Mayor going to Germany

MOBILE, Ala. – The new mayor of Mobile is going to Germany next week to meet with potential suppliers and Airbus representatives. Sandy Stimpson will join local and state business leaders at the Aviation Forum 2013 in Hamburg, where he will be one of the speakers to an audience of global aerospace experts and company executives. Also going are representatives from the Mobile County Commission, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Mobile Airport Authority, Alabama State Docks, Alabama Power Co., and the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance. Also, a delegation of state officials will be led by Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield. (Source: al.com, Made in Alabama, 11/29/13) Previous (2012)

Workers protest EADS restructuring

More than 20,000 EADS workers at 30 locations took to the streets in Germany on Thursday to protest restructuring plans they fear could cost thousands of jobs. Protests sites included the company's Airbus plant near Hamburg and the Eurofighter plant in Manching. EADS is planning to combine its defense and space subsidiaries next year and might sell some operations. It has 140,000 workers worldwide, including 50,000 in Germany. EADS wants to streamline the collection of German, French and Spanish businesses that created it in 2000. The reorganization follows the company's decision this year to scrap a decades-old Franco-German ownership pact to reduce government interference and give management more freedom to reshape the group. (Source: Reuters, 11/28/13) Gulf Coast note: Airbus is building an A320 assembly line in Mobile, Ala. Previous

Re-up bonus ends in 45 fields

The Air Force is eliminating the selective reenlistment bonus (SRB) for 45 career fields, officials said Tuesday. Airmen in fields with canceled bonuses have until Dec. 4 to reenlist and still receive the bonuses typically used to encourage retention. Ten career fields still in high demand with low manning, such as battlefield airmen and cyberspace specialties, remain on the SRB list. The changes are being blamed on sequestration and the push for a smaller Air Force. (Sources: Air Force Personnel Center Public Affairs, 11/26/13, Pensacola News Journal, 11/27/13) Gulf Coast note: Tyndall AFB, Eglin AFB, Hurlburt Field, Duke Field and Keesler Air Force Base are all in the Gulf Coast region.

MRC gets $10M SSC contract

The Mississippi Research Consortium was awarded a $10 million contract to provide engineering and scientific research to NASA, other government agencies and various tenants at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Areas of work include rocket propulsion testing research and development, project formulation, new business development, remote sensing applications, ecosystem integration and analysis, coastal community resiliency and sustainable development, water quality, climate change and variability effects on regional ecosystems, acoustics, image analysis, geographic information systems, computational fluid dynamics, polymers/ceramics, electron microscopy, micro-electromechanical systems, magneto hydrodynamics, diagnostics instrumentation, and other associated scientific, computational and engineering areas. The consortium is a collaboration of Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, University of Southern Mississippi and University of Mississippi. The period of performance shall be a one-year base period with four one-year options through Nov. 30, 2018. (Source: FBO, 11/27/13)

Contract: Northrop, $13.9M

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Aerospace Systems, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $13,857,607 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for logistics services in support of the MQ-8B/C Fire Scout unmanned air vehicle. This work will be performed in Patuxent River, Md., and Pt. Mugu, Calif., and is expected to be completed in November 2014. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10U.S.C. 2304 (c) (1). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, is the contracting activity (N00019-14-C-0012). (Source: DoD, 11/27/13) Gulf Coast note: Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

Spring to add 30 A320s

Spring Airlines Co., China's biggest non state-controlled carrier, agreed to buy 30 additional A320 jets and may buy more as government policy shifts to favor discount airlines. The Shanghai-based airline signed an agreement on Nov. 22 for the A320 single-aisle jets pending government approvals. The purchase has a list price of about $2.75 billion. (Source: Bloomberg, 11/26/13) Gulf Coast note: Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala.

