Aerospace-Defense News Archives

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it will provide live TV coverage of the 2008 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony. via Daily India

The top executive of Bombardier Aerospace was in Kansas City today scouting a site for his company’s potential aircraft assembly plant, while Missouri lawmakers continued to wrangle over incentives.Pierre ... via KansasCity.com

“The available evidence indicates that the Air Force got the best airplane for the money.”

WASHINGTON: The U.S. Air Force found Northrop Grumman Corporation's bid to build the next generation of aerial refueling tankers superior to Boeing's in four of the five most important selection criteria. via Defence Talk

“We're proud to deliver this vital capability to soldiers in the field”

Rockwell Collins has completed delivery of the first 505 Head Mounted Displays for the Tank Urban Survivability Kit program. via WebWire

Argon ST, Inc. , a leading systems engineering, development and services company providing full-service C5ISR systems and services to a wide range of defense and intelligence customers, today announced that it ... via Earth Times

“STARLite's light weight will allow its installation on armed UAVs alongside optical sensors, giving our warfighters unprecedented situational awareness and target coordination to reduce the 'kill chain' on a wide variety of UAV and manned systems.”

Northrop Grumman Corporation has been selected by the U.S. Army Communication-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command to produce the new multi-function radar for the Extended Range/Multi-Purpose Unmanned ... via Shephard.co.uk

A federal appeals court is upholding the dismissal of a former employee's lawsuit against Lockheed Martin Corp. via WREG-TV Memphis

Trane Inc., the air-conditioner maker being bought by Ingersoll-Rand Co., said first-quarter earnings rose 15 percent on sales of commercial heating and cooling equipment and that full-year sales will be lower ... via Asbury Park Press

“That is what this grant is designed to foster, so that this museum will be truly representative of African American history and culture”

The Boeing Company [ NYSE: BA ] is contributing $5 million to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. to be used in support of the design and construction of ... via WebWire

“We continue to meet all of our contractual milestones as our team continues to develop the Satellite Operations Center”

Boeing recently said it has finished installing the hardware for its Space Based Space Surveillance system's Satellite Operations Center . via RF Globalnet

Irvine Sensors Corporation today announced that it has received notification from the Staff of the Nasdaq Stock Market that, based on the Company's Form 8-K/A dated April 24, 2008, the Company complies with ... via Freshnews

“The Board of Directors and I are very appreciative of Rob's contributions to our dramatic growth and significantly improved efficiency in operations. We wish him continued success in the future.”

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. announced today that Robert G. Rouse will be stepping down as Comtech's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer on August 29, 2008. via Light Reading

“All the six bidders have responded”

New Delhi : The race for India's biggest ever global military tender worth over USD 10 billion for 126 fighters got underway today with six major aviation firms submitting their bids. via The Hindu

“It better work, because Boeing has a lot riding on this in the fixed-wing market for military aircraft integration.”

Although The Boeing Co. lost the competition to supply air-refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force, it still has one major military aircraft development program in the works. via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Lockheed Martin Corp. is acquiring Eagle Group International LLC, a provider of logistics, information technology, training and health care services to the Defense Department. via Washington Technology

“It is a very litigious world, and on any given day, any automaker will have a dozen suits on one thing or another.”

Seattle engineer Conrad Gardner has sued Toyota Motor Corp., alleging that the giant Japanese auto manufacturer infringed on a patent for hybrid technology that is now used in the Prius, Camry and Highlander . via Hispanic Business

“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome...”

Transparency is a popular word in this presidential election, with all three candidates finally having released their tax returns. via Free Republic

“A lot of people think that it's great to have some politician show up or somebody that's going to give some big political speech, but this is all about the kids”

After two years of hard work, seemingly endless interviews, late nights, and lots of coffee, full-time MBA students are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. via KCRA.com

“Well, that goes right to the very top of your priority list.”

