Airbus mulls output hike

Airbus is talking to suppliers about the possibility of raising production of the A320 family of aircraft to 50 a month as early as 2017. That’s what a senior industry source told Reuters on Tuesday. Airbus has asked suppliers to be ready to adjust to production of 48 aircraft a month during 2016, rising to 50 a month in 2017. The increase would stretch an existing target that calls for 46 of the single-aisle jets a month by the second quarter of 2016, up from a current rate of 42. A spokesman declined to comment ahead of Airbus Group’s annual results due to be released on Friday. (Source: Reuters, 02/24/15) Gulf Coast note: The Airbus A320 FAL in Mobile is scheduled to open this year. The first major shipment of sections from Europe will arrive in June. Previous

Rolls-Royce NA getting new leader

Marion Blakey is leaving the Aerospace Industries Association to become the CEO and president of Rolls-Royce North America, both organizations announced Tuesday. She's replacing James Guyette, who retires from Rolls-Royce May 31. Blakey, an Alabama native, has been with AIA, an industry organization, for eight years. Rolls-Royce North America has more than 8,000 workers in 26 U.S. states, six Canadian provinces and three Mexican states. Major operations are at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, Miss., where it has an outdoor engine testing facility; Indianapolis; Prince George County, Va.; Walpole, Mass.; Oakland, Calif.; and Montreal. (Source: multiple, including Aviation Week, Rolls-Royce, Aerospace Industries Association, 02/24/15)

Contract: Airbus D&S, $28.3M

Airbus Defense and Space Inc., Herndon, Va., was awarded a $28,320,933 modification (P00883) to contract W58RGZ-06-C-0194 for contractor logistic support for 2015, which entails flying hours for various contract line item numbers within and outside of the continental United States, mission equipment packages and direct labor support. Fiscal 2015 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $28,320,933 were obligated at the time of the award. Estimated completion date is Dec. 31, 2015. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/24/15)

Airport concessions open

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- After extensive renovations, the main post-security food and beverage concessions area at Pensacola International Airport has reopened. Einstein Bros. Bagels, Freshens, and the Pensacola Beach House bar and restaurant began serving customers Tuesday morning. Construction also is progressing on the planned post-security Chick-Fil-A, which is expected to open within 90 days. The city’s contract with OHM Concessions Group is expected to generate more than $1 million in additional revenue for Pensacola International Airport. (Source: City of Pensacola, 02/24/15)

County seeks funds for air park

MILTON, Fla. -- The Santa Rosa County Board of Commissioners hosted a legislative delegation tour Monday as part of a funding request to develop Whiting Aviation Park adjacent to Naval Air Station Whiting Field. The commission is requesting some $4.9 million for two years in special legislative appropriations for phase one and partial phase two construction of the park. With 269 acres available, Whiting Aviation Park would offer access to 6,000 feet of NAS Whiting's runway through the first of its kind limited use agreement between the Navy and county. (Source: Santa Rosa County, Pensacola Today, 02/23/15)

Israel to buy more F-35 jets

Israel has signed a contract to buy 14 additional F-35 fighter jets from the United States for about $3 billion, the defense ministry said on Sunday. The deal follows Israel's purchase in 2010 of 19 of the Lockheed Martin-built fighters. The ministry said an agreement to buy the 14 additional aircraft was signed over the weekend and included an option for another 17 of the planes. Israel's first two F-35s will arrive by the end of 2016. (Source: multiple, including Reuters, AFP via DefenseNews, 02/22/15, AP via Star-Telegram, 02/23/15) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center.

