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| Regional aerospace news 2005 |
DECEMBER 2005
Topic: Aerial tanker
MOBILE, Ala. - The Air Force wants to widen the capabilities of its aerial refueling
tankers, even if that means delaying a much-anticipated competition to build the new
planes until 2007, according to newly appointed Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne. The
Air Force had been expected to begin the formal competition for the tanker contract in
early 2006, saying that it needed the new planes as soon as possible to replace its aging
fleet of KC-135 refuelers. Wynne, however, said this week that federal budget pressures
and a desire for a more "flexible" fleet of tankers had caused Air Force officials to rethink
the requirements for its new planes. He said the Air Force now wants a plane capable of
carrying various combinations of fuel, cargo, troops and reconnaissance equipment.
(Source: Mobile Register, 12/03/05)
NOVEMBER 2005
Topic: Damage assessment UAV
KILN, Miss. – Building upon an earlier search mission using helicopter unmanned aerial
vehicles, engineering researchers from the University of South Florida are returning Nov.
28 to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a small, radio-controlled aircraft to examine damage
to multi-story structures still vacant after Hurricane Katrina. Researchers will also be
testing new night-time optic and range sensors. The miniature helicopters were used on-
site in the aftermath of Katrina to carry out aerial surveillance of the damage. Like90
provided the battery-powered miniature helicopter that can operate up to 300 feet in the
air and in a 0.25 mile radius. Robin Murphy, director of the USF Center for Robot-
Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR), will lead the team. "Our first objective is to
provide photo-documentation of multi-story commercial structures along the Mississippi
Gulf Coast that can be used by the structural engineering community," said Murphy. "The
second objective is to develop the payloads and procedures needed to foster the
effective use of helicopters by the larger engineering community, including structural
engineers during the response and recovery, and for use by insurance adjusters."
Support will be provided by the Emergency Operation Center in Kiln, MS and Jackson
State University's National Center for Biodefense Communications. The team will be
based out of Kiln and operate in Biloxi and Gulfport. Research is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation in partnership with Jackson State University's National
Center for Biodefense Communications and NSF's Safety Security Rescue Research
Center, an industry-university cooperative research center. Murphy speculates that
inexpensive miniature helicopters designed specifically for structural disasters will likely
become commercially available in time for next year's hurricane season. (Source:
National Science Foundation, University of South Florida, 11/21-22/05)
Topic: Contract
MOBILE, Ala. - ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering Inc. was awarded a $38 million contract
to convert a pair of passenger jets into cargo carriers for the Royal New Zealand Air
Force. The deal to convert Boeing 757-200 airplanes into so-called "Special Freighters"
is the first Mobile Aerospace has landed since signing a licensing agreement with
Chicago-based Boeing Co. last year. Mobile Aerospace will convert two Boeing
passenger jets purchased by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence into multi-use
freighters capable of carrying different combinations of cargo, passengers and medical
evacuation teams. Mobile Aerospace has about 1,200 workers at its aircraft maintenance
and repair hub at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex, the largest private employer in
Mobile County. The company is owned by the Singapore-based Singapore Technologies
Ltd. That company and a partner, the government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd.,
signed a licensing agreement with Boeing last year to develop and sell the 757-200
Special Freighter. Boeing projects that the air cargo industry will need about 250 medium
standard-body freighters in the next 20 years, and that most of those will come from
passenger-to-freighter conversions. (Source: Mobile Register, 11/11/05)
Topic: Contract
MOSS POINT, Miss. - The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $60 million
contract to begin production of the next five RQ-4B Global Hawk aerial reconnaissance
systems. They'll be built at Moss Point beginning next year. "We're making a significant
entrance into the world of aviation technology," said George Freeland, executive director
of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation. The new contract will allow
the company to start buying long-lead parts for the unmanned air vehicles. Northrop
Grumman is now producing five RQ-4B Global Hawks at the company's manufacturing
facility in Palmdale, Calif., as part of previous limited-production contracts. George
Guerra, the company's Global Hawk program manager, said these UAVs will be the first
Global Hawks with multiple intelligence-gathering capabilities, including signal
intelligence. The new version of the Global Hawk, which flies at 60,000 feet and can
remain over a target for 35 hours, is designed to carry 50 percent more payload than the
original RQ-4A. In a single mission it can provide near-real-time data for an area the size
of Illinois. Despite Hurricane Katrina, the company is on track to have the 104,000-
square-foot Unmanned Systems Center at Trent Lott International Airport finished and
tooled up by December. Employees will be doing portions of the work on both the fixed-
wing Global Hawk and the Fire Scout drone helicopter. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald,
11/08/05)
Topic: Hurricane
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Nine weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated eastern New
Orleans, the NASA plant where the space shuttle external fuel tank is built and coated
with insulating foam is once again "fully operational," the plant's general manager said
Tuesday. So now, the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.-run Michoud Assembly
Facility is focused short-term on finding housing for nearly half of its 2,000 employees
and long-term on a possible May launch of the space shuttle. Lockheed Martin Michoud
Operations Vice President and General Manager Marshall Byrd said 600 Michoud
workers lost their homes in the storm and another 300 cannot return to their houses for
some time. A companywide Katrina relief fund set up for affected employees has raised
$4 million, he said. Byrd said Lockheed Martin Michoud expects to be a key part of the
city's recovery and revival. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 11/02/05)
OCTOBER 2005
Topic: Incentives
MOBILE, Ala. – State and local officials said the state of Alabama offered a package of
cash, in-kind services and other incentives worth almost $120 million to bring a $600
million, 1,150-worker aircraft engineering and assembly center to Mobile. The agreement
includes about $77.6 million worth of incentives to be paid by state government and
about $30 million split roughly equally between Mobile County and the city of Mobile.
Another $5 million will come from Baldwin County, with $7 million remaining to be settled
between state and local governments. Nearly 90 percent of the package – more than
$105 million – is contingent on EADS North America Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
winning at least a share of a contract to assemble aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air
Force, and on hiring 1,150 workers in Mobile. At full employment, the project's annual
payroll would be $62.3 million, according to estimates from the state and companies
involved. The package averages $104,143 per job, according to state officials. Airbus
hired Mobile-based Thompson Engineering to handle construction engineering for the
project, and Birmingham-based Hoar Construction Co. to build the center. (Source:
Mobile Register, 10/26/05)
Topic: Tanker project
MOBILE, Ala. – Northrop Grumman Corp. named Mobile as the site of its proposed KC-30
production center. EADS North America and Northrop last month announced plans to
team up against Chicago-based Boeing Co. in the competition to build tankers for the U.
S. Air Force. Together they’ll employ about 1,000 aerospace workers at Brookley Field
Industrial Complex, contingent on winning a share of the tanker work. EADS, a subsidiary
of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., named Brookley in June as the site
of a 150-worker aircraft engineering center, and said it planned to add a 1,000-worker
aircraft assembly plant if it won the Air Force contract. Marty Dandridge, vice president
and KC-30 program director for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector, said
picking Mobile was a natural. "We believe co-location with the airframe-manufacturing
facility has strong potential to streamline our manufacturing process as well as extend
Northrop Grumman's presence in the Gulf Coast states." (Source: Mobile Register,
10/25/05)
Topic: New courses
MOBILE, Ala. – Enterprise-Ozark Community College will use part of a $1.6 million grant
from the U.S. Labor Department to start an avionics training program at the college's
Mobile Aviation Center. The training will add to the current Mobile program, which
teaches people to work on airplane engines and airframes, and the training will enhance
the area's ability to support the proposed EADS North America Inc. assembly plant.
Matthew Hughes, the college's technical dean, said plans call for avionics classes to
begin in Mobile in fall 2006. Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS have formed a
partnership to assemble and modify planes to be used as aircraft refueling tankers. The
deal is contingent on winning a military contract for the work. If successful, the pair could
employ as many as 1,000 workers at Mobile's Brookley Field Industrial Complex. State
officials have already said another arm of the two-year college system, Alabama
Industrial Development Training, will recruit and screen engineers for an Airbus
engineering center that will locate at Brookley. (Source: Mobile Register, 10/25/05)
Topic: New design
WASHINGTON – One of the two major competitors to build the next era of American
space vehicles unveiled its design model Wednesday. But executives with Northrop
Grumman Corp. and the Boeing Co., which are putting together a joint proposal to NASA,
said that their Crew Exploration Vehicle benefits from significant technological advances
not available for the old Apollo program. The new spacecraft is scheduled to take
astronauts and payloads to the international space station by 2012 and back to the moon
by 2018. The Northrop Grumman/Boeing design is of more than passing interest to New
Orleans because Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Space Systems unit is the other major
competitor for the new space vehicles. If it is the winning contractor, Lockheed Space
Systems might well do at least a portion of the work, if not the major construction, at the
Michoud Assembly Plant in New Orleans. The company already has said it will build much
of a prototype of the vehicle at the local plant. Potential sites for development of the new
spacecraft under Northrop Grumman/Boeing could include facilities in California,
Houston, central Florida and Huntsville, Ala. The vehicle is similar in appearance to the
Apollo spacecraft that lifted astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Though only slightly heavier, the proposed spacecraft will carry up to twice as many
astronauts as the three that traveled on Apollo and carry substantially more fuel, allowing
for longer space missions. The design incorporates redundant features allowing for the
safe return of astronauts even in the case of serious system failures. The spacecraft,
according to NASA specifications, must be designed so that it could be used for both
manned and unmanned missions. Lockheed executives are expected to discuss their
design efforts for the new NASA spacecraft in the next several days, according to
company spokesmen. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 10/13/05)
Topic: Appointment
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Ken Ford, chief executive officer of the Pensacola-based Florida
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, was sworn in this month as a member of the
United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board in Arlington, Va. Retired Gen. Charles
Horner said Ford has a unique ability to see and define technology leaps that escape the
more conventional thinker. The SAB was established in 1947 as a link between the Air
Force and the civilian, scientific and engineering communities to promote the exchange
of the latest scientific and technical information that may enhance the Air Force mission.
Members of the SAB include scientists, engineers, and academicians primarily from the
nation’s universities, national laboratories, industry and retired military general officers.
(Source: IHMC, 10/07/05)
Topic: Partnership
MOBILE, Ala. - EADS North America Inc. said Monday that Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and
Westwind Technologies Inc. would join its bid to produce light utility helicopters for the U.
S. Army. The Army is soliciting bidders for a proposed $1.5 billion contract to supply more
than 300 helicopters, to be used primarily by the National Guard. Competitors for the
contract, expected to be awarded in April, include Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin
Corp. and Bell Helicopter, a Fort Worth, Texas-based subsidiary of Textron Inc. Adding
the Stratford, Conn.-based Sikorsky to its team "ensures that our offering ... is backed by
the undisputed leader in contractor logistics support for military rotary- wing aircraft,"
Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of EADS North America, said at
a news conference Monday in Washington. The Huntsville-based Westwind Technologies
operates the Army's Logistics Support Facility at Redstone Arsenal and specializes in
helicopter systems integration, engineering and program management. Crosby said
EADS has yet to determine a location for final assembly of its proposed UH-145
advanced helicopter but that facilities in Columbus, Miss., and Grand Prairie, Texas,
operated by its American Eurocopter subsidiary were among the sites being considered.
