Raytheon gets $45 million contract for ship-defense weapons

Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011 1:04 pm

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $45.6 million contract for engineering and technical-support services for three ship-defense systems.

The contract is for work on the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, a land-based version of the Phalanx and the SeaRAM, a small missile system based on the Phalanx.

The Phalanx is a rapid-fire gun system designed to track and destroy anti-ship missiles and other threats that have penetrated all other defenses. The SeaRAM Anti-ship Missile Defense System is based on the Phalanx carriage but fires small missiles used on Raytheon’s Rolling Airframe Missile system.

Management and engineering for the Phalanx is based in Tucson. The system is made at Raytheon Missile Systems’ plant in Louisville, Ky.

Tucson tech: TEP plan would join solar, coal-fired plant

David Wichner Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 27, 2011 12:00 am

At its power plant along Interstate 10 on the south side, Tucson Electric Power Co. is dismantling a massive old fuel-oil storage tank to make room for a promising renewable-energy project.

The work, visible from the freeway, could be seen as a symbol of the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy – but it’s really an object lesson in how they can work together.

TEP is dismantling a fuel-oil storage facility no longer in use at the mainly coal-fired H. Wilson Sundt Generating Station to make room for a proposed project with Areva Solar that would be among the first to use solar thermal technology to augment steam generation at the plant.

Optics firm moves to expand

David Wichner Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 12:00 am

When an out-of-state company swoops into town and buys up a local firm, there’s always fear that the acquired business – and its jobs – will move away.

That’s especially true with high-tech manufacturing companies, which may be acquired for their core technologies with little regard for continuing operations. And it’s particularly worrisome when the company involved is a high-tech star, founded on homegrown technology.

But in a glimmer of good news for the local optics industry, one of the region’s biggest optical instrument makers has not only decided to stay put after a takeover – it’s in expansion mode.

Bruker Nano Surfaces Division, a maker of three-dimensional microscopes and other instruments for precision surface measurement, recently moved into a larger space on the south side of Tucson, after mulling a possible move to Oro Valley or to Santa Barbara, Calif.

Jobs at APAC to involve handling of prescription-medication orders

Hiring set for 100+ pharmacy positions

Dale Quinn Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 12:00 am

APAC Customer Services Inc. is launching a pharmacy department in Tucson and plans to hire more than 100 workers in coming months.

The company is adding 125 pharmacist and pharmacy technician positions at its 2929 E. Corona Road site, near Tucson International Airport, said Shayne Farrell, APAC’s vice president of operations. More openings could be announced next year, he added.

The new jobs will provide opportunities for graduates of the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy to stay in Tucson, said Associate Dean John Murphy.

“We’re happy to hear that jobs are coming to Tucson in these tough economic times,” Murphy said.

Tucson tech: Cost-cutting technologies can help U.S. compete in solar

David Wichner Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 12:00 am

It wasn’t exactly a chamber-of-commerce day in Tucson as a key U.S. Energy Department official visited on Monday to talk solar energy with local researchers and industry folks.

But despite the rain and gloom outside, Ramamoorthy Ramesh delivered a message of hope and urgency in a meeting at the University of Arizona Science and Technology Park.

Ramesh is director of the DOE’s Sunshot Initiative program, which aims to cut the unsubsidized, installed cost of solar energy by 75 percent – to about $1 per watt – by the end of the decade.

It’s going to be tough to beat China and other Asian competitors in the solar market on the price of solar modules, as China in particular is pouring money into solar manufacturing, Ramesh said.

Tucson tech: Local solar firms jump into building-PV market

David Wichner Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 12:00 am

When Tucson-based Solon Corp. announced in August it was shutting down its local photovoltaic panel manufacturing line and laying off about 60 workers, it was a painful blow to the region’s growing solar-energy sector.

Solon’s manufacturing operation is a source of pride on the Tucson solar scene, but the company said the local line simply couldn’t compete with cheap Asian imports.

But since then, Solon has actually added some workers and plans to ramp up a new, though smaller, production line with a new product designed for flat building roofs.

Solon, which makes silicon-based solar panels primarily for the utility-scale and large commercial market, recently introduced SOLquick, a modular PV system for flat roofs that features a lightweight composite frame.