Afghan kills Eglin soldier

A soldier assigned to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., died April 25 in Afghanistan when he was shot by a rogue Afghan soldier. The Department of Defense said Staff Sgt. Andrew T. Britton-Mihalo, 25, of Simi Valley, Calif., died in Kandahar province. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group at Eglin. The Ventura County Star in California reported that Britton-Mihalo is the soldier that was killed when an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on mentors. Several others were injured. (Source: DoD, 04/28/12, Shadow Spear, Ventura County Star, 04/29/12)

Marine F-35 to start local flights

The Marine Corps will start local area flights on the F-35B this week at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Local area flights at Eglin are on-going with the F-35A conventional take-off and landing version, and the Marine’s F-35B will be joining them once Naval Air Systems Command gives its consent. A senior USMC official told Flightglobal they expect to begin flying on or about May 1. (Source: Flightglobal, 04/27/12)

SpaceX to launch May 7

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to take off May 7 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in a demonstration project for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services. During the flight, SpaceX's Dragon capsule will conduct a series of check-out procedures to test and prove its systems, including the capability to rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station. (Source: NASA, 04/27/12)

Boeing marks 50 in Alabama

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Boeing today celebrates 50 years in Alabama. It's the largest aerospace company in the state, where it maintains its Strategic Missile and Defense Systems headquarters in Huntsville, as well as its largest program, Ground-based Midcourse Defense. Huntsville also hosts Boeing Exploration Launch Systems, which oversees NASA's Space Launch System and support to the International Space Station. (Source: Boeing, 04/30/12) Gulf Coast note: Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are involved in NASA's SLS program.

Contract: Sikorsky, $63.3M

Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., is being awarded a $63,331,119 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery requirements contract for logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot-level maintenance on 179 T-34, 54 T-44, and 192 T-6 aircraft based primarily at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas; NAS Whiting Field, Fla.; and NAS Pensacola. Work will be performed in Corpus Christi (50 percent), Whiting Field (39 percent), Pensacola (8 percent) and various sites within the continental United States (3 percent). Work is expected to be completed in September 2012. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/27/12)

Language added to keep AAC

Under a provision in the draft version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, the Air Force would have to keep a key research, development, test and evaluation facility at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Local officials say a reorganization announced in November jeopardizes the base. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., sponsored the language requiring the Air Force to retain the Air Armament Center at Eglin unless a future base closure action rules otherwise. The Air Force is consolidating the Air Force Materiel Command's 12 centers into five, disestablishing the Air Armament Center and combining the 46th Test Wing and 96th Air Base Wing and having it report to the Air Force Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Local officials fear the reorganization is a precursor to moving the operations of the 46th Test Wing to Edwards. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 04/26/12)

Orion test vehicle arrives

Orion Ground Test Vehicle. NASA photo

The Orion Ground Test Vehicle is now at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Operations and Checkout Facility after traveling 1,800 miles from Lockheed Martin's Waterton Facility near Denver, Colo., where it completed a series of acoustic, modal and vibration tests. The ground test vehicle will now be used for pathfinding operations at the O&C in preparation for the Orion spaceflight test vehicle's arrival this summer. The spaceflight vehicle is being fabricated at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La., and is slated for NASA's Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) in 2014. (Source: NASA, 04/25/12)

Blue Origin tests craft design

CFD image of capsule. Blue Origin photo

KENT, Wash. -- Blue Origin, one of four companies working on technologies for commercial space transportation, said it successfully tested the design for its orbital spaceship in a series of wind-tunnel tryouts. More than 180 tests were done over the past several weeks at Lockheed Martin's High Speed Wind Tunnel Facility in Dallas. Blue Origin, backed by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos, soon will be conducting tests of the thrust chamber assembly for the BE‑3 100,000-lbf liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen rocket engine recently installed on the E‑1 complex test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center. In addition to Blue Origin, other companies receiving $320 million from NASA for work on space transportation are Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and SpaceX. (Source: MSNBC, Blue Origin press release, 04/26/12)

J-2X starts test series

J-2X test April 26, 2012. NASA/SSC photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA kicked off the next round of testing on the Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne J-2X rocket engine Thursday, gathering data on the performance of the newly-installed engine nozzle extension and test stand "clamshell" as well as on the engine start and shutdown sequences. The test on the A-2 Test Stand begins a second, more extensive round of testing for the next-generation engine selected as part of the Space Launch System. The nozzle extension and clamshell equipment allow operators to test the engine at simulated altitudes up to 50,000 feet. (Source: NASA/SSC, 04/26/12)

Blimp as a satellite

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- An SUV-sized helium-filled blimp has been catching some attention in Panama City over the past few days. Suspended 500 feet in the air, the Aerostat is tethered to a mobile base equipped with technology to operate unmanned vehicles from shore. The Aerostat acts as a satellite, relaying signals that would otherwise be out of range of the Naval Surface Warfare Center. The primary purpose of the Aerostat tests by the NSWC is to map the range and area in which an Aerostat can be effectively used to extend the range for relaying data. (Source: Panama City News Herald, 04/25/12)

United opting for Boeing?

Boeing has the upper hand against rival Airbus in the battle to win an aircraft order from United Continental Holdings. The potential value is $15 billion. Sources told Reuters that Boeing is the front-runner for orders for about 180 narrow body jets, and Bloomberg was told by sources that Airbus has dropped out of the contest. The deal could be concluded this summer. Talks had been underway for at least six months about a mix of current-generation Boeing 737s or Airbus A320s. (Sources: Reuters, Bloomberg, 04/23/12) Gulf Coast note: Airbus has an engineering center in Mobile, Ala.

