Contract: Sikorsky, $63.5M

Sikorsky Support Services Inc., Pensacola, Fla., is being awarded a $63,500,000 modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for contractor logistics support services for the T-34, T-44 and T-6 aircraft. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla. (43 percent); NAS Corpus Christi, Texas (29 percent); NAS Pensacola, Fla. (10 percent); NAS Oceana, Va. (2 percent); NAS Lemoore, Calif. (1 percent); Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, Calif. (1 percent); Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md. (.79 percent); Naval Air Facility, El Centro, Calif. (.1 percent); and Redstone Army Airfield, Huntsville, Ala. (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed in March 2011. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/29/10)

NASA picks NRL imager

WASHINGTON - NASA has chosen the Naval Research Laboratory's Wide-field Imager to be part of the Solar Probe Plus mission set for launch no later than 2018. The Solar Probe Plus, a car-sized spacecraft, will plunge directly into the sun's atmosphere about four million miles from our star's surface. It will explore a region no other spacecraft ever has encountered in an effort to unlock the sun's biggest mysteries. (Source: NRL, 09/27/10) Gulf Coast note: NASA has activities at Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. The NRL also has a detachment at Stennis Space Center.

AFRL has new chief scientist

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Dr. Mikel Miller was recently promoted to chief scientist and senior technologist for the Air Force Research Lab Munitions Directorate. Miller is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who served for 30 years on active duty. In his new position, he will help lead the AFRL Munitions Directorate to the next generation of munitions systems. Among his goals: Boost the number of AFRL scientists who have doctorate degrees from the current 17 percent to 30 to 35 percent by hiring new scientists and through internal academic growth. Another goal is to grow AFRL's future workforce through educational partnerships. (Source: Eglin Public Affairs, 09/27/10)

Avalex moving to Gulf Breeze

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Avalex Technologies, which makes aerial surveillance equipment, is moving its headquarters from Pensacola to nearby Gulf Breeze. The 9.2-acre property is the former home of car dealer World Ford. The new building will be some 53,000 square feet with room for more buildings. The two downtown Pensacola buildings had 17,000 square feet. Avalex equipment is designed for law enforcement and the military, and includes flat panel displays, digital mapping systems and sensor pointing systems. (Source: Pensacola News Journal, 09/29/10)

Contract: Raytheon, $10.2M

Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $10,223,663 contract modification which will extend the period of performance of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to Air Missile (AMRAAM) aircraft integration support effort through Sept. 30, 2013. At this time, $1,815,268 has been obligated. AAC/EBAK (AMRAAM Development Branch), Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/28/10)

Contract: L-3 Vertex, $18.5M

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., is being awarded an $18,530,000 modification to a previously awarded indefinite-delivery requirements contract to exercise an option for logistics support for TH-57B/TH-57C aircraft. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla. (99 percent), and NAS Patuxent River, Md. (1 percent). Work is expected to be completed in March 2011. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/28/10)

Contract: Rolls-Royce, $89.1M

Rolls-Royce Defense Services Inc., Indianapolis, Ind., is being awarded an $89,119,156 modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for intermediate and depot level maintenance and related support for in-service T-45 F405-RR-401 Adour engines under the power-by-the-hour arrangement. In addition, this modification provides for inventory control, sustaining engineering and configuration management, as well as integrated logistics support and required engineering elements necessary to support the F405-RR-401 engine at the organization level. Work will be performed at the Naval Air Station Kingsville, Texas (54 percent), NAS Meridian, Miss. (41 percent); NAS Pensacola, Fla. (4 percent), and NAS Patuxent River, Md. (1 percent) and is expected to be completed in September 2011. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/27/10)

Contract: L-3 Vertex, $125M

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace LLC, Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $125,000,000 modification to a previously awarded contract to exercise an option for logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance required to support 47 T-45A and 158 T-45C aircraft based at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.; NAS Kingsville, Texas; NAS Pensacola, Fla., and Patuxent River, Md. This requirement also includes the organizational level maintenance for the engine. Work will be performed in Kingsville, Texas (54 percent); Meridian, Miss. (41 percent); Pensacola, Fla. (4 percent); and Patuxen River (1 percent), and is expected to be completed in September 2011. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md. is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/27/10)

Southwest to buy AirTran

Southwest Airlines is buying AirTran for about $1.4 billion. The companies said Monday that the new Southwest-Airtran operation would operate from more than 100 different airports and serve more than 100 million customers. In the Gulf Coast region, AirTran serves the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport, New Orleans and Pensacola. Southwest Airlines serves New Orleans and Panama City Beach, Fla. (Sources: Multiple, including AP via Sun Herald, Forbes, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 09/27/10)