Lockheed Martin Corp. may be best known for its multibillion-dollar and multiyear fighter jet programs, such as the F-16 and F-35, both built in Fort Worth. via Denton Record-Chronicle

The Standard & Poor's 500 index was higher at midday Thursday, helped by positive quarterly earnings from LSI Corp., Ford Motor Corp. via Forbes

WASHINGTON: The US Defence Department has approved continued work by Lockheed Martin Corp on a $6.1 billion cruise missile programme and plans to begin negotiations with the company on additional missile ... via Daily Times

Northrop Grumman will build the U.S. Navy's much-anticipated Broad Area Maritime Surveillance drone, beating out Boeing and the Lockheed Martin-General Atomics team for the $1.16 billion developmental contract. via The Daily Star

“We remain cautiously optimistic”

Despite a surprise profit of $100 million for the first quarter, Ford Motor Co. said Thursday that it still expects to lose money this year as the U.S. auto market deteriorates. via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“A lot of the coarseness is driven by the 24-hour news cycle and the fact that there's a lot of money to be made in controversy. You don't get speaking engagements for being nice. Nobody pays you $500,000 to be gentle.”

Scorching rhetoric and negative campaigning aren't confined to the long presidential contest. They're spilling over into other segments of public life.

Retired corporate chieftains are grousing about their successors. Ex-Federal Reserve chairmen are second-guessing steps taken by the current Fed chief. And President Bush is being nipped at by two former presidents.

It's an upending of tradition. Former presidents didn't publicly challenge the policies of sitting ones. Former Fed chairmen were seldom seen or heard. And retired CEOs were usually just that, retired, and spotted on the golf course, not on CNBC. Read more

“The bottles were shaking so I sent everybody outside”

Another earthquake struck the Reno area, dumping cans off shelves, knocking pictures off walls and sending rocks off hillsides of the eastern front of the Sierra Nevada. via Courier News

“You'll see a plateau, but this is a great plateau to be on.”

By Bill Rigby Reuters Thursday, April 24, 2008; 1:08 PM NEW YORK - Raytheon, L-3, Rockwell Collins and Goodrich all beat Wall Street profit estimates on Thursday, as the U.S. economic downturn shows no signs of ... via The Washington Post

“Is it logical for a nuclear site to be left without protection and not guarded by anti-aircraft guns?”

These two satellite images made available by DigitalGlobe shows a suspected nuclear facility site in Syria before and after a Sept. via CBS News

“Thinking these ships could be built to commercial specs was a dumb move.”

Lockheed Martin held a launching ceremony for its combat ship prototype in 2006, but the ship, above in February, is still not finished. via HendersonvilleNews.com

“As part of our industrial co-operation offer, we invite India to become a member of the successful Eurofighter family”

"India is our partner of choice and we are interested in long-lasting political, industrial and military relations which will be based on a win-win partnership," he said. via Gulf Times

Raytheon Company has received a $79 million Foreign Military Sales award from the U.S. Army to provide Taiwan with Patriot Configuration-3 radar upgrade kits and related engineering and technical services. via Alert 5

Ball Corp. in Broomfield reported first quarter 2008 income of $83.8 million, or 85 cents per diluted share, on sales of $1.74 billion, compared to $81.2 million, or 78 cents per diluted share, on sales of ... via The Boulder County Business Report

“The purpose of it really is to benefit Trent Lott's personal lobbying business at this point. There is no other benefit at all”

Trent Lott had nearly $1.3 million in political donations left over when he quit the Senate to become a lobbyist. Now the former majority leader is doling it out to lawmakers who hold sway over his clients.

It's perfectly legal, and Lott is hardly the first to distribute unused campaign cash to former colleagues.

But his giving is drawing attention thanks to the magnitude of his campaign account and the high-profile matters he has been hired to promote, including the proposed Delta-Northwest airline merger and Northrop Grumman's contested $35 billion Air Force tanker contract. Read more

“These results clearly demonstrate the level of performance we can achieve through the unique combination of our balanced exposure to government and commercial markets, the diversity of our customer base within each market”

Rockwell Collins Inc. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter profit climbed 20%, helped by improved operational performance, prompting the military contractor to raise its full-year earnings forecast. via MarketWatch

“This is a serious proliferation issue, both for the Middle East and the countries that may be involved in Asia”

These two satellite images made available by DigitalGlobe shows a suspected nuclear facility site in Syria before and after a Sept. via Athens Banner-Herald

Northrop Grumman Corp. said Thursday first-quarter earnings fell 32 percent as the company was forced to take a charge due to rising costs and delays with an amphibious assault ship program it is building for ... via Canadian Business Magazine

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has signed a bill providing help from the state for Cessna Aircraft. via Canadian Business Magazine

The Smithsonian Institution has begun public fundraising to build a museum dedicated to black history with a $5 million gift from Boeing Company. via Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Some aspects of the plane are still classified”

