Eight Maryland companies participating in Gov. Larry Hogan's trade mission to Europe will seek business deals at an international aerospace industry event that kicked off Monday in Paris.

The firms will showcase their products and services during the week-long Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, where Hogan and an executive team plan to meet with global business leaders to promote the state's aerospace industry and seek investments for Maryland.

The companies include ASTec Metalworks in Middle River; Applied Defense Solutions in Columbia; Jackson and Tull in Greenbelt; OCR Services in Rockville; Orbit Logic in Greenbelt; Planar Monolithics in Frederick; Tecore Networks in Hanover; and WGS Systems in Frederick.

Most received an ExportMD grant from the state department of commerce to help offset the cost of the show. The state will operate a promotional booth.

The event "puts Maryland and our job creators in front of the senior decision-makers at top aerospace companies, as well as more than 2,300 international exhibitors looking to buy and sell products and services," Hogan said in an announcement Monday.

Bob Wise, CEO of WGS Systems, said the show will allow the Frederick company to demonstrate its manned and unmanned airborne surveillance technologies to both international and domestic customers.

Maryland is home to some of the top aerospace companies in the U.S., including Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems, BAE Systems and General Dynamics, as well as top defense contractors. The state is one of 20 states with exhibits at the show.

The trade mission is Hogan's third and also includes a stop in London, where the governor, Commerce Secretary R. Michael Gill and senior administration officials plan economic development meetings with international companies planning to start or expand operations in the state.

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Eight Maryland firms showcase products at Paris aerospace event ... - Baltimore Sun

XCOR Aerospace is best known for Lynx, a suborbital spaceplane that the company suspended development of last year because of funding problems. Credit: XCOR Aerospace

WASHINGTON The White House has nominated the president and chief executive of suborbital spaceplane and engine developer XCOR Aerospace to a top position in the Defense Department.

In a list of nominations released by the administration late June 16, the White House announced it was nominating John H. Jay Gibson II to the position of Deputy Chief Management Officer within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The nomination requires confirmation by the Senate.

Deputy Chief Management Officer is a position at the Under Secretary of Defense level, established by Congress a decade ago. The office is responsible for management of business systems within the Defense Department with a goal to better synchronize, integrate, and coordinate those efforts, according to the offices mission and vision statements.

Gibson had been president and chief executive of Midland, Texas-based XCOR Aerospace since March 2015, succeeding co-founder Jeff Greason, who became chief technology officer of the company. He came to XCOR from Beechcraft, where he worked for several years in executive positions in its government and defense business.

Gibson previously worked at the Pentagon during the administration of George W. Bush, serving as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for management reform and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for financial management, a position equivalent to chief financial officer.

XCOR Aerospace has gone through significant changes during Gibsons tenure leading the company. In November 2015, Greason and two other co-founders of the company, Dan DeLong and the late Aleta Jackson, left XCOR and founded Agile Aero, a company developing modern rapid design and prototyping techniques for aircraft and launch systems.

In May 2016, the company announced it was focusing the companys resources on an engine program backed by United Launch Alliance for potential use on the upper stage of its next-generation Vulcan launch vehicle. As a result, XCOR said it was halting work on its Lynx suborbital spaceplane, a two-person commercial vehicle that was the companys best-known project, laying off a number of employees in the process.

The company has said little about Lynx in the year since it decided to stop work on the project. Marco Martinez-Venturi, head of astronaut relations at the company, said in March that continued development of the prototype Lynx Mark 1 vehicle, and a test flight program, were dependent on funding.

Although we have advanced the program with much of our recent efforts, completion of the prototype is funding dependent, he said in response to questions about the status of Lynx development. The start of the test flight program, like the vehicle completion, is dependent on funding.

An XCOR spokesperson said June 18 that the company has not named a successor to Gibson, who is expected to remain at the company through the end of the month.

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XCOR Aerospace CEO nominated for Pentagon post - SpaceNews

PARIS Blistering heat and a clampdown on fine food and giveaways ensured a mellow start to the Paris Airshow this year, despite a flurry of orders triggered by the launch of a new Boeing jet.

The world's largest aviation meeting usually takes place in a blur of champagne and jet fuel as aerospace giants celebrate multibillion-dollar deals under eye-popping flying displays.

This year, the tone appears more frugal.

"Everybody is making savings this year. The teams have been asked to cut back a little on anything that might appear futile," an official with a French defense company said.

Elsewhere, Airbus is cutting back on hospitality and cultivating a mood of austerity as it slashes spending after combining its headquarters and main planemaking division.

It has halved the 800-900 staff attending previous shows, officials said. Boeing also set limits on staff attendance.

Some delegates said Airbus was striking a more cautious image amid a sweeping ethics review.

"Everything is about compliance," said one insider.

For all but the top VIPs, the France-based company's traditional gourmet lunches are being replaced by finger food, and refreshments are mostly of the non-indulgent variety.

"We'll be gone by Tuesday," quipped one disgruntled executive at the start of the June 19-25 event.

Organisers said many companies had cut chalet space. That is partly because the number of exhibitors has risen, but it also reflects leaner times across the industry.

Exhibition halls were also noticeably less stocked with trade show promotional materials, delegates said.

It is not the first time air show hospitality has been placed on the back burner.

In 2010, champagne was banned from some facilities as U.S. arms firms cut back on anything that might suggest frills and perks to Pentagon planners and others weighing big defense cuts.

This year, defense spending is on the rise again and chalets of arms firms are humming with activity. But the civil side of the aerospace industry is hunkering down to produce planes as cheaply as possible after a multi-year order boom.

