Politicos, AE rally for Lakotas

Mississippi’s political powerbrokers rallied with the leadership of EADS North America at its American Eurocopter subsidiary in Columbus on Thursday to asking Congress to restore FY-14 funding for the production of the Army's highly adaptable UH-72A Lakota helicopter. The Columbus-based AE plant produces Lakota’ for use in a wide range of roles for the Army, Army National Guard and Navy at a unit cost of just $5.5 million each. The UH-72A has been cited by the Defense Department as a model defense acquisition program. DoD proposed 31 fewer helos than the Army wanted; and effectively ending Lakota production by the end of 2014. Source: Marketwired, May 30, 2013.http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mississippians-call-congress-restore-funds-195842862.html

 

Mississippi misses Top 10 furlough list

Although the Defense Department’s furloughed-worker numbers in Mississippi didn’t land the state in the Top 10 of the most-affected states list, Mississippi’s adjutant general says the hardest-hit area will be in Jackson where 1,400 civilians work at the Mississippi National Guard headquarters. Elsewhere across the state, some 5,500 DoD civilians will begin 11 days of forced, unpaid leave on July 8. DoD is furloughing about 680,000 civilians across America. The Magnolia State’s next door neighbor, Alabama, ranks No. 7 on the most-affected states list with 22,600 furloughs and an estimated economic impact in lost wages of about $74 million. Florida is No. 6 with an impact in lost wages of about $94 million from 28,500 workers. Source: The Associated Press and Bloomberg News, May 29-30, 2013.

State of NE Mississippi business development

Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn of Clinton will be the keynote speaker at Friday's 'State of the Region Meeting' hosted by Northeast Mississippi’s CREATE Foundation, a 16-county non-profit community development organization. The meeting in Tupelo, on the future of Northeast Mississippi, begins at 9:30 a.m. in the BancorpSouth Conference Center. Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins will discuss economic development in the Columbus, Starkville and Lowndes County areas. Source: The Associated Press, May 28, 2013.

MSU’s first A-A dean of engineering

The former chair of the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Syracuse (NY) University, Achille Messac, has been named dean of Mississippi State University’s College of Engineering. He is the first African-American to ever hold that post at MSU. Dr. Messac holds three degrees – including a PhD - from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. Source: The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, May 24, 2013.

Researchers gather at MSU to explore composites

University and transportation researchers gathered for a conference at Mississippi State University to explore – and overcome barriers using composite materials – in the development of revolutionary technology design in the production and use of land, air and sea vehicles. Composites, which literally are the fuel of modern vehicle systems, make transportation modes efficient, retired Maj. Gen. James O. Poss, director of strategic initiatives for MSU's High Performance Computing Collaboratory, told participants from Alabama, Colorado, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. After presentations, Ratan Jha, director of the MSU’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, suggested a long-term partnership among stakeholders to consider forming an Industry and University Cooperative Research Program, with MSU as lead, with seed-money being provided by the National Science Foundation. Source: Mississippi State University, May 22, 2013.

L-3 earns Colombian contract

L-3 Communications (N.H.) and its distributor, Aviation Specialties Unlimited (Idaho), recently were awarded a $42 million contract from the nation of Colombia in which L-3 will provide fully-assembled night-vision goggles, spare parts, tooling and test equipment. Its successful bid was supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Advocacy Center. The award will help increase U.S. exports and support American jobs. L-3 won the contract over foreign competitors Photonis (France), EO Systems (South Korea) and Meprolite (Israel). Source: Department of Commerce, May 22, 2013. [Gulf Coast Note: L-3 Communications has Gulf Coast connections at its Systems Field Support of Madison, Miss.; Aerospace Crestview (Fla.); and L-3 Huntsville (Ala.) Operations.]

Mississippi researchers earn innovation awards

A pair of Vicksburg area researchers with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center were recognized for their contributions to the Army’s selection as a 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators Award. Bart Durst of Clinton and Toney Cummins of Vicksburg, both with the ERDC’s Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, were named two of the top 20 inventors in the Army for 2009-11. Durst’s research – including within Geosciences – has focused on blast protective cement or composite products that provide force protection to Army combat units. Cummins works in diverse areas that include providing technical guidance and oversight to new and emerging research programs. Source: Clinton (Miss.) News, May 15, 2013.