South Korea eyes 40 F-35s

South Korea's plan to buy 40 Lockheed Martin F-35s will save the U.S. military about $2 billion by driving down the per-plane cost. The decision will also help offset any move by the U.S. military to deal with mandatory budget cuts by postponing orders for up to 54 jets over the next five years. Seoul's decision must still be approved by a committee chaired by its defense minister. One analyst said Singapore, Malaysia and New Zealand might follow suit and order F-35s. (Source: Reuters, 11/26/13) South Korea also plans to buy four Northrop Grumman Global Hawk unmanned systems. Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center; Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss. Previous: Things looking up for F-35; F-35 courts foreign customers

AJ26 tested on E1

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- An Aerojet AJ26 engine had a successful hot fire test at Stennis Space Center Nov. 21. The test on the E1 test stand lasted the full duration 54 seconds, officials said. The AJ26 provides the power for the first stage of 133-foot tall Antares launch vehicle, built by Orbital Sciences Corp. In October, the Antares launched Orbital's Cygnus spacecraft on a successful mission to the International Space Station. In another test earlier this month, J-2X engine E10003 had a successful 50-second test on the A-2 test stand at SSC. (Source: GCAC, 11/26/13)

Another MQ-8C delivered

Northrop Grumman has delivered the second MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter to the U.S. Navy after completing final assembly at the company's unmanned systems center in Moss Point, Miss. The aircraft is joining the first one delivered to Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, Calif., to conduct flight testing before using the system for operational missions in 2014. "Since 2006 we have conducted final assembly of the earlier MQ-8B Fire Scout aircraft from our Moss Point facility, so we have a lot of manufacturing experience there," said George Vardoulakis, vice president for medium range tactical systems, Northrop Grumman. "With the MQ-8C variant being assembled there as well, we can use the same expertise and quality processes already developed." The MQ-8C Fire Scout, based on a Bell 407 airframe, can fly twice as long and carry three times more payloads than the existing variant. (Source: Northrop Grumman via PRNewswire, 11/25/13) Previous

Last Phantom back in service

QF-4 lands at Tyndall last week. AF photo

TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The 82nd Aerial Target Squadron received the last of the "new" QF-4 aerial targets last week. The Vietnam-era Phantom, Aircraft 68-0599, spent more than 20 years in the Air Force "Boneyard" at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. before being brought back to life for this new role. The supersonic, reusable QF-4 provides is a full-scale target for air-to-air weapons system evaluation, development and testing. It was converted to unmanned capability by BAE Systems. Since the QF-4 replaced the QF-106 in 1998, more than 300 idle planes have been converted.  Ultimately, 250 of the Phantoms succeeded in their missions and been successively destroyed over the Gulf of Mexico and the ranges near Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. The QF-4s will eventually be replaced by QF-16s. The 82nd ATRS is part of the 53rd Weapons Evaluation Group, which falls under the 53rd Wing at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Source: 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, 11/22/13) Previous: QF-16 makes unmanned flight; Tyndall target drone crashes; Drone destroyed after malfunction;

RR gets contract for lift system

Rolls-Royce was awarded a $215 million contract to produce and support LiftSystems for the F-35B, the variant of the joint strike fighter that can take off and land vertically. The new agreement with Pratt and Whitney for the sixth production lot includes six LiftSystems, plus sustainment, program management, engineering and field support. Pratt and Whitney's F135 engine powers all three variants of the F35, but the STOVL version used by the Marine Corps also includes the lift system. Rolls-Royce has delivered 42 LiftSystems and has expanded field support to include five locations where F-35B aircraft are flown, including Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., center for F-35 training for all three variants of the F-35. (Source: Rolls-Royce, 11/25/13) Previous

Museum gets 4D simulator

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The National Naval Aviation Museum has a new motion simulator ride. It's the Blue Angels 4D simulator, with the 4D being the bucket seats that move. The simulator gives the rider a feeling of what it's like to fly with the Blue Angel F/A-18 Hornets. The ride opened Nov. 8, and while getting into the museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola is free, it costs $7 to go on the six-minute experience. Created by a California company, it cost more than $500,000 and used private donations and BP oil-spill-restoration grant money. It's the second flight simulator ride to open at the museum since July 2012. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 11/24/13)

Kennedy's space legacy

President John F. Kennedy's commitment in the '60s to space exploration ended up turning parts of the rural South into science hotspots. Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas all benefited when the federal government established NASA centers in Dixie with the task of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Areas like Huntsville, Ala., and Bay St. Louis, Miss., changed forever by being part of the “space crescent.” (Sources: Stateline, 11/20/13, Gulf Coast Aerospace Corridor 2013-2014, Chapter III, June 2013)

