Aerospace Louisiana Mississippi Alabama Florida NewsLETTER Vol. IV, Issue I A bi-monthly update of aerospace activities in the Gulf Coast I-10 region August 2016 Support provided by Farnborough International Airshow photo by Phil Weymouth Aerial view of the Farnborough International Airshow held in July near London, England. Farnborough: cementing bonds he announcement from the Farn- Mobile, Ala., can certainly attest to that. It borough International Air Show last took a decade before its relationship with T month was on the first day of the Airbus finally resulted in the city becoming business session, and it was big. the site of an A320 assembly line. Aerojet Rocketdyne said the assembly and testing of its AR1 advanced liquid rocket Delegations from Alabama, Florida, engine will be done at NASA’s Stennis Louisiana and Mississippi attended the July Space Center, Miss., adding about 70 jobs to 11-17 show, many of them were from the its workforce of 130 already at SSC (page 7). Gulf Coast I-10 aerospace region. They’ll But announcements like that are not the tell you the show is one of the few opportu- norm. Indeed, what does not get publicity nities where they can get access to a lot of are the relationships that are developed and companies and top officials at one location. nurtured at the air show, which are key to “If we traveled all over the world it would the whole process. Those are investments cost an enormous amount,” said Melissa of time and effort that might not have any Medley, executive director of the four-state payoff for many years to come. Aerospace Alliance. There were 1,500 exhibitors from 52 By David Tortorano Copyright 2016, Tcp/GCRL countries. Across five days of the trade PAGE 2 GCRL/GCAC Newsletter show - day one closed early due to Mobile has attracted more than a doz- heavy rain - the show recorded over en suppliers. 73,000 trade visits with about 25 per- Many of the newcomers to Mobile cent of the visitors being either chief were announced last year during the executive officer or director-level. June 15-21 Paris Air Show. On the There also was a significant increase in first day it was Hutchinson Aerospace, attendance of people responsible for and the next day MAAS Aviation said procurement. On day one more than it would build a second paint operation half of the visitors were from overseas, in Mobile. Messier-Bugatti-Dowty said many with pre-arranged meetings. the next day that it would open an op- Delegation visits have also increased, eration at the Mobile Aeroplex. Thee ee aiat that paii- according to the FIA, with 98 military “We have a portfolio of successes. pated i lig ad stai displas du- delegations attending from 66 coun- They have served us well as we com- ig Faoough tade eek. tries and 29 commercial and civil dele- municated with prospective new Aiat akig deuts ee the Lok- gations attending from 22 countries. ones,” said Wehner. “It’s kind of like a heed Mai F-, pitued aoe, the One of the highlights of the show, calling card.” Boeig Ma, Boadie C “eies, both in Farnborough and in alternating Others from the Gulf Coast region Eae E-E, Eae KC , years in Paris, is the pre-show recep- are also in the race to land more aero- Eae Lega , Atoo AN-, tion put on by the Aerospace Alliance. space operations. Rick Byars, head of HodaJet, Diaod Dat- ad Gulf- It was held the day before the show on economic development for Gulf Pow- stea G. the River Thames. er, said Northwest Florida had 11 rep- - Photo by Phil Weymouth “It also kind of serves to unofficially resentatives. kick off the larger event,” said Medley. “Northwest Florida is clearly being The group, which represents Ala- talked about more and more,” he said, ments at list prices. bama, Florida, Louisiana and Missis- then added, “We’re very close to final- Airbus said it left the show with sippi, was formed when Mobile was in izing a couple of deals.” deals for 279 planes with a list value of the running to build tankers for the Air Florida’s Great Northwest coordi- $35 billion. Boeing said it secured or- Force. That project went to Boeing nated the appointment-setting process, ders and commitments for 182 aircraft and Washington state, but the alliance said Byars, noting there were more at a list value of $26.8 billion, accord- remained to promote the region. than two dozen meetings with compa- ing to the Wall Street Journal. Of those For the past seven years the Aero- nies. Of those, “we’ve had ongoing orders, Airbus had 197 new firm or- space Alliance has held receptions that meetings” with 14 or 15 of them. ders worth $25 billion and Boeing 19 averaged 300 guests, including corpo- Shannon Ogletree, executive director new firm orders listed at $3 billion. rate and government officials. This of the Santa Rosa County Economic There is a growing order gap in the year NASA officials also attended. Development