Exelis officially opens

Exelis mine system. Excelis photo

PANAMA CITY, Fla. -- ITT Exelis officially opened its full-service mine defense production facility Friday in West Bay. Exelis systems, towed by helicopters or minesweepers or operated remotely, are used to find clear multiple types of mines. The Exelis mine defense business moved from New York to Panama City in 2005 and now employs nearly 100. Exelis is in a 105,000 square-foot building at VentureCrossings, near Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. (Source: Panama City News Herald, Exelis, 10/19/12)

Ship to be christened

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- The amphibious assault ship, America (LHA 6), will be christened during a 10 a.m. ceremony Saturday in Pascagoula. The ship will be the first of the America-class amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy. Its mission will be to act as a flagship of an expeditionary strike group, carrying Marines and aircraft. (Sources: multiple, 10/18/12)

Milestone in ship marked

MOBILE, Ala. -- A milestone was marked Thursday for the third Littoral Combat Ship Austal USA is building for the Navy. The company hosted the traditional keel-laying ceremony for the USS Jackson (LCS 6). Austal officials said 25 percent of the ship has been completed and it is expected to be delivered to the Navy in 2014. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/18/12)

MSU center to open

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- Mississippi State University will open its $9 million science and technology center Tuesday. The center will be home of the Northern Gulf Institute, MSU's Geosystems Research Institute, NOAA's National Coastal Data Development Center and an engineering branch of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service. The building was funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (Source: AP via Mississippi Press, 10/15/12)

VT Halter teams with French

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- VT Halter Marine Inc. is teaming with DCNS of Paris to bid on a contract to build a U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter. VT Halter would be the prime contractor and DCNS would be its exclusive subcontractor. The Coast Guard anticipates buying up to 25 OPCs to replace 28 Medium Endurance Cutters. VT Halter Marine employs 1,800 at shipyards in Pascagoula, Moss Point and Escatawpa. DCNS is a leading designs, builds and supports surface combatants and submarines. (Source: al.com link, 10/15/12)

Ingalls delivers Zumwalt deckhouse

GULFPORT, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that the company's Ingalls Shipbuilding division has delivered to the Navy the composite deckhouse for the Zumwalt-class destroyer, DDG 1000. The 900-ton structure houses the ship's bridge, radars, antennas and intake/exhaust systems and is designed to provide a significantly smaller radar cross-section than any other ship in today's fleet. Ingalls is building the composite deckhouse and hangar for the DDG 1000 class at the company's Composite Center of Excellence in Gulfport. Made almost exclusively using cored composite construction processes, the deckhouse and hangar take advantage of the properties of carbon fiber materials and balsa wood cores. When cured, the composite structure is as strong as steel but requires little maintenance and is very lightweight. The Gulfport facility also builds composite masts for the Navy's San Antonio (LPD 17) class of amphibious ships. (Source: Huntington Ingalls, 10/09/12)

BAE starts dump scow build

MOBILE, Ala. -- BAE Systems in Mobile started construction on the first of two dump scows for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. Employees and executives of both companies gathered at BAE System's shipyard on Pinto Island to watch as the first piece of steel for the ship was run through a robotic cutting machine. Delivery is scheduled for April 2013. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/02/12)

Austal launches JHSV

MOBILE, Ala. -- Austal USA successfully completed the launch process of the second joint high-speed vessel, the USNS Choctaw County. On Sunday the vessel was lifted out of the shed where it was being put together onto a deck barge floating in the Mobile River. It was floated to BAE Systems Southeast Shipyard, where it was transferred to the Drydock Alabama, BAE's floating dry dock. The dry dock was then submerged and the Choctaw County entered the water. It was towed back up river to the shipbuilder's facility, where it will undergo final outfitting. The JHSV is 338 feet long and will be used to move troops, weapons and cargo. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 10/02/12)

Contract: Ingalls, $11.6M

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Pascagoula, Miss., is being awarded an $11,626,843 cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to previously awarded contract to exercise an option for fiscal year 2013 class services in support of class product fabrication, delivery, engineering, and engineering support of the DDG 1000 Zumwalt class destroyer. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Miss. (95 percent), and Gulfport, Miss. (5 percent), and is expected to be completed by July 2013. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, DC, is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 10/01/12)