Contract: L-3, $53M

L-3 Communications, Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $53,002,714 indefinite-delivery requirements contract for logistics services support of the TH-57 aircraft fleet. Services to be provided include repair and/or overhaul of aircraft, engines, avionics and related components. Work will be performed at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Milton, Fla., and is expected to be completed in June 2014. This contract was competitively procured via electronic request for proposals; five offers were received. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 05/23/13)

Diversity business initiative with state universities

The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning announced a Mississippi Public University Minority Economic Opportunity Initiative on May 15 to facilitate diversity in the procurement processes between the state’s eight universities and minority businesses. The MPUMEO initiative gives both universities and minority businesses tools to ensure minority businesses have opportunities in the bidding process. Also, in the announcement, the BOT contracted with Where2Go411.com, a web-based platform that connects vendors and buyers through its quote feature. While any business can be listed on the website, minority businesses are recruited for inclusion. Source: Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, May 15, 2013.

1st woman dean to lead MSU’s grad school

Lori Mann Bruce, the associate dean of Mississippi State University’s College of Engineering, is to become the first woman in MSU history to be named associate vice president for academic affairs and graduate school dean at MSU, pending Board of Trustees approval. Bruce is to succeed the retiring Louis D'Abramo. Both are William L. Giles Distinguished Professor(s), MSU's highest faculty rank. Bruce holds a doctoral degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Source: Mississippi State University, May 15, 2013.

 

AE to be named LINK’s industry of year

Mississippi’s American Eurocopter helicopter production facility in Columbus, which has built Lakota UH-72A helicopters for the Army and National Guard for 10 years, will be the recipient of the first regional ‘Industry of the Year’ award from region's economic development organization, Golden Triangle Development LINK, at an awards ceremony May 30. AE employs 320 workers, nearly half of which are military veterans. LINK is the regional economic development organization for Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. Source: WTVA-TV, May 16, 2013.

Contractor crushed aboard Columbus AFB

A Columbus, Miss., contract worker was killed in an accident while working a runway project onboard Columbus Air Force Base on Wednesday. Lowndes County authorities say the 24-year-old was among a group of contractors, from R.C. Construction of Greenwood, cleaning a concrete finishing machine when the man’s safety vest caught on the equipment pulling, and crushing him, into the machine. The contract with the AF was for unearthing and replacing nearly the entire center runway on base. That project is expected to be completed in September. Source: The Associated Press, May 16, 2013.

EADS NA boss: Army not buying more Columbus-built Lakotas

EADS North America’s CEO penned an editorial on the Defense News website claiming the US Army won’t be purchasing any more of the firm’s American Eurocopter-produced Lakota helicopters, built in Columbus, Miss. That decision, says Sean O’Keefe, puts EADS NA’s Lakota at risk as an option for the Army’s next-generation Armed Aerial Scout. [See previous article on this site.] Army officials had no comment on the editorial, but it and the National Guard are looking for other options for the the AE-produced UH-72A, O’Keefe penned. Source: Agence France Presse, May 13, 2013.

AE-Columbus helo being considered for new AAS development program

The U.S. Army is in the midst of deciding whether to catapult its Armed Aerial Scout (AAS), extend the life of its current Bell OH-58D/F Kiowa Warrior AAS helicopter or develop a new program altogether. If the Army goes forward with AAS, it will be a new development program, the military deputy for acquisition told a congressional subcommittee on May 8. Aerospace firms, including EADS North America’s AAS-72-X/X+ which is produced at its American Eurocopter plant located within the Golden Triangle region of Columbus, Miss., provided flight demonstrations of the helicopters for the Army in 2012. The East Mississippi plant opened in 2004 and currently has 300 employees – half of which are military veterans. The Army’s deputy chief of staff told the subcommittee that decision plans would be made in late summer or early fall as to whether to recommend new-development for AAS or keep extend the Kiowa helicopter. Source: Aviation Week, May 10, 2013.

