Stennis center wins award

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - The NASA Shared Services Center won the Best New Captive Services Delivery award from the Shared Services Outsourcing Network. The award recognizes the most successful shared services organization launched within the last three years. About 30 public and private sector organizations applied for the award. The center is a public-private partnership between NASA, CSC, Mississippi and Louisiana. CSC provides administrative, financial, human resources and procurement support services to about 20,000 NASA employees, applicants, contractors and university partners. The center combined the services that were once done at NASA headquarters and 10 NASA centers. (Source: PRNewswire, 04/13/09)

Navy won't expand Wolf OLF

MOBILE, Ala. - Wolf Field in Lillian was removed from consideration for expansion to meet the needs of a new Navy training aircraft. The Navy is replacing the T-34C trainer with the T-6B, which requires longer runways. Three other fields in Baldwin County are still being considered. The planes will be operating out of Naval Air Station Whiting Field in Milton, Fla. Outlying fields, or OLFs, are used to practice takeoffs and landings. (Source: Mobile Press Register, 04/13/09)

Contract: Lockheed, $41.2M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $41,200,000 modification to a previously awarded advance acquisition contract for long lead materials and effort associated with the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Air System Low Rate Initial Production Lot IV procurement of three additional Navy Carrier Variant Air Systems and one United Kingdom Short Take Off Vertical Landing Air System. Work is expected to be completed in January 2010. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/09/09) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is scheduled to become home of the Joint Strike Fighter Training Center.

Civic leaders briefed on security issues

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Civic leaders from 20 states got an in-depth view of Eglin and Hurlburt Field's national security programs during the National Security Forum Alumni Tour March 31 to April 3. More than 50 community leaders looked at the McKinley Climatic Lab, the Air Force Research Lab's Taconi Room and Air Force Special Operations Command's Special Tactics Training Squadron at Hurlburt. The program is hosted by the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. (Source: Eglin Air Force Base, 04/08/09)

GE chief backs split tanker buy

The head of General Electric is supporting a move to split the Air Force tanker contract between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. Jeff Immelt, GE's chairman and chief executive officer, said the compromise proposed by Rep. John Murtha may be the best way to get the troubled program back on track. "I think Murtha has created a path to break the deadlock," Immelt told The Enquirer newspaper in Cincinnati in an interview published Wednesday. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 04/09/09) Gulf Coast note: The Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team wants to build the tankers in Mobile, Ala.

County sues city over F-35

VALPARAISO, Fla. - Okaloosa County filed suit Wednesday in circuit court against the city of Valparaiso, seeking to torpedo the city’s suit against the Air Force over the Joint Strike Fighter Training Center. Valparaiso sued the Air Force because of concerns over the noise of the F-35, claiming the Air Force did not consider alternate sites at Eglin Air Force Base that would mitigate the noise. But some are concerned Valparaiso’s suit is jeopardizing the center, which will have a $350 million impact through construction alone. (Sources: Northwest Florida Daily News, WEAR-TV, 04/08/09)

International flights to resume

NEW ORLEANS, La. - International air service will return to Louis Armstrong International Airport in July. AeroMexico will begin offering nonstop flights to Mexico City from New Orleans July 6. The flights will operate six times a week. AeroMexico will be the first foreign line to operate out of New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 04/07/09)

Contract: BAE, $22.4M

BAE Systems Technology Solutions & Services, Inc., Rockville, Md., is being awarded a $22,427,138 modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for maintenance, logistics, and life cycle services in support of communication-electronic equipment/systems and subsystems for various Navy, Army, Air Force, Special Operations Forces and other federal agencies. Two percent of the work will be done in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, St. Inigoes, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/07/09)

FWB company wins Boeing award

A Fort Walton Beach, Fla., company is among nine named by Boeing as 2008 Suppliers of the Year. Fort Walton Machining Inc. was chosen in the diversity/veteran owned small business category. The winners are from among the company's 10,800 active suppliers worldwide. Winners were judged on quality, delivery performance, cost, environmental initiatives, customer service and technical expertise. (Source: Boeing, 04/06/09)

Louisiana aviation market stable

NEW ORLEANS, La. - New Orleans and Louisiana in general have stable aviation business, aviation consultant Mike Boyd said during the Louisiana Airport Managers & Associates conference this week. Part of the reason is a higher demand in Louisiana for air service. Nationwide, about 41 million fewer passengers flew in 2008 than 2007, a 7 percent decline. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 04/07/09)

