FWB ranks 20th on geek cities list

The Fort Walton Beach-Crestview-Destin metro area is ranked 20 on Forbes list of America's Geekiest Cities. That means it has a lot of people with degrees in science and engineering-related fields. Of the workforce in the Fort Walton Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area, 8.8 percent or some 7,200 workers are employed in the science, technology, engineering or mathematics field. Much of that is due to Eglin Air Force Base, which acts as a magnet for technology-oriented defense contractors. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 08/10/11)

Aerospace summit scheduled

DESTIN, Fla. - The future of aerospace and aviation in the region and nation will be the focus of the Aerospace Alliance Summit, Sept. 15-16 at Sandestin Golf and Beach and Resort in Florida. The summit is hosted by the Aerospace Alliance, a partnership of the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida’s Great Northwest. (Source: Aerospace Alliance, 08/10/11)

Tower work to resume

GULFPORT, Miss. - Construction will resume at the air traffic control tower at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport on Monday, an airport official said Wednesday. Work on the $12 million project in Gulfport and at airports across the country was halted last month when Congress failed to provide funding for infrastructure projects. Congress has since approved a budget and the work can now proceed. (Source: Sun Herald, 08/10/11) Previous story

Vision Airlines shuffles cities it serves

Vision Airlines will discontinue service from Northwest Florida Regional Airport to selected destinations during the fall and winter. The reduced schedule will start Aug. 19, when the airline cuts service to Lafayette and Shreveport, La., Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tenn., and Asheville, N.C. Vision made the announcement as it released its fall and winter flight schedule. The airline said it will continue to serve the Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Fla., area with flights from Atlanta, Louisville, Ky., Memphis, Orlando, and the St. Petersburg-Tampa-Clearwater area throughout the fall and winter. Service to Little Rock, Ark., will continue until Nov. 2. The company will add routes to its winter schedule. (Sources: Knoxville News Sentinel, Northwest Florida Daily News, PRNewswire, 08/08/11)

Rolls-Royce looks to expand test sites

Rolls-Royce Group is studying locations in the United States and Germany for new engine test sites, a newspaper reported Monday. The company told workers in Derby, England, where it employs 11,000, that it was considering sites outside of the United Kingdom, The Telegraph reported. Derby is the company's "center of excellence" for large engines. It builds and tests the Trent XWB, which will go in the new Airbus A350. That program will continue in Derby as it expands, but the company says it's looking at new locations to help fulfill orders worth about $98 billion. Rolls-Royce could open test sites either in the United States or Germany or both, the Telegraph reported. (Source: Indianapolis Business Journal, 08/08/11) Gulf Coast note: Rolls-Royce currently tests jet engines at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Contract: Lockheed Martin, $535.3M

Lockheed Martin Corp., Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded a $535,315,000 advance acquisition contract to provide long lead parts and components required for the manufacture of 38 Low Rate Initial Production Lot VI F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter aircraft (19 Conventional Takeoff and Landing (CTOL) aircraft for the Air Force; 4 CTOLs for the government of Italy; 2 CTOLs for the government of Australia; 6 Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) aircraft for the Marine Corps; and 7 Carrier Variant (CV) aircraft for the Navy). The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 08/08/11) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.

Atlantis crew to visit SSC

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. - Crew members of space shuttle Atlantis' final mission, STS-135, will visit NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center on Thursday, Aug. 11, at 8:45 a.m. to thank employees for their part in a safe mission. Atlantis completed its final flight on July 21.The mission also marked the final flight of NASA's Space Shuttle Program. Atlantis was launched on its maiden STS-51-J mission in October 1985. During its 26 years in service, the orbiter flew 33 missions and logged more than 131 million miles in space. Atlantis and sister crafts Discovery and Endeavour now are being prepared for permanent display at selected sites.(Source: NASA, 08/08/11)

Hurlburt preferred site for Predator unit

Hurlburt Field, Fla., is the preferred alternative for the Air Force Reserve Command MQ-1 remote split-operations squadron, Air Force officials said. Hurlburt Field will get a single MQ-1 RSO squadron consisting of 140 personnel and associated equipment. This action does not involve remotely piloted aircraft, only ground control systems. The MQ-1 Predator's primary mission is to provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and precision-strike capability for joint force commanders. Predator flight operations are split between launch and recovery element aircrews overseas and mission-control element crews based in the United States. LRE crews launch and recover the aircraft within the area of responsibility. MCE crews operate the aircraft via satellite data links from locations within the States. Air Force officials said an environmental assessment will determine the final basing selection. The Air Force announced in May 2011 that the Eglin Complex in Florida was the candidate location for the Air Force Reserve Command MQ-1 remote split-operations squadron. The Eglin complex includes Eglin Air Force Base, Hurlburt Field, Duke Field, Camp Rudder and Choctaw Field. Site survey teams evaluated the bases at the candidate location for feasibility, timing, cost and planning purposes to meet initial operational capability requirements.(Source: AFNS, 08/5/11) Previous story

Runway lights go out; flights diverted

Seven flights coming into Northwest Florida Regional Airport had to be diverted to other airports or canceled Wednesday night when the runway lights went out shortly after 8 p.m. and remained out overnight. Eglin Air Force Base officials, who maintain the runway, reported at about 11 a.m. that they had found the problem and would have it repaired by the time lights were needed for Thursday evening landings, Okaloosa County Airports Director Greg Donovan said. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 08/04/11)

F-35s grounded

Flight and ground operations for the Joint Strike Fighter were suspended after the secondary power system of F-35A AF-4, an Air Force variant test aircraft, failed on Aug. 2 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., during a ground maintenance engine run. The problem was in the F-35's integrated power package, an F-35-unique system that combines the functions of engine starter, emergency and auxiliary power unit, environmental control system and back-up generator. (Source: Aviation Week, 08/04/11) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center. Two production units have already been delivered to the base.