Global Hawk Block 30 hangs on

The Air Force is proceeding "prudently" on the RQ-4 Global Hawk Block 30 program, even though it's targeted for cancelation in the president's fiscal 2013 budget request. That request cancels the Block 30 order, originally planned for 42, and puts 18 existing Block 30s into storage. But Col. Karl Rozelsky, the Air Force's director for the Global Hawk program, said the service is not going to make any major changes until Congress acts. (Source: Air Force Times, 04/25/12) And some action is occurring. While the president's budget request provided no funds to operate the 18 drones, the House Armed Services Committee is providing money and marching orders. The HASC's mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013 includes $260 million towards keeping the Block 30s operational. (Source: AOL Defense, 04/25/12) The marked bill adds 560 personnel to the strength of the Air Force to maintain the 18 UAVs. Another House Armed Services panel would have to add funds to operation and maintain the aircraft. (Source: Washington Post, 04/25/12) Gulf Coast note: Global Hawk center fuselages are built in Moss Point, Miss.

Contracts: Lockheed, $114.2M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded two contracts totaling $114.2 million for the F-35. It was awarded a $68,284,013 modification to the previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee F-35 Low Rate Initial Production II contract for changes to the configuration baseline hardware or software resulting from the JSF development effort. This modification defines the contractor's responsibility to incorporate government-authorized changes for the U.S. Air Force conventional take-off and landing and the U.S. Marine Corps short take-off vertical landing aircraft and provides funding for such efforts. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force (55.2 percent) and the Navy (44.8). The company also was awarded a $45,900,000 modification to the previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee F-35 Low Rate Initial Production III contract for changes to the configuration baseline hardware or software resulting from the JSF development effort. This modification defines the contractor's responsibility to incorporate government-authorized changes for the U.S. Marine Corps and United Kingdom short take-off vertical landing aircraft, and provides funding for such efforts. This contract combines purchases for the Navy (77.8 percent) and the United Kingdom (22.2 percent). Work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas, and is expected to span multiple years. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/24/12) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.

J-2X set for next test series

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, right,
looks at J-2X at the A-2 stand. NASA photo

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- The J-2X engine that will power the second stage of NASA's Space Launch System is set to undergo a series of tests beginning Wednesday, the first of 16 scheduled for this year. The Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engine, called E10001, is at the A-2 Test Stand for tests that will build on sea-level tests on the first developmental engine last year. This second test series will simulate high-altitude conditions where the atmospheric pressure is low. The heavy-lift SLS will use J-2X engines on the second stage to power the vehicle after the first stage is jettisoned. In its first round of testing, the J-2X engine reached 100 percent power in four tests and achieved a full flight-duration firing of 500 seconds in its eighth test. The engine was fired a total of 10 times for a cumulative 1,040 seconds of testing various aspects of performance. (Source: NASA, 04/24/12) Previous

SpaceX delays launch

Next week's launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule will be delayed at least a week, the company said. The delay will allow for additional testing. Space Exploration Technologies, better known as SpaceX, planned to launch its demonstration mission Monday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to the International Space Station as part of NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. (Sources: multiple, including Florida Today, Space, Huntsville Times, 04/24/12) Gulf Coast note: NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., tests rocket engines for some of the companies involved in commercial space ventures.

EOD memorial service set

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The Department of Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal community is hosting the Annual EOD Memorial Ceremony on May 5 at 9 a.m. at the EOD Memorial, Range D-51 in Niceville, Fla. This year's keynote speaker is Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. The EOD Memorial Foundation honors the men and women of the EOD community, and the ceremony adding names is held each year. The memorial currently honors 269 EOD technicians who died in the line of duty since 1942, 92 of them since September 11, 2001. Eighteen names will be added. (Source: Eglin Public Affairs, 04/24/12)

More F-35 turbulence: strike

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The F-35 program is facing more turbulence, this time in the form of a strike. Assembly workers at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth, where F-35s are built, went on strike Monday. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 776, which represents 3,600 workers, voted Sunday to reject Lockheed Martin's final contract offer. The workers do nearly all the aircraft assembly and manufacturing functions at the plant that builds the F-16 and F-35. (Sources: multiple, including Fort Worth Star Telegram, 04/22/12, WFAA-TV, NBC5, 04/23/12) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.

$262.3M Fire Scout contract won

Fire Scout MQ-8C. Photo by Chad Slattery

A $262.3 million contract was awarded to Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., San Diego, Calif., for work on eight Fire Scout unmanned helicopters, the Defense Department announced Monday. Nearly half the work will be done at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss. The contract provides for the development, manufacture, and testing of two Fire Scout MQ-8C, the larger version of the Fire Scout that uses a Bell 407 airframe, and production of six air vehicles. It also calls for spare parts in support of the endurance upgrade rapid deployment capability effort. Work on the Fire Scouts will be performed in Moss Point, Miss. (47 percent); San Diego, Calif. (46 percent); and Yuma, Ariz. (7 percent). Work is expected to be completed in May 2014. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/23/12) Story by GCAC

New airport chief named

GULFPORT, Miss. -- Clay Williams has been named the new executive director of Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, according to the Sun Herald. He'll replace Bruce Frallic, who will retire in August after serving as executive director for 26 years. Williams currently works as a government relations representative for Capitol Resources LLC, managing the firm's Gulf Coast office. (Source: Sun Herald, 04/23/12) Previous

SSC: Leveraging NASA assets

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Stennis Space Center is the most capable of four facilities where NASA tests rocket engines, and much of the growth of the facility has been in non-propulsion activities. But with commercial companies grabbing a larger piece of the space flight field, SSC’s assets might prove to be a lure. The latest carrot is the E-4 test facility. (Source: Sun Herald, 04/22/12)