Model Airplanes

F-35 fighter jets are expected to be delivered to Vermont in 2019, but as President-elect Donald Trump mentioned in his press conference last week, there have been cost overruns and scheduling delays in the production of the fighter jet.

It was just over three years ago that the Air Force decided Burlington would be home to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. This followed years of debate between those who wanted the jets and their economic boost here in Vermont, and those who opposed the planes and the impact their noise could have on local communities.

Phil Ewing, NPR’s national security editor, joined Vermont Edition on Monday to look beyond Vermont and catch us up on the overall status F-35 program.

Over budget and behind schedule

“The aircraft has about doubled in cost per jet since the first estimates when the Pentagon got this program rolling, and it hoped to have operational versions of it in the field years ago,” says Ewing. “The timetable has shifted so much that it just kind of depends on what slice of time you take, but it’s safe to say that it has not gone as well or cost as little as the Defense Department originally intended.”

“But at the same time, the Air Force and the other military services say that taxpayers are going to get what they pay for out of this program – that it will be worth the less-than $400 billion to acquire these aircraft and all the delays because they’ll bring

Article source: http://digital.vpr.net/post/vermont-and-beyond-where-does-f-35-program-stand

President Obama signed a defense funding authorization into law that contained a provision to prioritize special missions, including the one at the Vienna station, for airplane upgrades. The law requires Defense to report back to Congress by February about its upgrade plans.

“This law is a victory for us because it forces the Defense Department to act,” said Chamber’s military affairs director Vito J. Abruzzino. “It shows that our local efforts have paid off.”

U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, have been urging the Air Force to replace the 910th’s current fleet to ensure the unit can complete its missions safely, Abruzzino said.

Also promoting the project was the Regional Chamber’s Eastern Ohio Military Affairs Commission, which Abruzzino said worked with local elected officials, consultants and national military groups to analyze detailed data and trends at other military bases.

“The Chamber and other area stakeholders have long been concerned about the legacy aircraft in Vienna. The fleet was state-of-the-art in 1989 but now faces significant parts and navigation technology issues,” Abruzzino said.

Abruzzino said the current fleet of C-130s is still operating on analog rather than digital technology.

The local efforts included promoting the unique value of the 910th’s dual roles of mission support and aerial spray, which Abruzzino said protects against emerging mosquito-borne threats like the Zika virus.

“We are the only Department of Defense aerial spray mission,” said Abruzzino, noting the 910th recently went on missions as far as Puerto Rico.

With additional consideration given

Article source: http://www.tribtoday.com/news/local-news/2016/12/c-130s-at-air-station-in-vienna-will-get-upgrade/

Investment Analysts’ upgrades for Wednesday, November 16th:

AAC Holdings (NYSE:AAC) was upgraded by analysts at Mizuho from an underperform rating to a neutral rating. They currently have $9.00 target price on the stock.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Investment Research from a sell rating to a hold rating. According to Zacks, “Advance Auto Parts’ earnings and revenues for third-quarter fiscal 2016 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company remains focused on expanding the number of stores as well as reducing SGA expenses to boost profits. Moreover, the increasing average age of vehicles is expected to further benefit the company.  However, Advance Auto Parts expects comparable store sales to decline in fiscal 2016. Rising new vehicle sales and price competition can adversely impact the company’s results. Further, its weakening financial position remains a concern. “

11/16/investment-analysts-upgrades-for-november-16th-aac-aap-bme-cpa-csx-dis-eongy-fosl-frc-hmc.html

BM European Value Retail SA (LON:BME) was upgraded by analysts at Jefferies Group to a buy rating. They currently have GBX 285 ($3.56) price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of GBX 265 ($3.31).

Copa Holdings SA (NYSE:CPA) was upgraded by analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. from a neutral rating to a buy rating. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. currently has $100.00 target price on the stock.

CSX Corp. (NASDAQ:CSX) was upgraded by analysts at Vetr from a sell rating to a hold rating. The firm currently has $34.20 target price on the stock.

The Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) was upgraded by analysts

Article source: http://dailyquint.com/2017-01-16-investment-analysts-upgrades-for-november-16th-aac-aap-bme-cpa-csx-dis-eongy-fosl-frc-hmc/

There are now three flying human carrying drone efforts on top of the half dozen or so flying car efforts currently, or soon to be, undergoing testing around the world.  The latest two are from Urban Aeronautics out of Israel, and Airbus out of Europe.  These join Ehang, a Chinese company that was cleared to begin testing in Nevada last year and has perhaps the most compelling vehicle in the group. (Ehang already has a drone in market, but it is the typical picture-taking kind. However, it arguably has the best warranty in the business in that it covers crashes.)

What seems fascinating, given that the U.S. leads in technology and was one of the early pioneers in flying cars, is that, except for Intel, there is little apparent interest in flying cars from large U.S. companies.

Flying Cars to Human Carrying Drones

We’ve had flying cars actually in market on and off (mostly off) since Henry Ford floated the idea of a production vehicle that people could fly to work in 1926.  His idea was more of a Model-T like airplane but, since the prototype killed the pilot, it didn’t go far.  In 1956, Ford again tried to bring a flying car to market with a prototype called the “Volante,” but that also failed.  In 1957, Chrysler and others were

Article source: http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/2017/01/16/428813-airbus-enters-human-carrying-drone-race-but-where.htm