MSU pushing envelope in business app education

Mississippi State University and the CREATE Foundation is making available an MSU web application-development course – with a business-oriented entrepreneurship context - between high school district students in Lee, Pontotoc and Union counties in an effort to enhance the state’s educational system. The program is part of a $50M endowment from Toyota. MSU is the second university in the world (Stanford was first) to offer such courses that can be adapted for iPhones and android phones. Four students already selected for the inaugural class have advanced technological skills. MSU has a growing reputation in economic research. Source: Northeast Mississippi editorial, May 12, 2013.

MSU finalist for Phi Beta Kappa chapter

Mississippi State University President Mark Keenum let the cat out of the bag with an announcement in a Tupelo newspaper that the school is among the finalists for earning a chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honorary society. Finalists will be screened by the selection committee over the next two years. Source: The Associated Press, May 9, 2013.

GTRDA emerging from tire-plant deal

The landing of a major manufacturer for the employment-starved areas of West Point and Clay County, with state assistance and incentives, is a positive sign of regionalism-development among communities within the Golden Triangle of Mississippi. The Yokohama tire plant promises 500 jobs, and potentially 2,000 total, impacting the economy for years. In a sidebar to Friday’s announcement, the quickly-expanding GTR Development LINK is going to propose to the legislature the establishment of a new 3-county, business-recruitment group called Golden Triangle Regional Development Authority. Source: Northeast Mississippi News, May 10, 2013.

Mississippi lays welcome mat to FAA for UAV research

Mississippi has laid out a proposed welcome mat for the Federal Aviation Administration to choose the ‘Magnolia State’ - over 36 others – for its experience, existing facilities and available air space to conduct congressionally-mandated, non-commercial researchers to integrate air traffic testing for unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). The state submitted its proposal May 6. The state boasts of aerospace firms working in the arena – Northrop Grumman’s Moss Point assembly plant; Stark Aerospace and Aurora Flight Sciences near Columbus; Mississippi State University’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory in Starkville; Stennis Space Center; and Camp Shelby's decade of experience in safely operating drones. Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International estimates the UAV industry could lead to more than 70,000 jobs in the first three years after the FAA allows commercial operations. Source: The Associated Press, May 7, 2013.

Eaton garners $25M helo-parts contract

Eaton Aerospace of Jackson, Miss., was the recipient of a $25,021,735 modification to a previously awarded contract for the procurement of hydraulic parts in support of the CH-47 helicopter program for the Army. FY-13 purchasing funds are being used. Source: Defense Department, May 7, 2013.

USM tech center adds GEA as client

The University of Southern Mississippi’s commercial technology center is adding three new tenants to the fold: GE Aviation, Radiance Technologies and Vatican Capital. GEA, which recently opened aircraft plants in Alabama and Mississippi (at Ellisville), is leasing space at ‘The Accelerator’ and working with Mississippi Polymer Institute and Jones County Junior College to produce business-training, safety, basic math, blue print reading and team training programs. Source: Mississippi Business Journal, May 7, 2013.

Mississippi gearing up for potential BRAC round

Mississippi has placed $2 million at the ready for military communities just in case there will be another round of Base Realignment & Closure Commission (BRAC) hearings. The last BRAC go-around in 2005 shut down Pascagoula Naval Station and a Meridian Air National Guard wing. President Obama’s budget calls for a new round of BRAC for 2015. Former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus, now serving as Navy secretary, says the sea-service doesn’t have much room for base reductions – good news for Meridian Naval Air Station; but that’s not the case for the Air Force – which is non-so-good news for the Golden Triangle’s Columbus AFB. Source, Mississippi Business Journal, May 3, 2013. [Meridian’s efforts to stave off BRAC: MB Journal May 3.]

Spears to lead AE’s Columbus facility

Long-time Sikorsky Aircraft executive Mike Spears has been named senior director of Columbus, Miss.-based American Eurocopter’s Lakota helicopter production facility. AE builds Lakota helicopters for Army and National Guard aviation units. It delivered its 250th helo in April. Spears succeeds Fred Gerard, who took a post with Airbus at its under-construction aircraft assembly facility in Mobile, Ala. Source: The Associated Press, May 4, 2013