Air Force picks newcomer for $3.7B flight testing hub contract
An aerial view of Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee, home to the Arnold Engineering Development Complex. Air Force photo.
By
Ross Wilkers
This is the second iteration of the Test Operations and Sustainment contract, which supports one of the world's most complex facilities for evaluating aircraft and space systems.
A joint venture of Astrion and Fluor Corp. has won a 12-year, $3.7 billion contract to take over as the main provider of test operations and sustainment work at the Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex.
That facility houses flight simulation and developmental testing work to evaluate how aircraft, missiles, and space systems and subsystems operate in flight conditions they will experience during a mission.
The Air Force received three bids in total for this second iteration of the Test Operations and Sustainment contract, the Pentagon said in its Thursday awards digest.
The Huntsville, Alabama-headquartered Beyond New Horizons JV will also be responsible for technology development, equipment and facility sustainment, capital improvement, and support services at the complex.
Bechtel-led joint venture National Aerospace Solutions won the current contract in 2015 at a ceiling of $1.5 billion at the time, which over time has been lifted to approximately $2.5 billion. That contract is slated to expire on June 30 and has seen $2.2 billion in obligations against it, according to GovTribe data.
Located at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee, Arnold Engineering Development Complex houses facilities that are built to simulate flight conditions from sea level to 300 miles and from subsonic velocities to Mach 20.
AEDC operates 68 aerodynamic and propulsion wind tunnels, rocket and turbine engine test cells, environmental chambers, arc heaters, ballistic ranges, sled tracks, centrifuges and other specialized units.
AEDC's other operating locations are in the states of California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio and Utah.
Beyond New Horizons will perform the work at AEDC itself along with the National Full Scale Aerodynamics Complex in Mountain View, California; Federal Research Center in White Oak, Maryland; White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico; and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Subsequent to this article's publication, Astrion announced its role in the Beyond New Horizons joint venture in a press release on the contract award. We have since updated the article to include information on the JV's ownership.)