Office, said it was prob- single-aisle market. The A321neo and The two-hour reception is a way to ably the most productive overseas the 737 Max 9 are direct competitors. connect and renew acquaintances, and trade mission. His county, home to AirAsia ordered 100 A321s, but the to generate additional meetings. And Naval Air Station Whiting Field, is the 737 Max 9 received none. the meeting is become well-known. immediate neighbor of aerospace pow- Last year at the Paris show Airbus “When I called folks, they knew who erhouse Eglin Air Force Base. walked away with $57 billion worth of we were, they knew what we were, He said part of the reason this show business for a total of 421 aircraft, in- they knew about the event and wanted seemed particularly productive was cluding 103 firm orders for the A320 to be part of it,” Medley said. because of the number of people who series of jetliners. “It creates and awareness,” and puts wanted to hear “the pitch.” He said At the 2014 Farnborough show, Air- the four states in the forefront even there were up to 30 meetings, and bus landed nearly twice as many orders before the show begins. “that’s quite a bit over four days.” and commitments. Airbus said its or- Wehner, Byars, Ogletree and Medley ders and commitments at Farnborough For Roger Wehner, executive direc- all said they thought the show was one for 496 planes valued at $75 billion. tor of the Mobile Airport Authority, of the best and most productive. Boeing secured business worth $40.2 said having a list of successes makes it billion for 201 planes. easier to appeal to others. Meanwhile, competitors Boeing In addition to having an Airbus plant and Airbus spent the week adding to ▫▫▫ churning out A320 series jetliners - the their backlogs, combining for more first one was delivered in April 2016 - than $60 billion in orders and commit- GCRL/GCAC Newsletter PAGE 3 Unmanned Drones growing SSC science repertoire In the 1960s South Mississippi began working in the new field of space exploration and later oceanography, now unmanned systems has been added to its impressive science portfolio... Stennis Space Center, Miss. federal facility best-known for testing huge space rocket en- A gines has added to its reper- toire over the years. The most recent capability is in a field growing in leaps and bounds: unmanned systems. And a recent Federal Aviation Ad- ministration (FAA) decision to expand the restricted air space over NASA’s Stennis Space Center (SSC) promises to make it a key activity. “The expansion will add to our abil- ity to support the emerging unmanned Submitted photo systems industry, and it positions Sten- Department of Marine Resources guide Mike Pursley flies the I2R C-Hawk. nis as an ideal destination for compa- nies looking to create jobs,” said Gov. development and use of unmanned support of the Governor’s Oyster Res- Phil Bryant, who also said the expan- systems in support of naval operations. toration and Resiliency Council to re- sion will enhance SSC’s rocket testing Here’s a closer look at each: store the industry. mission and lead to more innovation. NOARC will work in the future with Since it was established in the 1960s The National Oceans and Applica- the state Port at Gulfport to show how to test Apollo rocket engines for lunar tions Research Center is a private, not- useful unmanned surface maritime ve- missions, SSC has expanded beyond its for-profit enterprise chartered by the hicles can be for monitoring the port’s propulsion role to host numerous gov- State of Mississippi in 2014 to shine a environment, examine access to the ernment agencies and private compa- spotlight on new technologies and un- port and analyze safety hazards. nies involved in aerospace, oceanogra- manned vehicles to monitor the envi- David Brannon, NOARC general phy and other fields. So it’s not sur- ronment from space to the seafloor. manager, said the port project is a prising the center again is on the lead- The goal is to apply the knowledge and proving ground that will help restore ing edge of the development of un- equipment to restoring the state’s and improve at all coastal ports. manned civilian and military systems. coastal natural resources and enhance “The new technology will emphasize Today at SSC activities with an un- the Mississippi Coast’s economy. unmanned maritime systems and new manned systems spin include the re- NOARC works with a network of sonar instrumentation to map in great cently established National Oceans and partners including private companies, detail harbor and channel approaches Applications Research Center, Innova- state and federal agencies, Mississippi and any obstacles present that could tive Imaging and Research, and the research universities and non- affect new construction in the port,” Alliance for System Safety of UAS government organizations to eventually Brannon said.