F/A-18 practing in region

PENSACOLA, Fla. - F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing Seven are temporarily calling Naval Air Station Pensacola home while repairs are made to a landing field at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va. The Hornets will do field carrier landing practice at the Navy's Outlying Field Choctaw in nearby Santa Rosa County through March 10. Several carrier air wings are expected to use NAS Pensacola until repairs to Navy Auxiliary Landing Field Fentress are finished later this year. The initial group is from Fighter/Attack Squadrons 143, 103, 83 and 131. (Sources: WEAR-TV, Pensacola News Journal, WKRG-TV, Navarre Press, various dates, including 02/29/12)

Schwartz: Eglin losing nothing

The Air Force is not migrating anything from Eglin Air Force Base, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz. Plans to merge Eglin's 96th Wing and 46th Test Wing and put the new super wing under the command of a general at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., has caused concerns that the wing will eventually be moved to California, bringing with it millions of dollars worth of research, development, test and evaluation work. But Schwartz told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, in response to a question by Rep. Jeff Miller, that "Nothing is migrating from Eglin with respect to the proposal for the Air Force Materiel Command reorganization," Schwartz said. (Source: Northwest Florida Daily News, 02/28/12)

Search continues for crew

MOBILE, Ala. -- The search continues today for three crewmembers missing in the Tuesday crash of a U.S. Coast Guard MH-65C helicopter in Mobile Bay. A fourth crewmember's body has been recovered from the crash site about three miles from Point Clear. The Coast Guard initially said one person was rescued, but later said the crewmember was unresponsive and pronounced dead. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/29/12)

CG helicopter crashes in bay

MOBILE, Ala. -- A Coast Guard MH-65 helicopter with four people aboard crashed in Mobile Bay Tuesday evening. One person was being taken to shore and three are missing, spokesman Lt. J.G. Timothy Williams told the Mobile Press-Register. The helicopter was on a training mission out of the Aviation Training Center at Mobile Regional Airport. The crash, about three miles southwest of Point Clear, was reported about 8:30 p.m. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/28/12)

A-29 contract canceled

The Air Force is canceling a $355 million contract to Sierra Nevada Corp. of Sparks, Nev., and Brazil's Embraer to build 20 Super Tucano A-29 light support aircraft, citing problems with documentation. The Air Force said it will investigate the December award for the planes to be used in Afghanistan. A stop-work order was issued in January after Hawker Beechcraft of Wichita, Kansas, filed suit when its AT-6 was kept out of the competition. (Sources: multiple, including Reuters, Dayton Daily News, Wall Street Journal, 02/28/12) Sierra Nevada and Embraer planned to assemble the planes in Jacksonville, Fla. Previous post

Eglin F-35A OKd to fly

The F-35As at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., have been cleared to fly. Officials at the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, issued a Military Flight Release Tuesday to allow the F-35A to begin initial operations at Eglin, home of the Joint Strike Fighter training center. The decision was made after an airworthiness board conducted an assessment that evaluated potential risks and the mitigation actions for unmonitored flights. Flying the Air Force variant of the F-35 will increase pilot and maintainer familiarity with the aircraft, exercise the logistics infrastructure and continue to develop aircraft maturity. These initial F-35A flights will be limited, scripted, conducted within the restrictions and stipulations of the MFR and flown by qualified pilots, officials said. Eglin also has three F-35B aircraft, the Marine Corps variant. (Source: AFNS, 02/28/12)

Termination fee still unsettled

Four years after Northrop Grumman and EADS won a contract to build tankers for the Air Force – a contract canceled 11 days later – a termination fee is still unsettled, according to Air Force Times. Under the 2008 award, EADS planned to assemble the planes in Mobile, Ala. Work started on the airframes. But the contract was overturned and Boeing won the new competition. The Air Force still partly owns two Airbus A330 airframes built as part of the original contract. One is in storage in Spain and the other in France. Air Force officials said they expect the contract termination issues to be settled soon. (Source: Air Force Times, 02/28/12)

Airport plans facelift

MOBILE, Ala. -- Mobile Regional Airport is getting a $2.9 million facelift. The Airport Authority plans to install canopies along the front of the building made from the same pipe-and-plastic-covering material used in front of the Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel in downtown Mobile. The canopies will have LED lights so they can be highlighted with different colors, as is the case with the downtown RSA Tower and RSA-BankTrust Building. The facelift should take about seven months to complete. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/27/12)

BAMS marks milestones

Flight tests have begun for the first developmental multifunction active sensor (MFAS) radar destined for the Navy's MQ-4C Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Unmanned Aircraft System -- BAMS. The sensor has been integrated a Gulfstream II testbed aircraft at the Northrop Grumman facility in Palmdale, Calif. The system finished ground station testing in late November. In addition, the wings and landing gear were installed on the first BAMS at the company's Palmdale Manufacturing Center. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 02/27/12) Gulf Coast note: BAMS central fuselage work is done in Moss Point, Miss.

Second AEHF delivered

Lockheed Martin delivered the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) military communications satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., where it will be readied for an April 2012 liftoff aboard an Atlas V. The AEHF system will replace the five-satellite Milstar constellation. One AEHF satellite will provide greater total capacity than the entire Milstar system. Individual user data rates will be five times improved, providing transmission of tactical military communications, such as real-time video, battlefield maps and targeting data. (Source: Lockheed Martin via PR Newswire, 02/27/12) Gulf Coast note: Core propulsion work for the AEHF is done at Stennis Space Center, Miss.