Although Boeing launched a new version of its 737 jet on Monday, overall commercial orders are expected to be down after planemakers filled their order books in previous shows.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal, Giulia Segreti, Victoria Bryan, Mike Stone; Editing by Mark Potter)

WASHINGTON A man killed in a crash last year while using the semi-autonomous driving system on his Tesla Model S sedan kept his hands off the wheel for extended periods of time despite repeated automated warnings not to do so, a U.S. government report said on Monday

WASHINGTON The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it will seek to stop the merger of DraftKings and FanDuel, because the combined company would control more than 90 percent of the U.S. market for paid daily fantasy sports contests.

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MB Aerospace signs $1bn contract with US firm BBC News A Scottish engineering firm has signed a $1bn (780m) contract to provide flight engine parts to a US company. MB Aerospace said it would recruit 160 new staff as part of the 10-year agreement with Pratt & Whitney, a division of United Technologies ... Scotland's MB Aerospace welcomes a $1bn "milestone" contract with US firm Pratt & WhitneyCity A.M. Lighter Weight, Higher Reliability. UTC Aerospace Systems Sheds New Light On Temperature Measurement.PR Newswire (press release) MB Aerospace wins $1bn contract with United Technologies Corporationinsider.co.uk GuruFocus.com all 12 news articles »

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MB Aerospace signs $1bn contract with US firm - BBC News

Compare the global aerospace industry to a tree. Its branches reach into just about every country in the world; but, just like a tree, those branches cannot thrive without a strong, supportive root structure. That support comes from a nurturing environment and in the case of aerospace, that environment must include several key ingredients. Among them: favorable business costs, an educated workforce, a business climate focused on innovation, and easy access to global markets.

Ontario's aerospace industry is the second largest in Canada, employing 21,000 people and realizing more than $6 billion in annual revenues. In fact, KPMG's Competitive Alternatives 2016 report found that it costs less to manufacture aerospace components in the Toronto area than it does in many larger U.S. clusters, including Seattle and Wichita. That report also found that aerospace manufacturing costs are lower in Canada than in any other G7 nation, and labor costs are among the lowest in the same group.

PRODUCT FOCUSED Ontario's aerospace industry is concentrated around specific clusters, including aerostructures, landing gear systems, avionics and flight management, turbine engines, environmental conditioning/electric power, space and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO). In fact, there are more than 200 Ontario aerospace companies with a wide range of specializations across aerospace design, manufacturing, and product support.

"The core of the industry in Ontario is actually in our Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies the systems integrator companies and the ones immediately below them," he said. "They make a product, or provide big work packages (to OEMs)," says Moira Harvey, executive director of the Ontario Aerospace Council (OAC).

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT DRIVE INNOVATION "One of our best assets is Ontario's engineering expertise," says Harvey, referring to the over 40 university and college programs in Ontario related to aeronautics, aviation and space. "The number of schools in Ontario that graduate really well-trained engineers nearly 40,000 STEM graduates a year offers great support for research and technology development. And thats what drives innovation in this sector."

RENDERING OF THE DOWNSVIEW AEROSPACE CLUSTER FOR INNOVATION AND RESEARCH, THE FIRST PHASE OF WHICH OPENS IN 2018 A good example of where Ontarios aerospace industry is heading is the Downsview Aerospace Cluster for Innovation and Research (DAIR), opening in 2018, which will unite stakeholders from Ontario's strongest universities with aerospace industry leaders. DAIRs working group includes education and industry partners who aim to create a global hub for aerospace research in Downsview, Ontario, such as the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies, Centennial College, and prominent companies such as Bombardier and Honeywell, among many others.

MADE IN ONTARIO Ontario is home to several aerospace-related firsts and notable accomplishments:

BOMBARDIER IN TORONTO There are many other success stories. "What happened with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), was amazing," says Harvey. "They went from zero to about 600 people in just seven years, and have already outgrown their initial facility. They chose to move it here from Japan, because a lot of it was for Bombardier."

In order to be closer to Bombardier, for whom it builds business jet components, MHI opened a Toronto-area manufacturing. In just four years, the company had moved to a new facility and doubled its size.

Although MHI brought its own production activity, Harvey says there are opportunities for companies that identify existing supply chain gaps and move to fill them.

"For example, there is a big need for aerostructures plating and processing capabilities today," she reports. "There is a shortage, so somebody could bring that capability and fit in there."

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Businesses that locate in Ontario have direct access to the U.S. market, including government and military procurement programs. Ontario businesses have the ability to bid and work on U.S. military projects through special trade agreements and specific exemptions under U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulation.

In the commercial aircraft sector, Ontario companies are active on virtually every passenger aircraft programs in the world. Ontario is also home to the large majority of companies in the Canadian space industry - in fact, 2014 revenues from the Canadian space sector indicate that Ontario-based companies contribute the majority of the country's space sector revenues.

In a world where innovation is critical to survival, Ontario has created an ideal environment for aerospace. Access to skilled labor and a mature supply chain, a favorable tax structure, and collaboration across all levels of industry and academia are drivingthe success of Ontario aerospace.

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Ukrainian Aerospace Industry Finds Ways to Thrive Aviation International News During the Soviet period Ukraine was a distant second to Russia in terms aerospace system design bureaus. While the major aircraft, helicopter and missile design centers were almost all located in Moscow, the Ukrainian capital of Kiev was home to only ... and more »

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The Aerospace Alliance cruise on the River Seine gave Governor Ivey her first chance on the Paris Air Show mission to talk business with high-level executives in the field and share her commitment to supporting aerospace industry growth in Alabama.

Made in Alabama caught up with Governor Ivey to capture her thoughts on what she wants the team accomplish at the 52nd installment of the Paris Air Show, which officially starts Monday at Le Bourget Airport.

Why is it important for Alabama to be at the Paris Air Show?

The aerospace industry in Alabama is thriving and we want to see even more growth in this vital sector. At the Paris Air Show, well get a chance to talk with many industry decision-makers in private meetings, telling them Alabama is open for business. Its a perfect opportunity to tell them about our advantages.