EDC gets drone center study grant

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. -- The Okaloosa County Economic Development Council has been awarded a state grant that will partially be used to fund further study of the proposed unmanned vehicle test center. The EDC has partnered with the University of Florida for the past five years to develop the Autonomous Vehicle Center test facility south of the college’s Research and Engineering Education Facility just outside Eglin Air Force Base. The EDC was recently awarded a $285,000 Florida Defense Support Taskforce grant, which will used to help fund three major initiatives the EDC is undertaking, including the Advanced Energy Technology Center. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 02/23/15)

Contract: SARAA, $13.4M

South Alabama Regional Airport Authority, Andalusia, Ala., has been awarded a maximum $13,358,124 fixed-price with economic-price-adjustment contract for jet fuel. This contract was a sole-source acquisition. This is a four-year contract. Location of performance is Alabama, with a March 31, 2019 performance completion date. Using military services are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies. Type of appropriation is fiscal year 2015 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Energy, Fort Belvoir, Va. (SP0600-15-D-0007). (Source: DoD, 02/23/15)

New AFMC commander nominated

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- Air Force officials announced the nomination of Lt. Gen. Ellen M. Pawlikowsi to the rank of general with assignment as the commander of Air Force Materiel Command. Officials also announced the retirement of current AFMC Commander Gen. Janet C. Wolfenbarger. No date was announced for the retirement and change of command. Pawlikowski is currently the Military Deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. (Source: Air Force Materiel Command, 02/18/15) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is an AFMC base.

Software won't stop F-35

Lockheed Martin may need to update its F-35 software after issues arose during testing, but it should not delay Marines Corps plans to declare its variant ready for combat use in July. That's according to company executive Orlando Carvalho. The executive vice president of Lockheed-Aeronautics said there had been some issues that came up during radar tracking tests in the jet's mission systems software, but that they were manageable. He did not view the software challenge as a showstopper for the Marines. The F-35 has been dogged by software issues, but most of the problems have been worked out. (Source: Reuters 02/18/15) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center and the U.S. Reprogramming Laboratory.

Ship laser weapons move forward

Boeing been awarded a $29.5 million contract to design and develop a beam control system that could provide exceptional accuracy for laser weapons on U.S. Navy warships. Boeing will begin to design a prototype High Power Beam Control Subsystem that's compatible with High Energy Lasers based on solid-state laser technology. Boeing's solution will be compatible with systems other companies are designing for the Office of Naval Research's Solid State Laser Technology Maturation program. The resulting beam control system will focus and hold a laser on a moving aim point long enough to disable the target. Doing that with a ship-based laser is particularly challenging, given the maritime environment and constant movement of an at-sea vessel. The Boeing beam control system capitalizes on the company's work with the U.S. Army's High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD). In demonstrations at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in 2014, HEL MD acquired, tracked and destroyed targets in windy and foggy conditions. (Source: Boeing, 02/17/15) Previous

Airport changing name

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. – The Okaloosa County Commission voted 3-2 Tuesday night to change the name of Northwest Florida Regional Airport to Destin-Ft. Walton Beach Airport. Much of the discussion centered on the pros and cons of using "international" in the new name rather than "regional" as part of the moniker. The airport is at Eglin Air Force Base. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 02/17/15)

Jackson County site certified

MARIANNA, Fla. -- Marianna Airport Commerce Park has become the first certified site in Jackson County through Gulf Power’s Florida First Sites program. Florida First Sites program was created in 2013 to help communities prepare locations to attract new industries and new jobs to the region. Fourteen sites were initially submitted from public and private landowners. Of those 14 sites, five have been certified and five are still working toward their certification. The 237-acre Jackson County industrial site is owned by the City of Marianna and adjacent to the Marianna Municipal Airport. The airport has two 5,000-foot runways and features 214 developable, contiguous acres. For more information on the program, click here. (Source: Gulf Power, 02/17/15) Previous

Army aviation targets future

FORT RUCKER, Ala. -- Army Aviation leaders gathered earlier this month for the annual Aviation Senior Leaders Forum at Fort Rucker to chart its future course. About 150 senior leaders attended the Feb. 3-6 event. Key aviation topics include manned-unmanned teaming, modernization strategy, training and leader development, lessons learned from recently deployed combat aviation brigades, combined arms air-ground maneuver and enlisted training. Fort Rucker is the home to Army Aviation training. (Source: Fort Rucker Public Affairs 02/13/15)

