A company known for its miniature aircraft is now going even smaller.
Aerovironment Inc., a Monrovia developer and manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles, was awarded a contract last week to develop a 3-inch-long aircraft under the Nano Air Vehicle program of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The contract has an initial value of $636,000, but could increase considerably if the program proves successful.
The program challenges Aerovironment to employ “biological mimicry,” in other words to develop a birdlike, flapping-wing vehicle that should weigh under 10 grams, according to the military’s specifications.
The purpose of the project is to develop a device that can provide military reconnaissance in confined urban environments both indoor and out where Global Positioning Satellite systems do not work. The flapping wings are intended to allow it to hover in place.
Aerovironment executives envision potential commercial applications for the device in the future. John Grabowsky, the company’s executive vice president, described the device as an early version of what could be a “revolutionary” new class of aircraft.
Currently, the smallest aircraft made by Aerovironment is the Wasp reconnaissance plane, which has a wingspan more than 2 feet long and weighs about 1 pound. The company also makes the somewhat larger Raven. Both aircraft have proved popular with the U.S. and its military allies. In 2007, the Raven alone logged more than 150,000 combat hours for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere.
Parts Acquisition
Motorcar Parts of America Inc., a Los Angeles-based remanufacturer of alternators and starters, has completed an acquisition that will boost its market share.
Motorcar Parts has acquired the alternator and starter manufacturing assets of Automotive Importing Manufacturing Inc., a privately held company based in Rancho Cordova. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Motorcar Parts, founded in 1968, specializes in parts for imported and domestic cars, and light trucks, which the company sells to retail chain stores and warehouse distributors.
This acquisition is expected to increase annual net sales by about $6 million and will add product lines in the heavy duty and industrial categories, said Chief Executive Selwyn Joffe.
Biofuel Boom
Pure Biofuels Corp. announced last week that it has completed work on an expansion of its InterPacific Oil facility in Peru. The plant, which opened in 2001, will increase its annual production capacity to 10 million gallons of biodiesel from 7.5 million.
“This accomplishment marks the first significant milestone of our business strategy aimed at becoming a leading biodiesel producer in South America,” said Chris Tewell, chairman of Beverly Hills-based Pure Biofuels, in a statement.
The company acquired the plant in December as part of a larger strategy to increase its presence in Latin America. It is completing construction on a biodiesel facility in the Port of Callao near Lima, Peru. That facility will have an annual production capacity of 53 million gallons of biodiesel when completed in the next few months. The company intends to initially sell the fuel in Peru, where diesel prices are high, but executives hope eventually to broaden its market.
The company owns 232 square miles, where it plans to harvest canola, jatropha and palm oils for use in biofuel production.
The two facilities’ combined output will make Pure Biofuels one of the largest biodiesel producers in South America.
The company’s stock trades over the counter for less than a quarter a share. Its market cap is about $17 million.
Local Cuts
Boeing Co. is proceeding with its announced layoff of 750 workers, most of them from its El Segundo and Seal Beach facilities.
After a series of high-profile contract losses, about 100 employees have received layoff notices, and the remaining 650 will be informed within the next month, the company said.
The Chicago-based defense contractor, one of the county’s largest employers, said the moves became necessary after losing a $1.4 billion satellite contract to rival Lockheed Martin Corp. last month.
The cuts will leave Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, which is based in El Segundo and specializes in satellite development, with about 6,450 employees.
Boeing previously lost a $35 billion competition with Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. in February to provide aerial refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force.
Centrifuge Deal
Aerospace and energy industry supplier Teledyne Technologies Inc. has won a hefty follow-on order to manufacture gas centrifuge devices through 2011.
The $92 million contract, announced last week, is for 540 centrifuge service modules, which will be used in commercial nuclear power plants.
Bethesda, Md.-based Usec Inc. awarded the contract to a subsidiary of Teledyne.
Executives at the Thousand Oaks-based company said they plan to add 200 jobs as a result of the deal.
Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at
[email protected]
or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 251.