To make sure Alabama remains a leader in aerospace, we must be strategic and work on building the relationships that will bring more jobs and investment to the state.

The Paris Air Show is the best place in the world to do that.

What are your goals for the Paris Air Show mission?

The primary mission of Alabamas economic development team at the Paris Air Show is to promote the state to aerospace companies from around the globe. I want to personally share with the leaders of these companies my commitment to make Alabama the ideal location for them.

Recruiting companies like Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin and GE Aviation has made Alabama a force in the aerospace industry. In Paris, well be working hard to position Alabama for a new wave of growth.

Aerospace is lifting off in Alabama, and we have to make sure it continues climbing.

What specific messages will you convey at the Paris Air Show?

Thats easy. Alabama has a rich history in aerospace, going back to the Wright Brothers, who set up a flight school in Montgomery more than a century ago. Rocket scientists and engineers at NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville made the moon landing possible. We have a great heritage.

Today, Alabama has everything an aerospace company needs to succeed. We have the skilled workforce and top-rated training programs. We have a pro-business environment and a solid transportation infrastructure.

For aerospace companies, we really have it all.

Why do you want to see the aerospace sector grow in Alabama?

Aerospace in Alabama is all about high-level jobs, thriving opportunities, advanced technology and dynamic innovation. Growth in this industry will continue to propel Alabama forward, and is a sign that to the world that Alabama is open and ready for businesses to invest in our state.

As the former chair of the Aerospace States Association, I know how critically important this sector is across the nation. Alabama is home to 400 aerospace companies from 30 different countries. More than 83,000 Alabamians are employed in aerospace and defense.

I want to see us build on the solid base of this industry. The growth prospects are good. We just need to keep working to bring home that growth and the jobs that come with it.

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Governor Ivey talks Alabama aerospace growth at Paris Air Show - Made In Alabama

In an effort to boost the exports of aerospace companies, the U.S.-based Aerospace Industries Association is talking numbers of something the American president would lovejobs.

Last year, aerospace and defense employment dipped by 0.6% to 2.42 million, led by job losses in the supply chain, the association reports. To reverse that trajectory, AIA will be at the Paris Air Show emphasizing the industrys importance to trade in aerospace, cultivating new contacts and gaining support for policy changes to smooth exports. The U.S. is bringing a strong delegation led by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work, and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta. About 350 U.S. companies, from 32 states, plan to exhibit at the show.

This is about jobs, says AIA President and CEO David Melcher. This is a U.S.-based industry. Things that we manufacture, that go abroad, are good for jobs at home.

Foreign trade has been a bright spot for the industry, with aerospace and defense exports reaching a record US$146 billion in 2016. The trade surplus was US$90.3 billionthe highest of any U.S. industry sector.

At Paris, AIA will be trying to expand on that success, building support among members and visiting politicians to lobby for the Export-Import Bank and improving the U.S. Foreign Military Sales process.

The Export-Import Bank could be providing export-credit financing to some US$30 billion in U.S. aerospace deals, but any deals involving more than US$10 million are in limbo until the banks board is fully staffed. In April, President Donald Trump appointed two Republican members of the board. However, they have not yet received a confirmation vote by the U.S. Senate. Even if they are approved, another member will have to be appointed, as the term of the boards vice chairman will expire July 19.

And even though defense exports remain high, Melcher says the U.S. could still improve. In the past five years, global weapons sales have grown, while the U.S. share of that market has remained stable.

AIA is working on several fronts to make it easier to export weapons by adjusting U.S. regulations. The U.S. lost global sales of space payloads and night vision technology due to International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Now the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), which was put in place to prevent the spread of ICBMs, has blocked exports of U.S. unmanned aircraft, a market in which the U.S. was dominant, and led to innovation in UAV technology in other countries. Melcher is seeking to revise or upgrade the MTCR. That would be on the top of my list, he says.

Melcher is also seeking to create a national security cooperation strategy that would call on the departments of commerce, defense and state place a priority on defense exports. Commitments between military allies are solidified through FMS, Melcher says, with the support and the interactions and the training that continue long after the sale has been announced.

Plus, AIA will be supporting many workforce initiatives proposed by Adm. John Rixey, the outgoing head of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, to increase the size and professionalism of those who evaluate and support FMS. With the numbers of deals and the complexity involved, you have to have more people, Melcher says.

Since taking office, President Donald Trump has helped place a focus on the industry and to prioritize U.S. exports, Melcher says, pointing to Trumps recent visit to Saudi Arabia to announce some US$110 billion in potential defense exports over the next decade. I dont know what would have been the answer in the absence of that emphasis, but the fact is, emphasis matters, Melcher says. If youre picking some targets where you have opportunities or you have things that have been languishing, and youre making it known that as the president Im trying to move these things through the system, then folks fall in line. You have to have a national-level mandate or an executive-level mandate. That this is important.

Melcher says AIA also likes where the Trump administration is headed with streamlining regulations and with defense spendingalthough the association would like to see more dollars directed at the Pentagon.

But the industry is wary about protectionist trade rhetoric. If the U.S. adopts a protectionist stance on certain things, there will be a reaction, Melcher says. Its going to be some kind of reaction where theyre going to look out for their own interests. Thats the problem with protectionism. It raises everybodys walls.

