Beyond Shipbuilding 1-3 Space Ventures 4 Innovative Spirit 5 Quick Hits 6 2Nd Quarter Briefs 7
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MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST ALLIANCE FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT July 2011 - Volume V Issue II aerospace ∙ advanced materials ∙ shipbuilding ∙ geospatial ∙ marine science Inside this Issue: Beyond Shipbuilding 1-3 Space Ventures 4 Innovative Spirit 5 Quick Hits 6 2nd Quarter Briefs 7 The Alliance is an independent partnership serving the six Mississippi counties nearest the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond Shipbuilding Hancock Development Composite deckhouse for the DDG 1000 Zumwalt class ship. Photo courtesy of Ingall's Shipbuilding Commission they do it. And it is impressive. Harrison County Technology has changed the way ships are built, and one They build huge composite structures for Development Commission Navy ships, including components for the facility eyeing the future is next generation DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class Jackson County Ingalls’ Gulfport operation… destroyer. And one thing that will really get Economic Development Jenkins talking is a discussion about new Foundation Jay Jenkins is quite enthusiastic when ventures the company is eyeing. he takes a visitor around the facilities How about wind blade construction and Mississippi Power Company at Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Gulfport repair, or bridges and roadway sections? Operations. The site director of the None of that is too far afield. And, as if to company’s Composites Center of drive home the point, not long ago the team Excellence takes pleasure showing what in Gulfport built an emergency escape they do in Gulfport, and explaining how composite fairing for the crew capsule (Beyond Shipbuilding continued, page 2) Copyright 2010-2011, Alliance Insight Beyond Shipbuilding (continued from page 1) of the now-defunct Constellation Program. But that is shipbuilding - of the spaceship variety. “I’m very excited about the future, because of the capabilities and the folks that we have working here. This is a world-class facility. We’re the only ones that can build marine carbon fiber composites in the size that we build them. Nobody else in the world can do that.” The Gulfport operation has been building composite parts for ships for a long time, but Jenkins sees a lot of new fields on the horizon. “Looking to the future, I see the possibilities as endless in terms of what we can do in support of marine composites, in support of civil infrastructure - bridges, roadways, those types of things - in terms of alternative energy capabilities. I think that Gulfport and the composite center of excellence at Gulfport has nearly unlimited world-class capability for future work here.” Jenkins being comfortable with change isn’t that surprising. Change has been the norm for the company since the start of the year. The Company Ingalls Shipbuilding Gulfport Operations is part of Ingalls Shipbuilding, which in turn is a part of the 38,000 employee Huntington Ingalls Industries of Newport News, Va. The company, with operations in Mississippi, Virginia, Louisiana and California, was spun off from Northrop Grumman in March 2011, in part because the shipbuilding portion of Northrop Grumman did The composite mast being built for one of the company’s amphibious ships. Gulfport has not mesh with the focus areas of that company. been building them since 2001. Photo courtesy of Ingall's Shipbuilding Northrop acquired the shipyard when it bought Litton Industries. the DDG 51 destroyer program beyond the first two vessels. Ingalls Shipbuilding has three sites across the Gulf The company could also see more Coast Guard cutter activity, Coast with nearly 11,000 employees: Mississippi’s and will begin building the Hamilton this summer, according Gulfport and Pascagoula operations, as well as the to the Mississippi Press. Avondale, La., shipyard. In 2013, the Avondale will be But among U.S. shipbuilders, Ingalls has the only composite shut down. Earlier, the Tallulah, La., facility was closed. center of excellence. Other companies, even shipbuilders, All of Avondale’s work will be consolidated in Pascagoula also craft vessels out of composites. But none is involved Ingalls is building 28 of the 62 ship DDG 51 class of in programs on the scale and scope of the work done at the Aegis guided missile destroyers for the Navy. It’s also the composite shop. builder of record for the LPD, LHD and LHA classes of amphibious assault ships, and builder of the U.S. Coast Composites Center Guard’s National Security Cutter. The Gulfport operation is a multi-building facility that Right now the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula has an occupies a 120-acre site in Bernard Bayou Industrial District. $18 billion backlog that will carry it into 2018. In April It has done composite structures ranging from small combatant it was awarded a $1.5 billion contract to build