Navy tests X-47B

X-47B at Pax River. U.S. Navy photo

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- The Navy conducted its first test of the X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator. The tailless, unmanned aircraft built by Northrop Grumman launched from Pax River and flew for 35 minutes, reaching an altitude of 7,500 feet and an air speed of 180 knots. One of the testing facilities at Pax River is a simulated aircraft carrier environment, which will allow team members to ensure the aircraft is ready to operate in testing at sea. Land-based testing will establish X-47B has the ability to conduct precision approaches and to perform arrested landings and catapult launches prior to actual aircraft carrier operations. (Source: NNS, 07/29/12) Gulf Coast note: Northrop Grumman does some of the work on Fire Scout and Global Hawk unmanned systems in Moss Point, Miss.

Contract: L-3 Vertex, $9.9M

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC., Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $9,931,132 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery requirements contract for the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department support for Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft, transient aircraft, and other services activities at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla., and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Work will be performed in Pensacola (60 percent) and Corpus Christi 40 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2017. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/30/12)

787 engine issues

Rolls-Royce and GE engines used in Boeing's 787 have caused some issues for the new aircraft. On Saturday, debris shot from the back of a GEnx engine during a ground test at the Charleston (S.C.) airport. The incident is being investigated. In an earlier incident, All Nippon Airways temporary grounded five 787s due to gearbox corrosion in the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines. Rolls-Royce is replacing the gearbox units. (Sources: multiple, including Heraldnet, Seattle Times, 07/29/12, Charleston Regional Business Journal, 07/30/12, Wall Street Journal, 07/23/12) Gulf Coast note: Rolls-Royce engines are tested at an outdoor facility at Stennis Space Center, Miss.; composite fan platforms and cases for the GEnx are made by GE Aviation in Batesville, Miss. Previous: Aeromexico orders Boeings; Airliner picks GEnx engines; Rolls-Royce wins orders; More orders for Rolls-Royce 

Saturn V engines eyed for rocket

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Could the engines that powered Saturn V be used again for new NASA heavy-lift rocket? Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville thinks modified F-1 engines may be just right. It's negotiating a contract with NASA that could lead to construction of the biggest piece of rocket hardware in Huntsville since the Apollo program. NASA will use solid rocket boosters for the first flights of the 70-metric-ton Space Launch System. But it's letting industry compete over which boosters will be used on the 130-metric-ton version. Dynetics is teaming with Rocketdyne, which has three modified F-1 turbopumps in storage. Should the project go all the way through to engine manufacturing and testing, they will be tested at the Stennis Space Center, Miss. (Source: Huntsville Times, 07/29/12) Rocketdyne has an operation at SSC. Related: Historic engines to be recovered?

Developer's plans hit snag

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Plans to lease 104 acres of Saufley Field to a private developer have stalled because of the cost of moving several Saufley commands to Naval Air Station Pensacola, some 10 miles away. The Department of Defense's Enhanced Use Leasing program is designed to produce civilian jobs and provide revenue from under-utilized military land. Saufley is used for Navy education and training support programs, and its runways are used for flight training. The private developer, DCK Worldwide of Pittsburg, envisions a research/commercial park at Saufley. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 07/29/12) Similar: Hotel on AF land raises issues; AF to become landlord

School board OKs aviation center

BAY MINETTE, Ala. -- The Baldwin County Board of Education approved a resolution to take part in creation of an aviation training center for public high school students at Fairhope airport. The board will pay the annual cost of the bond to build the $2 million facility at the Sonny Callahan Airport, about $144,000 a year. The facility will provide technical training to prepare students for jobs in the aviation industry, such as those expected to be produced when Airbus begins building A320 aircraft at Mobile’s Brookley Aeroplex. Enterprise Community College and Faulkner State Community College will provide instructors. Training will begin in August 2013. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/28/12)

SSC tests lander engine

Morpheus lander engine tested at SSC
NASA/JSC photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA engineers recently conducted tests on a liquid methane, liquid oxygen engine used to power the Project Morpheus lander, which could one day carry cargo to the moon, asteroids or Mars. The tests on SSC's E-3 Test Stand over several days marked the first time the Morpheus engine has been tested on its own. Previous tests were done with the engine installed on the lander. Morpheus could carry a variety of payloads, including robots, small rovers and labs, to the moon or other celestial bodies. Morpheus, a NASA-designed vehicle, is one of 20 small projects comprising NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems Program. Morpheus is a full spacecraft with all the associated subsystems. The lander has been undergoing tether tests at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it was built. Free flight testing is scheduled this year at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. (Source: NASA, 07/26/12)

