Published: 07.30.2008

Raytheon partners with Lockheed Martin

A Raytheon-Lockheed Martin joint venture has won a $155 million U.S. government contract to produce the Javelin anti-tank missile and command/launch unit for the United Arab Emirates and Oman.

The joint venture, which includes Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems, expects to deliver the missiles to the UAE and Oman under the Foreign Military Sales program in the next 18 months.

The number of missiles involved in the sale was not immediately available.

The Javelin is a portable, precision guided-missile system that can be operated by one soldier. It is currently in service with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps and 10 allied nations, Raytheon said.

Raytheon, Honeywell, General Dynamics may reap billions

Future Combat System aims to deploy high-tech combat support tools

MAX JARMAN

The Arizona Republic as published in Tucson Citizen

Published: 07.25.2008

A recent decision by the U.S. Army to speed delivery of advanced missiles, robots and unmanned aircraft to infantry units in Iraq and Afghanistan could be a boon to Arizona defense contractors.

Among the products being pushed into production earlier than planned are “missiles in a box” made by Raytheon Co. in Tucson and the beer-keg-shaped Micro Air Vehicle produced by Phoenix-based Honeywell Aerospace.

A reprioritizing of the Army’s sweeping $160 billion Future Combat Systems modernization program also resurrects the Land Warrior individual communications system developed by Scottsdale’s General Dynamics C4 Systems.

Military installations
bring $9.1B to state

Published: 07.21.2008

Internship program engages kids in science

By Dale Quinn

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Elle Stuart had no idea that this summer she’d glean how a certain mutation affects a small flowering plant’s ability to produce seeds.

But during an internship program at the University of Arizona’s Bio5 Research Institute, the 16-year-old Salpointe Catholic High School student learned about that and more.

In the six-week program, Stuart worked with a graduate-student mentor to study how a certain mutation affects seed production in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana. After a meticulous process, she learned that the mutation didn’t keep the plant from producing seeds, but it did greatly reduce its ability to make them.

“I never thought research would be as interesting as it has been,” said Stuart, who is preparing to enter her junior year. “When you get a good result, it’s really exciting.”

Published: 07.17.2008

New bomb passes Raytheon’s testing

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems said Wednesday it has completed “captive carry testing” of the Joint Standoff Weapon Extended Range, a powered version of the precision-guided glide bomb known as the JSOW.

Raytheon said the test proved the company will be able to deliver on a recently awarded $4.1 million U.S. Navy contract to conduct a free-flight demonstration of the JSOW-ER in 2009.

JSOW-ER is designed with a range of 345 miles at a per-unit cost of about $350,000 in 2007 dollars, Raytheon said.

During the Raytheon-funded test, a JSOW-ER was loaded onto an A-4 Skyhawk fighter aircraft, and the weapon’s engine was ignited at 25,000 feet. The aircraft then flew simulated combat maneuvers to subject the weapon to real-world variables such as wind, vibration and extreme temperatures.

Published: 07.14.2008

UA researcher probes potential for plants’ power in medicine

By Tom Beal

David Gang’s laboratory and the kitchen he shares with his wife and six children contain some of the same ingredients.

At the University of Arizona, where he is a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences, Gang grows turmeric and ginger plants in greenhouses on the roof of a parking garage on East Sixth Street.

He raises basil plants in controlled chambers in the basement of the Bio5 Research Institute across campus.

At home, Gang sprinkles turmeric on just about everything he cooks, even adds it to fruit smoothies.

Turmeric, a staple of Indian cooking that gives curries their bright yellow color, doesn’t flavor things all that much, he said. “The kids don’t even notice it,” he said.

$2M grant will help UA improve astronomy teaching

ALAN FISCHER

Published: 07.14.2008

Tucson Citizen

The University of Arizona was awarded $2 million to find ways to improve the effectiveness and quality of astronomy education around the country.

The National Science Foundation gave its largest undergraduate science education grant – the Phase 3 Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement award – to UA Steward Observatory Center for Astronomy Education.

The funds will be used to develop UA’s Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars.

“We will be able to elevate the quality of astronomy teaching done around the country and increase the learning that is happening for nonscience majors with their introductory science classes,” said Edward Prather, associate staff scientist and senior lecturer with the UA astronomy department.

The collaboration’s efforts will include researchers and instructors from around the nation, he said.

Published: 07.09.2008

‘Fund of funds’ to invest in AZ tech startups

AERO receives $326,000 in seed money ‘to commercialize Arizona innovations’

By Jack Gillum

Future Arizona high-tech startups may get a boost from new sources of venture-capital money.

The Arizona Economic Resource Organization has received $325,000 in state economic-development money to establish an Arizona “fund of funds,” a program that raises investment capital from investors and reinvests those funds in several professional venture funds.

AERO’s goal is to establish a $50 million fund of funds, which will be managed to attract overall investment of at least $200 million “to commercialize Arizona innovations.”

Investors and tech-growth advocates say the state needs “seed money” to help startup companies, including from university-affiliated tech transfers.

Published: 07.08.2008

‘Missiles in a box’ test is successful

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems said Monday that NetFires LLC, its joint venture with Lockheed Martin, has successfully launched another Non Line-of-Sight-Launch System Precision Attack Missile.

The NLOS-LS, formerly called NetFires and informally dubbed “missiles in a box,” is a system of self-contained missiles and launch containers that can be adapted to various military platforms. Raytheon makes the Precision Attack Missile; Lockheed is developing another type of round for the common launch system called the Loitering Attack Missile.

This most recent test flight was competed last Tuesday in White Sands, N.M.

Raytheon said the flight test, which proved the missile’s stability and its ability to operate linked to a network, moves NLOS-LS closer to “complete system testing.”

Published: 07.08.2008

Telemedicine connects Yuma to Ariz. specialists

By Jennifer Lovell

THE (YUMA) SUN

YUMA — Yuma Regional Medical Center has been “beaming up” doctors from around the state for the past few years.

For patients who can’t afford to visit specialists outside the area, the medical center’s partnership with the Arizona Telemedicine Program connects patients to specialists through new technology.

The Arizona Telemedicine Program at YRMC got a positive review recently from Dr. Ronald Weinstein, director of the program at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center.

“Telemedicine is the practice of medicine at a distance using video imaging and telecommunications technologies,” Weinstein said in an e-mail. “The Arizona Telemedicine Program is a large, statewide program. It provides the telecommunications infrastructure for telemedicine, telemedicine training and many telemedicine services over its network.”