Army contracts for Mississippians

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace of Madison, Miss., was awarded a $48,212,171 contract for Army aviation maintenance services on Feb. 26 that are to be performed at Savannah, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; and Fort Campbell, Ky., according to the Defense Department’s contract website. The estimated completion date is July 28, 2013.

EADS–North America of Herndon, Va., was awarded a $15,355,212 Army contract Feb. 27 to provide for the modification of an existing award to procure Contractor Logistics Support in Columbus, Miss., according to the DoD contract website. The completion date on the contract is Dec. 31, 2013. The Army’s Redstone Arsenal, Ala., was the contracting activity for both awards. Source: Defense Department, Feb. 26-27, 2013.

Atlanta air hub may affect Southeast flights

Atlanta and Chicago, the nation’s busiest pair of airports, may have to close runways and limit arriving flights if automatic budget cuts place air-traffic controllers on furlough beginning March 1, Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta told the House aviation subcommittee Feb. 27. Huerta forecasted that, along with the Houston airport, runways would likely have to be limited thereby reducing hourly flight arrivals by 37 percent. Republicans said the FAA could find other ways to move funds in its budget. Earlier this month, the FAA said it may have to close more than 200 FAA towers. Among the 200 sites mentioned, the FAA listed at least seven Mississippi airports - Golden Triangle Regional Airport at Columbus, Jackson’s Hawkins Field, Meridian’s Key Field, Tupelo Regional and the Olive Branch Airport. Source: Bloomberg News Service, Feb. 27, 2012.

Briner takes reins of Columbus AFB's 43rd

Lt. Col. Richard Briner has become the new command of the the 43rd Flying Training Squadron at Columbus (Miss.) Air Force base following a change of command Feb. 15. Prior to taking the squadron’s top spot, Briner was previously the 43^rd’s operations officer. The squadron executes the Air Education and Training Command/Air Force Reserve Command Associate Instructor Pilot (IP) Program; and provides Active and Traditional Guard Reserve IPs to augment the cadre of active duty pilots conducting training. Source: Columbus AFB, Feb. 22, 2013.

AE’s new helo to make Las Vegas premier

American Eurocopter’s new oil-and-gas industry transport helicopter (EC175) arrived last week at the firm’s Grand Prairie, Texas, headquarters straight from the production line in Columbus, Miss. The EC175 will be show cased March 5-7 at the Heli-Expo helicopter industry convention in Las Vegas. AE is he American affiliate of Eurocopter, the largest helicopter manufacturer in the world, and a subsidiary of EADS North America. Source: American Eurocopter, Feb. 22, 2013.

Fed budget cuts may shut Miss. control towers

Automatic federal budget cuts could shut down control towers at seven Mississippi airports including the Golden Triangle Regional Airport at Columbus which also could possibly affect Columbus Air Force Base’s training aircraft missions based there, according to the airport’s executive director. Among some of the other North Central Mississippi airports that could be affected as soon as March 1 are Jackson’s Hawkins Field, Meridian’s Key Field, Tupelo Regional and the Olive Branch Airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Source: The AP, Feb. 22, 2013.

Free STEM conference in Jackson

Science, Technology and Math (STEM) awareness and education will be the theme of a free networking and collaboration event March 22 at the Jackson, Miss., Convention Center. The 5th annual ‘Lockheed Martin Information Technology Day’ is a day-long event designed to encourage IT education and awareness among industry, academia and the community. The event is open to the public. Information available at http://www.itdaymississippi.org/. Source: Mississippi Business Journal, Feb. 15, 2013.

Contract: L-3, $57.1M

L-3 Communications Corp., Madison, Miss., was awarded a $57,141,401 firm-fixed-price contract. The award will provide for the Life-Cycle Contractor Support maintenance for the Army's fleet of C-12, RC-12 and UC-35 fixed-wing aircraft. Work will be performed in Madison, Miss., with an estimated completion date of Jan. 31, 2014. The Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/08/13)

Golden Triangle students impress NASA engineers

A pair of experienced NASA engineers, both of whom are leaders of the current Curiosity rover mission to Mars, were impressed Tuesday at Mississippi State University with a showcase of robotic creations of Golden Triangle students at the Mississippi Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology (BEST) program. Source: WTVA-TV [Tupelo-Columbus, Miss.] Jan. 29, 2013.

Columbus’ Aurora opens new aerospace facility

Aurora Flight Services of Columbus, Miss., officially opened its new 30,000 square foot commercial aerospace composites manufacturing operations Jan. 7 at the Golden Triangle Regional Airport. The new facility will allow AFS to increase operations and represents an investment of $17 million and 250 new jobs. The Mississippi Development Authority provided a loan to Lowndes County for the construction. Source: Mississippi Governor’s Office, Jan. 7, 2012.

Link on the move for Golden Triangle

Mississippi’s Golden Triangle Development Link members met Wednesday at East Mississippi Community College to organize and tout the quickly-moving benefits of the regional partnership and spread its thinking globally, according to Link CEO Joe Higgins. Former Mississippi State University President Dr. Mac Portera told attendees that technology would be the new currency in the future and that the aerospace and automotive industries – which he expects the current 70-30 percent mechanical-technology base be reversed in five years -- are ripe for growth in the state. Source: Columbus [Miss.] Dispatch, Dec. 20, 2012.

