The Edwards Air Force Base airshow is October 14-16, and Lockheed Martin Skunk Works will have their secret hypersonic airplane on a static display. The Darkstar model was featured in Top Gun: Maverick’s opening scenes, and this air show exhibit will be the main attraction for the first day of the air show. Over 12,000 regional high school students are slated to attend, and the organizers for the show have hopes that it will drive aerospace industry interest in the next generation.
“Darkstar may not be real, but its capabilities are. Hypersonic technology is a capability our team continues to advance today by leveraging more than 30 years of hypersonic investments and development and testing experience,” Skunk Works said when the movie debuted in April.
Skunk Works has landed multiple classified contracts, and after opening up a new manufacturing facility in Palmdale, the company has hiring in its sights. The air show is formally called the Aerospace Valley Open House, Airshow and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Expo, and the organizers have coordinated a “STEM Outreach Flyover” in the days leading up to the event to get students interested in attending.
Layoffs
General Electric
Renewable energy isn’t a cheap business to operate, and General Electric is finding that the key to future growth is current layoffs. The company is laying off 20% of their U.S. onshore wind employees. This move will add up to hundreds of jobs lost. As GE gears up to split into three publicly traded companies, they’ve had to put in some efforts to combat rising costs and supply chain issues.
“We are taking steps to streamline and size our onshore wind business for market realities to position us for future success. These are difficult decisions, which do not reflect on our employees’ dedication and hard work but are needed to ensure the business can compete and improve profitability over time,” a spokesperson for GE Renewable Energy told CNBC.
Hiring
Arctic Wolf
Cybersecurity firm, Arctic Wolf secured $401 million in investments recently. They serve over 3,000 customers and process more than 2.5 trillion security events each week. The firm has also doubled its headcount in this past year, expanding into new markets. The influx of cash will be used to develop more products and increase hiring.
“This latest investment is a testament to our opportunity to unify the market at hand through our security operations platform, while solving the ever-present cyber talent crisis,” said Nick Schneider, Arctic Wolf’s president and chief executive officer. “By bringing our holistic platform to our customers, we are bridging the security operations gap faced by businesses of all sizes. We are excited to leverage this latest financing round to continue our hypergrowth journey.”
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Opportunity to Watch
While F-35 deliveries were previously paused due to unapproved Chinese materials, last week, the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment William LaPlante signed a waiver, resuming deliveries. The magnet that didn’t gain prior sign-off from the Pentagon was a key engine component. While the component was from a fifth-tier supplier, the DoD confirmed that zero information could transmit from the piece.
While the Pentagon was not necessarily worried about putting the fighter at risk, there were concerns that Chinese materials may be in violation of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement. Once LaPlante could confirm that security and safety wasn’t impacted, the DoD moved quickly to issue the waiver for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 deliveries. Going forward, the contractors are using a different source for the engine component.
