Contract: Anderson Drace, $14.5M

Anderson Drace Joint Venture, Gulfport, Miss., is being awarded a $14,453,279 construction contract for construction of a dormitory at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. Work will be performed in Biloxi, Miss., and is expected to be completed by June 2011. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/28/09)

Contract: Northrop Grumman, $13.4M

Northrop Grumman, San Diego, Calif., was awarded a $13,423,877 modified contract for Global Hawk engineering, manufacturing and development activities to develop replacement of the current engine turbine with its commercial variant. 303 AESG/SYK, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/28/09)

Web site planned to lure F-35 to Tyndall

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Bay County supporters of Tyndall Air Force Base plan a new Web site that promotes the base’s capabilities in a bid to get new F-35s and other missions at the base. At the request of the Bay Defense Alliance, Applied Research Associates is donating its services to develop the site. Eglin is the initial home of the Joint Strike Fighter Training Center, but other bases are also looking to get F-35s that are not currently scheduled for Eglin. (Source: Panama City News Herald, 08/27/09)

Replacement trainer at Whiting

Replacement trainer at Whiting
WHITING FIELD, Fla. – The first two of new T-6B Texan II training aircraft that will replace the T-34C Turbo Mentor arrived at Naval Air Station Whiting Field Thursday. The T-34s have been used at Whiting since 1978, but the T-6 is bigger, stronger and has a digital cockpit – more in keeping with the advanced aircraft used by the nation’s military today. The T-34 will be phased out as 156 T-6s are brought in to Whiting. Students will begin using the new planes in April and all aircraft will arrive by 2015. (Sources: Pensacola News Journal, WEAR-TV, Santa Rosa Press Gazette, 08/27/09)

Ares I test delayed

The test firing of the Ares I solid rocket motor was canceled Thursday just 20 seconds before the test at contractor ATK’s facility in Utah. A broken valve of an auxiliar power unit appears to have been at fault. Ares I, part of NASA’s Constellation Program, faces an uncertain future. A commission named to review the manned space program is supposed to present its findings on Aug. 31, but has already indicated NASA does not have ample funding to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. (Sources: Multiple, 08/27/09) Gulf Coast note: Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans are both involved in the Constellation Program.

Tanker has successful test

The second A330 tanker transport aircraft for Australia has completed its mission equipment outfitting with a successful “power on” and is being readied for pre-delivery flight testing. The aircraft underwent conversion to military configuration in Australia, and the power on verifies successful operation of more than 400 installed wiring harnesses that go into the plane as part of its military modifications. The aircraft is the same basic configurate as the KC-45 Northrop Grumman and EADS are offering to the United States for its tanker. (Source: EADS, 08/26/09)

Boeing to seek permit for 787 line

Boeing says it is ready to take the first steps to make it easier to build a second 787 final assembly line in North Charleston, S.C., should it decide to do so. The former Vought plant already makes part of the airplane's fuselage. The company said no decision has been made, and that Boeing simply intends to take the procedural step of filing the necessary permits. (Source: Aviation Week, 08/26/09) Gulf Coast note: Boeing and Northrop Grumman are competing to build aerial tankers for the Air Force. Northrop and partner EADS want to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala., and Boeing wants to assemble them in Washington state.

Alternative field for F-35 discussed

NAVARRE, Fla. – Eglin Air Force Base officials hosted a meeting Tuesday to discuss an alternative that would use Eglin's Choctaw Field in south Santa Rosa County for the Joint Strike Fighter training mission. The meeting introduced three alternatives being considered in the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the bed-down of the F-35 Joint Strike Training Center. The Air Force is looking at alternative runways because of noise complaints from residents of the city of Valparaiso. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 08/25/09)

Keesler to dedicate facility

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. – The 81st Training Wing and 403rd Wing will dedicate the Colonel Lawrence E. Roberts Consolidated Aircraft Maintenance Facility Friday. The 140,000 square-foot complex was built in honor of retired Roberts, who flew with the Tuskegee Airmen and made Biloxi his home until his death in 2004. The two-story, $22.6 million facility will be used to maintain the new C-130J six bladed composite propeller, and many other significant aircraft maintenance capabilities. (Source: Keesler Air Force Base, 08/24/09)