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U.S. Delegation Puts Aerospace Jobs at the Forefront | Paris Air ... - Aviation Week

India's Aequs Now a Global Aerospace Player | Aerospace News ... Aviation International News Aequs has acquired key aerospace suppliers in the U.S. and France to extend its reach and grow its opportunties in the industry. and more »

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India's Aequs Now a Global Aerospace Player | Aerospace News ... - Aviation International News

Alaska aerospace company wants to launch more satellites Lexington Herald Leader An Alaska aerospace company wants to increase number of launches to at least two or three launches per year. Representatives from Alaska Aerospace Corporation spoke about their plans earlier this week at a town hall meeting in Kodiak, The Kodiak Daily ... and more »

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Alaska aerospace company wants to launch more satellites - Lexington Herald Leader

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the Boeing-built Intelsat-33 and SSL-built Intelsat-36 satellites lift off Aug. 24, 2016. Credit: Arianespace

WASHINGTON The CEO of Boeing Defense, Space, and Security said that the goal of reshuffling the companys upper management is to streamline operations and work more closely with the U.S. government and other customers.

Leanne Caret, who took over as CEO in March 2016, said the move follows a banner year in 2016 and literally was about taking out a layer of executive management, which is what weve done, flattening the organization, and elevating some programs so that theyre direct reports to me.

Boeing announced June 13 that it was eliminating nearly 50 executive positions and would break up its two current units, Boeing Military Aircraft and Network & Space Systems, into four smaller groups. The Space and Missile Systems unit, to be led by Jim Chilton, will include the companys current space business, such as satellite manufacturing, ISS operations and the companys stake in United Launch Alliance.

Speaking at a June 14 event hosted by Defense One, Caret said she wanted to conduct the reorg near the start of her tenure.

The longer you stay in any position, your ability to make those changes only becomes harder, not easier, because it so much becomes a part of who you are, she said.

The executive reshuffling isnt the first change Caret made since she took over the position from Christopher Chadwick. She moved Boeings defense business headquarters from St. Louis, Missouri, to Arlington, Virginia, in order to be closer to the Pentagon, NASA and other Washington stakeholders.

To listen to customers you just cant be available when you fly in and fly back out when its convenient to you, she said. You need to be a part of the community.

Caret said company decisions need to be conducted in a thoughtful and pragmatic manner as it seeks expansion of its production lines.

Revenue for the companys space sector formerly known as Network and Space Systems was down in 2016 relative to the previous year: $7.04 billion versus $7.75 billion in 2015, according to the companys fourth-quarter reports. (For comparison, Boeings largest competitor, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, had a revenue of $9.41 billion in 2016 and $9.1 billion in 2015.)

While Boeing is a big player in the commercial and civil space sectors, one of their bigger space-related defense offerings is the Wideband Global Satcom constellation, which is set to end with the launch of the tenth satellite in 2019.

The Air Force is currently conducting an analysis of alternative (AoA) looking at the next course of action, be it purchasing additional WGS satellites or starting development of a follow-on capability. The study was originally set to conclude this December, though that end date is likely to wind up pushed into 2018.

Caret did not say what she hopes the result of the AoA will be, instead explaining that Boeing is working on finding a solution to best fit the Defense Departments needs.

From a defense perspective, its continuing to work with the customer on what they want, she said.

In a statement emailed to SpaceNews, Enrico Attanasio, the executive director of the defense and civil programs at Boeing Satellite Systems, said that Boeing is a major player in commercial space, government space and satellite services, and whatever the outcome of the AoA, Boeing has the ability to assist and to deliver the architecture that will enable those missions.

The company also has its eye on taking over the contract for the next generation of the Global Positioning System: GPS 3.

Lockheed Martin is under contract to supply the first 10 satellites in the constellation, but development delays with the satellites and related ground control system have led the Air Force to indicate theyll recompete the next planned 22. Boeing already runs part of the existing constellation, mainly the GPS 2A and 2F satellites.

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To make sure that growth continues, Alabama is sending a team of business recruiters, government leaders and university representatives to next weeks Paris Air Show.

A new video, created for Made in Alabama for use at the air show, highlights the strengths of the states aerospace sector. The video will be on display at the Made in Alabama booth, the state teams base for the industrys premiere 2017 trade show.

Securing aerospace work and jobs is a global competition, and the Paris Air Show provides us with an opportunity to talk about Alabamas strengths in aerospace with the major players in the sector, said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.

Our advantages include a trained workforce, deep capabilities in research and engineering, expertise in advanced materials, and experience with game-changing new technologies including 3-D printing.

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Secretary Canfield said companies in Alabama are involved in practically every activity in the sector, from passenger jet assembly, component fabrication, aircraft maintenance and repair, rocket and missile development, raw material production, engineering, research, aviation flight training, and more.

Alabama is also home to many of the biggest names in the business Boeing, Airbus, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Safran, UTC Aerospace, GKN, and GE Aviation.

Last year alone, aerospace companies announced projects involving more than $242 million in new capital investment and 1,500 anticipated jobs. Since 2011, more than $1.5 billion in new investment has flowed into the Alabama aerospace sector.

Alabamas economic development team at the Paris Air Show is working to make sure more companies are on the way.

Other positive trends:

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Video highlights Alabama aerospace growth for Paris Air Show - Made In Alabama

Over the last decade, entrepreneurial space companies in Southern California have set their sights on such goals as launching small satellites, carrying space tourists and colonizing Mars.

As they hire numerous young engineers, those companies and more traditional aerospace giants are finding talent in an unlikely place: a college race-car competition.

Next week, 100 university teams will bring their prototype race cars to the Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) competition in Lincoln, Neb., where they will be judged on design, manufacturing, performance and business logic.

The aerospace leaders who help judge the contest say its also an opportunity to see students explain design and production decisions, present their business cases and adapt on the fly.

Race cars and rockets are pretty similar, said Bill Riley, a Formula SAE alumnus from Cornell and competition judge whos now a senior director of design reliability and vehicle analysis at SpaceX. Its lightweight, efficient, elegant engineering. Those basic principles are the same, no matter what youre designing.

