MSU, Army sign drone collaboration

Mississippi State University’s Raspet Flight Research Laboratory is joining forces with the Army’s unmanned aircraft systems unit in Huntsville, Ala., to open a new chapter in the university’s research of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Officials signed paperwork Tuesday to foster collaboration between the Army’s Project Manager for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and MSU that is to complement the school’s engineering research. The agreement allows MSU to boost its research capabilities and curricula that would allow students and faculty to research UAVs within the national airspace. Source: WVTA, Tupelo, Miss. July 23, 2013.

L-3 Vertex collaboration paying off

The Madison, Miss.-based L-3 Vertex Aerospace has collaborated with Vector Aerospace to produce and have the first-ever Federal Aviation Administration certified cockpit voice and flight data recorder (CVFDR). The CVFDR is being used on the Eurocopter AS332 helicopters. The twin-engine medium-weight passenger transport helicopter’s CVFDR includes a digital flight data acquisition unit. Source: Aviation Today, July 23, 2013.

Mississippi No. 5 in biz start-ups

The Kauffman Foundation, an entrepreneurship non-profit organization, has ranked Mississippi as the fifth best entrepreneurial state in America – ranking ahead of California, Illinois and Texas -- explaining why mostly-rural states top the list. Montana’s major oil-and-gas boom topped the rankings. Louisiana ranked No. 9. Source: Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger blog, July 22, 2013.

Odd biz-jet got its start at MSU

The HondaJet, which defines aviation logic with engines in a “sweet spot” above the wings making it aerodynamically superior, is on the brink of breaking into the American market with a nod from the Federal Aviation Administration. The idea for the odd commercial jet began 27 years ago in a Mississippi airport hangar with then-Mississippi State University aeronautical engineer Michimasa Fujino. If the FAA gives the go-ahead, Fujino’s Honda Aircraft Company will become the first new business to get U.S. approval in the $21 billion business-jet market since 2006. Source: Bloomberg News, July 19, 2013.

Opinion: South winning job-growth war

The South is winning (the economic job-growth wars without firing a shot) … and free men of all colors are voting with their feet to join a rising economic powerhouse. The new competition involves economic growth, technological advancement, jobs and the quality of life. Many (Southerners) have long glimpsed signs that it’s going well for the South, including (Mississippi). But it’s hard not to be impressed by a recent cataloging of the region’s ascendancy by Joel Kotkin, a scholar at Chapman University in California. Some of his findings include: (a) Unemployment is lower than in the West or Northeast; (b) Census data, adjusted for cost of living, shows New York has a higher rate of poverty than Mississippi … and he contends the South’s economic upturn is no coincidence. The region, the Californian reports, simply is more receptive to jobs-growing enterprises. Source: Savannah (Ga.) Morning-News ‘Opinion’, July 11, 2013.

GSG has new Miss. biz development manager

Genesis Systems Group, the largest independent U.S. robotic work cell integrator in North America which produces engineered solution products for aerospace components, has named Oscar Velazquez as its Southeastern U.S. business development manager. Genesis specializes in factory automation with robots for welding, cutting, assembly, and machine tending; and is a recognized leader in robotic systems integration. Velazquez’ territory includes Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. Source: Genesis Systems Group, July 10, 2013.

Miss. on possible list for new STEM program

The charitable foundation of the largest industrial gases company in North and South America, Praxair Inc. of Connecticut, announced July 12 it is donating $105,000 to the American Association of University Women (AAUW) in support of Tech Savvy, the group’s successful science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program for young women. The plan is to take Tech Savvy to 10 new communities which may well include the states of Mississippi and Connecticut, and the cities of Chicago, Houston and Indianapolis. Source: Business Wire, July 12, 2013. (Mississippi Golden Triangle note: Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi State University are among seven state partner-colleges of the AAUW.)

The Accelerator puts pedal to mettle

Three firms have found new secondary homes at The Accelerator — a 60,000-square-foot incubator that rents space and equipment to fledgling and expanding technology companies and affiliated with the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. GE Aviation, which opened an Ellisville, Miss., plant in May, recently rented laboratory space there to train new employees to make components for jet engines. A second group is Vatican Capital, an investment firm focusing on making growth investments for small Catholic-owned businesses in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi. The third firm is Radiance Technologies - established in 1999 in Huntsville, Ala. - develops electronics, polymers and military applications; and provides operational support for the Defense Department, intelligence and other government agencies. Source: Hattiesburg American, July 8, 2013.

Miss. high court to hear Eaton case

The Ohio-based Eaton Corp., which makes hydraulic aircraft pumps at a 600-employee aerospace facility in Jackson, goes before the Mississippi Supreme Court on Aug. 5 seeking reinstatement of its $1 billion trade secrets lawsuit filed against rival Frisby Aerospace, now part of Triumph Group, based near Philadelphia, Pa. In 2010, a Hinds County (Miss.) judge threw out the case, saying Eaton knew about and sanctioned secret actions by a company lawyer to influence case's initial judge in the case. (The judge was removed from the case and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.) Eaton alleges five ex-engineers took the firm’s aerospace information and gave it to their new employer, Frisby, which began competing against Eaton for military and commercial contracts. Source: The Associated Press, July 6, 2013.

Stark looking for engineer specialist

Stark Aerospace is looking for a mechanical or industrial engineer to become its ‘Design to Production Transfer Program Manager’ at its Columbus, Miss., facility. The candidate must have knowledge of project management principles and tools for measuring project/program successes. Stark Aerospace, July 2013.

Contract: EADS, $12.9M

EADS North America, Herndon, Va., was awarded a $12,921,227 modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price, option-filled contract for contractor logistics support for the Army's aviation assets. The cumulative total face value of this contract is $2,265,423,694. Work will be performed in Columbus, Miss. Fiscal 2013 operations and maintenance funds are being obligated on this award. The Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 07/01/13)

Columbus, Meridian commissary closures

Sequestration will force military and retiree families to revise weekday food shopping routines at military-base commissaries in the Gulf Coast region because of forced defense civilian furloughs beginning the week of July 8. In Mississippi, the commissary at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi will be closed Mondays. About 148 others will close Tuesdays as well. That list includes Naval Construction Battalion Center in Gulfport, Naval Air Station Meridian and Columbus AFB, all in Mississippi, plus NAS Whiting Field, Hurlburt Field and Tyndall AFB in Florida; and Naval Air Station/Joint Reserve Base New Orleans in Belle Chasse, La. Commissaries employ 14,000 U.S.-based civilian employees who will be affected by the furloughs. The changes will remain at least through Sept. 30. Source: Defense Commissary Agency.

Sequestration coming to Meridian NAS

Some 300 Defense Department civilian workers at Naval Air Station Meridian will begin to feel the sting of sequestration July 8 when mandatory furloughs arrive for 200,000 Navy-civilian employees. Workers will be required to take one unpaid day over an 11-week period ending Sept. 30. All services or facilities which employ civilian personnel will be affected to some degree including: Commissary closure on Tuesdays and reduced hours for the base’s Fitness, Aquatics and Liberty centers and library. Some essential civilian personnel are exempt. Some 700 contractors who provide aircraft maintenance, instruction, administration, medical and dental services, and IT support are exempt. Statewide sequestration cuts could “save” DoD $25 million in unpaid salaries over the 11 weeks, according to base estimates. Source: Meridian Star, June 30, 2013.