The Night Hawks are retiring. The last four of the world's first stealth fighters will make their final flights today -- from Palmdale to a secret desert base in Nevada, where they will be locked up ... via LA Daily News

“General Dynamics' performance in the first quarter of 2008 was excellent”

Defense contractor General Dynamics Corp. said Wednesday its first quarter earnings rose nearly 32 percent, led by big sales increases in the division that makes armored vehicles, tanks and combat tools. via Canadian Business Magazine

Boeing Co.'s first-quarter earnings surged a stronger-than-expected 38 percent on a modest 4.1 percent revenue upturn, as the Chicago aerospace giant's profit momentum continued to grow despite development difficulties with its planned 787 model jetliner.

'We're off to a good start in what we expect to be another strong year of financial performance,' said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney, adding that the company is 'methodically working through our challenges,' including the costly delays that have blighted the crucial 787 program. Read more

“Banks have written off more than $250-billion Days of easy credit have turned into months of no credit at all. While I am confident about the economy long term, we could see even more difficult times ahead.”

Less that two weeks after the conglomerate shocked investors with a profit warning and revealed that its first-quarter earnings had unexpectedly fallen 6 per cent, Jeff Immelt said things could get worse for ... via The Globe and Mail

STOCKHOLM, Sweden : Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB said Wednesday its first-quarter net profit decreased 11 percent, mainly with marketing costs promoting its Gripen fighter jets weighing on the ... via International Herald Tribune

“Probably not to the level that Border Patrol agents on the ground thought that they were going to get. So it didn't meet their expectations.”

The government is scrapping a $20 million prototype of its highly touted 'virtual fence' on the Arizona-Mexico border because the system is failing to adequately alert border patrol agents to illegal crossings, officials said.

The move comes just two months after Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced his approval of the fence built by The Boeing Co. The fence consists of nine electronic surveillance towers along a 28-mile section of border southwest of Tucson.

Boeing is to replace the so-called Project 28 prototype with a series of towers equipped with communications systems, new cameras and new radar capability, officials said. Read more

By gayle s. putrich Published: 22 Apr 17:34 EDT Northrop Grumman will build the Navy's much-anticipated Broad Area Maritime Surveillance drone, snagging a contract expected to be worth $2 billion or more. via Defense News

Chairman and Chief Executive William H. Swanson received 2007 compensation of nearly $15 million, up almost 25 percent from the previous year, according to regulatory filing Tuesday by the world's fifth-largest ... via The Boston Globe

“We need to cooperate where possible for the good of the environment”

Boeing and Airbus said Tuesday they will cooperate on the development of the next generation of air traffic control systems intended to eliminate congestion at airports. via KGW-TV Portland

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. says its first-quarter earning rose 6 percent as higher sales of space equipment, missiles and other combat tools offset a dip in fighter jet sales.

Lockheed, the world's largest defense supplier, says it earned $730 million, or $1.75 per share, up from the $690 million, or $1.60 per share in the first quarter of 2007. Revenue was $9.98 billion for the quarter, compared with $9.27 billion during the same period last year.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial expected Lockheed to make $1.63 per share on sales of $9.69 billion. Read more

A former Northrop Grumman employee and his wife pleaded guilty Monday to scamming the defense contractor and the Pentagon out of $2.5 million. via LA Daily News

Nearly three-dozen Illinois companies made this year's Fortune 500 list. The annual rankings by Fortune magazine lists the nation's largest publicly traded corporations and is based on the companies' 2007 ... via Daily Journal/Sunday Journal

General Electric Company Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said today that utilities must be willing to consider new generation methods while making existing techniques more efficient. via WWLP

Aviation Capital Group has ordered 17 Boeing 737s. It's the aircraft leasing company's eighth purchase commitment for Boeing planes in two years. via Daily Herald

U.S. stocks rallied, capping the best week since February for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index, after companies from Citigroup Inc. via Bloomberg

Raytheon Co. will help complete development of a new generation of Global Positioning System receivers for the Air Force under a $61 million contract. via Washington Technology

A satellite to provide telephone and television service to Vietnam's rural communities has been loaded aboard a rocket and is prepared for liftoff Friday from French Guiana, officials said. via South Florida Sun-Sentinel

US stocks rallied yesterday as investors cheered earnings reports from Citigroup, Google and other big companies indicating that ongoing financial turmoil may be winding down. via The Sydney Morning Herald

“It might be a little more colorful this year”

Fresh off a disastrous quarter that wiped the luster from his company and still stinging from his predecessor's public scolding, General Electric Co. CEO Jeff Immelt may find a tougher-than-usual audience this week when he faces shareholders at the conglomerate's annual meeting.

