Contract: Lockheed Martin, $6M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Orlando, Fla., was awarded a $5,986,457 contract which will sustain systems engineering support for the production and fielded systems of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile and the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Extended Range. 308 ARSG/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contacting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/28/10)

Growing airport gets rescue facility

MOSS POINT, Miss. - Moss Point and Jackson County officials cut the grand-opening ribbon at the new Aircraft Rescue Firefighting Facility at Trent Lott International Airport in Moss Point on Thursday. The 3,910-square-foot-facility cost $609,000. The opening marks the growth of the airport. Six years ago the air traffic control tower was built and flights increased 50 percent, said Carol Snapp, the airport director. She said once the rescue facility is manned, flights will increase again. (Source: Mississippi Press, 05/28/10)

Measure a blow to EADS

The U.S. House on Thursday night adopted a measure to force the Pentagon to consider the role of illegal subsidies in the contest between Boeing and EADS to sell refueling tankers to the Air Force. A decision by the World Trade Organization in a dispute over large aircraft found that the European company had received subsidies. The measure must pass several other steps, including reconciliation with a companion defense bill in the Senate. The Pentagon has resisted considering the ruling. (Source: Financial Times, 05/28/10) Gulf Coast note: EADS wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala.

SSC names associate director

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NASA announced Ken Human is the associate director of John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. He'll support Stennis Director Patrick Scheuermann and Deputy Center Director Rick Gilbrech. Most recently, Human served as the deputy manager of the External Integration Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, supporting the International Space Station Program, responsible for further development of international partnerships and collaborations, particularly with the Russian, Japanese, Canadian and European space agencies. Human began his NASA career at Stennis in 1978 as an attorney advisor in the legal office. Stennis is NASA's primary testing ground for rocket engines and propulsion systems, and is the agency's systems engineering center for applied science activities. (Source: NASA, 05/28/10)

Lawmakers irked program chief sacked

Lawmakers who support the Constellation Program, NASA's bid to return astronauts to the moon and beyond, were outraged the agency reassigned the head of the program. Jeff Hanley, who was moved to a deputy position at Johnson Space Center in Houston, has opposed administration efforts to shut down the program. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Hanley had become "the focus of attention" and was "conflicted" over the administration's updated mission for NASA. (Source: Orlando Sentinel, 05/26/10) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center, Miss., and Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are both involved in the Constellation Program.

Contract: Vertex, $18M

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., is being awarded an $18,074,568 modification to a previously awarded contract to provide for additional logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate and depot-level maintenance of 13 T39N and 6 T-39G aircraft at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. In addition, this modification provides for aircraft intermediate maintenance services in support of Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft and transient aircraft at NAS Pensacola and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Seventy-five percent of the work will be done in Pensacola and the rest in Corpus Christi and is expected to be completed in September 2010. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/26/10)

First F-35 production engines delivered

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Pratt & Whitney has delivered the final F135 flight test engine and the first lot of F135 production engines for the F-35. The full complement of 29 test engines delivered by Pratt & Whitney includes 11 ground test engines and 18 flight test engines. The first lot of F135 production engines consists of four conventional take off and landing engines, the variant of the F-35 that will be used by the Air Force. All of the engines are destined for aircraft that will support the flight training program at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. company. (Source: Pratt and Whitney via PRNewswire, 05/26/10)

Boeing says EADS a security risk

Boeing is painting its rival in the Air Force tanker competition as a security risk, pointing out that the company has courted Iran and others at odds with the United States. Boeing wants lawmakers and the Pentagon to factor national-security into the competition. EADS North America, which is the company competing in the competition, is a subsidiary of EADS NV, headquartered in Germany and France. EADS North America accuses Boeing of mounting a misinformation campaign and trying to make the competition about anything other than the best tanker. (Sources: Reuters, The Hill, 05/25/10) Gulf Coast note: EADS North America wants to assemble its tankers in Mobile, Ala.

Dutch waffle on F-35 purchase

The Netherlands' involvement in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will remain uncertain for several more months. The lower house of the Dutch parliament voted to cancel the purchase of an F-35 initial operational test and evaluation aircraft, but the caretaker government now in place wants the decision left to the new government. General elections are planned for June 9, but the situation could remain unresolved as new coalition agreements are worked out. The F-35 purchase has been politically contentious in the Netherlands, and the debate has become more heated because of the F-35's schedule and cost overruns. (Source: Aerospace Daily and Defense Report via Military.com, 05/24/10) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home to the still-developing Joint Strike Fighter training center.

Office opens for Global Hawk support

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Northrop Grumman opened an office in Grand Forks to provide support for the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft systems being assigned to Grand Forks Air Force Base. The office could eventually employ more than 100 people and attract suppliers and subcontractors as the number of aircraft increase at the base. (Source: Northrop Grumman via Globe Newswire, 05/24/10) Gulf Coast note: Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

AEHF satellite set for July launch

Lockheed Martin delivered the first satellite in the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. It will be prepared for a July 30 liftoff aboard an Atlas V. The multi-satellite AEHF system will provide the U.S. military with global, protected, high capacity and secure communications. It's the successor to the five-satellite Milstar constellation. The governments of Canada, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom participate in the AEHF program as international partners and will have access to the communications capability of AEHF. (Source: Lockheed Martin via PRNewswire, 05/24/10) Gulf Coast note: Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space & Technology Center personnel at Stennis Space Center, Miss., worked on the core propulsion modules for the AEHF program.

