Aerospace Industry

With a sonic boom that resounded above the Mojave Desert, a rocket plane belonging to British billionaire Richard Branson's commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space. On Monday the company's SpaceShipTwo ignited its rocket motor in mid-flight for the first time and sped to Mach 1.2, faster than sound, reaching about 56,000 feet in altitude. The test flight is the biggest milestone in Virgin Galactic's 81/2-year endeavor to be the world's first commercial space liner, which would make several trips a day carrying scores of paying customers into space for a brief journey.

With a sonic boom that resounded above the Mojave Desert, a rocket plane belonging to British billionaire Richard Branson's commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space. On Monday the company's SpaceShipTwo ignited its rocket motor in mid-flight for the first time and sped to Mach 1.2, faster than sound, reaching about 56,000 feet in altitude. The test flight is the biggest milestone in Virgin Galactic's 81/2-year endeavor to be the world's first commercial space liner, which would make several trips a day carrying scores of paying customers into space for a brief journey.

When a toy designer's young daughter becomes fascinated by the gel-like beads in a flower vase, there is only one conclusion to draw: "There has got to be a toy in here somewhere," says Ron Brawer, a partner in the Maya Group and a toy industry veteran. The fast-growing Torrance company has gone on to develop dozens of playthings based on those transparent polymer pellets. One of those toys, a modified water gun called the Xploderz XBlaster 200, was a finalist for the 2012 Outdoor Toy of the Year Award from the Toy Industry Assn.

With the Pentagon set to whack its share of $85 billion in automatic federal budget cuts last month, it didn't take long for Velma Searcy to feel the pain. The owner of a Palmdale maker of military aircraft parts saw two contracts quickly evaporate as defense firms pulled back. Southern California's aerospace industry is expected to be hit hard by the so-called sequester. Still, the state generally should be able to weather the cuts without major economic damage, experts said. That's because California's economy has become more diverse over the past quarter-century, making it much less dependent on cash flowing from Washington, said Stephen Levy, director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy in Palo Alto.

A shrinking aerospace industry Southern California was once a center of the aerospace industry, but the number of aircraft companies headquartered here has been steadily shrinking. Some key events: 1967: Douglas Aircraft of Long Beach merges with McDonnell Aircraft, forming St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas Corp., which is acquired by Boeing Co. in 1997. 1995: Lockheed Corp., headquartered in Calabasas and with major operations in Burbank, merges with Martin Marietta Corp.

Al Schwimmer, a former aircraft engineer who smuggled American planes to Israel for its 1948 war of independence, founded its aerospace industry and later became a figure in the Iran-Contra affair, died in Tel Aviv on Friday, his 94th birthday. The cause was complications of pneumonia, according to a spokesperson for Israel Aerospace Industries, the company Schwimmer developed and led for more than 25 years. Schwimmer was a 2006 recipient of the Israel Prize, considered the state's highest honor.

Southern California's aerospace industry was criticized sharply by a Congressional committee Monday for failing to hire and promote more black and Latino workers. A report issued by the House Education and Labor Committee said the proportion of those two minorities in the industry's work force "remained relatively unchanged or worsened" between 1980 and 1986.

Lockheed's decision this week to move almost all of its aircraft production to Georgia is the latest and most dramatic sign that Southern California's grip on the high-tech, high-wage aerospace industry is weakening. Aerospace companies have shifted operations from Southern California to small and medium-size cities in Alabama, Arizona, Utah and Georgia, where factories now produce missiles, helicopters, aircraft parts and defense electronics.

There's finally some good news for Southern California's beleaguered aerospace industry: Opportunities in advanced technology and commercial programs could more than offset job losses in traditional aerospace sectors over the next decade. That optimistic outlook comes from "Beyond Consolidation," a yearlong study of the Southland's aerospace and defense industry that is to be released today.