Eglin hospital tower named for doctor

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – The Eglin hospital’s inpatient tower was named for Col. Adanto D’Amore in a ceremony Monday. D’Amore served as the 96th Medical Group commander from the hospital’s inception to its completion. He died April 28 after more than 70 years of active medical practice. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 08/24/09)

Stennis A-2 stand goes on standby

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – The A-2 test stand at Stennis Space Center is being deactivated and placed on “standby” status now that the last space shuttle main engine test has been done. Engine No. 0525 was tested July 29, and the shuttle program is set to end in 2010. The new A-3 test stand is still being built and will be used for high-altitude testing of the J-2X engine that will be used in Ares I and Ares V rockets. Activation on the A-3 stand is scheduled to begin in early 2011. (Source: NASA, 08/20/09)

Aviation park holds certification event

MOSS POINT, Miss. – The Jackson County Aviation Technology Park was designated as “shovel-ready” during a certification ceremony today. The designation means all the work to prepare a site for construction has already been done by the time a potential tenant comes calling. The 300-acre park already has one tenant, the Northrop Grumman Unmanned Systems Center, which builds portions of the Global Hawk and Fire Scout. (Source: Tcp, 08/20/09)

Stennis engineers part of leadership class

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Two Stennis Space Center engineers were among the inaugural class of graduates from NASA's Systems Engineering Leadership Development Program. Dawn Davis of New Orleans and Bryon Maynard of Lacombe, La., were among 15 program participants recognized during a leadership workshop and graduation ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Both are completing development assignments related to NASA's Constellation Program, the agency's plan to return Americans to the moon and possibly beyond. (Source: NASA, 08/17/09)

Add another to split buy backers

Add John Lehman to the list of defense experts who see buying tankers from both Boeing and Northrop Grumman as a solution to the Air Force's dilemma over replacing refueling tankers. Lehman, an investment banker and former Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan, has long been an advocate of competitive acquisition in government contracting. It's good business, he told the Mobile Press-Register. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 08/19/09)

Contract: Raytheon, $21.M

Raytheon Co., Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $20,975,816 contract for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile system improvement program. 696 ARSS, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/18/09)

Contract: McDonnell, $12.5M

McDonnell Douglass Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $12,500,000 contract with performance incentives to provide for three Massive Ordnance Penetrator separation test vehicles, associated aircraft and handling equipment and technical support for one single and one dual release separation and de-conflict test on the B-52 aircraft. AAC/708 ARSG PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/18/09)

Contract: BTS, $13.4M

Business Technology and Solutions, Beavercreek, Ohio, was awarded a $13,377,733.89 contract for the technical and acquisition management support program that provides a wide range of non-engineering, technical and acquisition management support required in the acquisition, development, production, and support of various equipment and weapon systems within the Air Armament Center and other organizations at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. AAC/PKES, Eglin, is the contracting activity (Source: DoD, 08/18/09)

Contract: Colsa, $10.8M

Colsa Corp., Huntsville, Ala., was awarded a $10,838,796.97 contract for the technical and acquisition management support program that provides for a wide range of non-engineering, technical and acquisition management support required in the acquisition, development, production, and support of various equipment and weapon systems within the Air Armament Center and other organizations at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. AAC/PKES, Eglin, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/18/09)

Lockheed to trim space jobs

Lockheed Martin plans to cut about 800 jobs at its space systems division by the end of the year due to anticipated flat space program budgets. The company will offer a voluntary buyout plan this month to space systems employees. The cuts will include technical, managerial and administrative positions at facilities in Denver and Sunnyvale, Calif. (Source: Washington Post, 08/18/09) Gulf Coast note: Lockheed Martin has a space and technology operation at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Contract: McDonnell, $98M

McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, Mo., was awarded a $98,000,000 contract to provide integration and production of the laser joint direct attack munitions system on various Foreign Military Sales aircraft platforms throughout the life of the contract. 680 ARSSG/PK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/17/09)