Published: 03.26.2008

Raytheon expands its Southern Arizona presence

$11B training program for U.S. Army personnel is launched in Sierra Vista

By Jack Gillum

SIERRA VISTA — Raytheon Co. expanded its presence in Southern Arizona Tuesday opening an office to support a $11 billion program to train U.S. Army personnel.

The program, run by Raytheon Technical Services Co.’s Warrior Training Alliance, will consolidate training at the U.S. Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca and at other sites around the globe.

A new office here will provide training support and development through the program’s Warfighter Field Operations Customer Support, or FOCUS, contract, awarded in June 2007, a move that the company says will provide “significant savings” to the Pentagon. Raytheon would not disclose the dollar amount.

FACILITY WORKS IN 14 AREAS

Research of talented young pros is boosted

ALAN FISCHER

Published: 03.26.2008

A new University of Arizona research center will help bring life-saving drugs and therapies to market faster.

UA doctors and researchers with innovative ideas for curing diseases such as asthma, diabetes and valley fever are being assisted in commercializing their discoveries.

Tucsonans participating in testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness have access to the new facility.

For Leland Salzwedel, 72, participating in a clinical trial on adult-onset type 2 diabetes could hasten a cure for the disease he’s had for 12 years.

“I hope this helps discover something to help me and others with sugar diabetes problems,” said Salzwedel, who takes four pills daily for the disease. “This could help us live in better health with sugar diabetes.”

Published: 03.16.2008

Southern Arizona’s largest employer grew by 11.9% last year

By Jack Gillum

ARIZONA DAILY STARTucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems overcame industry labor shortages and grew by almost 12 percent last year, solidifying its rank as Southern Arizona’s largest employer.

In this year’s Star 200 survey, the world’s largest missile maker reported it grew to 12,515 full-time-equivalent positions by the end of 2007, up from 11,184 at the end of 2006.

That growth came as the company’s net sales increased by 11 percent from 2006 to 2007. The job increase in 2007 was Raytheon Missile Systems’ largest since 2000, Star 200 data show.

The company remains on course to do “significant hiring” of engineers, said Daisy Jenkins, Raytheon’s vice president for human resources.

Published: 03.14.2008

Local firm seeks approval for new drug

By Michelli Murphy

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

With more than 300 days of sunshine a year, Tucson is the perfect place to get a tan — or skin damage.

Stopping that skin damage from turning into skin cancer is the goal of one local company’s newest drug.

Niadyne Inc.’s skin reparative cream will likely move on to the second phase of the Federal Drug Administration’s three-phase approval process in the next few months.

The company has recently completed the first set of clinical trials designed to test the drug’s safety.

This next set of trials is designed to measure the effectiveness of the drug, which is called myristyl nicotinate, or MN.

Published: 03.13.2008

New Raytheon weapon lethal to even the toughest bunker

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems said Wednesday that it has developed and tested a new conventional-warhead technology to smash hardened and deeply buried bunkers.

The technology, called the Tandem Warhead System, consists of a precursor “shaped-charge” warhead — shaped to focus its explosive energy — combined with a follow-through penetrator explosive charge, the company said.

During a Jan. 31 test, the new 1,000-pound-class warhead set a record when it punched through 19 feet 3 inches of a 20-foot, 330-ton reinforced concrete block with a high-velocity jet of molten metal, Raytheon said.

Harry Schulte, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president for strike products, said that engineers developed the test warhead in less than nine months, and it could be adapted to any strike weapon system in 18 months or less.

Published: 03.12.2008

Ariz. bio biz groups merge

Southern Arizona keeps its identity

By Michelli Murphy

ARIZONA DAILY STARThe regional groups aimed at advancing Arizona’s biosciences industry have come together to form one statewide entity.

The Tucson-based BioIndustry Organization of Southern Arizona, known as Bio-SA, has merged with the Phoenix-based Arizona BioIndustry Association, called AZBio, and a new board of directors has been selected.

The AZBio board includes representatives from Northern, Central and Southern Arizona, and is headed by paid staff members — Bob Eaton, president and CEO, and Natascha Hebell-Fernando, chief operating officer.

The effort to integrate the groups began last summer, said Michael Cusanovich, Bio-SA president and AZBio a board member.

Past efforts have failed because they would have turned Southern Arizona into an outpost while focusing on growth in the Phoenix area, Cusanovich said.

Published: 03.06.2008

Mt. Graham’s powerful new scope leaves all others in the cosmic dust

By Dan Sorenson

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Mount Graham’s newly completed Large Binocular Telescope is now the most powerful optical telescope on — or off — Earth.

With the combined resolution power of its two mirrors — cast and polished at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory Mirror Lab — and its adaptive optics, LBT experts say it has 10 times the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The LBT, the $120 million crown jewel of the UA’s often-controversial and hard-fought Mount Graham International Observatory, is now doing real science with both of its 8.4-meter-diameter mirrors That’s just under 28 feet.

There are massively powerful telescopes that operate in other parts of the spectrum — from low-frequency radio waves to far beyond visible light. But, for now, its builders, backers and users say, LBT is the act to beat.

Published: 03.05.2008

Huachuca gadget lets U.S. troops identify foes in Iraq

By Aaron Mackey

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

SIERRA VISTA — High-tech identification technology developed here is helping military personnel in Iraq distinguish between friend and foe.

Using a combination of fingerprinting, eye scans and facial-recognition software, a device created at Fort Huachuca is allowing troops patrolling Baghdad streets to know almost instantly whether they’ve come across an insurgent.

While it may sound like a gadget straight out of the latest spy movie, the device, known as HIIDE, is the product of roughly 10 years of research conducted at a special military intelligence lab about 75 miles southeast of Tucson.

It’s one of the latest tools being used by soldiers and Marines as they search for ways to identify and neutralize enemies who don’t wear uniforms and actively seek ways to deceive military personnel.

Published: 03.05.2008

Decoy clears flight testing; Raytheon could begin initial production this year

By Jack Gillum

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A miniature, unmanned decoy in the final phases of development by Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems could help put enemy air defenses off the scent of attacking U.S. aircraft.

Raytheon’s Miniature Air-Launched Decoy, or MALD, successfully completed recent flight testing and is ready to enter low-rate initial production later this year, pending a decision by the U.S. Air Force, the company said.

The jet-powered MALD, a little over 9 feet long and less than 300 pounds, is designed to neutralize air-defense systems that pose a threat to U.S. and allied pilots, Raytheon said.

The craft can duplicate “combat flight profiles” and aircraft “signatures,” mimicking much larger combat aircraft to draw away enemy air-defense systems and keep manned aircraft out of harm’s way.

March 5, 2008

UA’s eye on Mars captures what appears to be an avalanche

By Dan Sorenson

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

There may not be life on Mars, but there’s action.

The first photo of wait appears to be a landslide on a steep Martian slope was caught by accident at the University of Arizona when an employee was routinely examining photos from the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera.

“I was looking at the image just to see if it was OK. I happened to see a puff of dust. I said, “Is that a landslide or just a low cloud?

“Honestly, my first response was, “What is that?,”" said Ingrid Daubar Spitale, the uplink operations lead on the HiRISE imaging team at the UA’s Lunar & Planetary Laboratory.