New Panama City airport set to open

PANAMA CITY, Fla. - The nation's newest commercial airport, the 4,000-acre Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, will begin operation Sunday. The airport is replacing the Panama City-Bay County International Airport and sits on land donated by the region's largest landowner, St. Joe Co. The airport will be served by Southwest and Delta, and initially will be using a 10,000-foot runway. A ribbon-cutting and grand opening is scheduled for Saturday. (Source: Multiple, including Panama City News-Herald, 05/20/10, Dallas Morning News, 05/21/10)

Tanker completes key test

Two A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport aircraft have successfully completed tanker-to-tanker refueling missions. The two MRTTs are in certification flights for Australia. The plane has also successfully refueled F-16 and F/A-18 fighters and E-3 AWACS. The MRTT is the same design as the KC-45 that EADS North America plans to offer in the contest to build U.S. tankers. If the KC-45 wins, the planes will be assembled in Mobile, Ala. The company also plans to assemble freighter aircraft at the same facility. (Source: EADS North America, 05/19/10) Boeing, the other company that plans to compete for the U.S. tanker project, will build its planes, a modified 767, in Washington state.

AirTran to launch new route

NEW ORLEANS, La. - AirTran Airways will launch a new nonstop flight between New Orleans and Milwaukee Oct. 7. The additional flight increases the number of cities the airline flies to from New Orleans to three. AirTran already operates daily flights to Atlanta and Baltimore/Washington. (Source: Times-Picayune, 05/19/10)

Navy to trim back aviation pool

In a bid to reduce the current wait time for training, the Navy wants to decrease the number of officers in the Aviation Preflight Indoctrination student pilot pre-load. Reductions in fleet requirements and material challenges with training aircraft have caused the student pilot population to exceed the pre-load by about 200 personnel, increasing the waiting period from commissioning to API from three to six months. Navy officials plan to offer redesignations to some who now hope to be aviators. Navy officials are also planning to offer delays or deferments via internships, graduate education, and other temporary additional duty options, prior to moving to Pensacola, Fla. (Source: NNS, 05/18/10) Gulf Coast note: Naval Air Station Pensacola and Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., are initial location for naval aviator training.

Contract: Lockheed, $85.5M; $58M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded two contracts related to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. One is an $85,499,548 modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive/award-fee contract in support of the JSF low-rate initial production Lot II. This provides for the procurement of the additional special tooling and special test equipment required under LRIP II to meet anticipated production ramp. Work is expected to be completed in April 2012. The second contract is a $58,000,000 modification to the previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee contract for technical services required to meet production ramp rates in support of the JSF low-rate initial production Lot III aircraft. This work is expected to be completed in January 2011. Work on both contracts will be done in Texas, California, the United Kingdom, Italy and other locations inside and outside the U.S. The Naval Air Systems command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity for both contracts. (Source: DoD, 05/19/10) Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., will be home to the JSF training center.

Contract: R.C. Construction, $23.2M

R.C. Construction Co. Inc., Greenwood, Miss., was awarded a $23,160,074 firm-fixed-price contract for the construction of short take off vertical landing simulated carrier practice landing decks. Work is to be performed at Eglin Air Force Base and nearby Duke Field, Fla., with an estimated completion date of July 15, 2011. Bids were solicited on the Internet with 11 bids received. The U.S. Corps of Engineers Mobile Regional Contracting Center Mobile., Ala., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/19/10)

New trainer takes to the air

MILTON, Fla. - Military flight students at Naval Air Station Whiting Field took to the sky for the first time at the controls of a new training aircraft Tuesday. Over the next three years the T-6B Texan II will replace the T-34 Turbo Mentor that's served Whiting Field for the last 30 years. The T-6B Texan is a single-engine, two-seat trainer that's faster, more powerful and includes an updated avionics package that uses flight instruments on a digital display rather than gauges. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 05/19/10)

Contract: Tybrin, $241.5M

Tybrin Corp., Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Information Systems and Global Services, Gaithersburg, Md., and L-3 Services, Inc., Chantilly, Va., were each awarded contracts for services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division's Combat Environment Simulation Division. Services to be provided include the acquisition and deployment of equipment or systems designed to provide a dense, realistic, and electromagnetic environment to be used by the tri-service community for weapon systems development; training; test and evaluation; test and evaluation of defense suppression systems; electronic warfare systems; electronic countermeasures equipment; and electronic counter-countermeasures equipment. Tybrin's ceiling is $241,540,417. Each company will have the opportunity to bid on each individual task order. Work will be performed in China Lake and Point Mugu, Calif., and is expected to be completed in May 2015. The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, Calif., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/18/10)

Contract: Northrop Grumman, $30M

Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $30,000,000 contract which will provide for congressionally mandated advance procurement long-lead associated with two Block 30 and two Block 40 Global Hawk air vehicles; two in-line airborne signals intelligence payloads; two multi-platform radar technology insertion program sensors; two in-line sensors; and other items and activities required to protect the production schedule for Lot 10. 303 AESG/SYK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/18/10) Gulf Coast note: Global Hawks are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.