Overall program management for the UH-145 program will be directed by EADS North
America Defense, a business unit of Arlington, Va.-based EADS North America, the
company said in a news release. (Source: Mobile Register, 10/04/05)
Topic: Hurricane
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The spacecraft plant in eastern New Orleans crawled to life
Monday as a space shuttle external fuel tank slowly rolled from the barge that carried it
from Florida to a building at the Michoud Assembly Facility, where workers will begin
preparing it for the next shuttle flight. The moment marked a milestone in the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration plant that employed about 2,000 workers before
Hurricane Katrina and supplied the largest number of high-technology jobs in the city.
"That's very encouraging," said Tommy Kurtz, senior vice president of Greater New
Orleans Inc., the region's economic development organization. "It shows that even in an
actual catastrophe, a large plant can be up and running again," he said. With many
businesses in the region struggling to reopen after Katrina, major manufacturers such as
Michoud are quickly becoming the backbone of the area's economic recovery. The tank
left NASA's Kennedy Space Center six weeks ago on the barge but was quickly anchored
to avoid what was then Tropical Storm Katrina, which had formed off Florida's central
Atlantic coast. The five-day trip around the tip of Florida and across the eastern Gulf of
Mexico was further delayed as Katrina made a beeline for the central Gulf Coast. The
tank finally arrived at Michoud on Sunday. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune,
10/04/05)
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - BAE Systems Technical Services of Fort Walton Beach
was awarded a $12.7 million contract modification to provide for Operation and
Maintenance at the Eglin Test and Training Complex. Work will be complete December
2005. Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting
activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/03/05)
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - DTS Aviation Services of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded
a $10 million contract modification to provide for aircraft backshop maintenance,
munitions, and equipment support for the Armament Center and for the Air Armament
and Command, Control Communications, Computers, and Intelligence Systems Testing
for a 12-month period. The location of performance is DTS Aviation Services, Eglin Air
Force Base. The work will be complete November 2006. The Headquarters 96th Air Base
Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/03/05)
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - BAE Systems Technical Services of Fort Walton Beach
was awarded a $7.9 million firm fixed price contract modification to provide for Perimeter
Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System. It will provide operations, maintenance
and logistical support to PARCS radar site and facilities at Cavalier Air Force Station, N.
D. This work will be complete September 2006. The 21st Space Wing, Peterson Air Force
Base, Colo., is the contracting activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/03/05)
SEPTEMBER 2005
Topic: Tanker project
Northrop Grumman Corp. confirmed it will join with EADS North America Inc. in a bid to
produce aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The partnership pits Los Angeles-
based Northrop and EADS, the North American subsidiary of the Paris-based European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., against Boeing Co. EADS in June named Mobile's
Brookley Industrial Complex as the site of a 150-worker aircraft engineering center. The
project could be expanded to include a 1,000-worker assembly plant if EADS can win at
least part of the Air Force contract. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is not expected
to decide for several months how the Air Force should go about replacing the fleet of
more than 500 tankers. Northrop said it would be the principal contractor and EADS
would be the main subcontractor. EADS has said it plans to build a factory at Brookley to
assemble the tanker from a version of its design for the Airbus A330 passenger jet.
Northrop would then convert the resulting plane, called a KC-330, for military use at a
facility yet to be determined, said Randy Belote, a Northrop spokesman. (Source: Mobile
Register, 09/08/05)
AUGUST 2005
Topic: Fuel tanks
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Two space shuttle external fuel tanks at Kennedy Space Center in
Florida will return to their New Orleans maker for more alterations before NASA launches
another orbiter, senior space agency managers said Thursday. The work will delay the
next shuttle launch until March at the earliest, said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate
administrator for space operations. The tanks will be sent by barge to the Michoud
Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans from Kennedy, where they have been for
months. No timetable has been set. The trip from Kennedy on Florida's central Atlantic
coast around the southern tip of the state and across the eastern Gulf of Mexico takes
about five days. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 08/19/05)
Topic: New executive
MOBILE, Ala. - Mobile County's largest private employer has a new boss. Joseph Ng is
the new president of ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering Inc., an aircraft maintenance and
repair provider that employs 1,300 workers at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex. Ng
was tapped for the job in May by Mobile Aerospace's parent company, the Singapore-
based Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., and took office last month, according to
the company. He replaces former president Ronnie Koh, who resigned in February. Ng,
who began his career with Singapore Technologies in 1990 as an aircraft structural
engineer, has held a variety of positions within the company's aerospace division. Ng
comes to Mobile Aerospace at a critical time for the company, which is recruiting projects
that could double its work force. Mobile has positioned itself as a major player in the
aerospace industry. In June Brookley was named by EADS North America as the site of a
150-worker aircraft engineering center. The project could be expanded to include a
1,000-worker assembly plant if EADS can win at least part of a contract to build aerial
refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. Under Koh's direction, Mobile Aerospace was
pursuing a $90 million aircraft engine repair and testing facility and a $50 million
maintenance hub designed to service the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet.
Airbus, like EADS North America, is a subsidiary of the Paris-based European Aeronautic
Defence and Space Co. (Source: Mobile Register, 08/14/05)
Topic: NASA outreach
MOBILE, Ala. – Alabama has the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, a major
government spending enterprise, in Huntsville. But many Mobile businesses don't take
advantage of the business opportunities there because the center seems so far away,
according to NASA officials. On Thursday NASA came to the Z Technology Center at
Hank Aaron Stadium to market itself to Mobile and teach local companies how to do
business with NASA. Tracy Lamm, a NASA government relations officer, said that NASA
does a very small amount of business with Mobile companies. "That's why we're here,"
Lamm told more than 100 area business leaders. "We're hoping to give you the
opportunity." NASA reaches out to about five business communities per year nationwide.
This year's cities included Kansas City, Mo.; Mizzoula, Mont.; New Orleans; Thomasville,
Ala.; and Mobile. A business can contract directly with NASA. Another approach would be
working with one of NASA's primary contractors, such as Boeing Co., ATK Thiokol,
Northrop Grumman Corp., Science Applications International Corp., or Jacobs Sverdrup.
About a quarter of all NASA contracts go to small businesses. (Source: Mobile Register,
08/12/05)
Topic: Anniversary
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Stennis Space Center in early August marked the
30th anniversary of shuttle engine tests at the South Mississippi facility. NASA astronauts
and project managers and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (formerly Boeing) officials were
on hand for an engine test that coincided with the celebration. Since the first test on May
19, 1975, the NASA and contractor team has conducted more than 2,200 tests on
SSMEs. The first test was in fact the culmination of a series of tests. Ten were conducted
in the first two months to help establish fuel preburner, oxygen preburner and main
combustion chamber ignition. Three years later, test teams at SSC were firing the main
propulsion test article – the three-engine cluster that helps propel the space shuttle into
orbit. The testing of the shuttle engines was significant for Stennis, which in 1971 saw the
end of testing of the Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo program. Most of the facility
virtually shut down at the end of the Apollo program. But in time it started staffing up to
test shuttle engines. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald, 08/11/05)
Topic: Missiles
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A missile defense system under development in Mississippi is
needed to deter the threat of "nuclear intimidation by some rogue nation's leader," Rep.
Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said. Wicker told a gathering of government, military, academic,
and defense-industry officials Friday that the Kinetic Energy Interceptors defense system
sought by the Pentagon represents "weapons of mass protection" in an uncertain world.
The system is being developed to destroy intermediate and long-range enemy missiles
during their most vulnerable boost-ascent phase of flight. The interceptors - with a top
speed of more than 12,000 miles per hour - are designed to track incoming missile
threats and destroy them with a non-explosive kinetic energy warhead. Northrop
Grumman is leading a $4 billion national effort to develop and test a land-based KEI
system for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Under a $200,000 subcontract, Mississippi
State University engineers are determining effective ways to launch the defensive
missiles at sea. (Source: Associated Press, 08/12/05)
Topic: Sale
LAKE CHARLES, La. – EADS North America Inc. said it has completed the sale of an
aircraft maintenance facility in Lake Charles, La., to the Memphis-based Linden Street
Capital Corp. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. EADS Aeroframe Services Co.,
located at the Chennault International Airport, provides maintenance, repair and overhaul
for narrow and wide-body aircraft. EADS, a subsidiary of the Paris-based European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., chose to sell the business so that it could "focus on
core assets and services," according to a spokesman. The buyer has other holdings in
the aircraft overhaul industry and will keep the 130 current workers and operate under
the name Aeroframe Services, officials said. (Sources: Mobile Register, 08/11/05, The
Associated Press, 08/01/05)
Topic: Michoud
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The inability of the Michoud Assembly Facility to fix the space
shuttle's broken fuel tank has been a major setback for the eastern New Orleans plant
and its 2,100 workers. But according to several current and former NASA managers, the
problem doesn't appear to be a threat to future work for the plant. The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration remains committed to flying the orbiters through
2010 until construction of the international space station is completed. Michoud will need
to produce 15 to 22 tanks for those missions, NASA managers say. After that, the plant
also stands a good chance of building large portions of at least one of the next-
generation spacecraft being developed by NASA to carry astronauts and cargo to the
moon and eventually Mars. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin in recent months has
expressed interest in using the fuel tank and other shuttle components to craft the new
space vehicles, rather than building them from scratch. Michoud's future is important to
the region's economy because the plant supplies some of the highest-paying
manufacturing jobs in the area, with annual salaries averaging $65,000, according to its
operator, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The plant generates about $130 million a
year in payroll and spends $22.9 million with subcontractors in Louisiana each year.
(Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 08/07/05)
Topic: Acquisition
HARTFORD, Conn. - United Technologies Corp. has completed acquisition of
Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power from The Boeing Company. UTC had announced a
purchase agreement in February. Rocketdyne joins Pratt & Whitney’s space propulsion
business as part of the space launch industry. This new company will operate as Pratt &
Whitney Rocketdyne, and will be headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif. Pratt & Whitney
Rocketdyne will align its space power and energy segment with UTC’s Hamilton
Sundstrand unit. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will operate two main sites in California and
West Palm Beach, Florida, with additional operations at NASA’s Kennedy, Marshall and
Stennis space centers. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne offers a complete line of propulsion
products, from boosters to upper stage engines, used in a wide variety of government
and commercial applications, including the Space Shuttle Main Engines, as well as the
propulsion systems for the Atlas and Delta expendable launch vehicles. Pratt & Whitney
and Hamilton Sundstrand are part of UTC, a diversified company based in Hartford Conn.
(Source: Press release, 08/03/05)
JULY 2005
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - Micro Systems Inc. of Fort Walton Beach was awarded a
not-to-exceed $12.2 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract
for the procurement of up to 731 AN/DSQ-50A Airborne Sets, including sensor and
telemetry downlinks. The Airborne Set is utilized in full scale and subscale aerial and
surface targets, which are used to evaluate capabilities of weapon systems and to train
weapon system operators. Work will be performed in Fort Walton Beach and is expected
to be completed in July 2014. (Source: DefenseLink, 07/20/05)
Topic: Contract award
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been awarded $28.2 million
by NASA to continue developing a design for a spacecraft that will replace the space
shuttle. NASA also awarded the same amount to a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and
The Boeing Co. for a prototype crew exploration vehicle. If Lockheed wins the
competition, the company will build much of its prototype CEV at the Michoud Assembly
Facility in eastern New Orleans, where Lockheed makes external fuel tanks for space
shuttles. The CEV is expected to carry up to six astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit soon
after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010, and then on to the moon as early as 2015.