Contract: L-3 Vertex, $21M

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace, LLC, Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $21,098,439 modification to a previously awarded contract to provide logistics services and materials for organizational, intermediate, and depot level maintenance of 14 T39N and 6 T-39G aircraft located at the Naval Air Station Pensacola, Fla. In addition, this modification provides for aircraft intermediate maintenance services in support of Chief of Naval Air Training aircraft and transient aircraft at NAS Pensacola, and NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. Work will be performed in Pensacola, Fla. (99 percent), and Corpus Christi, Texas and is expected to be completed in March 2011. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/24/10)

Contract: Marianna Airmotive, $20M

Marianna Airmotive Corp., Cantonment, Fla., was awarded a $20,000,000 contract which will procure 18 national stock numbers of structural components, i.e., spoilers, applicable to C-5 aircraft. At this time, $786,450 has been obligated. 409 SCMS/GUMD, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/24/10) Gulf Coast note: Cantonment is north of Pensacola, Fla.

Commander tapped for promotion

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - Maj. Gen. C. R. Davis, program executive officer for weapons and Air Armament Center commander, was nominated for appointment to lieutenant general. Davis arrived at Eglin in May 2009 and is responsible for the development, acquisition, testing, deployment and sustainment of all air-delivered weapons. AAC plans, directs and conducts test and evaluation of U.S. and allied air armament, navigation and guidance systems, and command and control systems. Once confirmed, Davis will be reassigned to Hanscom AFB, Mass., as Commander, Electronic Systems Center. Plans for a change of command ceremony are pending senate confirmation. (Source: Eglin Air Force Base, 09/22/10)

Shuttle tank on way to Kennedy

NEW ORLEANS - The external fuel tank that will power the last planned space shuttle is expected to arrive Sunday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The tank has been restored to flight configuration at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans after sustaining damage during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The tank, ET-122, was shipped out Tuesday. It will support shuttle Endeavour's flight targeted for launch in February. (Source: Tcp, based on NASA release, 09/20/10)

AF narrows list of airfields

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. - The Air Force has narrowed the primary airfields for the Joint Strike Fighter to Eglin Main and Duke Field. In a draft of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement released this week, the Air Force said the JSF will bed down, be maintained, launched and recovered at one of the two fields. A decision will be made after public hearings and release of the final EIS. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 09/23/10)

Contract: Del-Jen, $23.4M

Del-Jen Inc., Clarksville, Tenn., is being awarded a $23,380,548 modification under a previously awarded contract to exercise Option 3 for base operations support services at Naval Air Station Pensacola and surrounding areas. The work to be performed provides for public works administration including labor, management, supervision, materials, supplies, and tools for facilities management. Work will be performed in Pensacola, Fla., and is expected to be completed by September 2011. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/23/10)

Contract awarded for road expansion

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - NPD Resources Inc. of Brookhaven, Miss., has been awarded a $12.46 million contract to expand Highway 607 at Stennis Space Center from two lanes to four lanes. The project is expected to take 18 months. The highway will be expanded to a four-lane divided roadway between Saturn Drive and Texas Flat Road at Stennis Space Center, a distance of about four miles. The improvement will be made by adding two lanes west of the existing roadway from Saturn Drive to the north security gate at Stennis and adding two lanes east of the existing roadway from the gate to Texas Flat Road. A 30-foot median will separate the four lanes. The roadway addition is part of a larger project to expand state Route 607 to four lanes all the way to I-59. The expanded road not only will provide service to Stennis Space Center, but will serve as a hurricane evacuation route. (Source: NASA, 09/22/10)

PW on track for 2011 test at SSC

Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne successfully completed the latest round of tests on the gas generator for NASA's J-2X rocket engine. With the first NASA J-2X engine far along in development, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is on track to begin testing in 2011 at John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is a United Technologies Corp.company. It has an operation at Stennis Space Center. (Source: PRNewswire, 09/21/10)

Contract: Aerojet, $8M

Aerojet General Corp., Cordova, Calif., was awarded an $8,088,294 contract to manufacture empty warhead cases to support the precision lethality MK82 quick reaction capability program. At this time, $3,963,265 has been obligated. AAC/EBSK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/21/10)

Contract: Roy Anderson, $14.4M

Roy Anderson Corp., Gulfport, Miss., is being awarded $14,430,700 for firm-fixed-price task order #0002 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract for the addition to and alteration of Air Force Central Command Headquarters at Shaw Air Force Base. Work will be performed in Sumter, S.C., and is expected to be completed by September 2012. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 09/21/10)

Work continues toward alternative fuels

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. - An F-15 Eagle engine is undergoing performance testing using a unique blend of three different fuel types. The F100 engine is being tested with a combination of JP-8 conventional aviation fuel, a biofuel derived from an animal fat and a synthetic fuel derived from coal. The fuels testing is being conducted to ensure the different fuels, in varying combinations, are suitable for an upcoming series of F-15 flight tests tentatively scheduled for October at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Source: AFNS, 09/20/10)