Contract: Industria Paschen, $48M

Industria Paschen Group J.V., Chicago, Ill., is being awarded a $48,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity with economic price adjustment contract for simplified acquisition of base engineering requirements, such as minor, noncomplex construction projects, maintenance, alternation, or repair of real property at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., and its associated sites. Work is expected to be completed by Feb. 26, 2017. The 325th CONS/LGCC, Tyndall Air Force Base is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/27/12)

Orion drop test Wednesday

The Orion Parachute Test Vehicle is slated for a drop test Wednesday at the Army Proving Grounds in Yuma, Ariz. The vehicle will be dropped from a C-17 aircraft for the test of the parachute system. Elsewhere, the Exploration Flight Test Orion is continuing construction in New Orleans, while the Ground Test Article is undergoing vibration testing in Denver. (Source: Spaceflight, 02/26/12) Previous post on parachute test

Hurlburt officer among two shot

One of the two U.S. officers shot in the head at a ministry in Kabul, Afghanistan, has been identified as an officer with the Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field, Fla. Lt. Col. John Darin Loftis, 866th Air Expeditionary Squadron, died Saturday. Loftis, 44, of Paducah, Ky., and a major were found shot inside the heavily guarded Afghan Ministry of the Interior building. The Taliban claimed responsibility and said the killings were in retaliation for the burning of Korans. Loftis was the chief plans advisor and part of a cadre of specially trained U.S. service members skilled in Afghan and Pakistani culture and language. (Sources: from combined reports, including AFNS, 02/26/12)

F-35B rollout marked

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- The Marine Corps on Friday hosted a rollout ceremony to celebrate the arrival of the F-35B, the short takeoff-vertical landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. Hundreds attended the event at Eglin Air Force Base in northwest Florida. Officials said military training flights could be approved by late March or early April. There are three F-35Bs at Eglin, along with six Air Force F-35A versions of the fighter. The first Marine Corps versions arrived in early January. The F-35B is slated to replace the Marine Corps' F/A-18 Hornet, AV-8B Harrier and EA-6B Prowler. Eglin is home of the JSF training center, which will train pilots and maintainers for all branches of the military and foreign allies. (Sources: Reuters, Northwest Florida Daily News, 02/24/12)

Contract: Composite Eng., $32.7M

Composite Engineering Inc., Sacramento, Calif., is being awarded a $32,701,017 firm-fixed-price contract to procure a quantity of 35 BQM-167As, also known as the Air Force Subscale Aerial Target. The location of the performances is Sacramento, Calif. Work is expected to be completed by April 30, 2014. AAC/EBYK, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/24/12)

Eglin F-35s to fly soon

F-35s at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., could begin flying in a matter of weeks, the Air Force's top training officer said. Gen. Edward Rice, commander of Air Education and Training Command, made the comment during a news conference at the Air Force Association's winter conference in Orlando, Fla. But it could be much longer before student pilots begin flying. (Source: DoD Buzz, 02/23/12) Turkey still plans to buy 100 F-35 fighter jets for $16 billion, with an initial order of two planes for delivery in 2015, according to Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz. (Source: Reuters, 02/23/12) Lockheed Martin opened a new 57,000 square-foot facility in Pinellas Park, Fla., to produce canopy components for the F-35. The facility is an annex to Lockheed Martin’s existing 197,000 square-foot building. (Source: SpaceWar, 02/24/12)

Dempsey visits NAS Pensacola

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saw joint training in action and spoke with students, staff and family members during a Feb. 22 visit to several commands at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Dempsey visited the Naval Education and Training Command, Training Air Wing 6, the Air Force 479th Flying Training Group and the National Museum of Naval Aviation. Dempsey also held a town hall meeting in the museum atrium. Topics included military transition, the defense budget, leadership, training and building the force of the future. (Source: NNS, 02/22/12)

RAF marks first with F-35

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- A Royal Air Force squadron leader became United Kingdom's first military test pilot to fly the F-35C, the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. Jim Schofield, RAF squadron leader, said the F-35 is the best handling of any jet he's flown. Schofield's Feb. 21 flight is the latest in a series of milestones for the UK's program, which included the first F-35C launch on the test electromagnetic aircraft launch system Nov. 18 and the rollout of the first UK F-35 from the production line four days later. EMALS is the launching system of record for the future HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier, currently under construction. (Source: Naval Air Systems Command, 02/22/12) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., is home of the F-35 training center.

Garver visits SSC

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver was at Stennis Space Center today, and said the proposed NASA budget "will keep us on the cutting edge of the space program, the very best space program in the world." She said the $17.7 billion budget, $70 million less than the previous year, allows NASA to continue to utilize the International Space Station and develop the space vehicles -- the Space Launch System and Orion crew vehicle -- that will allow NASA to explore further into space than ever before. Stennis Space Center tests the rocket engines for the Space Launch System and Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is involved in building both Orion and the SLS. Garver also visited Michoud Thursday. (Source: Tcp, 02/23/12)

New Orleans' VAW-77 targeted

NEW ORLEANS -- The Navy proposes to decommission a squadron at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base in Belle Chasse, eliminating a flying unit that focuses on stemming the flow of drugs to the United States. Under the 2013 spending plan released this week, the Navy Reserve's Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 77 would cease to exist Sept. 30. VAW-77 has about 100 active duty and reserve Navy personnel and about 55 civilian contractors. (Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune, 02/20/12)