The aerospace industry, reacting to growing concern over kickback and bribery schemes in defense subcontracts, held an "extraordinary" conference Monday to strengthen efforts to battle corrupt practices. "This is a meeting called with a high sense of urgency," Tom Carvey, a Hughes Aircraft vice president, told about 600 defense industry representatives. "It is high time for us to get together and face a pattern of dishonesty that threatens our well being and that of the industry.

At a time when the aerospace industry is fretful about federal spending, defense contractor Raytheon Co. announced plans to eliminate one of its business units and slash 200 jobs. The Waltham, Mass., company did not say how those cuts will affect its 10,000 workers in California but disclosed that they will result in annual savings of about $85 million. Raytheon made the announcement as part of a larger business consolidation that aims to “achieve stronger alignment with its customers' priorities.” Under the plan, the company will go from six business units to four.

California lawmakers are trying to resolve differences over competing proposals to host a research-and-testing center for drone aircraft that would be sanctioned by the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA has called for competing bids to establish six research centers throughout the country to help determine the extent to which non-military drones should be allowed in the U.S. Some officials argue that there should be one unified bid from California. Ventura County has proposed hosting a facility, while a separate proposal, floated by a group calling itself California Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Cal-UAS)

When a toy designer's young daughter becomes fascinated by the gel-like beads in a flower vase, there is only one conclusion to draw: "There has got to be a toy in here somewhere," says Ron Brawer, a partner in the Maya Group and a toy industry veteran. The fast-growing Torrance company has gone on to develop dozens of playthings based on those transparent polymer pellets. One of those toys, a modified water gun called the Xploderz XBlaster 200, was a finalist for the 2012 Outdoor Toy of the Year Award from the Toy Industry Assn.

Re “ Boeing plans more cuts in region ,” Nov. 9 As a 40-year aerospace retiree, I was sad to hear of the latest decline of the Southern California aerospace industry, with Boeing cutting more facilities. The article indicates that the cuts are due to the latest reduction in military spending. However, the decline in the once extensive aerospace industry here has been going on for decades. Not surprisingly, this decline coincides with the almost total control of the California government by the Democratic Party and the bad business environment it created.

In another wallop to Southern California's aerospace industry, defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. said it is preparing to trim its payroll by nearly 600 workers. Responding to billions of dollars in proposed Pentagon budget cuts, Northrop confirmed it has accepted buyouts from about 590 employees in its aerospace division. Most employees participating in the voluntary buyout program, which began in July, will leave by the end of September. The rest will remain as long as Dec. 14. Photos: Northrop history in L.A. This is the latest workforce reduction at Northrop's operations in Southern California - home to the vast majority of the 21,000 employees in its aerospace division.

Aerospace industry executives told the House Armed Services Committee that the government hasn't given them proper insight in how to prepare for proposed budget cuts threatening to hit Pentagon spending in the coming months. Under a law approved last year, $500 billion in federal spending of all kinds would be held back - "sequestered" - until Congress reaches an agreement on reducing the mounting federal deficit. Although there is much speculation about whether Congress would let those automatic cuts actually occur in January, military contractors are ringing alarms now. Robert J. Stevens, chief executive ofLockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense firm, told the committee Wednesday that his company is trying to prepare for the automatic cuts.

The painful slump endured by California's aerospace industry finally appears to be over after six long years. Companies are landing new contracts again, massive layoffs are fewer and farther between, and production is picking up. But the aerospace industry--the backbone of a prosperous state economy a decade ago--now operates in a sober new world where fundamental changes have occurred.

Most weekdays, Jarrad Sims and Tin Tam, a pair of college buddies, ride their bikes to a computer center and try to hack into computer security systems belonging to Boeing Co. Rather than having them arrested, Boeing is paying them to do it - a situation that the car-loving, video-gaming friends have pronounced "awesome. " For two years, the young engineers have worked side by side in a secluded unit where they design and thoroughly test ironclad security systems for the largest aerospace company in the world.