LPD 26, craft of less than 200 feet to lightweight aerospace structures. its 10th amphibious transport dock ship. This year and It has a workforce of 500, according to the company’s website. next there could be one more amphibious transport dock contract to come on line, as well as a continuation of (Beyond Shipbuilding continued, page 3) Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue II • Page 2 Beyond Shipbuilding (continued from page 2) Gulfport has been building composite masts for the LPD 17 program since 2001. The mast is a detachable, octagon-shaped structure 93 feet high and 35 feet in diameter constructed of a multilayer, frequency selective material designed to allow passage of specific radio frequencies while reflecting others. As strong as steel, composites are resistant to corrosion, lightweight, stealthy and have reduced maintenance costs. One key benefit is electronics can be integrated into the structure, a key reason for composite masts. But composites are more costly. Gulfport’s experience goes back to the hand layup fabrication technology used in the MHC 51 Osprey 4 class mine hunters. Today they use very different techniques, including vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). In addition to masts for LPD 17, the Gulfport operation has also built a mast for the carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) to replace a steel mast, and other topside structures for the CVN 78 Ford class of carrier. But it’s the work on the DDG 1000 class of ship that is particularly striking for the size of Huge bolts are used to attach composite structures to metal portions of the ship. the structures alone. The Zumwalt class is being This is from the DDG 1000 deckhouse being built by Ingalls. built by General Dynamics’ Bath Iron Works Photo courtesy of Ingall's Shipbuilding in Maine, but Ingalls is a major contractor. It’s building the ship’s integrated composite deckhouses and helicopter hangars, as well as parts Looking to the Future of the ships’ peripheral vertical launch systems. Ingalls is looking at four areas of opportunity: major Ingalls had to build a new set of manufacturing composite structures, topside components and radomes, small buildings to handle work on the Zumwalt, whose composite structures and commercial products. deckhouse is nearly double the width and five times While shipbuilding will continue to be the primary activity the length of the Antonio-class ship masts, according for the Gulfport operation, the company understands there are to Aviation Week. opportunities that go beyond the shipbuilding field. And that’s “I can do multiple composite processes, and I can where Jenkins wants to go. do different types of processes at the same time because “Pick an industry or pick a type of construction,” said I have a plant that’s large enough and a work force that’s Jenkins. “It would include everything from wind blade repair diverse enough and skilled enough to be able to do those, and construction to potentially roadbeds to offshore oil regardless of where the project is and how big it is,” platforms, where we could build composite structures that Jenkins told Alliance Insight. don’t corrode and are lightweight so it gives the structure The biggest panels can take more than 24 hours to further capability to do what they need to do. infuse with resin and cure. The company has adapted And aerospace? some composite-industry processes and developed some “I think we can do small parts, covers, and those kinds of of its own to infuse and cure the resin and then check each things, shields, cowlings, things that don’t require autoclaves, piece with special ultrasonic inspection equipment. we can use an out of autoclave process for manufacturing That’s a major investment for a ship class that has been if we can get the engineering and the tooling we can do the cut from about two dozen ships down to its current three. process.” But the Navy likes composites for topside structures, and For Ingalls’ Gulfport operation, it’s all a matter of trying the investment Ingalls has made may be worth it. to see what’s over the horizon. – David Tortorano Alliance Insight • Volume V Issue II • Page 3 ——————————— advanced materials/shipbuilding ———————————— Shipbuilding Center Ventures into Space Ingalls Shipbuilding Gulfport Operations is known for its work building composite structures for the Navy’s fleet. But less known is that it also ventured into aerospace when it built a composite fairing for NASA’s now-aborted Constellation Program. While the Gulfport Composites Center of Excellence was still part of defense giant Northrop Grumman, workers at the Gulfport operation built the nose piece, called a fairing, for the Max Launch Abort System (MLAS). The MLAS was designed to provide a quick escape from a launch vehicle, the Ares I, in case of emergency on the launch pad or in the initial stages of launch. The MLAS concept for an operational vehicle would have four or more solid rocket motors attached inside the bullet-shaped composite fairing.