Immelt will address several hundred shareholders in Erie, Pa., on Wednesday, less than two weeks after GE's shocking first-quarter earnings report, in which profits fell 6 percent to $4.3 billion, from $4.57 billion a year earlier. Share value for the normally reliable company tumbled nearly 13 percent and has since barely recovered. Read more

“This on-schedule transition to production and overall fielding effort has been a great team effort between Boeing, our customer and our suppliers”

ST. LOUIS: The Boeing Company has delivered the first Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition kits to the U.S. Air Force. via Defence Talk

“Boeing is committed to rewarding, retaining and developing our top-performing suppliers who share our focus on first-time quality and on-time delivery.”

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aerojet, a GenCorp company, has again earned The Boeing Company's 'Supplier of the Year' award for its commitment to superior performance and customer ... via Earth Times

“The United States government has never authorized the export of this critical source code, even to our closest allies”

Information about Air Force One's unique navigation system was provided to a Russian company in 1998, a U.S. government investigation found. via The Post Chronicle

A Bahamian girl's seaborne school project has landed on the sandy doorstep of NASA. via WFTV Orlando

Sunday, April 20, 2008 HANOI: Vietnam blasted into the satellite age on Saturday when a rocket launch from South America propelled its first orbiter into space, allowing it to beam home telecoms data and ... via The News

“They're just as protective of my daughter as they would be of their sisters”

By Dan Lamothe - Staff writer Posted : Saturday Apr 19, 2008 7:58:42 EDT A lot has changed for the parents of the late Cpl. via MilitaryCity.com

“This creates a fallacy of composition problem in which all the analysts think 'their' stocks are immune from the influence of this cycle.”

Look at their forecasts for the second half of 2008: Profit gains for Standard & Poor's 500 companies in the third quarter are expected to top 14 percent and the fourth quarter could bring a year-over-year ... via Kansas.com

“The cockpit is the same as the presidential (helicopter). The engine's the same as the presidential”

OWEGO - Re-selection of a winner of the much-disputed $15 billion combat search-and-rescue helicopter contract has been delayed again - from July to October - as the Air Force evaluates more information ... via Ithaca Journal

“Boeing grows by delivering on what our customers want today and anticipating what they will need in the future”

The Boeing Company tonight honored its top 11 suppliers for their commitment to superior performance and customer satisfaction. via MCADCafe

“They have never come out and said, it is our goal”

When Boeing Co. and unions representing machinists and aerospace engineers sit down to hammer out new contracts later this year, the airplane maker says it plans to talk about changes to retirement benefits for ... via Chicago Tribune

“A day like today confirms that the GE announcement of last week is not systemic among all U.S. companies.”

Stocks rose sharply on Friday after quarterly results from Citigroup Inc gave investors hope the credit crisis was nearing an end, while higher-than-expected results from Google Inc sparked a rally in Internet ... via Earth Times

Bombardier Inc. Friday named Guy Hachey, a senior U.S. auto parts executive, as president and chief operating officer of its aerospace division effective May 12, succeeding Pierre Beaudoin. via Vancouver Sun

“We remain confident in Honeywell's outlook despite tougher global economic conditions”

Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. on Friday reported that first-quarter profit rose 22 percent on higher sales, and contracts from Embraer, Gulfstream and Airbus. via Houston Chronicle

“I've been covering the company since 1996, and I've never seen a miss this big”

For seven lean years, Wall Street has given General Electric and its chief executive, Jeffrey Immelt, the benefit of the doubt. via International Herald Tribune

“This milestone event was a collaborative effort between GA-ASI and our PM-UAS customer. Jointly, this team planned and executed a methodical approach to first flight success.”

' General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. , a leading manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems and tactical reconnaissance radars, today announced the successful flight of the first Sky Warrior Block 1 ... via Shephard.co.uk

General Electric Co. 's commercial finance unit said it agreed to buy about $13.4 billion in assets from CitiCapital, or most of Citigroup Inc.'s North American commercial lending and leasing unit. via Bloomberg.com