UT finalizes Goodrich deal

HARTFORD, Conn. -- United Technologies Corp. has completed its $18.4 billion acquisition of Charlotte, N.C.-based Goodrich Corp. To satisfy antitrust concerns, United Technologies must sell several units, including Goodrich's engine control systems unit, and Goodrich's shares of Aero Engine Controls, an aircraft turbine manufacturing joint venture with Rolls-Royce. Goodrich will be combined with Hamilton Sundstrand to create the new UTC Aerospace Systems business unit, headquartered in Charlotte. (Source: PRNewswire, 07/26/12, Charlotte Observer, 07/27/12) Gulf Coast note: Goodrich operates a center in Foley, Ala. Previous

Contract: Army Fleet Support, $1.9B

Army Fleet Support, Fort Rucker, Ala., was awarded a $1,979,297,394 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to provide aviation maintenance services. Work will be performed in Fort Rucker, with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2017. The bid was solicited through the Internet, with five bids received. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/26/12)

Seeking propulsions 'Holy Grail'

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Scientists here are working on a project that has the potential to revolutionize space travel: a thermonuclear propulsion system. Researchers from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Boeing are assembling in the Aerophysics Research Center at Redstone Arsenal a huge piece of machinery that in a past life tested nuclear weapons effects. "Charger-1 Pulsed Power Generator" will be one of the largest and most powerful pulse power systems in the academic world, according to university officials. Scientists consider nuclear fusion the "Holy Grail" of spacecraft propulsion. As envisioned, multiple launch vehicles would put the required components into orbit, where the spacecraft would be assembled and a pulsed fusion engine would launch the spacecraft from high Earth orbit. Nuclear fusion propulsion, an idea that's been around for a long time, would cut fuel needed to a few tons instead of thousands of tons. (Source: University of Alabama in Huntsville, 07/25/2012) Gulf Coast note: NASA and commercial companies test propulsion systems at Stennis Space Center, Miss., which works closely with Marshall Space Flight Center.

Kiplinger: Eglin at risk

Is Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., at risk of being closed in any new round of base closings? That's what a recent Kiplinger Report says. The report, which cited unnamed sources on Capitol Hill and others, lists Eglin along with eight other bases. The report said Eglin's work could be transferred to bases in the Northwest. But it shouldn't be taken seriously, according to Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla. He points out that Congress has no appetite for another base closing round. David Goestch, chairman of the Florida Defense Support Task Force, also discounts the assessment of the risk to Eglin, which received additional missions from the last base closing round. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 07/25/12)

SLS passes major review

NASA illustration

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Space Launch System, which will launch humans farther into space than ever before, passed a major NASA review Wednesday with completion of a combined System Requirements Review and System Definition Review. SLS now moves ahead to its preliminary design phase. The SLS will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads, and provide a new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the SLS program. The RS-25 core stage and J-2X upper-stage rocket engine in development by Rocketdyne for the two-stage SLS will be tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss. Testing has already begun on the J-2X. The Boeing Co. in Huntsville is designing the SLS core stage, to be built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and tested at Stennis Space Center before being shipped to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. (Sources: NASA, PRNewswire, 07/25/12) Previous

Aeromexico orders Boeings

Aeromexico placed a provisional order for 90 Boeing 737 MAX jets and 10 Boeing 787s worth $11 billion. Each 787 will use two GE Aviation GEnx engines, and each MAX aircraft will be powered by two LEAP engines made by CFM International, GE Aviation's joint venture with France's Safran. The estimated total list price for the engine orders is $2.65 billion. (Sources: AP, Reuters, ATW Daily News, Dayton Business Journal, 07/25/12) Gulf Coast note: Composite fan platforms and cases for the GEnx are made by GE Aviation in Batesville, Miss., and turbine ignitions components, sensors and harnesses for the GEnx are made in Jacksonville, Fla. GE Aviation is building engine parts facilities near Hattiesburg, Miss., and Auburn, Ala.; Airbus is building an assembly line for A320s, which compete with the 737, in Mobile, Ala.; GE Aviation competes with Rolls-Royce to power the 787. Rolls-Royce airliner engines are tested at its outdoor facility at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

