500th rocket compenent for Iuka

Orbital ATK announced that its Iuka, Miss., manufacturing plant had produced its 500th large composite rocket structure for United Launch Alliance (ULA) launch vehicles. Since the Large Structure Center of Excellence manufacturing plant was establishment 18 years ago, it has produced 68 Atlas V, 28 Delta II and 404 Delta IV large composite structures across 106 ULA launches. The 500th structure is a boat tail manufactured for a ULA Atlas V launch vehicle. Iuka facility workers “should all be proud of their contributions to ULA, the U.S. Air Force and the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.” said Steve Earl, VP/GM of Orbital ATK’s Aerospace Structures Division. (Source: Orbital ATK 04/21/16)

Drown accepts CAFB guidon

Air Force Colonel Charlan Poirson, commander of the 340th Flying Training Group at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, passed the command guidion of Columbus AFB’s 43rd Flying Training Squadron to Lt. Col. Brent Drown at an April 22 change of command ceremony in Columbus. (Source: Columbus AFB 04/22/16)

Funding proposed for UAS research

Mississippi’s Senate Appropriations Committee has tripled FY 2017 research funding for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) led by Mississippi State University’s Center Of Excellence. The committee gave the thumbs-up to $17.6 million – up from $5M last year. More than 100 aviation-industry partners provide matching funds to support COE research related to integrating UAS technologies. The FAA has oversight of the program. Additional proposed state funding provides $150 million for Essential Air Service (EAS) to subsidize air carriers serving Tupelo, Meridian, Hattiesburg/Laurel and Greenville; existing contract air traffic towers at Golden Triangle Regional, Greenville Municipal, Hawkins Field in Jackson, Meridian/Key Field, Olive Branch, Stennis International Airport and Tupelo Regional; and $2.1 billion to support the Space Launch System at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County. The appropriations must pass both chambers of the state legislature. (NE Mississippi Daily Journal “Opinion” 04/24/16)

PWD Meridian earns 3 top awards

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. –The Public Works Department at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., garnered three of the top five slots for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast’s 2015 Employee and Supervisors of the Year. PWD Meridian’s Brandon Maxwell, utilities energy management technician, was selected ‘Employee of the Year 2015 Tier I’ (GS11 and below) for support of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure program. PWDM’s James Coleman, water treatment plant operator, was selected ‘Wage Grade Employee of the Year’; and Matthew Copeland, facility sustainment branch head, was named ‘General Schedule Supervisor of the Year’. Another Gulf Coast PWD representative was NAS Pensacola, Fla.'s facility shop supervisor Frank Derise, who was also named a ‘Wage Grade Supervisor of the Year’ for his expertise in handling of a barracks project located at NAS-Joint Reserve Base New Orleans. (Source: Naval Facilities Engineering Command 04/20/16)

LM-100J work at Meridian

MARIETTA, Ga. - The first Lockheed Martin LM-100J commercial freighter aircraft has reached major production assembly milestones in Georgia, West Virginia and Meridian, Miss. Wing production has begun in Marietta, home of the C-130J Super Hercules final assembly line. Other structural parts are in production at Meridian and West Virginia plants. The LM-100J incorporates technological developments over existing L-100s. The LM-100J is the civil-certified version of Lockheed's C-130J Super Hercules. (PR Newswire 04/18/16)

AHI beefs up global talk for Lakota

Airbus is beefing up international marketing, and seeking orders, for its UH-72A Lakota helicopter, and production facility at Columbus, Miss. Airbus Helicopters Inc. has been building the “helos” for the Army for nearly a decade, but those orders are scheduled to end in 2019. Without 15-to-20 new production orders annually, the Columbus plant could run out of business. There is some down-the-road speculation that AHI may pitch a military variant of its H145 commercial helicopter as a future replacement for the UH-72A Lakota. (Source: National Defense 04/13/16)