Oops. Wrong plane in ad

A group encouraging Washington state to keep up its fight to secure work on the new version of the Boeing 777 jetliner had an "oops" moment in an ad that appeared in Wednesday's edition of the Seattle Times. At the top of the full-page ad, under the all-caps text "The Future of Washington," is pictured not a Boeing jet, but rather an A320 built by rival Airbus. Washington state supporters are concerned that Boeing may place production of the plane in another state after a union rejected a contract with significant labor concessions. (Source: Reuters, 11/20/13) Gulf Coast note: Airbus is building an A320 assembly line in Mobile, Ala. Previous: Union rejects Boeing contract; 777X decision a blow to Seattle

Airport ponders growth plans

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- With passenger traffic projected to double in 20 years, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport officials examined growth concepts at a workshop Wednesday. Project manager Paul Puckli presented six concepts for terminal expansion that would remedy expected future deficiencies in concession space, public space, passenger screening areas and baggage areas. The concepts also map out two new terminal gates and reconfigure the seven existing gates to accommodate new airlines. Only four of the gates are currently utilized. The airport is in West Bay, northwest of Panama City. (Source: Panama City News Herald, 11/20/13)

Enterprise getting aviation jobs

ENTERPRISE, Ala. -- Enterprise will be getting 200 helicopter maintenance jobs in the next year-and a-half, thanks to a resolution approved by the city council Tuesday night for a new facility at the Enterprise Municipal Airport. Brightwater Aviation Lender LLC of Chicago, parent of Alabama Aircraft Support, was authorized a loan of $3.5 million from the city council for a $12 million project that would include a 60,000 square foot hangar. The city passed a bond issue in 2011 for $12 million, $7.5 million of which was allotted for economic development. The $3.5 million loan will come from that money. The company will refurbish helicopters. The airport is not far from Fort Rucker, home of Army helicopter training. (Source: Dothan Eagle, 11/20/13)

Airbus may increase A320 build rate

Airbus is considering an increasing in the production rate of its popular A320 single-aisle, medium-haul jetliner. That would take it beyond 42 planes per month, sales chief John Leahy told Reuters on Tuesday. But Leahy declined to say when a decision would be made. Boeing recently raised its production target for the competing 737 aircraft to 47 per month from a previous target of 42 per month. (Source: Reuters, 11/19/13) Gulf Coast note: Airbus is building an A320 final assembly line in Mobile, Ala. That plant at the Brookley Aeroplex is slated to assemble four aircraft per month, or 40 to 50 per year.

Crew program inches forward

WASHINGTON – NASA requested proposals from U.S. companies to complete development of crew transportation systems that meet NASA certification requirements. This phase of the Commercial Crew Program is the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap), designed to ensure a company's crew transportation system is safe, reliable and cost-effective. "NASA is committed to launching American astronauts from U.S. soil in the very near future, and we're taking a significant step toward achieving that goal today," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. The certification process will assess progress throughout the production and testing of one or more integrated space transportation systems, which include rockets, spacecraft and ground operations. Requirements under CCtCap also will include at least one crewed flight test to the space station before certification can be granted. NASA has not been able to launch astronauts in space from U.S. soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program. The crew program is part of the Space Launch System program. (Source: PRNewswire, 11/19/13) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, both are involved in NASA's SLS program, designed to take astronauts deeper in space than ever before.

NASA tests SLS autopilot

NASA completed the first tests with an F/A-18 research jet to evaluate the autonomous flight control system for the Space Launch System rocket. Called the Adaptive Augmenting Controller, the system will allow SLS to respond to vehicle and environmental variations such as winds or vehicle flexibility after it leaves the launch pad. It’s the first time a flight control system for a NASA rocket is being designed to adjust autonomously to unexpected conditions during actual flight rather than pre-flight predictions. Tests were Nov. 14-15 out of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. More than 40 tests were conducted using SLS-like trajectories. (Source: PRNewswire, 11/19/13) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, both are involved in NASA's SLS program, designed to take astronauts deeper in space than ever before.

PW: F-35 interest strong

Pratt and Whitney, which builds the F135 engine that powers the Lockheed Martin's F-35, said it's seeing strong interest in the radar-evading warplane, but it would likely be several years before exports to the Gulf region are approved. Carrol Chandler, a retired Air Force general who now serves as vice president of business development for PW, said the U.S. government would evaluate any requests from Gulf countries to buy the F-35, and then decide on a case-by-case basis. (Source: Reuters, 11/18/13) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.