Tyndall trying virtual reality

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Tyndall Air Force base near Panama City, Fla., is testing out new virtual reality technology at the "installation of the future." Tyndall, heavily damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018, is the first  Air Force base to use a digital copy of a real-world place during its rebuilding. The technology uses drones, lasers, and camera suits to create an accurate map of a place, resulting in a virtual reality that helps make repairs more quickly and efficiently. "The digital twin will help inform decision-makers and leaders here on the base, with respect to facilities management, planning, workforce planning, security vulnerabilities," said Lowell Usrey, Tyndall's integration division chief. The virtual reality training aspect will help military members train for high-risk situations, without the actual risk. (Source: WJHG/WECP, 03/26/21)

Contract: Kratos-MSI, $60.7M

Kratos-Micro Systems Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded a $60,729,307 hybrid (cost-no-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price) contract to support the Army Ground Aerial Target Control System, including software updating, cyber security inspections and installation of replacement parts. Bids were solicited via the internet with two received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of April 4, 2028. U.S. Army Contracting Command, Orlando, Fla., is the contracting activity (W900KK-21-D-0001). (Source: DoD, 03/25/21)

Contending plane topic of panel

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - One of the planes contending to be the Special Operation Command's new multi-mission aircraft will be the topic of a panel discussion during the April 14 TeCMEN Industry Day. The final panel will include representatives from Leidos, Vertex Solutions, and Paramount Group USA, which have teamed up to offer the Bronco II for the Armed Overwatch program, designed to find an armed replacement for the aging and unarmed U-28 Draco. It's intended to perform close combat air support beyond surveillance. The Leidos-Vertex team plans to build it in Crestview, Fla. U.S. special operations forces need a new armed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft to fully support all its missions, Army Gen. Richard D. Clarke, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 25. At least four aircraft manufacturing teams are participating in the contest: Sierra Nevada-Embraer; Textron Aviation Defense; Air Tractor; and Leidos.The one-day industry day, hosted by the Technology Coast Manufacturing and Engineering Network (TeCMEN) is at the Destin Fort Walton Beach Convention Center. (Source: GCRL, 03/26/21)

Contract: Raytheon, $518.4M

Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tucson, Ariz., has been awarded a $518,443,821 firm-fixed-price, incentive contract for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) Production Lot 34, with priced options for Lots 35 and 36. This basic contract award provides for the production of the Lot 34 AMRAAMs, Captive Air Training Missiles (CATMs), guidance sections, AMRAAM Telemetry System (ATS), initial and field spares, and other production engineering support hardware and activities. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed Dec. 31, 2023. This contract involves unclassified Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Indonesia, Japan, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, South Korea, and Qatar. Fiscal 2019 Air Force missile procurement funds in the amount of $5,348,048; fiscal 2020 Air Force missile procurement funds in the amount of $108,158,773; fiscal 2019 Navy weapons procurement funds in the amount of $26,003,961; fiscal 2020 Navy weapons procurement funds in the amount of $77,192,047; fiscal 2021 Navy weapons procurement funds in the amount of $3,804,680; fiscal 2020 Air Force research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) funds in the amount of $5,306,972; fiscal 2021 Air Force RDT&E funds in the amount of $3,877,865; fiscal 2020 Navy RDT&E funds in the amount of $2,216,700; fiscal 2021 Navy RDT&E funds in the amount of $2,043,378; fiscal 2021 Air Force operation and maintenance (O&M) funds in the amount of $378,993; fiscal 2021 Army O&M funds in the amount of $497,466; and FMS funds in the amount of $283,614,938 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (FA8675-21-C-0034). (Source: DoD, 03/26/21)

Contract: Northrop, $98.9M

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., is awarded a $98,900,000 modification (P00013) to a previously awarded, fixed-priced incentive (firm-target) contract (N0001919C0008). This modification increases the scope and provides for one additional low rate initial production Lot Five MQ-4C Triton unmanned aircraft system. Work will be performed in San Diego, Calif. (24.6%); Red Oak, Texas (15%); Baltimore, Md. (10.9%); Palmdale, Calif. (10.8%); Salt Lake City, Utah (6.8%); Bridgeport, W.Va. (5.8%); Indianapolis, Ind. (5.3%); Moss Point, Miss. (4.2%); San Clemente, Calif. (1.7%); New Town, N.D. (1.2%); Waco, Texas (1.2%); various locations within the continental U.S. (11.9%); and various locations outside the continental United States (0.6%), and is expected to be completed in January 2025. Fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $80,800,895; fiscal 2020 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,069,000; and fiscal 2019 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,030,105 will be obligated at the time of award, of which $8,030,105 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/26/21)

Contract: Lockheed, $36M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $35,951,113 modification (P00062) to a previously awarded, cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N0001912C0070). This modification increases the scope for the Network Interface Unit Gen II scope in support of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Fort Worth (50%); and an undisclosed location outside the continental U.S. (50%), and is expected to be completed in September 2025. FMS funds in the amount of $35,951,113 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/26/21) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an F-35 training center and reprogramming labs.