(Source: NASA, 07/12/05)
JUNE 2005
Topic: Contract
MOSS POINT, Miss. - Northrop Grumman Corp., is being awarded a $15.2 million
modification to a previously awarded contract for two RQ-8B Fire Scout drone
helicopters. Most of the work will be performed in Elmira, N.Y. and San Diego, but 8
percent will be done in Moss Point. The work is expected to be completed in August
2008. Final assembly of the Fire Scouts will be done at the Northrop facility being built in
Moss Point. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald, 06/30/05)
Topic: Engineering school
MOBILE, Ala. - University of South Alabama officials say they are glad to have EADS
North America as a new neighbor for the school's property at Brookley Field Industrial
Complex and a potential partner for the budding USA engineering program. USA
President Gordon Moulton speculated that USA's prized waterfront acreage could be
something EADS is interested in as it grows. But Moulton said the school has no plans to
give away any part of its Brookley campus to help the aviation giant expand. EADS North
America is building an aircraft engineering center at Brookley Field that would create 150
jobs by the time it opens in 2006. The 7-acre site for the engineering facility is adjacent
to the 300-plus acres owned by the university, which has its main campus in west Mobile.
Moulton said the university will press forward with its plans to expand the USA College of
Engineering and build a relationship mutually beneficial to the company and the school. U.
S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, has already promised to help USA secure $40
million in federal funding to expand its on-campus engineering facilities. Shelby said
Wednesday the EADS announcement makes that money all the more important.
(Source: Mobile Register, 06/25/05)
Topic: Site selected
MOBILE, Ala. – EADS North America chose Brookley Field Industrial Complex as the
location for a $600 million, 1,000-employee plant that will build KC-330 aerial tankers - if
the European company wins a bid to build the Air Force’s next generation refuelers.
Mobile won over sites in Hancock County, Miss., Melbourne, Fla., and Charleston, S.C.
Even if EADS fails to win the contract or if it’s kept out of the competition due to a "buy
American" effort in Congress, the company will still open an Airbus engineering facility at
Brookley that will employ 150 aerospace engineers. Bill Sisson, vice president of
economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, says the selection will
enhance an already existing cluster of aviation companies at Brookley. The plant will
likely get its employees from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. (Source: Multiple,
06/22/05)
Topic: Global Hawk
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Northrop Grumman’s second RQ-4A Global Hawk Maritime
Demonstrator has successfully completed its first flight, a critical step forward in the U.S.
Navy's planned Maritime Demonstration program. The unmanned aerial vehicle, being
developed for the Navy and designated N-2, was launched autonomously from Northrop
Grumman's production facility in Palmdale, Calif. During the four-hour flight, it tested
accurately for air speed, altitude and direction. Under the Navy's Maritime Demonstration
program, two RQ-4A Global Hawks will serve as testbeds as the Navy determines the
unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities needed to patrol the open ocean as well as
coastline areas. The drones will be assembled at a Northrop facility being built in Moss
Point, Miss. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 06/13/05)
Topic: Global Hawk wing test
DALLAS, Texas – Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. has successfully tested to 100 percent
limit load its first enhanced wing for the U.S. Air Force's new RQ-4B Global Hawk
unmanned air vehicle produced by Northrop Grumman. This testing is designed to
simulate forces experienced due to specific "gust load" winds during a mission. The
enhanced wing is one of a number of system improvements prime contractor Northrop
Grumman is making to Global Hawk to accommodate an increased payload carrying
capability while maintaining current platform performance specifications. Vought is
scheduled to build seven production wings for the new RQ-4B model, with options for
future production lots of the new wing configuration. Vought has built two RQ-4B
prototype wings and is producing another article for testing ultimate loads. The wing is
130.9 feet long and weighs about 4,000 pounds. It will be the longest wing ever delivered
from Vought's Dallas facility. The drones will be assembled at a Northrop facility being
built in Moss Point, Miss. (Source: www.voughtaircraft.com, 06/11/05)
Topic: Michoud facility
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Sen. Mary Landrieu assured workers at NASA's Michoud
Assembly Facility Friday that the eastern New Orleans plant will stay busy even after the
space shuttle stops flying in 2010. The 58-acre plant operated by Lockheed Martin
makes external fuel tanks for the shuttle. Her comments came a week after NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin said the space agency is leaning toward developing a
shuttle-like cargo spacecraft that would use modified versions of Michoud's external fuel
tanks. On Monday NASA is expected to announce that Lockheed Space Systems will
build one of two prototypes of a next-generation spacecraft, the Crew Exploration
Vehicle. Much of the work on the prototype will occur at Michoud. About 60 of the plant's
workers will develop the manufacturing processes for constructing the vehicle, and some
of the vehicle's major structures will be built at the plant with the capsule assembled in
New Orleans. A second team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing is also
expected to land a contract from NASA to build its own prototype. NASA plans to choose
a winner to build the vehicle in late 2008. If Lockheed Space Systems wins the
competition, Michoud could become the main factory for building the vehicle. (Source:
New Orleans Times Picayune, 06/11/05)
Topic: Site selection
Four states have now made their final pitches to EADS North America officials in a bid to
convince the company to locate a $600 million aircraft plant in their back yard. Mississippi
and South Carolina made their final offers Wednesday and Alabama and Florida made
theirs Thursday to land the 1,000-employee aerial tanker plant. Mississippi is proposing
the plant be at Stennis International Airport, near Kiln, while Alabama is proposing
Brookley Industrial Complex, near downtown Mobile. EADS is a subsidiary of the Paris-
based European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. The governor from each of those
states participated in the presentations. The company will announce a selection June 22.
(Source: Biloxi Sun Herald, 06/10/05)
Topic: Cargo project
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Louisiana Airport Authority attacked a report that undercut the
argument for a $4.4 billion cargo airport in Donaldsonville. That report, commissioned by
the state Department of Economic Development, said the location is too far west to be an
intercontinental hub and too far south to provide regional access to markets. It also said
nearby airports are already underutilized. But the LAA, created to promote the airport's
development, released a response questioning the earlier analysis. Among its findings,
the LAA said the report focuses only on air cargo, which it said would be only one
component of the facility; that much of the data on the potential market for air cargo were
incorrect or misread; and countered the contention that competition from Miami and other
locations would be too stiff. The LAA is seeking $4.35 million from the state to finance
commercial and environmental assessments necessary to continue the project. (Source:
Baton Rouge Advocate, 06/04/05)
Topic: Future work
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Stennis Space Center will play a key role in resuming
space flight and developing the successor to the space shuttle, new NASA administrator
Mike Griffin said during a visit here in his first official visit to Stennis since taking over in
April. He also painted a bright picture for the Michoud Assembly Facility in east New
Orleans, saying NASA is leaning toward developing a shuttle-like cargo spacecraft that
would use external fuel tanks built at the plant. Stennis Space Center, home to about 30
agencies, is the location where engines for the Space Shuttle are tested and Michoud,
operated by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, has built external fuel tanks for the shuttle
for 30 years. The trip came less than a month after Stennis was chosen as home to a
500-employee Shared Services Center, which will handle payroll, human resources and
information technology for all NASA field offices. (Source: Multiple, 06/03/05)
MAY 2005
Topic: Site visit
KILN, Miss. – Representatives from EADS North America wrapped up a series of visits to
potential sites for an aircraft plant with a stop at Stennis International Airport. EADS is
looking for a location to host a $600 million plant that will build the aerial tanker and
employ about 1,000 workers. The company hopes to compete against Boeing for the Air
Force contract. Even if EADS is barred from competing or fails to win the bid, it still plans
to use the facility as an engineering center employing 100 people. Other sites competing
for the project are Mobile, Ala., Melbourne, Fla., and Charleston, S.C. The company will
pick a winner by June 22. (Source: Multiple, 05/27/05)
Topic: Bond money
PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Jackson County supervisors Monday approved a resolution for
the final preparations for $11.5 million in obligation bonds for the construction of Northrop
Grumman Integrated Systems' Unmanned Systems Center at Trent Lott International
Airport. The center is expected to be completed in late December and begin production
for the Fire Scout and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles in January. Lynn Norris and
Sue Fairbank with McGlintchey Stafford, the county's bond consultant, told supervisors
the county can now proceed with validating the sale. Final paperwork will be signed later.
Landing the facility took around two years of negotiations between county economic
development leaders and Northrop Grumman. The facility will be one of the nation's
largest unmanned aircraft manufacturing facilities. (Source: Mississippi Press, 05/24/05)
Topic: Operation purchased
MOBILE, Ala. - A Florida aerospace company has purchased the former Goodrich Corp.
plant in Fairhope. Crestview Aerospace Corp. bought the 123,000-square-foot building
that sits on 57 acres at the H.L. "Sonny" Callahan Airport in Fairhope. Crestview
Aerospace makes sheet metal structures and parts for Bell Helicopter and Boeing,
Gulfstream, Lockheed and Vought aircraft. Company officials said new business
prospects, plus a need to expand manufacturing space to accommodate current orders,
necessitated the expansion. The aircraft parts manufacturer expected to start work on
the facility shortly. Initially, Crestview said it would hire about 100 new employees within
the next year. About 100 workers lost their jobs when Goodrich closed the plant in 2002.
(Source: Mobile Register, 05/21/05)
Topic: New project
MOBILE, Ala - Already a finalist for EADS North America Inc.'s $600 million, 1,150-worker
aerial tanker assembly and engineering center, Mobile is being considered by the
company for a second plant that could assemble cargo planes for the U.S. Army. EADS
said Tuesday that it's looking for an American site to build C-295 and CN-235 airplanes.
The planes are being evaluated by the Army as it looks to expand its cargo and transport
fleet. The Army is expected to award a $1 billion contract for 33 of the planes by late
2005. EADS is a subsidiary of the Paris-based European Aeronautic Space and Defense
Co. It’s teaming with Raytheon Co. in its bid to win the Army contract. Mobile and three
other sites being considered for the aerial tanker are also being considered for the cargo
planes. (Source: Mobile Register, 05/11/05)
Topic: Funds sought
MOBILE, Ala. - Mobile Regional Airport officials have applied for a $600,000 federal grant
to pay for expansion of its ground station services program in hopes of enticing more
carriers to fly from here. The program was instrumental in luring American Eagle to
Mobile, the first time for American since 1996. American Eagle begins two daily round
trips to Dallas-Fort Worth in June. The Transportation Department designed the $20
million grant program to help small communities grow their airports and keep fares
competitive with those at bigger hubs. Mobile's average air fare of $467 in February was
$28 higher than the average in neighboring Pensacola and $66 higher than Gulfport's
average fare. Mobile is competing with 83 airports in 36 states to win the money.
(Source: Mobile Register, 05/05/05)
Topic: Site competition
WASHINGTON - Two sites on the Central Gulf Coast are among the four finalists for a
$600 million, 1,000-employees EADS North America aircraft plant. Mobile's Brookley
Industrial Complex in South Alabama and South Mississippi's Stennis International
Airport, near Stennis Space Center, made the final cut for the plant slated to be the final
assembly location for the KC-330 aerial refueler. The other sites are in Charleston, S.C.,
and Melborne, Fla. The finalists have three weeks to submit final proposals and a winner
will be chosen in June or July. Paris-based EADS, a Franco-German defense company, is
competing against Boeing to provide the next generation Air Force tanker. EADS is
expected to team up with Los Angeles-based U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman
for the tanker contract. Even if EADS fails to win, it plans to use the winning site for an
engineering center employing 100 people, company officials have said. (Source: press
releases, 05/05/05)
APRIL 2005
Topic: Proposed airport
BATON ROUGE, La. - A stalled plan to build a giant international cargo airport in
Donaldsonville received an unexpected boost Wednesday when the Chamber of Greater
Baton Rouge endorsed its $4.35 million legislative request this year. The Louisiana
Airport Authority, which oversees the proposed $4 billion project, will run out of funding
July 1. The proposed airport, known as the Louisiana Transportation Center, would be
built primarily on 25,000 acres between Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish and White
Castle in Iberville Parish. It also would extend into Assumption Parish. The airport is
expected to cost $4.4 billion, with the state responsible for $442 million. Initially, the state
would be required to put up approximately $100 million to purchase land for the facility.
(Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 04/28/05)
Topic: Contract competition
NEW ORLEANS, La. - NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans will
build a prototype of a new astronaut capsule if Lockheed Martin Space Systems wins a
contract for the work from the space agency late this summer. The work would position
the plant to build the production vehicle if Lockheed were to win the final competition to
build the Crew Exploration Vehicle, or CEV. Michoud employs about 2,000 workers.
Lockheed is leading one of at least two teams competing to build the CEV. NASA
managers plan to select two teams by September to build prototype CEVs. NASA plans to
choose a winner to build the CEV in late 2008. A high-tech welding machine at Michoud
may have played a key role in Lockheed's decision to build the prototype in New Orleans.
The machine is part of the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a consortium of
NASA, Lockheed and the University of New Orleans that was formed several years ago to
develop new high-tech manufacturing techniques. The center is housed inside the 832-
acre plant. (Source: Times Picayune, 04/21/05)
Topic: Facility growth
MOSS POINT, Miss. - The growth in the unmanned aerial vehicle market is expected to
create rapid expansion in product and employment at Northrop Grumman Integrated
Systems' Unmanned Services Center at Trent Lott International Airport, company officials
said. The center is expected to be completed in late December and begin production for
the Fire Scout and Global Hawk UAVs in January, company officials said during the
Jackson County Economic Development Foundation's quarterly meeting. The initial
activity is expected to employ 100 to 120 people at the center, but company officials said
they expect that to increase as new markets for the two UAVs open. In the 10 years that
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems has been involved with its UAV program, work
force for that division has increased from 35 to 2,000 employees, Navy Fire Scout
Program Director Douglas Fronius said. "It went from 250 to 2,000 in the last five years,"
he said. "We expect the same thing to occur here. We expect it to increase tenfold in the
next 10 years. This is going to be a very busy place." (Source: Mississippi Press,
04/15/05)
Topic: Site selection
MOBILE, Ala. - EADS North America Inc. will choose from 70 sites in 32 states for its
proposed $600 milllion, 1,150-worker aircraft engineering and assembly plant, the
company said Wednesday. EADS North America, a subsidiary of the Paris-based
European Aeronautic and Defence Co., is looking for an assembly site for its KC-330
aerial refueling tanker, and Mobile's Brookley Industrial Complex has been identified as a
front-runner for the project. EADS, the world's second-largest aerospace firm behind
Chicago-based Boeing Co., set a March 30 deadline for states to submit details of up to
three sites each. Alabama officials have confirmed that they offered sites at Brookley and
the Huntsville International Airport. The Chantilly, Va.-based EADS North America said
Wednesday it was evaluating the submissions and expected to send formal "request for
proposal" letters to no more than 20 sites by May 1. A spokesman for the company said
EADS plans to establish a "short list" of finalists by early fall and make its final selection
by the end of the year. (Source: Mobile Register, 04/14/05)
MARCH 2005
Topic: Award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - Northwest Florida Management of Fort Walton Beach is
being awarded a $6,619,833 fixed price incentive fee with award fee contract modification
to provide for F-16 Aircraft Flight Line Maintenance, for 14 aircraft. This effort supports
foreign military sales to Taiwan. The work will be complete by March 2006. The Air
Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting
activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 03/11/05)
Topic: New project
CRESTVIEW, Fla. - North American Turbines Inc., which overhauls and repairs turboprop
aircraft engines, will relocate here within two years. The company is moving from
Opalocka because of aging facilities and the difficulty obtaining permits to replace them,
and to be closer to military customers. Although it is expected to take 18 months to two
years to obtain a site and construct a building at the Okaloosa County Industrial Air Park,
the company expects to begin using a leased test facility here within a few months. The
company is a division of Seger's Aviation Inc. of Gibraltar. Crestview has two other
aerospace companies, Aerospace Integration Corp. and Crestview Aerospace Corp., that
do aircraft repair work for the military. (Source: Associated Press, 03/04/05)
FEBRUARY 2005
Topic: Site selection
BATON ROUGE, La. - Three Louisiana sites will compete for a $600 million production
center for an aerial refueling tanker and engineering center. European Aeronautic
Defense and Space Co. is shopping for a location for the KC-330 refueling tankers,
which it hopes will win a competition with Boeing. Louisiana, one of 41 states competing,
will pitch Chenault Airpark in Lake Charles, Belle Chase in New Orleans and the
Shreveport Regional Airport. Officials have until March 30 to submit formal proposals.
The final selection by EADS should take place by the end of 2005. EADS already
employs more than 300 people at its aviation maintenance center at Chenault. Even if
EADS does not win the Air Force contract, it plans to build at the winning location an
Airbus Aircraft Engineering Center. Other Gulf Coast sites in the running are in Hancock
County, Miss., and Mobile County, Ala. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 02/26/05)
Topic: New project
MOSS POINT, Miss. – An advanced version of the Global Hawk aerial reconnaissance
drone will be fabricated in a new, multimillion-dollar aerospace plant being built in Moss
Point. The decision by Northrop Grumman to expand the mission of the Moss Point plant
– originally designed to build only Fire Scout drone helicopters – means Jackson County
now has an even larger piece of a growing military technology. An estimated four to six of
the fixed-wing Global Hawks will be produced each year, though the number could go up.
Each Global Hawk is valued at $30 million. The expanded Northrop Grumman Unmanned
System Center at Trent Lott International Airport will cost $17.5 million and will provide
160 jobs. Northrop Grumman originally planned to perform final assembly of the RQ-8B
Fire Scout drone helicopter at a 39,000-square-foot facility at the airport and hire 40-60
people. Now Northrop Grumman wants a larger building – 105,000 square feet - to also
build the aluminum fuselage for the Global Hawk RQ-4B, a larger, more capable version
of the RQ-4A. (Source: The Sun Herald, 02/19/05)
Topic: New facility
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Rolls-Royce International Ltd. will spend $42 million to
open a jet engine test complex at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. The facility will
test large engines for performance, noise and other factors. Engines slated to be tested
are the Trent 900 and Trent 1000, used on Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The $42 million
will be spent to upgrade three mothballed buildings totaling 16,000 square feet and erect
a pedestal to test the engines. Testing will begin in 2007. Rolls-Royce is closing down the
testing operation in the United Kingdom because of encroachment issues. Rolls-Royce
also has a Naval Marine foundry in Pascagoula and later this month will hold a ribbon
cutting for its Propeller Center of Excellence. The center is designed to improve
production efficiencies across a range of marine products. (Source: The Sun Herald,
02/16/05)
Topic: Site selection
MOBILE, Ala. – Mobile and Huntsville will vie for a proposed $600 million, 1,150-worker
aircraft assembly plant being considered by EADS North America. EADS, a Paris-based
consortium of aerospace companies, last month launched a nationwide search for a
location to build KC-330 aerial refueling tankers for the Pentagon. The company is
bidding against Boeing Co. to land the tanker contract, currently estimated at $25 billion.
At least 30 states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, are expected to compete for the
project. (Source: Mobile Register, 02/11/05)
Topic: New project
MOBILE, Ala. – Singapore Technologies Ltd., parent company of Mobile Aerospace
Engineering, will announce in the near future plans to add a $90 million engine-repair
and testing facility in the United States. Mobile’s Brookely Industrial Complex is one of the
sites under consideration. Currently, the MAE facility refers engine repair work to
contractors out of state. The addition would mean 500 jobs. MAE’s Mobile operation is
also being considered for a $50 million maintenance hub that would service Airbus A380
aircraft. (Source: The Business View, 02/05)
JANUARY 2005
Topic: Site selection
Defense contractor EADS North America, which opened an American Eurocopter
production center in Columbus, Miss., last year and is building a $1 million service center
in Mobile, is on the prowl for another site. This one is for a plant to build the KC-330
aerial tanker. EADS is competing against Boeing to win the Air Force contract. The
winning site will be picked by the end of 2005 and must have a minimum 9,000-foot
runway, 1.5 plus million square feet of production/hangar/office space, access to rail and
road and capable of large volume transport to a deep-water port. The site will first be
used for a new Airbus Long-Range Aircraft Engineering Center beginning in early 2006
for commercial engineering work on A330/A340 jetliners and the new A350. If the KC-330
wins the tanker contest, the Military Modification and Assembly Line will cost $600 million
and create about 1,000 jobs. A Request for Information was issued to every state, and
Louisiana has already said it’s making a bid. EADS is holding an "information day" in
Washington D.C. Feb. 15. The Staubach Co. of Dallas is managing the site selection
process. (Source: EADS North America, 01/12/05)
Topic: Munition test
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – In a series of tests here in December, Lockheed Martin
demonstrated its Joint Common Missile (JCM) tri-mode seeker, designed to replace the
Longbow, Hellfire and airborne TOW missiles. The tests showed the ability of the missile
to acquire and track a Swedish Boghammar coastal patrol boat moving at up to 30 knots
at ranges of 1 to 6 kilometers – a typical, hostile patrol craft war fighters would likely
encounter in a littoral scenario. This test demonstrated simultaneous detection and
processing by two of the missile's three sensors: the imaging infrared and the millimeter
wave radar. The third sensor, the semi-active laser, gives the JCM precision-strike
lethality. In the fall of 2003 during a mock Marine amphibious invasion near Eglin, the
seeker successfully acquired and tracked large ships and amphibious landing craft at
day and night temperatures and at varying sea states. The JCM is a multi-target, multi-
service weapon with fire-and-forget capability designed for rotary-wing aircraft and F-18
attack-fighters. (Source: PRNewswire, 01/19/05)
Topic: Site selection
BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana is in the competition to land an aerial refueling aircraft
plant and an aircraft engineering center that could create more than 1,000 jobs. The
European Aerospace Defense System plans a North American Military Modification and
Assembly Line to produce the KC-330 advanced tanker aircraft. The site also will be the
location of a new Airbus Long-Range Aircraft Engineering Center. Airbus has design and
manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, and
subsidiaries in the United States, China and Japan. It’s an EADS joint company with BAE
Systems. The site must have an airport with a 9,000-foot runway; room for a 1.5 million
square-foot production hangar and office space; transportation infrastructure with access
to rail and road; a means of large-volume transport to a deep-water seaport; and the
ability to establish a cooperative relationship with a university or other institute of higher
education with a strong aerospace department and research capability. (Source: Baton
Rouge Advocate, 01/20/05)
Topic: Aerial tanker
MOBILE, Ala. - The Air Force wants to widen the capabilities of its aerial refueling
tankers, even if that means delaying a much-anticipated competition to build the new
planes until 2007, according to newly appointed Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne. The
Air Force had been expected to begin the formal competition for the tanker contract in
early 2006, saying that it needed the new planes as soon as possible to replace its aging
fleet of KC-135 refuelers. Wynne, however, said this week that federal budget pressures
and a desire for a more "flexible" fleet of tankers had caused Air Force officials to rethink
the requirements for its new planes. He said the Air Force now wants a plane capable of
carrying various combinations of fuel, cargo, troops and reconnaissance equipment.
