Teledyne to buy back shares

Teledyne Technologies, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., said it will repurchase up to 1.5 million shares of stock, or 4.2 percent of the shares that were outstanding as of Dec. 28. The company said it would use cash on hand and money borrowed through an existing credit agreement. Teledyne operates Continental Motors division at Brookley Field Industrial Complex in Mobile, Ala. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/26/09)

Keesler command change slated

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. - Brig. Gen. Greg Touhill turns over command of the 81st Training Wing to Col. Ian Dickinson in a ceremony April 6. Dickinson, who reports to Keesler by March 31, is Joint Staff deputy chief information officer at the Pentagon. Touhill’s new assignment is Chief, Office of Military Cooperation, U.S. Central Command, Kuwait. (Source: Keesler Air Force Base, 02/25/09)

Airbus placing bet on freighters

Airbus is preparing to birth a new generation of freighter aircraft just as the industry is seeing declines in demand. But the company is looking beyond the immediate crisis and making a long-term bet on creating freighters that could compete with rival Boeing, which has long dominated the freighter market. (Source: Aviation Week, 02/22/09) Gulf Coast note: EADS, parent of Airbus, said last year that it would produce a cargo version of its A330 airliner in Mobile if it won the Air Force tanker contract. A new competition will begin this year.

Shuttle fuel tank in Florida

NEW ORLEANS, La. - An external fuel tank made for NASA by Lockheed Martin at the Michoud Assembly Facility is expected to arrive at Kennedy Space Center Saturday. The tank, which is 15 stories tall and almost 28 feet in diameter, traveled by covered barge. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/20/09)

Contract awarded for engine testing

WASHINGTON - NASA signed a five-year, $45 million contract Thursday with American Tank and Vessel Inc. of Mobile, Ala., for installation of a test cell diffuser and associated systems in the A-3 test stand at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. The stand will test the J-2X engine that will power the upper stage of the Ares I crew exploration vehicle and the Earth departure stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. Construction began on the A-3 stand in summer 2007, with the first test scheduled for 2012. The structure is the first large test stand to be built since the south Mississippi site was established in the 1960s. (Source: NASA, 02/19/09)

Boeing bids on Ares V

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Boeing's Space Exploration division submitted proposals for the Ares V Phase 1 Design Support Contracts. The proposals are for design support of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle's payload shroud; the Earth-departure stage; the liquid-fueled central booster element core state; and avionics and software. The two-stage, vertically stacked Ares V will be NASA's primary rocket for delivery of large-scale hardware to space. The Ares V Phase 1 contracts will be managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. (Source: Boeing, 02/18/09) Gulf Coast note: Boeing has an operation in New Orleans at Michoud Assembly Facility

City to sue over F-35

VALPARAISO, Fla. - The City of Valparaiso voted to sue the Air Force over the F-35 Record of Decision. Two commissioners, both of whom had opposed a previous Freedom of Information Act suit against the Air Force, were absent. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 02/18/09) The Air Force earlier this month signed a record of decision that allows construction to begin for the Joint Strike Fighter training center. To address noise concerns, the Air Force is limiting use of one runway.

Keesler commander gets new assignment

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. - Brig. Gen. Greg Touhill, 81st Training Wing commander, has been selected for a new assignment as Chief, Office of Military Cooperation, U.S. Central Command, Kuwait. Touhill came to Keesler in October 2007. Announcement of his replacement is expected soon. (Source: Keesler Air Force Base, 02/17/09)

LCROSS heads to Florida

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite is enroute from Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., to Florida's Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a spring launch. The satellite's mission is to search for water ice on the moon in a permanently shadowed crater near one of the lunar poles. LCROSS is a companion mission to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. At Kennedy the two spacecraft will be integrated with an Atlas V launch vehicle and tested for final flight worthiness. LCROSS and LRO are the first missions in NASA's plan to return humans to the moon and begin establishing a lunar outpost by 2020. (Source: NASA, 02/17/09) Gulf Coast note: Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are involved in the Constellation Program, the return of astronauts to the moon and beyond

Contract: Raytheon, $21.7M

The Air Force is modifying a cost plus fixed fee with performance incentive contract with Raytheon Co., of Tucson, Ariz., for $21,695,993. This contract is for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile Processor Replacement Program, Phase II. 695 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity (Source: DoD, 02/17/09)

Study expects UAV market to double

WASHINGTON - Unmanned aerial vehicles remain the most dynamic growth sector of the aerospace industry. That's according to Teal analysts in their latest analysis. Teal Group's 2009 market study estimates UAV spending will almost double over the next decade. Current worldwide UAV expenditures is $4.4 billion annually. That's expected to go to $8.7 billion within a decade totaling over $62 billion in the next 10 years. (Source: PRNewswire, 02/17/09) Gulf Coast note: Fire Scout and Global Hawk UAVs are built in part at the Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss.