Frigate returns with drones

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - USS Halyburton, its two Fire Scout unmanned helicopters and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron returned to Naval Station Mayport Wednesday after a seven-month deployment. The ship conducted numerous counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions in support of Operation Unified Protector, employing the MQ-8B Fire Scouts. MQ-8B operators set records for maximum altitude, range and endurance, with 438 hours flown by Fire Scout. One of the drones was lost over Libya in June and later replaced. The Libyan government has claimed its forces downed the remotely operated vehicle, but neither the Navy nor NATO will say what caused the MQ-8B Fire Scout to go down. (Sources: NNS, Florida Times-Union, 08/03/11) Gulf Coast note: Fire Scouts are built in part in Moss Point, Miss.

Museum gets Marine One helicopter

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A helicopter that served as Marine One is the newest display at the National Naval Aviation Museum at Naval Air Station Pensacola. The green and white Sikorsky VH-3A Sea King was one of several similar models used by the White House beginning in 1962 to transport the president. It was acquired two years ago and went through months of restoration. It's on display in Hangar Bay One. The museum will host a dedication ceremony in the near future. (Sources: WEAR-TV, Pensacola News Journal, 08/03/11)

AIRINC to close Fairhope facility

FAIRHOPE, Ala. - The Fokker AIRINC parts repair facility will close by October, shifting operations to a larger, sister aircraft parts repair facility in LaGrange, Ga. Fokker Technologies said that some of the 55 Fairhope employees could be offered transfers. Frans van de Pol, vice president of component repair, said the parent company continues to wait for its business to recover from the recession. Fokker Services mainly repairs parts for U.S. airlines and other parts suppliers. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 07/29/11)

Contract: Boeing, $32.5M

Boeing Co., St. Louis, Mo., is being awarded a $32,480,252 cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification to provide additional aircraft closure redesign. The AAC/EDBK/EDBJ, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/28/11)

Contract: Raytheon, $70M

Raytheon Co., Missile Systems Division, Tucson, Ariz. is being awarded a $70,000,000 maximum firm-fixed-price contract to provide Small Diameter Bomb II technical support. AAC/EBMK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/28/11)

F-35C has first catapult launch

LAKEHURST, N.J. - In another first for the new Joint Strike Fighter, an F-35C test aircraft, designated CF-3, was launched by a land-based steam catapult during a test Wednesday in Lakehurst, N.J. The jet was flown by Navy test pilot Lt. Christopher Tabert. The F-35C carrier variant of the JSF has larger wing surfaces and reinforced landing gear that make it different from the Air Force A version or the Marine Corps B variant. The F-35C is undergoing test and evaluation at Naval Air Station Patuxent River prior to delivery to the fleet. Initial ship trials are scheduled for 2013. (Source: Naval Air Systems Command, 07/27/11) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the JSF training center.

GE Aviation to open 2nd Mississippi plant

GE Aviation will open a second manufacturing facility in Mississippi, this one in Ellisville in Jones County. GE Aviation, based in Ohio, will invest $56 million in a 300,000-square-foot facility that will make advanced composite components for aircraft engines and systems. It's expected to begin production in 2013, creating about 250 jobs by 2016. GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, opened a manufacturing facility in Batesville in 2008, which now has 300 workers. (Sources: Leader-Call, Reuters, General Electric via RD magazine, 07/27/11)

Contract: EADS, $10.2M

EADS North American Defense, Arlington, Va., was awarded a $10,166,300 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the modification of an existing contract to provide logistic support coverage for the UH-72A aircraft. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss., with an estimated completion date of Dec. 31, 2011. The U.S. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/25/11)

Cyber security Website launched

The Department of Defense today launched a new website to highlight DoD's unified strategy for cyberspace, announced on July 14. The website helps explain and consolidate DoD's cybersecurity accomplishments and new way forward for military, intelligence and business operations in cyberspace. The site is designed to help users explore the five pillars of DoD’s cyber strategy: treating cyberspace as an operational domain; employing new defense operating concepts; partnering with the public and private sector; building international partnerships; and leveraging talent and innovation. (Source: DoD, 07/25/11) Gulf Coast note: The Gulf Coast has multiple DoD cyber training operations, including Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., Corry Station, Fla., and Hurlburt Field, Fla.

Tower work halted

GULFPORT, Miss. - Work has halted on the nearly completed air traffic control tower at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration told contractors to stop work on the nearly $12 million project in Gulfport and others at airports nationwide after Congress failed Friday to pass legislation for the work to continue. The current control tower is handling flights. (Source: Sun Herald, 07/25/11)