Contract: Lockheed, $39.6M

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $39,608,596 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-13-C-0008) for procurement of electronic components in support of F-35 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, International Partners and the governments of Israel and Japan. These components are in support of production, sustainment and operations and maintenance requirements resulting from diminishing manufacturing sources. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to be completed in September 2015. Fiscal 2014 aircraft procurement, Navy and Air Force, international partner and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $28,894,731 are being obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This modification combines purchases for the U.S. Air Force (43 percent), the U.S. Marine Corps (15 percent), U.S. Navy (9.4 percent), international partners (26.5 percent) and the governments of Israel (3.1 percent) and Japan (3 percent) under the Foreign Military Sales Program. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting authority. (Source: DoD, 02/13/15) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 integrated training center.

NASA awards yard for barge work

MORGAN CITY, La. -- Conrad Industries Inc. has received the NASA Space Flight Awareness Supplier Award based on its work with the conversion of the NASA Pegasus barge. This annual award honors outstanding performance by hardware, software, or service suppliers who support NASA human space flight programs. Awardees are chosen based on their production of high-quality products, excellent technical and cost performance, and adherence to schedules. The barge, long used to transport shuttle external tanks for the Space Shuttle program, has been lengthened from 260 to 310 feet to accommodate components for the Space Launch System program. The upgraded Pegasus is set to transport the first major SLS hardware from New Orleans to NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., for testing as early as next year. (Source: PRNewswire, 02/12/15) Previous

Munitions experts reach out

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Airborne weapons experts are reaching out to the defense industry for help to develop an affordable guidance system for a future air-to-air munition. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Munitions Directorate at Eglin released a solicitation earlier this month for the Miniature Self Defense Munition Seeker Conceptual Design project. The initiative seeks to develop a conceptual design for the optics and algorithms of an affordable seeker front end for a defensive air-to-air weapon. Researchers tentatively plan to award two separate six-month contracts in April. For details, visit the FedBizOpps solicitation shown in sources. (Sources: Military and Aerospace Electronics, 02/12/15; FedBizOpps, 02/04/15)

Navy helo makes hard landing

MILTON, Fla. -- A Training Air Wing 5 helicopter from Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., made a hard landing about 5:10 p.m. today at Spencer Navy Outlying Landing Field in Pace, to the west of Milton. Initial reports indicate the helicopter rolled onto its right side while landing. The two pilots exited the helicopter on their own and were transported to Santa Rosa Medical Center for evaluation. The incident is being investigated, according to the release. (Source: NAS Whiting Field public affairs 02/12/15)

U.S. a hotspot for aerospace

SEATTLE -- The aerospace industry is shifting more manufacturing to the United States after a decade in which production jobs went to China and other emerging economies. That's according to a new study by ICF International, which analyzed more than 2,000 investment transactions made since 2000 and found 28 manufacturing investments in the United States from 2012 to 2013. That's compared to eight each in China and Mexico and four in Brazil. A decade earlier, Mexico led the pack. The study was mentioned at the annual Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference this week. This year, for the first time, a northwest Florida economic development group is the primary sponsor of the conference. Jennifer Conoley, economic development representative for Gulf Power, said the $15,000 sponsorship by Florida’s Great Northwest economic development group was a great way to get in front of the audience. (Source: Reuters, 02/11/15)

Contract: Lockheed, $16.5M

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a not-to-exceed $16,492,000 undefinitized delivery order against a previously issued Basic Ordering Agreement (N00019-14-G-0020) for the procurement and installation of vehicle management computer retrofit modification kits into designated aircraft that are critical to meeting F-35 requirements. Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (45 percent); Ogden, Utah (20 percent); Cherry Point, N.C. (20 percent); Yuma, Ariz. (5 percent); Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (5 percent); and Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed in August 2016. Fiscal 2013 and 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force), fiscal 2015 research, development, test and evaluation funds (Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force) and International Partner funds in the amount of $8,246,000 are being obligated on this award, $4,051,934 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, 02/12/15)