Governors slate aerospace briefing

The governors Mississippi and Alabama have scheduled a briefing Monday in Bay Minette, Ala., to discuss the KC-45 tanker project and a “major announcement” impacting the future of aerospace in the Gulf Coast. The briefing is at Faulkner State Community College. The Gulf Coast region between New Orleans and Northwest Florida has a long history in aviation. But the contest pitting Boeing against Northrop Grumman and partner EADS to build aerial tankers has galvanized efforts to promote the region’s aerospace activities. EADS wants to assemble the tankers in Mobile, Ala., a move that would also benefit Northwest Florida and South Mississippi. (Source: Tcp, 10/21/09)

Panama City airport gets Southwest

Southwest Airlines plans to begin serving the new Panama City, Fla., airport when the facility opens in May 2010. Three Florida cities, Panama City, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach, all hoped to get the discount airliner. Mobile, Ala., also made a pitch. The media in Pensacola also report that doesn’t mean Pensacola is out of the running since the company considers Pensacola and Panama City separate markets. According to Reuters, Southwest forged a deal with St. Joe Co, a huge landowner in the Panhandle, in which St. Joe will make quarterly cash payments to Southwest to cover shortfalls in the carrier's operations at the airport during the first three years of service. (Sources: Florida Freedom News, Pensacola News Journal, Reuters, 10/21/09)

Officials get intro on F-35 status

FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - Okaloosa County commissioners received an introduction and update of the F-35 program Tuesday from J.R. McDonald, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of corporate and business development. McDonald, who moved to Okaloosa County a few months ago to oversee the company’s activities from Pensacola to Panama City, is the first vice president the company has stationed at its office in Shalimar. McDonald said he anticipated the first F-35 to arrive next summer, a few months later than the original March goal. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 10/20/09)

Boeing 3Q report

The Boeing Co. posted a third-quarter loss of $1.6 billion and reduced its full-year profit forecast, hurt by $3.5 billion in charges for the delayed 787 Dreamliner and 747-8 jumbo jet programs. Revenues rose 9 percent to $16.7 billion. (Source: Boeing, 10/21/09) Gulf Coast note: Boeing has multiple operations in the Gulf Coast.

Northrop Grumman 3Q report

Northrop Grumman Corp. reported that third quarter 2009 earnings from continuing operations totaled $487 million compared with $509 million in the third quarter of 2008. Third quarter 2009 net pension adjustment reduced earnings from continuing operations by $47 million compared with an increase to earnings from continuing operations of $42 million in the third quarter of 2008. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 10/21/09) Gulf Coast note: Northrop Grumman has multiple operations in the Gulf Coast.

O'Keefe named to EADS post

Former NASA leader Sean O'Keefe will become chief executive of EADS North America. Ralph Crosby, current chief executive of EADS North America, will stay on as nonexecutive chairman. O'Keefe is a former Navy secretary who served as administrator of NASA from 2001 to 2005. A New Orleans native, he also served as chancellor of Louisiana State University from 2005-2008 and most recently was GE Aviation vice president. His EADS appointment is effective Nov. 1. (Source: Multiple, 10/20/09)

Stennis gets Project Ready designation

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – NASA’s John C. Stennis Space Center next month will be formally recognized as a “Project Ready” site, a designation that indicates it’s “shovel-ready” for new businesses that come calling. It’s the first site to earn certification in the new “technology park” category, a later addition to the program. The formal recognition is Nov. 6. “Since Hurricane Katrina, we have seen a 10 percent growth in our center’s workforce in support of NASA, other government agencies, and private technology-based companies,” said Gene Goldman, director of Stennis. “We feel that our future is bright in South Mississippi, and we hope this certification will reassure those looking at our center.” The certification program by Mississippi Power uses a third party to determine when a site is ready. (Source: NASA, 10/19/09) Note: In August, the Jackson County Aviation Technology Park in Moss Point, Miss., was awarded Project Ready status.

Airmen complete 800-mile march

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. - After walking over 800 miles through five states, 12 special tactics airmen arrived at Hurlburt Field Friday, completing a memorial march for their fallen comrades. The marchers, including some from Keesler Air Force Base, split up into six two-man teams and walked day and night to honor 12 special tactics airmen killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Each marcher carried a 50-pound ruck sack and a baton engraved with the name of a fallen special tactics airman. The 12 airmen reunited just outside the base and walked the final five miles as a team. The march began at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. (Source: AFNS, 10/16/09)

Contract: Wintec, $85M

Wintec, Arrowmaker, Inc., of Fort Washington, Md., was awarded a $85,000,000 contract which will provide advisory and assistance services to Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. HQ AFSOC/A7KZ, Hurlburt Field is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 10/16/09)

ATK delivers composite crew module

Alliant Techsystems delivered a technological first to NASA: a full-scale, crew module structure made of composite materials. The Composite Crew Module is designed to reduce the overall weight of future manned launch vehicles. Full-scale structural testing will be performed at NASA's Langley Research Center to determine the viability of the composite structure. The structure was fabricated and assembled at ATK's facility in Iuka, Miss. (Source: ATK, 10/14/09) Gulf Coast note: ATK has an operation in Northwest Florida; South Mississippi has multiple companies involved in manufacturing with composites; Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center, Miss., are involved in the space program.

