Rocket City News: Latest Updates on Space & Defense Events

1. KickStart Your Rocket City News Review Hugh Stanley Hugh@myKickStart.com

2. 12/08 0800: Space and Missile Defense Working Group - Aegis Technologies 12/08 1600: CoC Holiday Open House – 225 Church St. – Emma Williams 256-535-2089 12/09 1115: HAMA Lunch – Marriott – Dr. Charles Basham, PEO M&S 12/13 0700: AUSA National Guard Birthday Breakfast – Bevill Center – MG D B Tatum 12/13 0730: HSV CoC - 2016 Just The Facts Chamber Orientation 12/13 1000: MRC Holiday Lunch – Bldg. 4488, Rm. D-101 12/15 1400: DoD Mentor Protégé Program – Aegis 12/16 AUSA Redstone-Huntsville Chapter Annual Holiday Reception 12/19 The Association Mtg 1/05 1200: HSV CoC - 2017 State of the County featuring Chairman Dale Strong 1/10 1130: HASBAT Lunch – Jackson Ctr. 3/02 NAITA/USASAC Industry Day – Jackson Center 3/07 AL Aerospace Week 2017 Begins – Joe Fitzgerald 3/13 AUSA Global Force Symposium and Exposition – VBC 3/15 Team RSA Small Business Industrial Outreach 3/29 3rd Annual WOSB Event: ‘Prep. to Prime’ Look Ahead

3. Army rules death of incoming SMDC commander a suicide ... New commander nominated for Redstone's Space and Missile Defense Command Alabama earns Top 10 spot in State Business Climate rankings Polaris impact on Alabama economy: $2 billion What the 1 percent earns in Alabama ... YellaFella is still no. 1 hombre Sessions may leave Sr. Senate gig to become Trumpadour 'Walking Dead' star Chandler Riggs' ... headin' to Auburn Alabama tornado - killed 3 - two mile path in two minutes ... EF-2 - winds of 127 mph Love Gov reaches out to tornado victims Shelby at HSOFN:  “We need to do our work” Local

4. Companies, Contractors & Characters • GATR unveils new SATCOM antenna ... 50 to 80 percent less in vol. and weight • Raytheon gets $174 million Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon contract • Boeing to cut 500 jobs, move others, in efficiency effort ... 400 shift to HSV … President of Defense and Space Development to Retire • AAR Launches Online Parts Store for New Parts Worldwide ...Buyers can search Online Parts Store thru nearly 100,000 part numbers. • US Army awards $36 mln contract to Intergraph ...digital records mgt & declassification svcs • Boeing to Acquire Liquid Robotics …Autonomous Seabed-to-Space Info Services • Former MDA Official John Warden Named Qualis-HSV Senior Technical Director • STG appoints new BD VP ...Paul Rempfer recruited • Huntington Ingalls Industries completes acquisition of Camber Corp., forms new technical solutions division • Boeing Statement on Air Force One • L-3 Communications Changing Its Name To L3 Technologies, Inc.

5. Beltway / Wall Street •    Petraeus admits 'mistake' - Bergdahl wants his pardon • Pentagon Suspends Efforts to Recoup Improper Bonuses From California National Guard • Defense Stocks Soar on News of Trump Victory… DOW Surpasses Record in First Day of Post-Election Trading • Can Gen. James Mattis Teach a Draft-Dodging Tax Cheat About War? • Is Trump Tower Now The Worst Address In America? ...huge security, many protestors …then there's the press. • Poll: Troops doubt next president can fix the military's top issues

6. Defense Execs • Secretary Carter Unveils Latest Force of the Future Initiatives... Pleads with Lawmakers to Pass Defense Budget • Former Space Command leader Gen. John Hyten takes over at STRATCOM • The US intelligence chief just resigned...Clapper announced his resignation before the House Intelligence Committee during a hearing.

7. Pictures of the Month Oldest Woman in Space - Ace / 2 - Sessions sets his cap

8. Aviation • Future Vertical Lift Milestone A moved to FY19 • Canada Ditches the F-35 for the Super Hornet...After an initial buy, will hold a competition to replace the rest of its CF-18 Hornets --- UAV • New System Will Allow Ospreys to Refuel F-35s in Flight ...Cobham has been contracted to develop • Congressman calls on AF to up deployment of counter-drone tech… Dronejacking' may be the next big cyber threat... Long-range anti-drone gun can secure the entire neighborhood ... ground UAVs up to 2 km away. • Self-Flying Choppers Fight Wildfires So Humans Don’t Have To ...US spent $2 B last year, lost six firefighters. • China unveils drone capable of bombing targets for days without refuelling ...The hardware was unveiled after a top US army chief claimed “World War Three with China is inevitable.”

9. International • China clamps down on websites 'body-shaming' Kim Jong-un ...reportedly censoring "Kim Fatty the Third," • The Scariest Thing North Korea Could Ever Do: Sell a Nuclear Weapon ... transfer of North Korea’s technology to non-state actors • Cuba bids farewell to Fidel Castro, ruler for half-century … the good die young 

10. Missile Defense • Marines Want Mini-Missiles That Hunt for Specific Radio Signals ...Signals-intelligence collection and drones are coming together in new packages for forward-deployed troops. • Is Lockheed Martin Getting Ready to Build a Super Patriot Missile? • US general says missile system in S. Korea in 8-10 months • Get Ready, Russia and China: The US Air Force Wants 400 New ICBMs ...USAF evaluating formal proposals to build hundreds • Raytheon to provide missile warning systems for Taiwan ...$26 million contract mod to upgrade radar centers • Intuitive Research To Support Cruise Missile Defense Systems In India, Egypt And 3 Other Countries ... $7.5 million contract • Coming war on China: Xi Jinping fires 10 nuclear capable missiles to scare Donald Trump

11. Space Biz • SpaceX has zeroed in on what caused one of the private space company's Falcon 9 rockets to explode on the launch pad nearly two months ago ... replicated the failure of a helium tank - … plan to fuel rockets with people on board gives NASA pause … Iridium banking on Dec. 16 launch for Falcon 9’s return-to-flight mission • Navy satellite claws its way to usable orbit after main engine failure ... the Navy and Lockheed Martin were able to isolate the issue and develop a work-around using alternative propulsion • 'Thank the aliens': Thousands displaced for China's huge telescope • Ron Howard on 'Mars' Series and Why He Won't Go (But You Should) • ESA says doomed Mars lander succumbed to bad altitude reading ... a lesson in one wrong second • Altitude Sickness Forced Buzz Aldrin to Be Evacuated From South Pole … 'Starman' Buzz Aldrin Is Being Cared for by Dr. David Bowie • Mysterious Astronaut Eye Troubles Linked to Wonky Spinal Fluid

12. Strange Torque • The 'outrageous' 40-year-old film that predicted the future ...mad as hell, and not gonna take it anymore • Celebs who said they’d leave... ...Bryan Cranston, Samuel L.Jackson, Cher, Miley Cyrus and of course …Barbara Streisand These Cows Will Text You When They’re in Heat Science Channel Cancels Special After Grisly Pumpkin Cannon Accident a package isn't safe until it’s resting in your arms ...get it off your front porch ASAP …holiday "porch pirates" are a real thing ... 23 million Americans have had packages stolen from their homes before they could open them Want a bottle of hard-to-find Pappy Van Winkle bourbon? Virginia ABC is offering a lottery

13. All I know is what I read in the papers… – Will Rogers If you would like to try a free two week review of the KickStart business information process, just drop me a line at: Subscribe@myKickStart.com. Thanks, Hugh Stanley, Editor.