SpaceX has had fantastic success recruiting new hires and interns from Formula SAE teams, as well as from sister competition Baja SAE, which focuses on building an off-road vehicle, and other hands-on engineering competitions, said Brian Bjelde, the Hawthorne companys vice president of human resources.

Out of the 700 students who intern at SpaceX each year, about 50 or 60 come from Formula SAE. And as of three years ago, about 50% of the companys 300-person structures team had worked on some sort of project-based design team in college.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

UCLA students Brent Kyono, right, and Luke Allee, left, compare parts for UCLA Formula SAE team car in the Westwood campus workshop.

UCLA students Brent Kyono, right, and Luke Allee, left, compare parts for UCLA Formula SAE team car in the Westwood campus workshop. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

For any candidate, the ones that are most successful at SpaceX have a combination of passion, drive and talent, Bjelde said. And to me, [Formula SAE] plays into the passion piece.

Aaron Cassebeer experienced the highs and lows of competition firsthand 10 years ago as captain of a Lehigh University team that captured several design awards at competitions. But when a hose came loose and spilled oil into the cars chassis, a few drips landed on the track and the Lehigh team was disqualified.

It all ended well for Cassebeer, though. His work with light, composite materials eventually impressed Scaled Composites, a cutting-edge Mojave aerospace firm. That led to a nine-year career where, among other things, he designed flight controls for an early version of the space plane that Virgin Galactic aims to use to fly tourists to space.

The type of work I did happens to fit in really well with what Scaled Composites does design and prototype, over and over again, Cassebeer said.

The basis of the Formula SAE competition is that a fictional manufacturing company contracts teams to build a prototype race car that is low-cost, high-performance, easy to maintain and reliable.

Industry judges grill students on the design process, scrutinize their cost sheets and inspect the vehicles to make sure they are technically sound. The internal combustion engine car competition is the most popular, though an electric vehicle contest was added in 2013.

Race cars that pass technical inspections get the green light to hit the course for performance trials, testing things such as maneuverability, acceleration and endurance.

During the endurance test, two people drive the car around a course marked by traffic cones for a little more than 13 miles, which can take about half an hour and involves a driver switch. Many teams, such as UCLAs, have a hard time finding a large, open space for testing, meaning the endurance test could be one of the few times the car runs that long without breaks.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

UCLA student Ben Gerber custom fabricates a part for the UCLA Formula SAE team car on a lathe in a machine shop on the Westwood campus.

UCLA student Ben Gerber custom fabricates a part for the UCLA Formula SAE team car on a lathe in a machine shop on the Westwood campus. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The great thing about [Formula SAE] is its a full production cycle, said Dolly Singh, SpaceXs former head of talent acquisition who now serves as chief executive of high-heel designer Thesis Couture. These kids build the car from scratch. They have to test in a high-pressure situation and see how it performs.

Preparing for the competition gives students a taste of the grind that goes into meeting real-world project deadlines.

David Hernandez, 21, laughed when asked how many hours he and other members of the Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE team have spent working on their car.

Last night, I left early, and that was at 10 p.m., said Hernandez, a fourth-year aerospace engineering student.

Cal Poly Pomona has done well in the competition. Last year, the teams sleek, green vehicle with an aerodynamic wing placed third overall in Lincoln, the highest of any California team there.

The Cal Poly shop, which is on the base floor of an engineering building and is shared with the Baja SAE team and other clubs and project teams, is crammed with tools, machinery and previous years cars.

The teams 2014 car is encased in glass at the front of the engineering school along with a number of trophies. That car placed fourth in Lincoln and ninth in an international Formula SAE competition.

Hernandez applied his software knowledge, acquired through classes and Formula SAE, to his internship last summer at Raytheon Co. He uses the same software to analyze data points from the teams car.

There are very few times you feel as passionate about the same thing, Hernandez said of the groups camaraderie. Theres nothing better than this.

Scaled Composites, which is now part of Northrop Grumman Corp., has mentored a handful of Southern California teams, including UCLAs, and recruited students in their shops for full-time jobs or internships. Several of the companys engineers have also volunteered to offer feedback ahead of the competitions.

Scaled Composites is particularly interested in students who work on design and analysis.

We do look for engineers that are hands-on, said Kelsey Gould, executive assistant to the companys vice president of engineering. Theyre really committed to figuring things out on their own.

As the competition nears, pressure mounts.

Each Saturday for the last few months, about 30 members of the UCLA Formula SAE team pumped up the music in their ground-floor shop on campus and worked almost all day on their car. Thats in addition to the hours they spend there in between classes.

Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times

UCLA student Owen Hemminger works on UCLA Formula SAE team's car on the Westwood campus workshop.

UCLA student Owen Hemminger works on UCLA Formula SAE team's car on the Westwood campus workshop. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

The UCLA team has already made several changes to avoid challenges it ran into last year, when it finished 59th out of 80 teams. A new, tunable muffler has been added that should help the team pass a sound requirement during the technical inspection. Last year, UCLA just barely passed that test by using a special exhaust plug and two mufflers packed with steel wool to deaden the sound.

Students on the team get greater hands-on engineering experience than they might in academic classes, said Owen Hemminger, 20, a mechanical engineering student and financial director of UCLAs team.

Everyone learns how to use engineering software and do machining in school, but not to the depth we use it, he said.

Dan Rivin, 22, said his experience making steering wheels and drivers seats for UCLAs cars prepared him for an internship at Northrop Grumman, where he worked extensively with composites.

Last fall, the materials engineering student, who graduated this spring, gave a Northrop recruiter a tour of UCLAs Formula SAE shop. Later, the recruiter asked Rivin for a resume. After several interviews, he was offered a full-time job with the aerospace giant and will start at the end of this month.

He said his work with Formula SAE came up in a number of interviews. Hes convinced it got him onto recruiters radar screens.