(Source: Mobile Register, 12/03/05)
NOVEMBER 2005
Topic: Damage assessment UAV
KILN, Miss. – Building upon an earlier search mission using helicopter unmanned aerial
vehicles, engineering researchers from the University of South Florida are returning Nov.
28 to the Mississippi Gulf Coast with a small, radio-controlled aircraft to examine damage
to multi-story structures still vacant after Hurricane Katrina. Researchers will also be
testing new night-time optic and range sensors. The miniature helicopters were used on-
site in the aftermath of Katrina to carry out aerial surveillance of the damage. Like90
provided the battery-powered miniature helicopter that can operate up to 300 feet in the
air and in a 0.25 mile radius. Robin Murphy, director of the USF Center for Robot-
Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR), will lead the team. "Our first objective is to
provide photo-documentation of multi-story commercial structures along the Mississippi
Gulf Coast that can be used by the structural engineering community," said Murphy. "The
second objective is to develop the payloads and procedures needed to foster the
effective use of helicopters by the larger engineering community, including structural
engineers during the response and recovery, and for use by insurance adjusters."
Support will be provided by the Emergency Operation Center in Kiln, MS and Jackson
State University's National Center for Biodefense Communications. The team will be
based out of Kiln and operate in Biloxi and Gulfport. Research is sponsored by the
National Science Foundation in partnership with Jackson State University's National
Center for Biodefense Communications and NSF's Safety Security Rescue Research
Center, an industry-university cooperative research center. Murphy speculates that
inexpensive miniature helicopters designed specifically for structural disasters will likely
become commercially available in time for next year's hurricane season. (Source:
National Science Foundation, University of South Florida, 11/21-22/05)
Topic: Contract
MOBILE, Ala. - ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering Inc. was awarded a $38 million contract
to convert a pair of passenger jets into cargo carriers for the Royal New Zealand Air
Force. The deal to convert Boeing 757-200 airplanes into so-called "Special Freighters"
is the first Mobile Aerospace has landed since signing a licensing agreement with
Chicago-based Boeing Co. last year. Mobile Aerospace will convert two Boeing
passenger jets purchased by the New Zealand Ministry of Defence into multi-use
freighters capable of carrying different combinations of cargo, passengers and medical
evacuation teams. Mobile Aerospace has about 1,200 workers at its aircraft maintenance
and repair hub at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex, the largest private employer in
Mobile County. The company is owned by the Singapore-based Singapore Technologies
Ltd. That company and a partner, the government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd.,
signed a licensing agreement with Boeing last year to develop and sell the 757-200
Special Freighter. Boeing projects that the air cargo industry will need about 250 medium
standard-body freighters in the next 20 years, and that most of those will come from
passenger-to-freighter conversions. (Source: Mobile Register, 11/11/05)
Topic: Contract
MOSS POINT, Miss. - The Air Force awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $60 million
contract to begin production of the next five RQ-4B Global Hawk aerial reconnaissance
systems. They'll be built at Moss Point beginning next year. "We're making a significant
entrance into the world of aviation technology," said George Freeland, executive director
of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation. The new contract will allow
the company to start buying long-lead parts for the unmanned air vehicles. Northrop
Grumman is now producing five RQ-4B Global Hawks at the company's manufacturing
facility in Palmdale, Calif., as part of previous limited-production contracts. George
Guerra, the company's Global Hawk program manager, said these UAVs will be the first
Global Hawks with multiple intelligence-gathering capabilities, including signal
intelligence. The new version of the Global Hawk, which flies at 60,000 feet and can
remain over a target for 35 hours, is designed to carry 50 percent more payload than the
original RQ-4A. In a single mission it can provide near-real-time data for an area the size
of Illinois. Despite Hurricane Katrina, the company is on track to have the 104,000-
square-foot Unmanned Systems Center at Trent Lott International Airport finished and
tooled up by December. Employees will be doing portions of the work on both the fixed-
wing Global Hawk and the Fire Scout drone helicopter. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald,
11/08/05)
Topic: Hurricane
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Nine weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated eastern New
Orleans, the NASA plant where the space shuttle external fuel tank is built and coated
with insulating foam is once again "fully operational," the plant's general manager said
Tuesday. So now, the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co.-run Michoud Assembly
Facility is focused short-term on finding housing for nearly half of its 2,000 employees
and long-term on a possible May launch of the space shuttle. Lockheed Martin Michoud
Operations Vice President and General Manager Marshall Byrd said 600 Michoud
workers lost their homes in the storm and another 300 cannot return to their houses for
some time. A companywide Katrina relief fund set up for affected employees has raised
$4 million, he said. Byrd said Lockheed Martin Michoud expects to be a key part of the
city's recovery and revival. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 11/02/05)
OCTOBER 2005
Topic: Incentives
MOBILE, Ala. – State and local officials said the state of Alabama offered a package of
cash, in-kind services and other incentives worth almost $120 million to bring a $600
million, 1,150-worker aircraft engineering and assembly center to Mobile. The agreement
includes about $77.6 million worth of incentives to be paid by state government and
about $30 million split roughly equally between Mobile County and the city of Mobile.
Another $5 million will come from Baldwin County, with $7 million remaining to be settled
between state and local governments. Nearly 90 percent of the package – more than
$105 million – is contingent on EADS North America Inc. and Northrop Grumman Corp.
winning at least a share of a contract to assemble aerial refueling tankers for the U.S. Air
Force, and on hiring 1,150 workers in Mobile. At full employment, the project's annual
payroll would be $62.3 million, according to estimates from the state and companies
involved. The package averages $104,143 per job, according to state officials. Airbus
hired Mobile-based Thompson Engineering to handle construction engineering for the
project, and Birmingham-based Hoar Construction Co. to build the center. (Source:
Mobile Register, 10/26/05)
Topic: Tanker project
MOBILE, Ala. – Northrop Grumman Corp. named Mobile as the site of its proposed KC-30
production center. EADS North America and Northrop last month announced plans to
team up against Chicago-based Boeing Co. in the competition to build tankers for the U.
S. Air Force. Together they’ll employ about 1,000 aerospace workers at Brookley Field
Industrial Complex, contingent on winning a share of the tanker work. EADS, a subsidiary
of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., named Brookley in June as the site
of a 150-worker aircraft engineering center, and said it planned to add a 1,000-worker
aircraft assembly plant if it won the Air Force contract. Marty Dandridge, vice president
and KC-30 program director for Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector, said
picking Mobile was a natural. "We believe co-location with the airframe-manufacturing
facility has strong potential to streamline our manufacturing process as well as extend
Northrop Grumman's presence in the Gulf Coast states." (Source: Mobile Register,
10/25/05)
Topic: New courses
MOBILE, Ala. – Enterprise-Ozark Community College will use part of a $1.6 million grant
from the U.S. Labor Department to start an avionics training program at the college's
Mobile Aviation Center. The training will add to the current Mobile program, which
teaches people to work on airplane engines and airframes, and the training will enhance
the area's ability to support the proposed EADS North America Inc. assembly plant.
Matthew Hughes, the college's technical dean, said plans call for avionics classes to
begin in Mobile in fall 2006. Northrop Grumman Corp. and EADS have formed a
partnership to assemble and modify planes to be used as aircraft refueling tankers. The
deal is contingent on winning a military contract for the work. If successful, the pair could
employ as many as 1,000 workers at Mobile's Brookley Field Industrial Complex. State
officials have already said another arm of the two-year college system, Alabama
Industrial Development Training, will recruit and screen engineers for an Airbus
engineering center that will locate at Brookley. (Source: Mobile Register, 10/25/05)
Topic: New design
WASHINGTON – One of the two major competitors to build the next era of American
space vehicles unveiled its design model Wednesday. But executives with Northrop
Grumman Corp. and the Boeing Co., which are putting together a joint proposal to NASA,
said that their Crew Exploration Vehicle benefits from significant technological advances
not available for the old Apollo program. The new spacecraft is scheduled to take
astronauts and payloads to the international space station by 2012 and back to the moon
by 2018. The Northrop Grumman/Boeing design is of more than passing interest to New
Orleans because Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Space Systems unit is the other major
competitor for the new space vehicles. If it is the winning contractor, Lockheed Space
Systems might well do at least a portion of the work, if not the major construction, at the
Michoud Assembly Plant in New Orleans. The company already has said it will build much
of a prototype of the vehicle at the local plant. Potential sites for development of the new
spacecraft under Northrop Grumman/Boeing could include facilities in California,
Houston, central Florida and Huntsville, Ala. The vehicle is similar in appearance to the
Apollo spacecraft that lifted astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Though only slightly heavier, the proposed spacecraft will carry up to twice as many
astronauts as the three that traveled on Apollo and carry substantially more fuel, allowing
for longer space missions. The design incorporates redundant features allowing for the
safe return of astronauts even in the case of serious system failures. The spacecraft,
according to NASA specifications, must be designed so that it could be used for both
manned and unmanned missions. Lockheed executives are expected to discuss their
design efforts for the new NASA spacecraft in the next several days, according to
company spokesmen. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 10/13/05)
Topic: Appointment
PENSACOLA, Fla. – Ken Ford, chief executive officer of the Pensacola-based Florida
Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, was sworn in this month as a member of the
United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board in Arlington, Va. Retired Gen. Charles
Horner said Ford has a unique ability to see and define technology leaps that escape the
more conventional thinker. The SAB was established in 1947 as a link between the Air
Force and the civilian, scientific and engineering communities to promote the exchange
of the latest scientific and technical information that may enhance the Air Force mission.
Members of the SAB include scientists, engineers, and academicians primarily from the
nation’s universities, national laboratories, industry and retired military general officers.
(Source: IHMC, 10/07/05)
Topic: Partnership
MOBILE, Ala. - EADS North America Inc. said Monday that Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and
Westwind Technologies Inc. would join its bid to produce light utility helicopters for the U.
S. Army. The Army is soliciting bidders for a proposed $1.5 billion contract to supply more
than 300 helicopters, to be used primarily by the National Guard. Competitors for the
contract, expected to be awarded in April, include Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin
Corp. and Bell Helicopter, a Fort Worth, Texas-based subsidiary of Textron Inc. Adding
the Stratford, Conn.-based Sikorsky to its team "ensures that our offering ... is backed by
the undisputed leader in contractor logistics support for military rotary- wing aircraft,"
Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of EADS North America, said at
a news conference Monday in Washington. The Huntsville-based Westwind Technologies
operates the Army's Logistics Support Facility at Redstone Arsenal and specializes in
helicopter systems integration, engineering and program management. Crosby said
EADS has yet to determine a location for final assembly of its proposed UH-145
advanced helicopter but that facilities in Columbus, Miss., and Grand Prairie, Texas,
operated by its American Eurocopter subsidiary were among the sites being considered.
Overall program management for the UH-145 program will be directed by EADS North
America Defense, a business unit of Arlington, Va.-based EADS North America, the
company said in a news release. (Source: Mobile Register, 10/04/05)
Topic: Hurricane
NEW ORLEANS, La. - The spacecraft plant in eastern New Orleans crawled to life
Monday as a space shuttle external fuel tank slowly rolled from the barge that carried it
from Florida to a building at the Michoud Assembly Facility, where workers will begin
preparing it for the next shuttle flight. The moment marked a milestone in the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration plant that employed about 2,000 workers before
Hurricane Katrina and supplied the largest number of high-technology jobs in the city.
