Tag Archives: LEO

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

GrafTech's Engineered Solutions Business Segment Continues to Expand Its Aerospace Contracts

Leave a comment

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

GrafTech’s Engineered Solutions Business Segment Continues to Expand Its Aerospace Contracts

PARMA, Ohio–(BUSINESS WIRE)– GrafTech International today announced that its Engineered Solutions (ES) business segment has won another contract to provide thermal management solutions in support of space research and exploration.

The latest project is the LEONIDAS (Low Earth Orbiting Nanosatellite Integrated Defense Autonomous System) program, which is a venture of the Hawaii Space Flight Lab (HSFL) and the state of Hawaii, under contract to the Operationally Responsive Space Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Nanosatellites are microsatellites, which are miniaturized artificial satellites of low mass and size, usually under 100 kg (220 lbs). They provide many benefits over large-sized ones, including significant cost savings, design efficiencies and the ability to complete missions that larger satellites cannot accomplish.

The LEONIDAS project has three stages, each with a different LEO motor that will provide axial propulsion for the launch vehicle. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd stages use LEO-46, LEO-7 and LEO-1 rocket motors, respectively, which are designed and produced by Aerojet, a GenCorp company headquartered in Sacramento, California. GrafTech is supplying the carbon/carbon insert for each motor. The vehicle’s first flight test, which will include a payload, is planned for the second half of 2013.

The advanced material products and solutions for this space project were developed and manufactured by a subsidiary of GrafTech’s Engineered Solutions’ segment based in Maine.

GrafTech Chairman & CEO Craig Shular commented, “Our ES business segment continues to leverage GrafTech’s R&D expertise in developing and executing innovative material science solutions for a wide range of industries. We look forward to seeing ES grow its capabilities in 2013 and beyond.”


About GrafTech


GrafTech International is a global company that has been redefining limits for more than 125 years. We offer innovative graphite material solutions for our customers in a wide range of industries and end markets, including steel manufacturing, advanced energy and latest generation electronics. GrafTech operates 20 principal manufacturing facilities on four continents and sells products in 70 countries. Headquartered in Parma, Ohio, GrafTech employs 3,000 people. For more information, call 216.676.2000 or visit www.graftech.com .

NOTE ON FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for historical information, the matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements relating …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

ORBCOMM and Kobelco Construction Machinery Deliver Global Telematics Solution

Leave a comment

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under:

ORBCOMM and Kobelco Construction Machinery Deliver Global Telematics Solution


Adds new market leader in heavy equipment industry to customer portfolio

ROCHELLE PARK, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– ORBCOMM Inc. (NAS: ORBC) , a global satellite data communications company specializing in two-way Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and solutions, today announced that it is working with Kobelco Construction Machinery Co. Ltd. (KCM) on a global telematics application.

KCM, which is Japan‘s second largest manufacturer of hydraulic excavators, will use ORBCOMM‘s global satellite communications network to track and monitor the location, status and performance of their construction equipment. KCM‘s powerful on-board system will enable their customers to gain significant operating advantages and cost savings through enhanced visibility and better asset management of their machinery.

“KCM‘s agreement with ORBCOMM further demonstrates our market leadership as the top choice for wireless M2M network service among the largest global manufacturers in the heavy equipment industry,” said Marc Eisenberg, ORBCOMM‘s Chief Executive Officer. “With the growing importance of cost-effective, reliable connectivity in powering M2M applications, ORBCOMM will play a pivotal role in the successful implementation of KCM‘s high-performance asset monitoring solution in key international markets.”

About ORBCOMM Inc.

ORBCOMM is a leading global satellite data communications company specializing in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications and solutions. Its customers include Caterpillar Inc., Doosan Infracore America, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Hyundai Heavy Industries, Asset Intelligence (a division of I.D. Systems, Inc.), Komatsu Ltd., Manitowoc Crane Companies, Inc., and Volvo Construction Equipment among other industry leaders. By means of a global network of low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites and accompanying ground infrastructure, ORBCOMM‘s low-cost and reliable two-way data communication services track, monitor and control mobile and fixed assets in our core markets: commercial transportation; heavy equipment; industrial fixed assets; marine; and homeland security. ORBCOMM based products are installed on trucks, containers, marine vessels, locomotives, backhoes, pipelines, oil wells, utility meters, storage tanks and other assets. ORBCOMM is an innovator and leading provider of tracking, monitoring and control services for the refrigerated transport market. Under its ReeferTrak®, GenTrak TM, and CargoWatchTM brands, the company provides customers with the ability to proactively monitor, manage and remotely control their refrigerated transport assets. Additionally, ORBCOMM provides Automated Identification System (AIS) data services for vessel tracking and to improve maritime safety to …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Articles of Interest

1.6 Billion Bullets By The DHS Numbers

Leave a comment

By Avg Joe

world mexguns full 6328 1.6 Billion Bullets by the DHS Numbers

I keep waiting for someone who knows what they are doing to investigate, look at the numbers and do some simple math. Since no one has, here is what I have been able to come up with based on “what has been reported thus far”. Most government contracting includes statements like, up to, which means that they can request more of an item over the period of the contract, but not the full amount if they don’t need that many. Most of the purchases are for a five year period, which means that they are not getting it all right away.

Since 2004, the number of Federal Agents has increased by about 30-40% to somewhere around 120,000 agents employed under about 70 Federal Departments. It is estimated that about 90,000 of these are under DHS. These are Law Enforcement Officers (LEOs) and include NOAA, SS, FWP, ICE, FPS, ATF, and just about all the alphabet soup entities of the federal government whose primary purpose is enforcement. It is a lot. However, 1.6 Billion rounds divided by 120,000 agents it is still 13,333 rounds per LEO.

Each LEO has to “qualify” at the range with any weapon that they carry on duty, twice a year. The standard qualification includes various shooting positions, magazine changes, and reloads, and hitting targets at various distances. Standard run of the mill street cops carry a side arm, rifle, and shotgun.

One of the departments that were folded into DHS is the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. It was originally under the Treasury Department. It operates four training centers in the United States and at least two outside. A statement by FLETC is that they use around 15 million rounds a year. This ammo is for all Federal Agents under DHS and the LEOs that work for say, the IRS or Social Security. FLETC also provides training for state and local LEOs that are outside of the aforementioned. It is unclear whether the 15 million rounds per year statement includes all of the training centers, or just the main one, in Georgia, a 1600 acre complex with multiple ranges and even a small town to simulate urban warfare, I mean urban LEO scenarios.

So if each of the FLETC locations uses 15 million rounds a year, which is a stretch, and there are at least six that we know of, a conservative estimate for all training using all three weapons, could be as high as 450 million rounds. That leaves approximately 1.2 billion rounds to be distributed to 120,000 LEOs in the field of operation. Or around 10,000 rounds per LEO.

So how much ammo is distributed to each LEO to carry in the field and how much is kept in reserve at each local office? Well we all know that every LEO in the field already has ammo, and each field office already has a stockpile, what are the additional 10,000 rounds per LEO for? That is an additional 2,000 rounds per year over the five year period.

It is still …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Western Journalism