This is very unique in the way that youre involved in the entire process, he said. No ones holding your hand through the whole thing.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga

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Where do SpaceX and other aerospace companies find engineers? On the race track - Los Angeles Times

Here's your weekly Investing Action Plan: what you need to know as an investor for the coming week.

For investors in aerospace and bank stocks like Boeing (BA), Lockheed Martin (LMT), JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC), the coming week will feature the the Super Bowl for those respective industries. The aerospace sector will have the Paris Air Show, and the bank sector will have the first part of the stress test results. Meanwhile, a top emerging-market index will decide whether to include mainland Chinese stocks, and the tech sector will get earnings reports from Oracle (ORCL), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Red Hat (RHT).

As the Nasdaq is nearing a test of its 50-day moving average, several big-name tech stocks are finding themselves in similar positions.

Amazon.com (AMZN), fueled by its Whole Foods Market (WFM) buyout announcement, is rebounding higher after testing support at the 50-day line, which marked the second pullback for the stock since its mid-March cup-with-handle breakout. Friday's move puts Amazon in a follow-on buy area.

Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) have both found support at their 50-day lines too. When deciding if you should buy on a pullback to the 50-day, look for declining volume as the stock falls and rising volume as the stock bounces from the line.

Apple's (AAPL) chart is in a worse condition than its big-cap tech peers. The stock has sliced below its 50-day line and has now triggered a sell signal: Apple has nearly made a round trip from its follow-on entry at 141.12. And for those who bought in at the 118.12 handle entry back in January, the stock is now up about 20% from that level, after gaining as much as 34% from the buy point.

Apple chip supplier Broadcom (AVGO) is nearing a test of support at the 50-day line (or the 10-week line on a weekly chart). After breaking out of a flat base with a 227.85 buy point in early May and running up as much as 13% from that level, shares are now back within the 5% buy range.

Midrange jets will likely rule the Paris Air Show, which starts Monday. Boeing is expected to unveil the 737 Max 10, the largest version yet for that narrow-body family, and announce Indonesia's Lion Air as a launch customer. More interestingly, new details will likely emerge about a brand-new midrange plane being designed to take back market share from Airbus' (EADSY) A321neo, while the European rival is already planning to counter what some have dubbed the 797. Still, the total number of commercial plane orders is expected to be down this year. On the defense side of the Paris Air Show, Lockheed's F-35 is scheduled to make a flashy flight demonstration as more European countries like Germany evaluate the stealth fighter.

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The Federal Reserve will release results from the first portion of its annual stress tests on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. ET. This part basically results in a pass-or-fail grade for each bank in a hypothetical economic downturn and financial crash, whose precise conditions differ from year to year. The grade gives investors a clue as to which banks will get approval for their plans to return capital to shareholders. The Fed will announce its approval or disapproval on those plans on June 28 at 4:30 p.m., after which individual banks will start saying how big their dividends and buybacks will be.

Index provider MSCI (MSCI) is poised to decide Tuesday whether to include mainland China stocks, or A-shares, into its main emerging market index. That matters to U.S. investors because dozens of funds track or are benchmarked to that index, including the $31.65 billion iShares Emerging Markets ETF (EEM). A nod would raise China's profile in global capital markets while requiring fund managers in the U.S. and abroad to pour billions into China stocks traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

MSCI has nixed the inclusion of A-shares on three previous occasions, citing accessibility issues for foreign investors in China's $7 trillion stock markets. Will the fourth time be the charm? A Bloomberg poll of analysts and managers in March found expectations for inclusion to be low. MSCI itself told the publication in May that a "lot of issues" remain. (China stocks listed in the U.S. like Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD) belong to the N-shares class.)

Oracle reports fiscal Q4 results after the close Wednesday. The consensus estimate on EPS is 78 cents, down 4% year over year, with revenue falling 1% to $10.47 billion. Oracle stock is up 17% this year as the software giant shifts to a cloud-based model and as short and long-term fundamentals continue to take a more positive turn. Oracle began a concerted push into the cloud three years ago, and some analysts have said the company has finally turned the corner after a rocky transition.

The maker of digital media and marketing software is scheduled to report fiscal Q2 results after the market close Tuesday, and analysts are looking for continued momentum in its cloud computing transition. Analysts expect EPS to climb 34% to 95 cents, on sales of $1.73 billion, up 24%, in Q2. Adobe stock has found support at its 50-day moving average after a flat-base breakout in late January. It hit an all-time high of 144.34 on June 5.

TheNo. 1 provider of open-source Linux software for corporate data centers reports fiscal Q1 earnings late Tuesday. Analysts expect EPS to grow 6% to 53 cents with revenue rising 14% to $647.8 million. Wall Street has been looking for traction in Red Hat's public cloud business as customers shift computing workloads to cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services, which is a Red Hat partner. Shares in Red Hat have weakened ahead of earnings, dropping below their 50-day moving average.

Homebuilder Lennar (LEN) will report fiscal Q2 numbers early Tuesday, and Wall Street sees EPS falling 18% to 78 cents, while revenue rises 5.4% to $2.895 billion. The National Association of Realtors will release May data on sales of existing homes on Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency will report its April home price index on Thursday, and the Commerce Department will come out with May new-home sales next Friday. Builder stocks had been showing signs on strength but sold off this week amid weak economic data, and the latest report on housing starts today showed a surprise decline.

YouTubers and content creators are heading to VidCon in Anaheim, Calif., on Wednesday to watch and fete online video. Last year's multiday convention drew in over 26,000 attendees. As the traditional entertainment industry assesses the emergence of online pure-plays, some are looking to get in on the action and attract younger viewers. TBS Digital, New Form and Dunkin' Donuts (DNKN), for instance, are hosting a pilot-pitch competition at the convention.