"That's very encouraging," said Tommy Kurtz, senior vice president of Greater New
Orleans Inc., the region's economic development organization. "It shows that even in an
actual catastrophe, a large plant can be up and running again," he said. With many
businesses in the region struggling to reopen after Katrina, major manufacturers such as
Michoud are quickly becoming the backbone of the area's economic recovery. The tank
left NASA's Kennedy Space Center six weeks ago on the barge but was quickly anchored
to avoid what was then Tropical Storm Katrina, which had formed off Florida's central
Atlantic coast. The five-day trip around the tip of Florida and across the eastern Gulf of
Mexico was further delayed as Katrina made a beeline for the central Gulf Coast. The
tank finally arrived at Michoud on Sunday. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune,
10/04/05)
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - BAE Systems Technical Services of Fort Walton Beach
was awarded a $12.7 million contract modification to provide for Operation and
Maintenance at the Eglin Test and Training Complex. Work will be complete December
2005. Headquarters Air Armament Center, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting
activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/03/05)
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - DTS Aviation Services of Fort Worth, Texas, was awarded
a $10 million contract modification to provide for aircraft backshop maintenance,
munitions, and equipment support for the Armament Center and for the Air Armament
and Command, Control Communications, Computers, and Intelligence Systems Testing
for a 12-month period. The location of performance is DTS Aviation Services, Eglin Air
Force Base. The work will be complete November 2006. The Headquarters 96th Air Base
Wing, Eglin Air Force Base, is the contracting activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/03/05)
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - BAE Systems Technical Services of Fort Walton Beach
was awarded a $7.9 million firm fixed price contract modification to provide for Perimeter
Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System. It will provide operations, maintenance
and logistical support to PARCS radar site and facilities at Cavalier Air Force Station, N.
D. This work will be complete September 2006. The 21st Space Wing, Peterson Air Force
Base, Colo., is the contracting activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 10/03/05)
SEPTEMBER 2005
Topic: Tanker project
Northrop Grumman Corp. confirmed it will join with EADS North America Inc. in a bid to
produce aerial refueling tankers for the Air Force. The partnership pits Los Angeles-
based Northrop and EADS, the North American subsidiary of the Paris-based European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., against Boeing Co. EADS in June named Mobile's
Brookley Industrial Complex as the site of a 150-worker aircraft engineering center. The
project could be expanded to include a 1,000-worker assembly plant if EADS can win at
least part of the Air Force contract. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is not expected
to decide for several months how the Air Force should go about replacing the fleet of
more than 500 tankers. Northrop said it would be the principal contractor and EADS
would be the main subcontractor. EADS has said it plans to build a factory at Brookley to
assemble the tanker from a version of its design for the Airbus A330 passenger jet.
Northrop would then convert the resulting plane, called a KC-330, for military use at a
facility yet to be determined, said Randy Belote, a Northrop spokesman. (Source: Mobile
Register, 09/08/05)
AUGUST 2005
Topic: Fuel tanks
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Two space shuttle external fuel tanks at Kennedy Space Center in
Florida will return to their New Orleans maker for more alterations before NASA launches
another orbiter, senior space agency managers said Thursday. The work will delay the
next shuttle launch until March at the earliest, said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate
administrator for space operations. The tanks will be sent by barge to the Michoud
Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans from Kennedy, where they have been for
months. No timetable has been set. The trip from Kennedy on Florida's central Atlantic
coast around the southern tip of the state and across the eastern Gulf of Mexico takes
about five days. (Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 08/19/05)
Topic: New executive
MOBILE, Ala. - Mobile County's largest private employer has a new boss. Joseph Ng is
the new president of ST Mobile Aerospace Engineering Inc., an aircraft maintenance and
repair provider that employs 1,300 workers at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex. Ng
was tapped for the job in May by Mobile Aerospace's parent company, the Singapore-
based Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd., and took office last month, according to
the company. He replaces former president Ronnie Koh, who resigned in February. Ng,
who began his career with Singapore Technologies in 1990 as an aircraft structural
engineer, has held a variety of positions within the company's aerospace division. Ng
comes to Mobile Aerospace at a critical time for the company, which is recruiting projects
that could double its work force. Mobile has positioned itself as a major player in the
aerospace industry. In June Brookley was named by EADS North America as the site of a
150-worker aircraft engineering center. The project could be expanded to include a
1,000-worker assembly plant if EADS can win at least part of a contract to build aerial
refueling tankers for the U.S. Air Force. Under Koh's direction, Mobile Aerospace was
pursuing a $90 million aircraft engine repair and testing facility and a $50 million
maintenance hub designed to service the Airbus A380, the world's largest passenger jet.
Airbus, like EADS North America, is a subsidiary of the Paris-based European Aeronautic
Defence and Space Co. (Source: Mobile Register, 08/14/05)
Topic: NASA outreach
MOBILE, Ala. – Alabama has the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, a major
government spending enterprise, in Huntsville. But many Mobile businesses don't take
advantage of the business opportunities there because the center seems so far away,
according to NASA officials. On Thursday NASA came to the Z Technology Center at
Hank Aaron Stadium to market itself to Mobile and teach local companies how to do
business with NASA. Tracy Lamm, a NASA government relations officer, said that NASA
does a very small amount of business with Mobile companies. "That's why we're here,"
Lamm told more than 100 area business leaders. "We're hoping to give you the
opportunity." NASA reaches out to about five business communities per year nationwide.
This year's cities included Kansas City, Mo.; Mizzoula, Mont.; New Orleans; Thomasville,
Ala.; and Mobile. A business can contract directly with NASA. Another approach would be
working with one of NASA's primary contractors, such as Boeing Co., ATK Thiokol,
Northrop Grumman Corp., Science Applications International Corp., or Jacobs Sverdrup.
About a quarter of all NASA contracts go to small businesses. (Source: Mobile Register,
08/12/05)
Topic: Anniversary
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Stennis Space Center in early August marked the
30th anniversary of shuttle engine tests at the South Mississippi facility. NASA astronauts
and project managers and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (formerly Boeing) officials were
on hand for an engine test that coincided with the celebration. Since the first test on May
19, 1975, the NASA and contractor team has conducted more than 2,200 tests on
SSMEs. The first test was in fact the culmination of a series of tests. Ten were conducted
in the first two months to help establish fuel preburner, oxygen preburner and main
combustion chamber ignition. Three years later, test teams at SSC were firing the main
propulsion test article – the three-engine cluster that helps propel the space shuttle into
orbit. The testing of the shuttle engines was significant for Stennis, which in 1971 saw the
end of testing of the Saturn V rockets used in the Apollo program. Most of the facility
virtually shut down at the end of the Apollo program. But in time it started staffing up to
test shuttle engines. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald, 08/11/05)
Topic: Missiles
STARKVILLE, Miss. – A missile defense system under development in Mississippi is
needed to deter the threat of "nuclear intimidation by some rogue nation's leader," Rep.
Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said. Wicker told a gathering of government, military, academic,
and defense-industry officials Friday that the Kinetic Energy Interceptors defense system
sought by the Pentagon represents "weapons of mass protection" in an uncertain world.
The system is being developed to destroy intermediate and long-range enemy missiles
during their most vulnerable boost-ascent phase of flight. The interceptors - with a top
speed of more than 12,000 miles per hour - are designed to track incoming missile
threats and destroy them with a non-explosive kinetic energy warhead. Northrop
Grumman is leading a $4 billion national effort to develop and test a land-based KEI
system for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. Under a $200,000 subcontract, Mississippi
State University engineers are determining effective ways to launch the defensive
missiles at sea. (Source: Associated Press, 08/12/05)
Topic: Sale
LAKE CHARLES, La. – EADS North America Inc. said it has completed the sale of an
aircraft maintenance facility in Lake Charles, La., to the Memphis-based Linden Street
Capital Corp. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. EADS Aeroframe Services Co.,
located at the Chennault International Airport, provides maintenance, repair and overhaul
for narrow and wide-body aircraft. EADS, a subsidiary of the Paris-based European
Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., chose to sell the business so that it could "focus on
core assets and services," according to a spokesman. The buyer has other holdings in
the aircraft overhaul industry and will keep the 130 current workers and operate under
the name Aeroframe Services, officials said. (Sources: Mobile Register, 08/11/05, The
Associated Press, 08/01/05)
Topic: Michoud
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The inability of the Michoud Assembly Facility to fix the space
shuttle's broken fuel tank has been a major setback for the eastern New Orleans plant
and its 2,100 workers. But according to several current and former NASA managers, the
problem doesn't appear to be a threat to future work for the plant. The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration remains committed to flying the orbiters through
2010 until construction of the international space station is completed. Michoud will need
to produce 15 to 22 tanks for those missions, NASA managers say. After that, the plant
also stands a good chance of building large portions of at least one of the next-
generation spacecraft being developed by NASA to carry astronauts and cargo to the
moon and eventually Mars. NASA Administrator Michael Griffin in recent months has
expressed interest in using the fuel tank and other shuttle components to craft the new
space vehicles, rather than building them from scratch. Michoud's future is important to
the region's economy because the plant supplies some of the highest-paying
manufacturing jobs in the area, with annual salaries averaging $65,000, according to its
operator, Lockheed Martin Space Systems. The plant generates about $130 million a
year in payroll and spends $22.9 million with subcontractors in Louisiana each year.
(Source: New Orleans Times Picayune, 08/07/05)
Topic: Acquisition
HARTFORD, Conn. - United Technologies Corp. has completed acquisition of
Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power from The Boeing Company. UTC had announced a
purchase agreement in February. Rocketdyne joins Pratt & Whitney’s space propulsion
business as part of the space launch industry. This new company will operate as Pratt &
Whitney Rocketdyne, and will be headquartered in Canoga Park, Calif. Pratt & Whitney
Rocketdyne will align its space power and energy segment with UTC’s Hamilton
Sundstrand unit. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne will operate two main sites in California and
West Palm Beach, Florida, with additional operations at NASA’s Kennedy, Marshall and
Stennis space centers. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne offers a complete line of propulsion
products, from boosters to upper stage engines, used in a wide variety of government
and commercial applications, including the Space Shuttle Main Engines, as well as the
propulsion systems for the Atlas and Delta expendable launch vehicles. Pratt & Whitney
and Hamilton Sundstrand are part of UTC, a diversified company based in Hartford Conn.
(Source: Press release, 08/03/05)
JULY 2005
Topic: Contract award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - Micro Systems Inc. of Fort Walton Beach was awarded a
not-to-exceed $12.2 million indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity multiple award contract
for the procurement of up to 731 AN/DSQ-50A Airborne Sets, including sensor and
telemetry downlinks. The Airborne Set is utilized in full scale and subscale aerial and
surface targets, which are used to evaluate capabilities of weapon systems and to train
weapon system operators. Work will be performed in Fort Walton Beach and is expected
to be completed in July 2014. (Source: DefenseLink, 07/20/05)
Topic: Contract award
NEW ORLEANS, La. - Lockheed Martin Space Systems has been awarded $28.2 million
by NASA to continue developing a design for a spacecraft that will replace the space
shuttle. NASA also awarded the same amount to a team of Northrop Grumman Corp. and
The Boeing Co. for a prototype crew exploration vehicle. If Lockheed wins the
competition, the company will build much of its prototype CEV at the Michoud Assembly
Facility in eastern New Orleans, where Lockheed makes external fuel tanks for space
shuttles. The CEV is expected to carry up to six astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit soon
after the Space Shuttle is retired in 2010, and then on to the moon as early as 2015.