Two towers readied

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A new radar approach control facility at Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport is nearing completion. The $21 million Terminal Radar Approach Control facility is replacing the current 31-year-old building. At Whiting Field Naval Air Station in Milton, construction wrapped up on a new $4 million control tower replacing one built in 1972. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 02/17/09)

Murtha visits Boeing plants

SEATTLE, Wash. - U.S. Rep. John Murtha, toured the 767 final assembly at the Boeing factory in Everett as part of a fact-finding mission for replacing the Air Force's fleet of KC-135 tankers. Murtha, D-Pa. and chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, was invited by Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash. Murtha also toured the 737 and P-8A Poseidon aircraft facilities in Renton. (Source: Boeing, 02/16/09) Gulf Coast note: Last month Murtha visited Mobile, Ala., to see the site where the Northrop Grumman/EADS team hopes to build the plane. Both teams are competing to build the tanker. During the visit Murtha said he favored splitting the contract between the two teams.

Northrop gets piece of drone refuel program

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. - Northrop Grumman's relative navigation system was selected by the Air Force for the Automated Aerial Refueling program follow-on contract. Relative navigation, the ability to measure the relative motions of two vehicles, is key to the aerial refueling of unmanned vehicles. The Air Force Research Laboratory demonstrated the ability of the AAR system during flight tests in November 2007. It's designed to work with the existing tanker fleet. (Source: Globe Newswire, 02/16/09) Gulf Coast note: Unmanned aerial systems are built in part in Moss Point Miss.; Northrop Grumman and partner EADS hope to build aerial tankers in Mobile, Ala.

AF plans realignment for centers

The Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center will move about 70 personnel in the next 18 months to support its cyber operations. Personnel from Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., will be moved to Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center Detachments at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., and Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Source: Federal Computer World, 02/12/09)

Speaker predicts EADS plant

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Will the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. build an aircraft plant in the region even if it loses the tanker competition? Yes, according to Donald Epley, director of the Mitchell College of Business Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of South Alabama. He said EADS, parent of Airbus, is being killed by the exchange rate and thinks it will bring about 1,000 jobs to the region, tanker or no tanker. He made the comment Thursday at the annual Real Estate Trends Report and Forecast Conference in Pensacola at New World Landing. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 02/13/09) Northrop/EADS won the competition last year with Boeing to build the next generation of Air Force tankers and planned to build them in Mobile, Ala. But the decision was overturned after a Boeing protest. A new competition is expected this year.

Little progress in airport buyout idea

NEW ORLEANS, La. – A board created by the Legislature to evaluate a possible state takeover of city-owned Louis Armstrong International Airport is unlikely to be ready to offer a recommendation by this year’s legislative session, in part because the state has given it few resources. The Southeast Regional Airport Authority wants to hire a consultant but until a few days ago it had no idea where the money might come from. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/12/09)

Teledyne recalls pistons

MOBILE, Ala. - Teledyne Continental Motors will recall 9,600 cylinders from piston aircraft engines because the company found a metal-casting problem that can cause the cylinder heads to crack. The company expects the recall to cost as much $18 million as cylinders are replaced over the next year. The company will also destroy some unused cylinders. Teledyne Continental employs more than 300 in Mobile. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/13/09)

First BAMS Global Hawk operational

SOUTHWEST ASIA - The first operational Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Global Hawk is now in Southwest Asia with the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. In a concept of operations called remote-split operations, the Navy Global Hawks' arrival marks the culmination of more than five months of joint effort to stand up a maritime surveillance presence in the region to work in conjunction with the Air Force Global Hawk mission. Prior to arrival here, the Navy Global Hawk has been in service for non-wartime missions during its test and development phase, including spying on Hurricane Ike. (Source: AFNS, 02/12/09) Gulf Coast note: Fuselage work on the Global Hawk is done at the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center in Moss Point, Miss.

N.O. airport traffic up

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Passenger traffic at Louis Armstrong International Airport grew moderately in 2008 but still has not reached levels seen before Hurricane Katrina.
Airport officials reported Wednesday that 7.9 million people passed through the Kenner airport in 2008, up 5.5 percent from 2007. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/12/09)