Work continues on air show

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Work is continuing on Eglin's 2010 Open House and Air Show. The event, scheduled for April 10 and 11, is the first since 2007. This year's theme is "75 Years of Eglin Pride." The Air Force Thunderbirds, a precision flying team, and the Army's Black Daggers, a parachute demonstration team, are already confirmed performers for both days. The show will also include static displays. (Source: Eglin Air Force Base, 02/10/10)

AeroMexico to reduce flights

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The first international airline to offer direct service to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is reducing service to the city next month. AeroMexico has offered nonstop flights to Mexico City that continued on to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, from New Orleans since July. The flights operated six times a week. According to AeroMexico's Web site, flights will be available in March only on Mondays and Fridays. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/10/10)

Dutch training in Hancock

HANCOCK COUNTY, Miss. – Pilots from the Netherlands have been doing some training at Stennis International Airport this week. They are training to become part of the Dutch F-16 flight demonstration team. The pilots are training in Hancock County in part because of the less-crowded air space. (Source: WLOX-TV, 02/09/10)

Shelby lifts many nominee holds

Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., lifted many of his holds on President Obama's nominations to administration posts. The move may temper a threat by Democratic leaders in the Senate that the administration would make recess appointments during next week's Presidents' Day break. Last week Shelby placed a hold on nominees over concerns about an Air Force tanker project that could benefit Mobile and funding for a counterterrorism center that would benefit Huntsville. Shelby still has holds on nominees directly related to the tanker project. (Source: New York Times, 02/08/10)

Rep. John Murtha dies

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., died Monday at 77. Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on defense, was elected to Congress in 1974 and was among the most hawkish of Democrats. He was one of the first to advocate buying Air Force tankers from both the Northrop Grumman/EADS team and Boeing. Murtha had been suffering from complications from gallbladder surgery. (Source: Multiple, including New York Times, USA Today, 02/08/10) Gulf Coast note: Northrop and EADS plan to build the tankers in Mobile, Ala., if they end up bidding on and winning all or a portion of the $40 billion contract.

France wants chance to compete

PARIS - French Defense Minister Hervé Morin said he told U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that he hoped EADS and Northrop Grumman would get a fair chance to compete for the U.S. Air Force refueling tanker. He said at a joint news conference he reminded Gates "that when one is a country that stands up for the market economy, it can't be a one-way street." Northrop Grumman says the draft request for proposals favors the smaller Boeing offering and has threatened to withdraw from the competition if the RFP is not modified. The final RFP is expected this month. (Source: Defense News, 02/08/10) Gulf Coast note: Northrop and EADS hope to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala.

Tanker, center cause Shelby's hold

In the latest twist of the Air Force tanker competition, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., placed a hold on dozens of President Obama's nominees. A spokesman said Shelby's concerned about the tanker request for proposal and funding for a counterterrorism center. On the tanker issue, Boeing is competing against the Northrop Grumman/EADS team, which wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala. Northrop sees the draft RFP as tilted towards the smaller Boeing plane and won't bid if the RFP isn't changed. On the center, Shelby is concerned the president's proposed 2011 budget rescinds funds to build the FBI Terrorist Explosives Devices Analytical Center in Huntsville. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, called the hold an example of a broken Washington. (Sources: Multiple, including New York Times, Mobile Press-Register, TPM, 02/05/10)

Hurlburt group wins award

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. - The Air Force has awarded the 720th Special Tactics Group with the Gallant Unit Citation for heroism in combat. The award was given for the unit's work during Operation MEDUSA, which lasted through all of 2006 and 2007 in Afghanistan. The 720th was the only Air Force unit to receive a Gallant Unit Citation during that period. Combat controllers act as air traffic controllers for fighter jets. A tactical control party helps them aim air strikes at enemy targets. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 02/04/10)

Northrop Grumman 4Q report

Northrop Grumman Corp. reported Thursday it posted a fourth-quarter net earnings of $413 million, and 2009 net earnings of $1.7 billion. Last year the company reported a fourth quarter net loss of $2.5 billion and net loss for the year of $1.3 billion. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 02/04/10) Gulf Coast note: Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman has multiple operations in the Gulf Coast region.

First F-35 production engine delivered

Pratt and Whitney delivered the first F135 production engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The engine has accrued more than 13,000 hours in testing during the development program. (Source: Pratt and Whitney, 02/02/10) In another F-35 development, Wyle air crew personnel became the first aviators to aerially refuel the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant of the F-35 using a probe-and-drogue refueling system during a recent mission at Lockheed Martin’s Ft. Worth, Texas, manufacturing facility. (Source: PRNewswire, 02/03/10) Gulf Coast note: The F-35 training center will be at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.