Contract: Lockheed, $26.8M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $26,793,697 modification (P00061) to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N0001912C0070). This modification increases scope to provide support for the engineering tools, data, and related training for the sustainment of the flight test instrumentation air system for one of the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers, as well as additional FMS customer unique requirements. Work will be performed in Fort Worth (90%); and an undisclosed location outside the continental U.S. (10%), and is expected to be completed in December 2023. FMS funds in the amount of $26,793,697 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/26/21) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an F-35 training center and reprogramming labs.

Contract: Lockheed, $13.7M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $13,699,128 modification (P00060) to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract (N0001912C0070). This modification adds scope in support of sustainment efforts for flight test instrumentation air systems to include customer unique requirements for the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter program for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customer. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (90%); and an undisclosed location outside the continental U.S. (10%), and is expected to be completed in December 2022. FMS funds in the amount of $13,699,128 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/26/21) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an F-35 training center and reprogramming labs.

United expanding PNS service

PENSACOLA, Fla. - United Airlines will offer expanded service to Pensacola with four new nonstop destinations beginning in May 2021: Cleveland (CLE), Milwaukee (MKE), Cincinnati (CVG), and Pittsburgh (PIT). The added service will begin May 27, 2021 and continues through September 2021. Flights will be operated by the CRJ-550. With this announcement, by June 2021, Pensacola International Airport will offer nonstop service to 28 destinations through eight airlines. United Airlines currently provides nonstop flights to Denver, Dulles, Houston and Chicago. (Source: City of Pensacola, 03/25/21)

PNS reopens after bomb threat

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A bomb threat called in to the Pensacola International Airport's operations center caused a 45-minute shutdown of the airport Thursday morning. The threat was reported at about 8:30 a.m., and the airport staff completed a series of security protocols with assistance from the Pensacola Police Department. "Every threat is treated as credible until determined otherwise," said Matt Coughlin, the airport director. The shutdown did not cause any flight cancelations. The FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with help from the PPD, will conduct a follow-up investigation into who made the threat and where it originated. (Sources: Pensacola News Journal, WEAR-TV, 03/25/21)

Vertex wins helo trainer contract

Mississippi-based Vertex Aerospace has been awarded a $71.3 million contract to provide maintenance and logistics services for helicopters at Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, a center of helicopter training for the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. The contract covers the initial year of work by Vertex, but includes options for six additional years that would bring the total contract value to more than $471 million. Vertex Aerospace will have maintenance responsibilities for both the aging fleet of TH-57A Sea Rangers used for pilot training along with the replacement helicopters, the Leonardo TH-73A. (Sources: multiple, including Northwest Florida Daily News, 03/18/21. Naval Technology, 03/09/21) Previous

Do-over test of core successful

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The four-engine core stage of NASA's Space Launch System was successfully tested Thursday in an eight-minute run at NASA's test facility in South Mississippi. A previous attempt in January was cut short, but this test ran for the full duration. The “Green Run,” where the core stage is held in place in a test stand, is the last step before the hardware is sent to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The core stage will be used to launch the Orion spacecraft on the uncrewed Artemis-1 mission. The core stage is built by Boeing and contains the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank. It has four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines as well as the computers and avionics that serve as the “brains” of the rocket. (Source: multiple, including New York Times, ClickOrlando, WLOX-TV, 03/18/21) Previous

Contract: Bell Boeing, $25.6M

ell Boeing Joint Project Office, Amarillo, Texas, is awarded a $25,624,720 cost-plus-fixed-fee order (N00019-21-F-0008) against previously issued basic ordering agreement N00019-17-G-0002. This order provides flight test support for the V-22 aircraft in support of the Navy, Air Force, and Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Md. (68%); Philadelphia, Pa. (17%); Fort Worth, Texas (11%); and Hurlburt Field, Fla. (4%), and is expected to be completed in March 2026. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the amount of $10,798,744; fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $7,566,405; fiscal 2021 aircraft procurement (Air Force) funds in the amount of $3,294,642; fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (Air Force) funds in the amount of $2,194,929; and FMS funds in the amount of $1,770,000 will be obligated at time of award,and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/12/21)