(Source: NASA, 07/12/05)
JUNE 2005
Topic: Contract
MOSS POINT, Miss. - Northrop Grumman Corp., is being awarded a $15.2 million
modification to a previously awarded contract for two RQ-8B Fire Scout drone
helicopters. Most of the work will be performed in Elmira, N.Y. and San Diego, but 8
percent will be done in Moss Point. The work is expected to be completed in August
2008. Final assembly of the Fire Scouts will be done at the Northrop facility being built in
Moss Point. (Source: Biloxi Sun Herald, 06/30/05)
Topic: Engineering school
MOBILE, Ala. - University of South Alabama officials say they are glad to have EADS
North America as a new neighbor for the school's property at Brookley Field Industrial
Complex and a potential partner for the budding USA engineering program. USA
President Gordon Moulton speculated that USA's prized waterfront acreage could be
something EADS is interested in as it grows. But Moulton said the school has no plans to
give away any part of its Brookley campus to help the aviation giant expand. EADS North
America is building an aircraft engineering center at Brookley Field that would create 150
jobs by the time it opens in 2006. The 7-acre site for the engineering facility is adjacent
to the 300-plus acres owned by the university, which has its main campus in west Mobile.
Moulton said the university will press forward with its plans to expand the USA College of
Engineering and build a relationship mutually beneficial to the company and the school. U.
S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, has already promised to help USA secure $40
million in federal funding to expand its on-campus engineering facilities. Shelby said
Wednesday the EADS announcement makes that money all the more important.
(Source: Mobile Register, 06/25/05)
Topic: Site selected
MOBILE, Ala. – EADS North America chose Brookley Field Industrial Complex as the
location for a $600 million, 1,000-employee plant that will build KC-330 aerial tankers - if
the European company wins a bid to build the Air Force’s next generation refuelers.
Mobile won over sites in Hancock County, Miss., Melbourne, Fla., and Charleston, S.C.
Even if EADS fails to win the contract or if it’s kept out of the competition due to a "buy
American" effort in Congress, the company will still open an Airbus engineering facility at
Brookley that will employ 150 aerospace engineers. Bill Sisson, vice president of
economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, says the selection will
enhance an already existing cluster of aviation companies at Brookley. The plant will
likely get its employees from Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. (Source: Multiple,
06/22/05)
Topic: Global Hawk
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Northrop Grumman’s second RQ-4A Global Hawk Maritime
Demonstrator has successfully completed its first flight, a critical step forward in the U.S.
Navy's planned Maritime Demonstration program. The unmanned aerial vehicle, being
developed for the Navy and designated N-2, was launched autonomously from Northrop
Grumman's production facility in Palmdale, Calif. During the four-hour flight, it tested
accurately for air speed, altitude and direction. Under the Navy's Maritime Demonstration
program, two RQ-4A Global Hawks will serve as testbeds as the Navy determines the
unmanned aerial vehicle capabilities needed to patrol the open ocean as well as
coastline areas. The drones will be assembled at a Northrop facility being built in Moss
Point, Miss. (Source: Northrop Grumman, 06/13/05)
Topic: Global Hawk wing test
DALLAS, Texas – Vought Aircraft Industries Inc. has successfully tested to 100 percent
limit load its first enhanced wing for the U.S. Air Force's new RQ-4B Global Hawk
unmanned air vehicle produced by Northrop Grumman. This testing is designed to
simulate forces experienced due to specific "gust load" winds during a mission. The
enhanced wing is one of a number of system improvements prime contractor Northrop
Grumman is making to Global Hawk to accommodate an increased payload carrying
capability while maintaining current platform performance specifications. Vought is
scheduled to build seven production wings for the new RQ-4B model, with options for
future production lots of the new wing configuration. Vought has built two RQ-4B
prototype wings and is producing another article for testing ultimate loads. The wing is
130.9 feet long and weighs about 4,000 pounds. It will be the longest wing ever delivered
from Vought's Dallas facility. The drones will be assembled at a Northrop facility being
built in Moss Point, Miss. (Source: www.voughtaircraft.com, 06/11/05)
Topic: Michoud facility
NEW ORLEANS, La. – Sen. Mary Landrieu assured workers at NASA's Michoud
Assembly Facility Friday that the eastern New Orleans plant will stay busy even after the
space shuttle stops flying in 2010. The 58-acre plant operated by Lockheed Martin
makes external fuel tanks for the shuttle. Her comments came a week after NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin said the space agency is leaning toward developing a
shuttle-like cargo spacecraft that would use modified versions of Michoud's external fuel
tanks. On Monday NASA is expected to announce that Lockheed Space Systems will
build one of two prototypes of a next-generation spacecraft, the Crew Exploration
Vehicle. Much of the work on the prototype will occur at Michoud. About 60 of the plant's
workers will develop the manufacturing processes for constructing the vehicle, and some
of the vehicle's major structures will be built at the plant with the capsule assembled in
New Orleans. A second team led by Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing is also
expected to land a contract from NASA to build its own prototype. NASA plans to choose
a winner to build the vehicle in late 2008. If Lockheed Space Systems wins the
competition, Michoud could become the main factory for building the vehicle. (Source:
New Orleans Times Picayune, 06/11/05)
Topic: Site selection
Four states have now made their final pitches to EADS North America officials in a bid to
convince the company to locate a $600 million aircraft plant in their back yard. Mississippi
and South Carolina made their final offers Wednesday and Alabama and Florida made
theirs Thursday to land the 1,000-employee aerial tanker plant. Mississippi is proposing
the plant be at Stennis International Airport, near Kiln, while Alabama is proposing
Brookley Industrial Complex, near downtown Mobile. EADS is a subsidiary of the Paris-
based European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. The governor from each of those
states participated in the presentations. The company will announce a selection June 22.
(Source: Biloxi Sun Herald, 06/10/05)
Topic: Cargo project
BATON ROUGE, La. - The Louisiana Airport Authority attacked a report that undercut the
argument for a $4.4 billion cargo airport in Donaldsonville. That report, commissioned by
the state Department of Economic Development, said the location is too far west to be an
intercontinental hub and too far south to provide regional access to markets. It also said
nearby airports are already underutilized. But the LAA, created to promote the airport's
development, released a response questioning the earlier analysis. Among its findings,
the LAA said the report focuses only on air cargo, which it said would be only one
component of the facility; that much of the data on the potential market for air cargo were
incorrect or misread; and countered the contention that competition from Miami and other
locations would be too stiff. The LAA is seeking $4.35 million from the state to finance
commercial and environmental assessments necessary to continue the project. (Source:
Baton Rouge Advocate, 06/04/05)
Topic: Future work
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Stennis Space Center will play a key role in resuming
space flight and developing the successor to the space shuttle, new NASA administrator
Mike Griffin said during a visit here in his first official visit to Stennis since taking over in
April. He also painted a bright picture for the Michoud Assembly Facility in east New
Orleans, saying NASA is leaning toward developing a shuttle-like cargo spacecraft that
would use external fuel tanks built at the plant. Stennis Space Center, home to about 30
agencies, is the location where engines for the Space Shuttle are tested and Michoud,
operated by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, has built external fuel tanks for the shuttle
for 30 years. The trip came less than a month after Stennis was chosen as home to a
500-employee Shared Services Center, which will handle payroll, human resources and
information technology for all NASA field offices. (Source: Multiple, 06/03/05)
MAY 2005
Topic: Site visit
KILN, Miss. – Representatives from EADS North America wrapped up a series of visits to
potential sites for an aircraft plant with a stop at Stennis International Airport. EADS is
looking for a location to host a $600 million plant that will build the aerial tanker and
employ about 1,000 workers. The company hopes to compete against Boeing for the Air
Force contract. Even if EADS is barred from competing or fails to win the bid, it still plans
to use the facility as an engineering center employing 100 people. Other sites competing
for the project are Mobile, Ala., Melbourne, Fla., and Charleston, S.C. The company will
pick a winner by June 22. (Source: Multiple, 05/27/05)
Topic: Bond money
PASCAGOULA, Miss. - Jackson County supervisors Monday approved a resolution for
the final preparations for $11.5 million in obligation bonds for the construction of Northrop
Grumman Integrated Systems' Unmanned Systems Center at Trent Lott International
Airport. The center is expected to be completed in late December and begin production
for the Fire Scout and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles in January. Lynn Norris and
Sue Fairbank with McGlintchey Stafford, the county's bond consultant, told supervisors
the county can now proceed with validating the sale. Final paperwork will be signed later.
Landing the facility took around two years of negotiations between county economic
development leaders and Northrop Grumman. The facility will be one of the nation's
largest unmanned aircraft manufacturing facilities. (Source: Mississippi Press, 05/24/05)
Topic: Operation purchased
MOBILE, Ala. - A Florida aerospace company has purchased the former Goodrich Corp.
plant in Fairhope. Crestview Aerospace Corp. bought the 123,000-square-foot building
that sits on 57 acres at the H.L. "Sonny" Callahan Airport in Fairhope. Crestview
Aerospace makes sheet metal structures and parts for Bell Helicopter and Boeing,
Gulfstream, Lockheed and Vought aircraft. Company officials said new business
prospects, plus a need to expand manufacturing space to accommodate current orders,
necessitated the expansion. The aircraft parts manufacturer expected to start work on
the facility shortly. Initially, Crestview said it would hire about 100 new employees within
the next year. About 100 workers lost their jobs when Goodrich closed the plant in 2002.
(Source: Mobile Register, 05/21/05)
Topic: New project
MOBILE, Ala - Already a finalist for EADS North America Inc.'s $600 million, 1,150-worker
aerial tanker assembly and engineering center, Mobile is being considered by the
company for a second plant that could assemble cargo planes for the U.S. Army. EADS
said Tuesday that it's looking for an American site to build C-295 and CN-235 airplanes.
The planes are being evaluated by the Army as it looks to expand its cargo and transport
fleet. The Army is expected to award a $1 billion contract for 33 of the planes by late
2005. EADS is a subsidiary of the Paris-based European Aeronautic Space and Defense
Co. It’s teaming with Raytheon Co. in its bid to win the Army contract. Mobile and three
other sites being considered for the aerial tanker are also being considered for the cargo
planes. (Source: Mobile Register, 05/11/05)
Topic: Funds sought
MOBILE, Ala. - Mobile Regional Airport officials have applied for a $600,000 federal grant
to pay for expansion of its ground station services program in hopes of enticing more
carriers to fly from here. The program was instrumental in luring American Eagle to
Mobile, the first time for American since 1996. American Eagle begins two daily round
trips to Dallas-Fort Worth in June. The Transportation Department designed the $20
million grant program to help small communities grow their airports and keep fares
competitive with those at bigger hubs. Mobile's average air fare of $467 in February was
$28 higher than the average in neighboring Pensacola and $66 higher than Gulfport's
average fare. Mobile is competing with 83 airports in 36 states to win the money.