Governor reaffirms support for aviation industry

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, speaking at a General Electric Aviation Suppliers Symposium on Tuesday at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, reaffirmed the state’s commitment to the aerospace industry and continuing efforts to educate its citizenry as a work-force supplier. GE Aviation has two aerospace industry plants in Mississippi, the second of which is at Ellisville and is projected to open in 2013. The new facility will join GEA’s Batesville factory, which opened in 2008 and manufactures advanced composite components for aircraft engines and systems. GE Aviation expects to invest $150 million in the two locations by the end of the decade. Source: University of Mississippi, Dec. 4, 2012.

MSU aerospace team to compete in NASA launch initiative

A team of Mississippi State University students will join organizers of the 7th annual NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) – along with Vanderbilt and other American universities’ aerospace inventions – to soar over the Marshall Space Flight Center in northern Alabama on April 21. In all, 36 teams will compete for the $5,000 first-place prize to be awarded by ATK Aerospace Group of Salt Lake City. Teams will design and build high-powered rockets with working payloads capable of flying to a altitude of one mile. NASA created the rocketry challenge to encourage young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) related fields. Source: Vanderbilt University School of Engineering, Nov. 30, 2012.

GE Aviation buys Ohio firms

GE Aviation, the world's top producer of jet engines for commercial and military aircraft with manufacturing plants in Batesville and Ellisville, Miss., has bought two suburban Cincinnati, Ohio, manufacturing technologies’ firms that make lightweight parts for unmanned aerial vehicles to hip replacement prototypes in the medical-business world. Morris Technologies and its sister firm, Rapid Quality Manufacturing, have been a GE Aviation, GE Power Systems and Global Research Center supplier for years. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Source: Cincinnati (Ohio) Business, Nov. 20, 2012.

Columbus plant to produce more Army helos

EADS North America was awarded a U.S. Army contract for 34 more UH-72A ‘Lakoda’ helicopters – to be built at its Columbus, Miss., plant, according to a release from the company. The contract option was for $181.8 million which would bring the total number of helicopters under contract for delivery to 312. The Army plans to buy 347 Lakotas through 2016. The Columbus plant delivers an average of five of the helicopters per month. The same production line would produce the firm’s armed Lakota derivative (AAS-72X+) for the Army’s Armed Aerial Scout helicopter program. Source: EADS North America, Nov. 14, 2012.

National labs gather with Mississippi’s researchers

‘National Lab Day’ gave three American groups and four Mississippi universities’ research teams the opportunity Thursday to learn about new pathways and collaborative efforts to advance solutions on issues such as developing an electrical grid that repairs itself to designing safer military vehicles. Officials from Oak Ridge, Argonne and Lawrence Berkeley national labs and Mississippi’s four research universities met to draw on their expertise and interaction to tackle the nation’s needs. Source: Daily Journal, Nov. 9, 2012

GTR Airport scores with passengers

Columbus’ (Miss.) Golden Triangle Regional Airport saw a 13 percent jump in its passenger numbers in October, the single highest total (8,000) in 10 years, the airport’s executive director says, likely an indicator of a strengthening to East-Central Mississippi’s economy. The airport serves northeast Mississippi and west Alabama. Source: WVTA-TV Columbus, Miss., Nov. 8, 2012.

Fla. county buys Columbus-built helos

Brevard County, Fla., has bought two Columbus, Miss.-built American Eurocopter helicopters - dubbed the ‘Squirrel’ - that it plans to utilize for mosquito control, firefighting and herbicide application. Brevard has been experiencing a 250 percent increase in mosquito breeding over the past two years. The AS350 AStar aircraft are scheduled for delivery in July 2013. Source: Helicopter Association International, Oct. 31, 2012.

L-3 garners $34.6M aviation maintenance contract

L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace of Madison, Miss., was awarded a $34,689,207 contract Oct. 26 for maintenance support services for T-1A, T-6A, and T-38C aircraft at Columbus AFB, Miss. Work is expected to be completed by Sept. 29, 2019. Source: Defense Department, Oct. 26, 2012.

Golden Triangle firms may bid on AF helo

The Air Force has issued a request for proposals for 112 new Combat Rescue Helicopter and interested firms – based on a September industry sign-up sheet – include AgustaWestland, Boeing, Dayton, GE Aviation, L-3 Communications, Lockheed Maritn, Northrop Grumman, Sikorsky and EADS North American’s American Eurocopter, which makes SAR and medical helicopters at its Columbus, Miss., plant. However, money-crunchers at the Pentagon have capped the Jan. 3 due date for bids at $6.8 billion which may cause firms to think twice because of past failures in the bidding process. Source: Defense News, Oct. 28, 2012.     

Research park not in jeopardy, MSU official says

Mississippi State University’s vice president for Research and Economic Development claims that the closure of one firm from the Thad Cochran Research Park in Starkville isn’t an indication that the entire aerospace research park is in jeopardy. However, the VP’s concern presently is how the closure affects MSU, which owns some of the technology developed by SemiSouth; and reaching an agreement that the university may be able to retain some of those employees. Source: Columbus (Miss.) Dispatch, Oct. 23, 2012.