The Dublin-based global-tech consulting and services company reports fiscal Q3 earnings early Thursday. Analysts expect EPS growth of 7% to $1.51 with revenue rising 4.7% to $8.83 billion. Currency headwinds may have eased a bit, analysts say. Accenture (ACN) has been investing in digital, cloud and security services and competes against IBM (IBM), Infosys (INFY) and Tata Consultancy Services.

The shipping giant reports fiscal Q4 results late Tuesday, and EPS is expected to climb 18% to $3.89, on revenue of $15.56 billion, up 20%. E-commerce and Amazon have fueled FedEx's (FDX) rise, but the internet juggernaut is expanding its own delivery operations, and is even leasing its own fleet of planes. FedEx shares are in buy range, following an early June breakout, and are up 13% year to date.

The used-car superstore reports Q1 results early Wednesday and is expected to post EPS of 98 cents, up 8.9%, on revenue of $4.51 billion, up 9.2%. A flood of cars coming off lease is expected to slam the market for new and used cars, hitting prices, sales and dealers like CarMax (KMX) as well as the automotive industry more broadly. CarMax also cited headwinds related to its subprime car-loan business in its April earnings report.

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The Super Bowls For Aerospace, Bank Giants: Investing Action Plan - Investor's Business Daily

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A Long Island aerospace company has reopened an old building where Navy fighters used to be built.

Since Luminati's flight demo last year, the Calverton-based company has already set up 70,000 square feet of production line inside Hangar 6 where Grumman once built F-14 Tomcats and other jets for the U.S. Navy.

Luminati creates ultralight composite material and builds solar-powered aircraft. There has been a lot of speculation about who the company is partnering with. The Town of Riverhead revealed it had been Facebook, but the companies are no longer working together.

Luminati CEO Daniel Preston said he is already flying solo. While Preston said he isn't going to bring the 20,000 jobs there once were back to Long Island he plans to employ at least 2,000 people as part of his five-year plan.

Luminati received a contract from the Town of Riverhead to buy the remaining 2,300 acres at Enterprise Park. The company hopes to close as soon as possible.

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Long Island aerospace company reopens old F-14 facility - Fox5NY

BOULDER, Colo. The University of Colorado Board of Regents has approved plans to build a new $82.5 million aerospace engineering building on the CU Boulder campus.

The 139,000-square-foot facility will offer a state-of-the-art learning environment for students in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

In addition to a 200-seat auditorium, offices and other classroom space, the new building will include an indoor flight environment for testing unmanned craft and it will be built with a roof design that allows for the sight lines needed to track satellites in orbit.

The building will be located along Discovery Drive, between the existing Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics Space Science Building on CU Boulders East Campus.

CU Boulders aerospace program has seen a lot of growth in recent years enrollment grew from 647 students in the fall of 2011 to 946 in fall 2016 and this new building will help the university keep its momentum going.

This is a watershed moment, not just for CU aerospace, but for our entire college, the university and the state of Colorado, said Bobby Braun, dean of engineering. CU Boulder is already recognized as a national leader in aerospace, and this state-of-the-art facility will take us to the next level. This facility will be a beacon of innovation for the students, researchers and industries of the future.

Fundraising for the building is already underway and a $15 million gift earlier this year puts the university well on its way toward its goal.

Construction on the new facility is expected to begin in the fall, with an anticipated completion date in July 2019.

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CU Boulder to build new $82.5 million aerospace building on campus - The Denver Channel

PARIS Alphabet Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday called on the aerospace industry and its regulators to embrace advanced software systems to shed big costs and reduce development time for new equipment.

"When I think about aviation I think of a proud industry that doesn't use software very much," said Mr. Schmidt, who is also a pilot. The software backbone currently used is largely old, he said, adding "there is an opportunityto actually accelerate change by virtue of the use of software."

Revamping how flights are routed in the U.S. and Europe should be one of the first targets for using advanced software systems, Mr. Schmidt said at the Paris Air Forum. "Improvements in air-traffic control will yield very, very big improvements in airplane efficiency and climate-change carbon emissions," he said.

The Trump administration last month launched a controversial plan to transform the federal air-traffic control system into an independent, nongovernmental organization that is opposed by some lawmakers and aviation groups.

Mr. Schmidt said he had discussed possible improvements to the U.S. air-traffic system with the Obama administration, but not yet with the new government.

Tom Enders, chief executive of Airbus SE, the world's No. 2 plane maker behind Boeing Co., said the company's studies have shown that 10% of airline fuel burn in Europe alone could be saved if air space was revamped. He expressed hope the political will that has lacked to push through those changes in Europe could regain momentum with the recent election of French President Emmanuel Macron, who ran on a reformist platform.

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Mr. Schmidt said Alphabet is looking to be a technology supplier to the aerospace industry on several fronts. Alphabet and Airbus recently began working together to help analyze satellite pictures. Alphabet also has developed a searching mechanism to find air fares.

The Alphabet chairman also suggested advanced algorithms could help boost self-flying cars and improved drones. The technology that allows computers now to have better vision than humans, which underpins the push for self-driving cars, could eventually have aerospace applications, he said.

Mr. Schmidt also criticized the aerospace sector for failing to move quickly. "The aviation industry as a whole has product cycles that are getting longer and longer and longer. That is especially true of the military," he said. "An enormous amount of citizens' money is wasted."

He said companies should embrace an approach of repeatedly trying and improving designs.

It is a sentiment echoed by Mr. Enders, who has been pushing Airbus to embrace tech-sector approaches. "That can bring huge efficiency gains," he said, cutting development and manufacturing times, yielding and promising multi-billion dollars savings on big new development programs.