Next Biloxi air show in 2011

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. – People who want to see more air shows at Keesler Air Force Base will have to wait until the spring of 2011. Col. Chris Valle, vice commander of the 81st Training Wing, said Keesler is bidding to bring the Navy's Blue Angels to South Mississippi for the next show. Keesler in April held its first air show since Hurricane Katrina. Featured were the Thunderbirds, the Air Force precision flying team. Some 140,000 spectators attended the show over two days. (Source: Sun Herald, 10/15/09)

Group to attend aviation conference

CRESTVIEW, Fla. - A delegation from Okaloosa County will attend an aviation business conference in Orlando next week to try to lure companies to Bob Sikes Airport’s industrial park. The National Business Aviation Association is holding its annual convention Oct. 20-23. Some 30,000 people are expected to attend, among them more than a dozen county and business leaders to promote the Crestview Air Park at Bob Sikes Airport. The airport has an 8,000-foot runway and is close to highways, the Gulf of Mexico and military bases. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 10/14/09)

Pensacola getting United flights

PENSACOLA, Fla. – United Airlines will be coming to Pensacola Gulf Coast Regional Airport beginning Feb. 11 and offering direct flights to Washington, D.C. and Chicago. The flights will be on 50-seat Canadair regional jets. The Washington flights will be twice daily, and one Chicago flight will be added on the weekend during the winter and spring. United will be serving Pensacola for the first time. The airport is also trying to get Southwest Airlines. (Sources: WEAR-TV, Pensacola News Journal, Mobile Press-Register, 10/14/09)

UAV market worth billions

Defense industry consultants predict the market for unmanned aerial vehicles will reach the upper teens in billions of dollars worth of procurement through 2018, with related research and development possibly doubling that. Forecast International predicts the market for UAV procurement will be worth $18 billion or more worldwide over the next 10 years. (Source: Aviation Week, 10/14/09) Gulf Coast note: The Gulf Coast has several UAV-related activities, including a Northrop Grumman UAV plant in Moss Point, Miss., Mehlcorp, which designs payload operation modules at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and an AeroVironment operation in Navarre, Fla.

First Lady to visit Eglin

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - First Lady Michelle Obama will address members of the military and civil service employees working on Eglin Air Force Base Thursday, said Marie Vanover, a spokeswoman for the base. A news release from Obama’s press office termed the visit “part of the first lady’s ongoing outreach to military families.” This year has been designated the U.S. Air Force's Year of the Air Force Family. The itinerary, according to the White House news release, calls for her to meet first with base leaders. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 10/14/09)

CEOs urge 787 line in Washington

Leaders from Washington state’s largest companies are urging Boeing to build a second 787 production line in the state. The company has one 787 production line in the state, but there’s concern it may opt to use a recently purchased plant in South Carolina – the former Vought Aircraft plant – for the second 787 line. The letter from members of the Washington Roundtable points out that work remains to be done to improve Boeing’s competitive standing in the global economy, but said the state and Boeing have a long track record of success together. (Source: Business Wire, 10/13/09) Gulf Coast note: Boeing is competing against Northrop Grumman and EADS to build aerial tankers for the Air Force. Boeing wants to build them in Washington, and EADS wants to assemble them in Mobile, Ala.

Euro Hawk could lead to more sales

Northrop Grumman hopes the Euro Hawk rolled out last week will lead to “a huge” international market, according to Duke Dufresne, company strike and surveillance division general manager. Aviation Week reports Dufresne as saying that aside from sales to Germany and NATO, the Global Hawk also is being eyed by Australia, Spain, Korea and Japan. The first international version of the UAV, which differs from previous variants in having six wing-mounted signals intelligence pods, will start taxi tests in February. The first flight is targeted for March. Current plans call for a direct flight along the great circle route via Canada airspace to EADS’ Manching site in Germany. Germany is expected to buy four more Euro Hawks. (Source: Aviation Week, 10/12/09) Gulf Coast note: Global Hawks are made in part in Moss Point, Miss.

SDB test wraps up

The Boeing GBU-40 Small Diameter Bomb II team finished a 42-month risk reduction program last month with a flight test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. In the test, the guided test vehicle dropped from an F-15E Strike Eagle was equipped with production-ready components, including a Harris data link, Lockheed Martin tri-mode seeker, and modified SDB Increment I (GBU-39) assemblies. The weapon received target updates using a tactical radio communications system processed by the seeker. The seeker successfully performed search, detect, track and classify and the weapon fuze detonated upon impact with the intended target. Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin in the SDB II program competition, and as the prime contractor will provide the air vehicle and system integration. Lockheed Martin will supply the sensor/seeker. (Source: Boeing, 10/12/09)

Unions back Boeing tanker bid

Leaders of one of the nation's largest labor unions are calling on Defense Secretary Robert Gates to select Boeing for the U.S. Air Force tanker contract. A group of 10 state presidents representing the AFL-CIO said in a letter to Gates that Boeing is the right choice "for investing in American workers, American knowledge, American security and America's future." Boeing is competing against the Northrop Grumman/EADS team to build the next generation of tankers. EADS wants to assemble them in Mobile, Ala. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/10/09)

World View-2 successfully launched

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Boeing successfully launched the WorldView-2 satellite for DigitalGlobe aboard a Delta II rocket Thursday. Liftoff was at 11:51 a.m. Pacific Time, and the Delta II released WorldView-2 about 62 minutes after liftoff into a sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite is designed to collect and record commercial, high-resolution Earth imagery. DigitalGlobe now has three satellites in its constellation. (Source: Boeing, 10/08/09) Gulf Coast note: DigitalGlobe has an office at Stennis Space Center, Miss.