell-Gunter AFB, Ala.; and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, with an expected completion date of Nov. 15, 2013. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center/PZM is the contracting activity. Contract has an FMS component as the contract requires company to travel overseas for host nation support. (Source: DoD, 05/16/13)

Australia eyes Triton again

Australia is back on board and again considering buying Northrop Grumman Triton long-range surveillance drones. The government will issue a letter of request to the United States to gain access to detailed cost, capability and availability information on the U.S. Navy's MQ-4C Triton. The drone is a variant of the long-range Global Hawk, but configured for maritime surveillance. Australia could buy six or seven Tritons, according to Reuters. The United States plans to buy 68. (Source: The Australian, 05/16/13) Previous: Germany axes Euro Hawk. Gulf Coast note: All variants of the Global Hawk are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

A-1 marks a first in decade

The J-2X is installed on the A-1 stand.
NASA/SSC photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- For the first time in almost a decade, a full engine is in the A-1 test stand. The installation of J-2X engine E10002 is in preparation for a series of tests where the engine will be gimbaled, or pivoted, during test firings. When this upper stage engine is used in space, it will need to be able to move freely to steer NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS, a heavy-lift launch vehicle that will carry humans in deep space. It's the first time gimbal tests will be done since testing on the space shuttle main engines. A series of tests was completed on the E10002 engine in the A-2 test stand prior to its installation on the A-1 test stand. Once these tests are done, preparations will be made to begin testing the RS-25 engine on the A-1 stand in 2014. RS-25 engines from the shuttle inventory will power the core stage of SLS, while the J-2X engine will power the upper stage. (Source: NASA, 05/14/13)