-Write to Robert Wall at Robert.Wall@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 16, 2017 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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Alphabet Chairman Urges Aerospace Industry to Revamp Air-Traffic and Plane Development Systems - Fox Business

The Paris Air Show is the aerospace industry's headline event of the year and serves as a venue for Boeing (BA) and Airbus (EADSY) to announce aircraft deals with carriers from around the world as well as a showcase for military aircraft from giants like F-35A Joint Strike Fighter maker Lockheed Martin (LMT).

General Electric (GE) and United Technologies (UTX) also get a chance to shop around their jet engines.

The Paris Air Show happens once every two years, alternating with the Farnborough Airshow in the U.K.

Bookmark this page to trackthe latest defense deals, airline orders and other aerospace news from thethis year's show, which runs from Jun. 19-25.

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Paris Air Show 2017: Latest Defense And Aerospace News And Deals - Investor's Business Daily

CU Boulder is set to begin construction this fall of a new 139,000-square-foot aerospace engineering building that will help the College of Engineering and Applied Science enhance its reputation as a national leader in aerospace education and research.

Capital construction approvals

In addition to the new aerospace engineering building, the CU Board of Regents on Thursday approved six other capital construction projects on the CU Boulder campus:

Approval by the Board of Regents on Thursday paved the way for the long-awaited $82.5 million project, which was first conceived in 2008at that point as an addition to the current Engineering Center on Main Campus.

The new building is slated for completion by July 2019, in time for the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences to move into its new East Campus home for the fall 2019 semester.

This is a watershed moment, not just for CU aerospace, but for our entire college, the university and the state of Colorado, said Bobby Braun, dean of engineering. CU Boulder is already recognized as a national leader in aerospace, and this state-of-the-art facility will take us to the next level.

In addition to providing world-class learning spaces, the new building will group together aerospace engineerings six main research clusters in a way that facilitates greater collaboration between students and faculty. Among its features will be an indoor flight environment for testing unmanned aerial systems, as well as a unique roof design that accommodates faculty research and provides the lines of sight necessary for activities like satellite tracking.

This facility will be a beacon of innovation for the students, researchers and industries of the future, Braun added.

The facility will help accommodate the rapid growth experienced by the aerospace program in recent years. Combined undergraduate and graduate enrollment grew from 647 in fall 2011 to 946 in fall 2016. The rest of the College of Engineering and Applied Science will also benefit thanks to the collaborative spaces and interdisciplinary endeavors that the building will foster between aerospace, mechanical and electrical engineers, as well as the colleges mathematicians and computer scientists.

The college is already well on its way toward achieving its capital campaign fundraising goal for the project, thanks in part to a generous gift earlier this year from Ann Smead and Michael Byram as well as a sponsorship by industry partner Lockheed Martin.

The new building will be located along Discovery Drive between the Sustainability, Energy and Environment Complex (SEEC) and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) Space Science Building. The site is also just a short walk from the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy and LASPs Space Technology Building, helping to create a synergistic hub of space-related programming on East Campus.

This new building shows our states commitment to growing its aerospace industry in a serious way, said Penina Axelrad, chair of the aerospace engineering sciences department. Colorado already has the nations second-largest aerospace economy, and this flagship facility will strengthen CUs status as a major hub for innovation in this industry.

The departments new home will include a 200-seat auditorium, distance-learning-equipped classrooms, faculty offices and spaces for graduate students. It will also include space modeled after the Integrated Teaching and Learning Laboratory, an award-winning hands-on learning environment at the Engineering Center that has proven crucial to student success.

The state-of-the-art innovation facility comes at a critical juncture for this nationally-recognized aerospace research hub, program namesake Ann Smead said in CU engineerings blog.

With approval by the CU Boulder Design Review Board already in hand, architects are now wrapping up final drawings. Bids from potential general contractors are expected to be returned in mid-September, with groundbreaking anticipated for November.

The College of Engineering and Applied Science advancement team continues to work with prospective philanthropists and industry partners who have expressed interest in helping fund the world-class people and programs to be housed in the new aerospace building. These supporters illustrate a commitment to continued momentum in sustaining a top aerospace engineering program that drives innovation and produces the next generation of space and aeronautics leaders.

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New flagship aerospace facility approved by CU regents - CU Boulder Today

PARIS, June 15 Shareholders in Safran on Thursday backed resolutions that will free the French aero engine maker to pursue an agreed takeover of parts maker Zodiac .

The planned merger would create the world's third-largest aerospace supplier after U.S companies United Technologies and General Electric.

Thursday's Safran shareholder vote was a key demand of UK hedge fund TCI, which had waged an intense campaign to block the deal, or at least reshape it.

In May, Zodiac accepted a 15 percent cut in Safran's $9 billion offer after Zodiac profit warnings.

Safran's original $9 billion offer was weakened by conflicting movements in share prices and a deteriorating industrial performance at Zodiac, though on Wednesday Zodiac eased concerns by reiterating financial targets.

Shareholders in Safran had been asked to vote in favour of two mechanisms that will enable the company to issue new preference shares that would then be convertible in ordinary shares after three years.

Safran says it is confident of resolving Zodiac's industrial problems after visiting its plants, including a British factory blamed for the latest profit downgrade in April.

Safran is offering 25 euros per Zodiac share in cash, down from 29.47 euros previously, or an alternative of preferred shares up to a total of 31.4 percent of the $7.7 billion deal.

Zodiac Aerospace shares closed up 0.9 percent at 23.92 euros. Safran eased 0.2 percent to 77.86 euros. (Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Writing by Matthias Blamont. Editing by Jane Merriman)

The following Spanish stocks may be affected by newspaper reports and other factors on Friday. Reuters has not verified the newspaper reports, and cannot vouch for their accuracy:

* 58.com - Guazi.Com, co's unit that operates a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) used car trading platform, announced over us$400 million in series B financing Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:

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Safran shareholders approve plan to buy Zodiac Aerospace - Reuters