Ingalls called fit-friendly

PASCAGOULA, Miss. -- Huntington Ingalls Industries said Monday that its Ingalls Shipbuilding division has received a Platinum Award in the American Heart Association's Fit-Friendly Worksite program. This is the highest level recognized by the AHA for companies that demonstrate progressive leadership in making the health and wellness of their employees a priority. Huntington Ingalls Industries designs, builds and maintains nuclear and non-nuclear ships for the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and provides after-market services for military ships around the globe. (Source: Globe Newswire, 04/29/13)

Exelis tapped for MK 105

VAN NUYS, Calif. -- ITT Exelis has been awarded a contract valued at more than $10 million to provide one MK 105 Mod 4 airborne minesweeping system for the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division in Panama City, Fla. Introduced to the Navy fleet in 1972, the Exelis MK 105 system has been used in every major mine-clearance operation. The Navy’s MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter tows the system through the water, and twin magnetic tails, consisting of open-electrode magnetic sweeps, are towed behind the sled, detonating mines to clear the water for vessels. The work will be done in Panama City by the Exelis radar, reconnaissance and undersea systems business area, which designs and develops integrated minesweeping systems for the U.S. and allied navies. (Source: Business Wire, 04/29/13)

Contract: CACI Tech, $20M

CACI Technologies Inc., Chantilly, Va., is being awarded a $20,150,158 modification to previously awarded contract for professional support services in support of Program Executive Office Littoral Combat Ships. Services include professional services in the areas of: program management and acquisition support, technical and engineering support, business and financial management support and logistics support. Work will be performed in Washington D.C. (89.9 percent); Norfolk, Va. (4.2 percent); San Diego, Calif. (2.2 percent); Panama City, Fla. (1.8 percent); Newport, R.I. (1.3 percent); and Monterey, Calif. (0.6 percent), and is expected to be complete by October 2013. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/25/13)

GCRL, education center growing

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. -- The University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast Research Laboratory is growing. Near-term plans call for opening an 8,300-square-foot, four-classroom and lab addition in May and long-term plans call for erecting an $18 million Marine Education Center, the education and outreach arm of the lab. Eric Powell, director of the lab, said GCRL with a 200-person staff is among the largest marine research labs in the country and supplies nationally recognized marine disease research. GCRL and MEC leaders met with the Jackson County Board of Supervisors earlier this month to share the plans for growth. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/23/13)

JHSV to be christened

The Navy will christen the Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV) Millinocket Saturday during a 10 a.m. CDT ceremony in Mobile, Ala. Vice Adm. William R. Burke, deputy chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Systems, will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Karen G. Mills, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, will serve as the ship's sponsor. The future USNS Millinocket is the first naval vessel to be named in honor of Millinocket and East Millinocket, Maine. The 338 foot-long aluminum catamaran is being built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. (Source: DoD, 04/19/13)

Contract: BIW, $12.6M

Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine, is being awarded a $12,599,317 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise an option for Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) Class Design Services. LCS Class Design Services provide necessary engineering, program, and technical support for LCS Class ships. This effort includes class baseline design services, class documentation services, class engineering studies, cost estimating support, LCS ship transition, and liaison for ship construction and post delivery with the class design agent for LCS 6 and follow. Work will be performed in Bath, Maine (52 percent); Pittsfield, Mass. (47 percent); and Mobile, Ala. (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by June 2014. Fiscal 2012 Shipbuilding and Conversion, Navy funding in the amount of $12,599,317 will be obligated at time of award. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/15/13)

Fire sends LCS back to Mobile

The Austal-built Littoral Combat Ship Coronado had a fire in its starboard diesel exhaust while conducting a high-speed demonstration on its second day of sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, according to Defense News. LCS-4 is the second variant on the Independent class built in Mobile, Ala. The fire was put out immediately and there were no reported injuries. Coronado returned to the shipyard Friday night. (Source: Defense News, 04/14/15)

Offshore supply vessel launched

ESCATAWPA, Miss. -- VT Halter Marine launched and christened HOS Commander, the first of 10 vessels that Covington, La.-based Hornbeck Offshore Services will use to supply deepwater offshore exploration. The offshore supply vessels represent about a $442 million contract for VT Halter, who is building six of them at the Moss Point Marine yard in Escatawpa and four at the Halter Moss Point yard. The boats, called Super 320 Class OSVs, are designed to carry about 20,900 barrels of liquid mud and have 11,863 square feet of deck area. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/09/13)

Contract: BAE Systems, $8.3M

BAE Systems Electronics Ltd, Maritime Services Division, Portsmouth, U.K., is being awarded an $8,268,703 modification to previously awarded contract that includes firm-fixed-price contract line item numbers for program management and support and calibration and maintenance services and a cost-plus-fixed-fee CLIN for engineering services support. This modification will complete production and delivery of Archerfish neutralizers (destructor, mine neutralization, Airborne EX64 Mod 0 Archerfish) system upgrade provides a significant reliability and performance improvement to the current MK-105, increasing the U.S. Navy's capability to conduct quick response, high speed airborne mine countermeasures for the next decade. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, U.K., and is expected to be completed by September 2014. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division, Panama City, Fla., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 04/10/13)

Oceanographers win humanitarian award

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. -- A modeling capability developed by oceanographers at Stennis Space Center that predicts the likelihood of pirate attacks received an international humanitarian award from Computerworld magazine. IDG’s Computerworld Honors Program selected the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command as a 2013 Laureate in the field of Safety and Security for its development of the Pirate Attack Risk Surface (PARS). The PARS model produces a forecast of shipping vulnerability due to piracy at a certain latitude, longitude, and time. The Honors Program, founded in 1988, recognizes organizations and individuals who have used information technology to advance public welfare, benefit society and business, and change the world for the better. (Source: Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, 04/09/13)

Composite hangar milestone reached

Hangar goes ship-shape. Ingalls photo

GULFPORT, Miss. -- Ingalls Shipbuilding achieved a milestone in the construction of the composite hangar that will be used on the Navy's second Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, Michael Monsoor. The shipbuilder’s composites facility in Gulfport turned the inverted hangar to an upright position, or ship-shape, which is an important and necessary feat in the construction schedule of this component. The Zumwalt destroyer is being built by Bath Iron Works in Maine. (Source: Ingalls Shipbuilding via Globe Newswire, 04/08/13)

State Senate honors Ingalls

JACKSON, Miss. -- The Mississippi Senate honored Pascagoula's Ingalls Shipbuilding Thursday on its 75th anniversary as the state's largest private employer. Sen. Brice Wiggins of Pascagoula introduced a resolution commending Ingalls on its anniversary and thanked Sen. Michael Watson of Pascagoula for putting together the resolution. Wiggins noted that Ingalls employs some 10,000 workers in Mississippi and 37,000 nationwide. (Source: Mississippi Press, 04/04/13)

Arlington to be commissioned

The Navy will commission the newest San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, Arlington, during a 12:30 p.m. EDT ceremony April 6 at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The ship is named for the county of Arlington and honors the first responders and the 184 victims who died when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001. The ship is 684 feet long and is the eighth of the LPD-17 class to be built by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. (Source: DoD, 04/04/13) Previous

Horizon triples capacity

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. -- Horizon Shipbuilding Inc. of Bayou La Batre said is has tripled the company's production capacity with the acquisition of its “West Yard” facilities. Located directly across from its main yard, the West Yard adds about 22 acres to Horizon’s footprint, including 3,000 feet of waterfront, three production bays, and multiple launch ways. Horizon, with 240 workers, has built ships for the Navy, Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and for commercial companies. (Source: al.com, 04/02/13)