LINCOLN, Alabama -- Honda's Alabama plant today marked the opening of a new engine assembly line that the Japanese automaker calls a breakthrough for its operations in North America.

The $71.4 million highly automated facility will produce V6 engines for the Odyssey minivans, Pilot SUVs and Acura MDX SUVs made at the Talladega County factory.

It replaces and expands two previous assembly lines that were in separate locations within the factory. Combining the two lines in one place will help Honda improve flexibility and efficiency in responding to consumer demand for light trucks.

Olin B. King Technology Hall at UAH was busy early Friday as leaders with Northrop Grumman and the university announced an expansion of their existing partnership in Huntsville.

Mark Thornton, program director for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense Program at Northrop Grumman, joined UAH President Robert Altenkirch to celebrate the launch of a relationship to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, research opportunities and workforce recruitment in the Rocket City.

Thornton, whose company is anxious to grow its employee base with young talent, said the collaboration will "bring a lot of students that come out of UAH into our company."

Airbus Defense and Space announced Friday it has selected Mobile-based Airbus DS Military Aircraft Inc. as its new worldwide support center for the C212 aircraft series.

"The goal is to grow in the U.S., and Mobile is a success story," Mike Cosentino, president of Airbus Defense and Space Inc. told a crowd of about 100 gathered at the Mobile facility Friday to celebrate the company's 10th anniversary in the Port City.

"This celebration is an opportunity to thank our Mobile workforce for a decade of excellence and to showcase our new support services that will improve our overall operations in Mobile," said Juan Uriarte, head of Airbus DS Military Aircraft Inc. "With the establishment here of the new C212 Aircraft Series Worldwide Support Center, we have centralized more resources into this location to provide faster service for our customers."