Fire Scout preps for final exam

Fire Scout unmanned helicopters will be ready for their first deployment later this year, paving the way to full-rate production, possibly before 2010. A story in the April issue of Seapower said two Fire Scouts will be aboard the guided missile frigate USS McInerney when it deploys with the Fourth Fleet to the Southern Command’s area of operations. The Fire Scout was designed for use on Littoral Combat Ships, but delays in that program prompted the Navy to test the system on a frigate. The Fire Scout, MQ-8B, is designed to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance using electro-optical sensors, UHF radios and a data link to relay videos to a receiver station on a ship. The Navy plans to buy 168 of the aircraft, built in part in Moss Point, Miss. (Source: Seapower, April 2009)

Tanker rebid in summer; more F-35 funds

The Pentagon plans to reopen the competition this summer to replace the Air Force’s fleet of aerial tankers, and Secrtary of Defense Robert Gates still wants to go with one supplier – either Boeing or the Northrop Grumman/EADS North America team. Gates, who announced his proposed fiscal 2010 budget today, also wants to put more money into the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter project. Both projects are important to the Gulf Coast region. The tankers would be assembled in Mobile, Ala., if the Northrop/EADS team wins. Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the designated home of the Joint Strike Fighter Training Center. (Source: Multiple, 04/06/09)

Flight academy aims for funds

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A foundation that wants to build a flight academy at the National Museum of Naval Aviation has raised $17.5 million for the four-story building. Now it’s trying to raise the $8.8 million for equipment. The National Flight Academy is designed as a five-day camp that teaches middle and high school students science and technology in a Navy-themed setting. Some of the most expensive equipment for the carrier-themed facility will be flight simulators. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 04/05/09) Gulf Coast note: A group in South Mississippi is also raising funds to build a science center, called Infinity, near Stennis Space Center.

Airport eyes new taxi system

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The New Orleans Aviation Board has recruited Dulles Airport Taxi of Virginia to overhaul the taxicab system at Louis Armstrong International Airport. The board has not yet signed a contract. The airport's disorganized network of taxicabs has long been a sore point for the bureau, which often hears complaints from meeting planners and tourists that many of the vehicles are dirty and inconvenient for travel. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 04/04/09)

Murtha, Gates meet to discuss tanker

Rep. John Murtha, chairman of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, met with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Thursday in an effort to secure Pentagon backing for dividing the $35 billion aerial tanker contract between Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp. (Source: New York Times, 04/02/09) Gulf Coast note: Northrop teammate EADS North America plans to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., if it wins the contract.

Contractors fret over budget

Defense contractors have converged on Capitol Hill in recent weeks to shore up congressional support for projects, according to Politico. They’re concerned by the pledge by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to reduce military spending. While details of the $534 billion defense budget remain unknown, the ax could fall on some as early as next week. (Source: Politico, 04/02/09) Gulf Coast note: Numerous defense programs impact on the Gulf Coast, which has multiple military bases and defense contractor operations.

Constellation Program cost rises

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - The cost of the Constellation Program has gone up, and is likely to keep rising, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The cost and delays may force some rethinking in Washington of America's lunar ambitions and could doom the project as the nation faces an economic crisis and record deficits. (Source: Orlando Sentinel, 04/02/09) Gulf Coast note: Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center in Mississippi are both involved in the Constellation program.

Airport decision expected in May

BATON ROUGE, La. - State leaders will decide by May 1 whether to continue efforts to build a $4.4 billion airport near Donaldsonville. Critics claim the state has spent too much on a 17-year project that has failed to attract private investors. Backers envision an airport with links to water, rail and highways built on a 25,000-acre site. Supporters contend the airport, called the Louisiana Transportation Center, would be the biggest economic development project in state history. Donaldsonville is between Baton Rouge and New Orleans along Interstate 10. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 04/02/09)

EADS launches ad campaign

EADS North America launched an advertising campaign to underscore the company’s role in America’s economy as the largest international commercial customer for U.S. aerospace products. The campaign highlights the $11 billion spent in the U.S. by EADS and its business units in 2008, supporting more than 200,000 American jobs. The initial ad features members of the Mississippi-based American Eurocopter team that produces UH-72A Lakotas. A total of 345 UH-72As are expected to be acquired by the Army through 2016, with nearly 60 of these rotary-wing aircraft already delivered. (Source: EADS North America, 03/31/09) Gulf Coast note: EADS also has an Airbus engineering center and an EADS CASA maintenance center in Mobile, Ala. EADS NA is also teamed up with Northrop Grumman to compete for the aerial tanker project, and plans to assemble them in Mobile if the team wins.

Delta adds flights in Mobile

MOBILE, Ala. - Delta Air Lines will add two more flights to Mobile Regional Airport beginning June 5, bringing its total to nine on weekdays and returning mainline jet service to Mobile for the first time since November. The carrier's total number of seats will increase by just 1.7 percent because Delta will substitute 50-seat regional jets for some of the 70-seat regional jets it is flying. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 04/01/09)