J-2X powerpack sets new mark

J-2X powerpack test Tuesday at SSC
NASA/SSC photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- A J-2X powerpack was test fired Tuesday for 1,350 seconds on the A-1 test stand, surpassing the 1,150-second firing of June 8. The powerpack sits atop the J-2X engine and feeds the thrust chamber, which produces the engine fire and thrust. The advantage of testing the powerpack without the thrust chamber is to operate over a wide range of conditions to understand safe limits. The test Tuesday gathered data on performance of the liquid oxygen and fuel pumps during extreme conditions. The Rocketdyne J-2X engine will power the upper-stage of a planned two-stage Space Launch System, which will launch NASA's Orion spacecraft and other payloads for missions beyond low Earth orbit. (Source: NASA, 07/24/12) Previous: J-2X goes the distance; Powerpack test sets record

F-22 restrictions being lifted

The Air Force has identified the cause of hypoxia-like symptoms a dozen F-22 pilots suffered, and flight restrictions gradually will be lifted. The Air Force ruled out contaminants as the cause, and made two changes to solve the hypoxia problem. The first was to order pilots not to wear the pressure garment vest during high-altitude missions. The vest inflates to stop blood from pooling, which would cause pilots to black out during high-speed turns. The Air Force found that a faulty valve caused the vest to inflate and remain inflated under conditions where it was not designed to inflate. The Air Force also removed a canister filter from the oxygen delivery system, increasing the volume of air flowing to pilots. (Source: American Forces Press Service, Reuters, 07/24/12) Gulf Coast note: F-22 pilots are trained at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.

AF to discuss F-35 bunker buster

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Air Force weapons experts will brief industry Oct. 4, 2012 on the progress and future needs of a program to develop a rocket-propelled bomb for the F-35 that can attack and destroy deeply buried targets. The focus will be on the Air Force High Velocity Penetrating Weapon Flagship Capability Concept (HVPW FCC) program, and future needs for bunker-busting munition guidance, navigation and control; propulsion; explosives; and systems integration. The HVPW FCC program seeks to develop a 2,000-pound weapon with solid-rocket propulsion with the power of a 5,000-pound gravity bomb. (Source: Avionics Intelligence, 07/24/12)

Airport eyes opportunities

ST. ELMO, Ala. -- Supporters of St. Elmo Airport hope to market the 738-acre general aviation airport as a job creator for the south-Mobile County community. The airport some 18 miles from Brookley Aeroplex is state-owned and has 20 hangars and a 4,000-foot landing strip. John Eagerton, bureau chief for the Alabama Department of Transportation's Aeronautics Bureau, said the state has been positioning the airport take advantage of opportunities such as Airbus' decision to locate an assembly line at Brookley. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/24/12)

UK F-35 now at Eglin

UK F-35 leaves Texas
Lockheed Martin photo

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The first international F-35 arrived at Eglin Air Force Base this morning. It's now with the Marine Strike Fighter Training Squadron 501 at the 33rd Fighter Wing. ZM135, an F-35B piloted by Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Jim Schofield, took off from Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base in Texas for the 90-minute flight to Eglin. The F-35B combines short take off and vertical landing technology with supersonic speed and stealth, and also will be flown by the U.S. Marine Corps. The F-35B pairs a Pratt and Whitney F135 engine and the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem. The UK was the first of eight international partners to join the F-35 program and plans to acquire the F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing aircraft. (Source: GCAC, 07/23/12) Lockheed Martin release; Previous

Rocketdyne being sold to GenCorp.

United Technologies reached an agreement to sell Rocketdyne, currently part of Pratt and Whitney, to aerospace manufacturer GenCorp Inc. for $550 million. Rocketdyne, based in Canoga Park, Calif., and the world's largest maker of liquid-fueled rocket propulsion systems, will nearly double GenCorp's size. GenCorp also ownes Aerojet, which produces solid-fuel rocket motors. Rocketdyne is one of three units UT put on the block in an effort to fund the manufacturer's $16.5 billion takeover of Goodrich Corp. of Charlotte, N.C. (Sources: PRNewswire, Reuters, 07/23/12) Gulf Coast note: Rocketdyne has an operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss., that assembles and tests rocket engines. Aerojet engines are tested at SSC; Goodrich has a service center in Foley, Ala.

Guard pilot gets turn with F-35

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The Air National Guard took its first turn at the controls of an F-35 last week. Maj. Jay Spohn, the chief of standards and evaluation at the 33rd Operations Group, flew on July 16. He's one of two Guard pilots and two Reserve pilots in training with the 33rd Wing at Eglin. Spohn's first flight came five days after the 33rd Fighter Wing flew its 100th sortie. (Source: Air Force Times, 07/22/12) Previous