Contract: Raytheon, $17.9M

Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tucson, Ariz., has been awarded a $17,918,000 firm-fixed-price modification (P00011) to contract FA8675-20-C-0033 for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile program. This modification provides for a life of type procurement of known obsolete components in support of production and sustainment through the program of record and recertification of a new Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM) device on the central processing unit (CPU) circuit card assembly. Work will be performed in Tucson and is expected to be completed July 31, 2022. This contract involves unclassified Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to Australia, Japan, Poland, Qatar, Spain, Kuwait, Slovakia, Denmark, United Kingdom, Norway and Netherlands. Air Force fiscal 2019 missile procurement funds in the amount of $105,284; Air Force fiscal 2020 missile procurement funds in the amount of $8,129,895; Navy fiscal 2020 missile procurement funds in the amount of $4,933,174; and FMS funds in the amount of $4,749,647 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/12/21)

Contract: B.L. Harbert, $25.6M

B.L. Harbert International LLC, Birmingham, Ala., is awarded a $25,645,906 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of aviation facilities at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. The contract also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised, would increase cumulative contract value to $26,121,735. The work to be performed provides for the construction of an aerospace control alert facility and apron, to include aircraft shelters, aircrew alert quarters, utilities, communication support, site improvements, exterior lighting and security upgrades.  The option, if exercised, provides for furniture, fixtures and equipment. Work will be performed in New Orleans and is expected to be completed by October 2024. Fiscal 2019 military construction (Air National Guard) contract funds in the amount of $25,645,906 are obligated on this award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured via the beta.SAM.gov website with two proposals received.  Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity (N69450-21-C-0005). (Source: DoD, 03/11/21)

50-acre aerospace park eyed

NEW ORLEANS — Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the State of Louisiana has signed an agreement with NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) that could lead to creation of the Louisiana Space Campus, a dedicated 50-acre aerospace business park within NASA’s 829-acre site in New Orleans. The space campus would target commercial office development, with contemporary amenities, for existing Michoud tenants and new prospects from the public and private sector to support Michoud Assembly Facility and other industry in New Orleans East. NASA and Louisiana Economic Development signed a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, to mutually explore development of the space campus to its highest and best use. The main building at MAF encompasses 43 acres of climate-controlled manufacturing space, and hosts both government and commercial tenants, including Boeing, which is assembling the Space Launch System rocket, and Lockheed Martin, which is developing the Orion crew capsule. Business investment at the space campus would not be limited to aerospace functions, but businesses in that sector would be encouraged to explore the possibilities of the new campus. (Source: Louisiana Economic Development, 03/10/21)

Spirit coming to PNS

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Pensacola International Airport (PNS) is adding Spirit Airlines as the airport's 8th airline. Flights will begin June 10 to and from seven cities. They are Dallas-Fort Worth and St. Louis, with flights every day. Other cities with flights on selected days of the week are Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Louisville, Ky. (Source: WEAR-TV, 03/11/21)

Contract: Serco, $15.3M

Serco Inc., Herndon, Va., is awarded a $15,326,863 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification under previously-awarded indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N61331-18-D-0007 to exercise options for the development, integration, testing and evaluation of prototype systems into existing or emerging unmanned vehicles, unmanned weapons and unmanned weapons control systems related to mine warfare, amphibious warfare, surface warfare, diving and life support, coastal and underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and other missions in the littoral and riverine environments. Work performance locations will be determined with each order and is expected to be completed by March 2023. No funding will be obligated at time of award. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Panama City Division, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/09/21)

Contract: Raytheon, $74M

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., has been awarded a $74,000,000 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract (FA8675-21-D-0002) for Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) aircraft integration support. This contract will provide the necessary aircraft lab, flight test, flight clearance and simulation support during all integration requirements in AMRAAM for F-15, F-16, FA-18, F-22, F-35 and other current inventory or next generation platforms that may join the Air Force or Navy inventory before the end of fiscal 2029. Work will primarily be performed in Tucson and is expected to be completed March 30, 2032.  An initial task order (FA8675-21-F-1002) will be awarded concurrently with the basic contract, for a total cost-plus-fixed-fee value of $9,447,196. This award is the result of a sole-source acquisition. Fiscal 2021 research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) (Air Force) funds in the amount of $2,000,000; and fiscal 2021 RDT&E (Navy) funds in the amount of $500,000, are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/04/21)

Contract: Lockheed, $38.7M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is awarded a $38,659,327 modification (P00004) to previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract N00019-18-D-0129. This modification exercises an option for ordering emerging capabilities and analysis systems engineering to include programmatic and logistics tasks that will analyze the F-35 air system's ability to meet future operational requirements, investigating cost and weight reduction program options and conducting modeling and simulation activities. Additional assessments may include such efforts as analyzing changes to design life, operational readiness, reliability and air system design and configuration. Work will be performed in Fort Worth and is expected to be completed in December 2021. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 03/03/21) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of an F-35 training center and reprogramming labs.