(Source: Mobile Register, 05/05/05)
Topic: Site competition
WASHINGTON - Two sites on the Central Gulf Coast are among the four finalists for a
$600 million, 1,000-employees EADS North America aircraft plant. Mobile's Brookley
Industrial Complex in South Alabama and South Mississippi's Stennis International
Airport, near Stennis Space Center, made the final cut for the plant slated to be the final
assembly location for the KC-330 aerial refueler. The other sites are in Charleston, S.C.,
and Melborne, Fla. The finalists have three weeks to submit final proposals and a winner
will be chosen in June or July. Paris-based EADS, a Franco-German defense company, is
competing against Boeing to provide the next generation Air Force tanker. EADS is
expected to team up with Los Angeles-based U.S. defense contractor Northrop Grumman
for the tanker contract. Even if EADS fails to win, it plans to use the winning site for an
engineering center employing 100 people, company officials have said. (Source: press
releases, 05/05/05)
APRIL 2005
Topic: Proposed airport
BATON ROUGE, La. - A stalled plan to build a giant international cargo airport in
Donaldsonville received an unexpected boost Wednesday when the Chamber of Greater
Baton Rouge endorsed its $4.35 million legislative request this year. The Louisiana
Airport Authority, which oversees the proposed $4 billion project, will run out of funding
July 1. The proposed airport, known as the Louisiana Transportation Center, would be
built primarily on 25,000 acres between Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish and White
Castle in Iberville Parish. It also would extend into Assumption Parish. The airport is
expected to cost $4.4 billion, with the state responsible for $442 million. Initially, the state
would be required to put up approximately $100 million to purchase land for the facility.
(Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 04/28/05)
Topic: Contract competition
NEW ORLEANS, La. - NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans will
build a prototype of a new astronaut capsule if Lockheed Martin Space Systems wins a
contract for the work from the space agency late this summer. The work would position
the plant to build the production vehicle if Lockheed were to win the final competition to
build the Crew Exploration Vehicle, or CEV. Michoud employs about 2,000 workers.
Lockheed is leading one of at least two teams competing to build the CEV. NASA
managers plan to select two teams by September to build prototype CEVs. NASA plans to
choose a winner to build the CEV in late 2008. A high-tech welding machine at Michoud
may have played a key role in Lockheed's decision to build the prototype in New Orleans.
The machine is part of the National Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a consortium of
NASA, Lockheed and the University of New Orleans that was formed several years ago to
develop new high-tech manufacturing techniques. The center is housed inside the 832-
acre plant. (Source: Times Picayune, 04/21/05)
Topic: Facility growth
MOSS POINT, Miss. - The growth in the unmanned aerial vehicle market is expected to
create rapid expansion in product and employment at Northrop Grumman Integrated
Systems' Unmanned Services Center at Trent Lott International Airport, company officials
said. The center is expected to be completed in late December and begin production for
the Fire Scout and Global Hawk UAVs in January, company officials said during the
Jackson County Economic Development Foundation's quarterly meeting. The initial
activity is expected to employ 100 to 120 people at the center, but company officials said
they expect that to increase as new markets for the two UAVs open. In the 10 years that
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems has been involved with its UAV program, work
force for that division has increased from 35 to 2,000 employees, Navy Fire Scout
Program Director Douglas Fronius said. "It went from 250 to 2,000 in the last five years,"
he said. "We expect the same thing to occur here. We expect it to increase tenfold in the
next 10 years. This is going to be a very busy place." (Source: Mississippi Press,
04/15/05)
Topic: Site selection
MOBILE, Ala. - EADS North America Inc. will choose from 70 sites in 32 states for its
proposed $600 milllion, 1,150-worker aircraft engineering and assembly plant, the
company said Wednesday. EADS North America, a subsidiary of the Paris-based
European Aeronautic and Defence Co., is looking for an assembly site for its KC-330
aerial refueling tanker, and Mobile's Brookley Industrial Complex has been identified as a
front-runner for the project. EADS, the world's second-largest aerospace firm behind
Chicago-based Boeing Co., set a March 30 deadline for states to submit details of up to
three sites each. Alabama officials have confirmed that they offered sites at Brookley and
the Huntsville International Airport. The Chantilly, Va.-based EADS North America said
Wednesday it was evaluating the submissions and expected to send formal "request for
proposal" letters to no more than 20 sites by May 1. A spokesman for the company said
EADS plans to establish a "short list" of finalists by early fall and make its final selection
by the end of the year. (Source: Mobile Register, 04/14/05)
MARCH 2005
Topic: Award
FORT WALTON BEACH, Fla. - Northwest Florida Management of Fort Walton Beach is
being awarded a $6,619,833 fixed price incentive fee with award fee contract modification
to provide for F-16 Aircraft Flight Line Maintenance, for 14 aircraft. This effort supports
foreign military sales to Taiwan. The work will be complete by March 2006. The Air
Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, is the contracting
activity. (Source: DefenseLink, 03/11/05)
Topic: New project
CRESTVIEW, Fla. - North American Turbines Inc., which overhauls and repairs turboprop
aircraft engines, will relocate here within two years. The company is moving from
Opalocka because of aging facilities and the difficulty obtaining permits to replace them,
and to be closer to military customers. Although it is expected to take 18 months to two
years to obtain a site and construct a building at the Okaloosa County Industrial Air Park,
the company expects to begin using a leased test facility here within a few months. The
company is a division of Seger's Aviation Inc. of Gibraltar. Crestview has two other
aerospace companies, Aerospace Integration Corp. and Crestview Aerospace Corp., that
do aircraft repair work for the military. (Source: Associated Press, 03/04/05)
FEBRUARY 2005
Topic: Site selection
BATON ROUGE, La. - Three Louisiana sites will compete for a $600 million production
center for an aerial refueling tanker and engineering center. European Aeronautic
Defense and Space Co. is shopping for a location for the KC-330 refueling tankers,
which it hopes will win a competition with Boeing. Louisiana, one of 41 states competing,
will pitch Chenault Airpark in Lake Charles, Belle Chase in New Orleans and the
Shreveport Regional Airport. Officials have until March 30 to submit formal proposals.
The final selection by EADS should take place by the end of 2005. EADS already
employs more than 300 people at its aviation maintenance center at Chenault. Even if
EADS does not win the Air Force contract, it plans to build at the winning location an
Airbus Aircraft Engineering Center. Other Gulf Coast sites in the running are in Hancock
County, Miss., and Mobile County, Ala. (Source: Baton Rouge Advocate, 02/26/05)
Topic: New project
MOSS POINT, Miss. – An advanced version of the Global Hawk aerial reconnaissance
drone will be fabricated in a new, multimillion-dollar aerospace plant being built in Moss
Point. The decision by Northrop Grumman to expand the mission of the Moss Point plant
– originally designed to build only Fire Scout drone helicopters – means Jackson County
now has an even larger piece of a growing military technology. An estimated four to six of
the fixed-wing Global Hawks will be produced each year, though the number could go up.
Each Global Hawk is valued at $30 million. The expanded Northrop Grumman Unmanned
System Center at Trent Lott International Airport will cost $17.5 million and will provide
160 jobs. Northrop Grumman originally planned to perform final assembly of the RQ-8B
Fire Scout drone helicopter at a 39,000-square-foot facility at the airport and hire 40-60
people. Now Northrop Grumman wants a larger building – 105,000 square feet - to also
build the aluminum fuselage for the Global Hawk RQ-4B, a larger, more capable version
of the RQ-4A. (Source: The Sun Herald, 02/19/05)
Topic: New facility
STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – Rolls-Royce International Ltd. will spend $42 million to
open a jet engine test complex at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center. The facility will
test large engines for performance, noise and other factors. Engines slated to be tested
are the Trent 900 and Trent 1000, used on Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The $42 million
will be spent to upgrade three mothballed buildings totaling 16,000 square feet and erect
a pedestal to test the engines. Testing will begin in 2007. Rolls-Royce is closing down the
testing operation in the United Kingdom because of encroachment issues. Rolls-Royce
also has a Naval Marine foundry in Pascagoula and later this month will hold a ribbon
cutting for its Propeller Center of Excellence. The center is designed to improve
production efficiencies across a range of marine products. (Source: The Sun Herald,
02/16/05)
Topic: Site selection
MOBILE, Ala. – Mobile and Huntsville will vie for a proposed $600 million, 1,150-worker
aircraft assembly plant being considered by EADS North America. EADS, a Paris-based
consortium of aerospace companies, last month launched a nationwide search for a
location to build KC-330 aerial refueling tankers for the Pentagon. The company is
bidding against Boeing Co. to land the tanker contract, currently estimated at $25 billion.
At least 30 states, including Louisiana and Mississippi, are expected to compete for the
project. (Source: Mobile Register, 02/11/05)
Topic: New project
MOBILE, Ala. – Singapore Technologies Ltd., parent company of Mobile Aerospace
Engineering, will announce in the near future plans to add a $90 million engine-repair
and testing facility in the United States. Mobile’s Brookely Industrial Complex is one of the
sites under consideration. Currently, the MAE facility refers engine repair work to
contractors out of state. The addition would mean 500 jobs. MAE’s Mobile operation is
also being considered for a $50 million maintenance hub that would service Airbus A380
aircraft. (Source: The Business View, 02/05)
JANUARY 2005
Topic: Site selection
Defense contractor EADS North America, which opened an American Eurocopter
production center in Columbus, Miss., last year and is building a $1 million service center
in Mobile, is on the prowl for another site. This one is for a plant to build the KC-330
aerial tanker. EADS is competing against Boeing to win the Air Force contract. The
winning site will be picked by the end of 2005 and must have a minimum 9,000-foot
runway, 1.5 plus million square feet of production/hangar/office space, access to rail and
road and capable of large volume transport to a deep-water port. The site will first be
used for a new Airbus Long-Range Aircraft Engineering Center beginning in early 2006
for commercial engineering work on A330/A340 jetliners and the new A350. If the KC-330
wins the tanker contest, the Military Modification and Assembly Line will cost $600 million
and create about 1,000 jobs. A Request for Information was issued to every state, and
Louisiana has already said it’s making a bid. EADS is holding an "information day" in
Washington D.C. Feb. 15. The Staubach Co. of Dallas is managing the site selection
process. (Source: EADS North America, 01/12/05)
Topic: Munition test
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – In a series of tests here in December, Lockheed Martin
demonstrated its Joint Common Missile (JCM) tri-mode seeker, designed to replace the
Longbow, Hellfire and airborne TOW missiles. The tests showed the ability of the missile
to acquire and track a Swedish Boghammar coastal patrol boat moving at up to 30 knots
at ranges of 1 to 6 kilometers – a typical, hostile patrol craft war fighters would likely
encounter in a littoral scenario. This test demonstrated simultaneous detection and
processing by two of the missile's three sensors: the imaging infrared and the millimeter
wave radar. The third sensor, the semi-active laser, gives the JCM precision-strike
lethality. In the fall of 2003 during a mock Marine amphibious invasion near Eglin, the
seeker successfully acquired and tracked large ships and amphibious landing craft at
day and night temperatures and at varying sea states. The JCM is a multi-target, multi-
service weapon with fire-and-forget capability designed for rotary-wing aircraft and F-18
attack-fighters. (Source: PRNewswire, 01/19/05)
Topic: Site selection
BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana is in the competition to land an aerial refueling aircraft
plant and an aircraft engineering center that could create more than 1,000 jobs. The
European Aerospace Defense System plans a North American Military Modification and
Assembly Line to produce the KC-330 advanced tanker aircraft. The site also will be the
location of a new Airbus Long-Range Aircraft Engineering Center. Airbus has design and
manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain, and
subsidiaries in the United States, China and Japan. It’s an EADS joint company with BAE
Systems. The site must have an airport with a 9,000-foot runway; room for a 1.5 million
square-foot production hangar and office space; transportation infrastructure with access
to rail and road; a means of large-volume transport to a deep-water seaport; and the
ability to establish a cooperative relationship with a university or other institute of higher
education with a strong aerospace department and research capability. (Source: Baton
Rouge Advocate, 01/20/05)
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