Contract: NW Florida Contractors, $8M

NorthWest Florida Contractors Inc., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., was awarded an $8,096,083 contract to provide all plant, materials, labor, equipment, and all operations in connection with the construction of various reinforced concrete targets on specified test areas as shown on contract drawings, at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. 96 CONS/PKA, Eglin Air Force Base is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/03/10)

Services to get F-35 on time

Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday said the services will receive F-35 Joint Strike Fighters on time but in smaller numbers. Gates, who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the Pentagon's fiscal 2011 budget request, said fewer F-35s will be produced during the initial years of production than originally anticipated. The first training squadron of JSFs will still arrive at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in 2011. The Marine Corps will start receiving its version of the F-35 in 2012, the Air Force in 2013 and the Navy in 2014. (Source: The Hill, 02/02/10)

Work to continue on A-3

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Work will continue on the A-3 rocket test stand regardless of President Obama's budget plans to kill the Constellation program and the Ares I rocket. Stennis Director Gene Goldman told the Sun Herald Tuesday that construction could take another year and a half on the $300 million project. Goldman said $157 million has been spent already, with about $43 million more contracted. Goldman also doesn't expect the president's plan to create a loss of civil service employees, but he won't know the status on contract labor for several months. Stennis has more than 400 civil servants and more than 1,800 contractors. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/02/10)

Tanker refuels NATO AWACS

An Airbus A330 tanker transport marked a new milestone with the aerial refueling of a French Air Force E-3F AWACS radar aircraft. The plane transferred more than 65,000 pounds of fuel during two missions. The latest refueling missions were part of the flight test and military certification program for the Royal Australian Air Force’s A330. Australia has ordered five aircraft, the first of which will be delivered later this year. The military A330 is the basis of Northrop Grumman's KC-45 tanker offered for the U.S. Air Force. (Source: EADS North America, 02/02/10) Gulf Coast note: Northrop and EADS North America plan to assemble Air Force tankers in Mobile, Ala., if they win all or a part of the Pentagon contract.

NASA awards $50M

NASA awarded $50 million in stimulus money to five teams in support of the transportation of crew to and from low Earth orbit. The award came the same day the president's budget was submitted to Congress. It provided no money for the Constellation Program, which aimed to return astronauts to the moon, and instead favors investing in a commercial space taxi to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. In awarding the money, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the agency is "pleased to be able to quickly move forward to advance this exciting plan for NASA." The money is the result of open competition for funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Sierra Nevada Corp. of Louisville, Colo., was awarded $20 million and Boeing in Houston was awarded $18 million. United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colo., Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., and Paragon Space Development Corp., Tucson, Ariz., will get $6.7 million, $3.7 million and $1.4 million, respectively. (Source: NASA, 02/01/10) Gulf Coast note: Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are both involved in the Constellation Program.

Marketing group backs dual tanker buy

The Aerospace Alliance, a marketing partnership of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Northwest Florida, said Monday that it now supports buying aerial tankers from both Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team. In a story on the group's Web site, it said buying from both competitors would mean 36 tankers a year rather than 12 and create up to 100,000 jobs nationwide. When the group formed in October 2009, it said its priority was to support Northrop/EADS' effort to win the competition to replace the Air Force's tanker fleet. Northrop/EADS wants to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala. But in December Northrop threatened to drop out of the bidding on grounds the draft request for proposal favors the smaller Boeing plane. The Pentagon has said it does not want to buy planes from both manufacturers, and it will only make minor RFP modifications. (Source: Tcp, 02/01/10)

Budget: $12B for five years for tanker

The Pentagon expects to award a contract for the new refueling tanker this summer and allocated $12 billion to pay for the program over the next five fiscal years. Maj. Gen. Alfred Flowers, the Air Force's budget official, said the final request for bids will be issued this month. There is no guarantee Congress won't interject itself into the decision. Boeing and the Northrop Grumman/EADS team, which wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., are locked in an intense lobbying battle over the $35 billion contract. (Source: The Hill, 02/01/10)

Gates replacing JSF chief

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is replacing the general in charge of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program and withholding $614 million in award fees from contractor Lockheed Martin. The F-35 program manager, Air Force Maj. Gen. David Heinz, will be replaced by a yet-to-be-announced higher-ranking general. The Pentagon plans to buy more than 2,400 F-35s over the next 25 years for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Gates disclosed the changes as he released the Pentagon’s proposed $708.3 billion spending package for fiscal 2011. (Source: New York Times, 02/01/10) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be the home of the JSF training center.

Battle brews over NASA budget

U.S. astronauts won't return to the moon as planned if Congress passes President Obama's proposed $19 billion NASA budget. But the commitment to the International Space Station will extend to 2020, and $6 billion will be invested in a plan to have commercial companies get more involved in space flight. The budget will now be sliced and diced by Congress. Some predict a major battle. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., says the budget "begins the death march for the future of U.S. human space flight." The Constellation Program, which sought to send astronauts to the moon by 2020, also envisioned establishing a moon colony. But the White House Budget Office says it's behind schedule, over budget and overall less important than other space investments. (Sources: Multiple, including CNN, Space Daily, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Washington Post, 02/01/10) Gulf Coast note: Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are both involved in the Constellation Program.

UAV market to hit $80B in 10 years

WASHINGTON - While the rate of growth may decline somewhat, unmanned aerial vehicles continue to be the most dynamic growth sector of the world aerospace industry, report Teal analysts in their latest integrated market analysis. Teal Group's 2010 market study estimates that UAV spending will more than double over the next decade from current worldwide UAV expenditures of $4.9 billion annually to $11.5 billion, totaling just over $80 billion in the next ten years. (Source: PRNewswire, 02/01/10) Gulf Coast note: Global Hawk and Fire Scout unmanned systems are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.