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Tucson, AZ Company Wins
Missile Contract
Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona,
has been awarded a contract for the Advanced
Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM)
program. Contractor will provide form, fit,
function, and refresh of the AMRAAM Guidance
Section. Work will be performed at Tucson,
Arizona, and is expected to be complete by
Feb. 28, 2017.
Boeing Opens 777X Wing Center
Boeing in late May officially opened a new
$1 billion wing fabrication plant for the 777X
at its Everett, Washington campus. Called the
777X Composite Wing Center (CWC), the facility
will manufacture the world’s largest carbon-
fiber wings.
Completion of the new CWC building required
approximately 4.2 million hours of construc-
tion time. At its peak, 1,700 contract employ-
ees worked on the project. The CWC covers more
than 27 acres under one roof and will contain
three of the world’s largest autoclaves, each
big enough to fit two 737 fuselages inside.
Workers at the center will build wing skins
and spars using automated carbon tape-laying
machines. Once the skins and spars cure in the
autoclaves, they’ll undergo assembly at an ad-
jacent plant where the 777X gets put together.
Tesla Tries to Speed up
Production
Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors Inc. is looking
to fund faster production of its more afford-
able Model 3 sedan by selling $2 billion worth
of stock, the Los Angeles Times reports. The
company plans to begin produce up to 500,000
cars a year at its factory in Fremont, Ca. by
2018, two years ahead of earlier estimates.
Bellevue, WA. Middle Schoolers
Soar to Championship in World’s
Largest Rocket Contest
A team of middle schoolers from Bellevue,
Wash., nicknamed the Space Potatoes, captured
the top prize at the 2016 Team America Rocketry
Challenge (TARC) National Finals.
The five-student team from Odle Middle School
outscored 100 of the best rocketry teams in
the country in the finals. Nearly 5,000 stu-
dents on 789 teams participated in the overall
competition from all 50 states, the District
of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Space Potatoes team members are Mikaela
Ikeda, 12, Larry Jing, 13, Karl Deerkop, 14,
Srivatshan (Sri) Sakthinarayanan, 13, and
Stephanie Han , 13. According to a news rea-
lease, they were awarded more than $20,000 in
scholarships and funds for their school.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries As-
sociation and the National Association of
Rocketry, the competition required students to
build a rocket that flies to exactly 850 feet
and safely returns a payload of two raw eggs
within 44-46 seconds. At the National Finals,
students were required to adjust their rockets
“on the fly” to hit new flight/duration param-
eters for a second round of launches.
Boeing Gets Contract For
Repairs
The Boeing Co., Seattle, Washington, is be-
ing awarded $19,631,293 cost-plus-fixed-fee,
ceiling-priced, letter requirements contract
for the repair coverage of 193 various mis-
sion system components on the P-8A aircraft.
This contract includes a one-year base period
and two 12-month optional periods. Work will
be performed in Seattle, Washington, and is
expected to be completed by March 2017; if
all options are exercised, work will continue
through March 2020.
Wilsonville Robotics Company
Reaches 100K-Square-Foot Mark
as it Opens More Space
A Wilsonville, Oregon manufacturer is for-
mally welcoming workers and clients into its
significantly expanded space.
DWFritz Automation Inc. has cut the ribbon
on the 33,000-square-foot space that pushes
the company's overall footprint above the
100,000-square-foot mark.
The company moved into its 70,000 square
foot headquarters in 2013.