Although Virgin Galactic’s Alex Tai said Saturday that a formal announcement of Northrop Grumman’s acquisition of Scaled Composites would come on Monday, none of the companies involved made a press release or other official announcement about the deal on Monday. It is possible, though, that the announcement may come today, since Northrop will release its second quarter financial results and hold a conference call with financial analysts. Expect the deal to come up in the Q&A if the company doesn’t mention it in its earnings release.
Update: It turns out the Scaled acquisition did not come up during Tuesday’s conference call. So much for my predictive skills…
Here’s a short article from Aviation Week. There’s a nice little rendering of what looks like a cross between Proteus and Predator (at least in the nose looking unmanned).
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3a27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3a15e7e34a-9dbe-4baf-ac27-594a77198bcc&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
Hi All,
This is not good.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,291039,00.html
2 Killed After Explosion at Mojave Desert Airport
Thursday, July 26, 2007
[[[MOJAVE, Calif. — Two people were killed and four others injured Thursday by an explosion at a Mojave Desert airport that is home to pioneering civilian rocket programs, authorities said.
Wreckage of equipment and vehicles could be seen in an overhead view of the site broadcast by a KCAL-TV news helicopter.
A sign on a truck behind a bunker had the name Scaled. Scaled Composites is the Mojave-based builder of SpaceShipOne, the first private manned rocket to reach space.
“Reports are two fatalities and at least four critical injuries,” said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston, who was not at the scene.]]]