Northstar Electronics, Inc. today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Northstar Network Ltd., has received a revised Master Purchase Order from Lockheed Martin to increase the value of NNL's P-3 contract by US $9.1 million, to a total of US $16.4 million.

After successful development of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) daytime persistent surveillance system, BAE Systems has been awarded an additional $49.9 million contract to develop the advanced processor for the agency's nighttime, infrared system - the Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance - Infrared (ARGUS-IR).

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Russia Defence and Security Report Q4 2010" report to their offering.

Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, has been awarded a 2 1/2 year, $18 million contract to produce telemetry modules supporting the U.S. Air Force Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).

TiaLinx, Inc., a developer of miniaturized mm-wave radars with integrated radio and antenna arrays, today announced the launch of the Eagle45-W, a hands-free precision Sense-Through-the-Wall Imager.

Elbit Systems Ltd. announced today, further to its announcements of June 15, 2009 and September 14, 2009, that it signed an agreement to acquire all the shares of Soltam Systems Ltd., Saymar Ltd. and ITL Optronics Ltd., that are currently held by Mikal Ltd. and its subsidiaries.

BAE Systems has been approved to provide engineering and technical services to the U.S. Army and other federal customers under a $16.4 billion government-wide contract called Rapid Response - 3rd Generation (R2-3G).

The Lockheed Martin team developing GeoEye's next-generation, high-resolution commercial Earth-imaging satellite system known as GeoEye-2, has successfully completed on-schedule a System Requirements Review (SRR), an important program milestone that precedes the Preliminary Design Review.

EMRISE Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Carmine T. Oliva said closing these transactions is the final step in the Company's strategy to divest non-core, non-performing and other businesses, significantly reduce its debt, strengthen its balance sheet and return to focusing on growing the business and enhancing stockholder value.

The U.S. Army has awarded BAE Systems a $123 million contract for continued production of thermal weapon sights that improve situational awareness and survivability for men and women in combat.

Is North America falling behind the rest of the world in HDI technology development? Not if Dan Smith can help it. "The New Mr. HDI" is putting together the first IPC HDI certification course and exam. We caught up with him and discussed the HDI course, what it takes to be an instructor and Happy Holden's 400-gig "data dump."

Casey Cooper, Microelectronics Lab Manager at STI, talks about the company's various educational, training and technology offerings and provides an overview of the company's newly-developed and tested embedded die assembly. The new assembly is being evaluated by some military product developers for high-reliability applications.

The sales increase was primarily due to increased sales of flex heater and coil insulation products for the general industrial market as a result of the economic rebound and increased sales of PCB materials related to the telecommunications infrastructure in China.

"Our facilities are busy with solid backlogs and high levels of capacity utilization," said Kent Alder, President and CEO. "The added capacity and diversity of the Asia Pacific operations fits extremely well with our growth strategy as a global company."

"By expanding our presence in Europe, Labtech is a welcome addition to our portfolio of businesses," said Russell Shaller, VP and GM of Teledyne MEC. "Coupled with our Teledyne Cougar microwave component business in the U.S., Labtech's component business augments our already strong position in the field of custom, high-performance microwave components."

According to Mark Thompson, timing can make or break your controlled impedance board. With many jobs going through turnkey environments, late communication about impedance issues takes valuable time out of the fabrication process and can delay delivery of product, leaving the end-user and the turnkey assembler unhappy.

Viasystems Group, Inc, today announced that estimated consolidated sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 were $239.4 million, representing approximately $53 million, or 28%, sequential growth over $186.6 million sales reported for the previous quarter. This was also the fourth consecutive quarter of improvement in orders booked.

The companies intend to establish a framework for research activities related to prototypes and products for security applications to be used in ports, airports, subways and rail stations by means of CBRN sensors, facial recognition systems, video enhancement technology, traffic monitoring systems and networking technology.

While other flex makers have come and gone, Lenthor Engineering has weathered a quarter century manufacturing flexible and rigid-flex circuits. Learn how this Silicon Valley firm expanded from the owner's garage to become a leading supplier of flex for the defense and medical markets.

With mission-critical, high-reliability PCBs, the study of barrel cracks is critical. When the failure criteria are set at 10% increase in resistance, a powerful method can be used. Paul Reid explains why stopping at 10% allows us to observe a ripening failure "dripping" with information, rather than a catastrophically failed circuit that is significantly deformed.

Is North America falling behind the rest of the world in HDI technology development? Not if Dan Smith can help it. "The New Mr. HDI" is putting together the first IPC HDI certification course and exam. We caught up with him and discussed the HDI course, what it takes to be an instructor and Happy Holden's 400-gig "data dump."

Casey Cooper, Microelectronics Lab Manager at STI, talks about the company's various educational, training and technology offerings and provides an overview of the company's newly-developed and tested embedded die assembly. The new assembly is being evaluated by some military product developers for high-reliability applications.

According to Mark Thompson, timing can make or break your controlled impedance board. With many jobs going through turnkey environments, late communication about impedance issues takes valuable time out of the fabrication process and can delay delivery of product, leaving the end-user and the turnkey assembler unhappy.

There's a chance that International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) and other regulations that dictate how North American companies handle controlled products will undergo dramatic alterations in the next few years.

At the IPC International Flex Circuit Conference, I spoke about the military and aerospace opportunities for flex circuit manufacturers. During my talk, I explained how the 2-8-9 Quoting System proves that price is not, and should not be, the sole differentiator for your customers.

With mission-critical, high-reliability PCBs, the study of barrel cracks is critical. When the failure criteria are set at 10% increase in resistance, a powerful method can be used. Paul Reid explains why stopping at 10% allows us to observe a ripening failure "dripping" with information, rather than a catastrophically failed circuit that is significantly deformed.

Ask any North American circuit board shop what their targeted markets are and most will include military in their response. But the allure of military market opportunities may be based on a lack of understanding of the underlying requirements.

IPC Apex Keynote speaker Jeff Wilcox, VP Technology with Lockheed Martin, talks about the changing global security landscape and how that is driving the company's business going forward. Wilcox explains how this will have a significant impact on Lockheed's supply base.

IPC's Technet offers a snapshot of the issues of the day as hundreds of engineers attempt to sort out the industry's latest technological challenges. Harvey Miller, PCB007 columnist and President of Fabfile Online, has agreed to gather a few of the latest Technet exchanges for our Tech Tuesday readers.

In 2009, the DoD named Crane NSWC the Executive Agent for the PCB industry. Crane's Roger Smith and Kyle Werner, along with Ron Thompson of SAIC, discuss the EA program and what it means to the U.S. military and its PCB suppliers.

Is North America falling behind the rest of the world in HDI technology development? Not if Dan Smith can help it. "The New Mr. HDI" is putting together the first IPC HDI certification course and exam. We caught up with him and discussed the HDI course, what it takes to be an instructor and Happy Holden's 400-gig "data dump."

According to Mark Thompson, timing can make or break your controlled impedance board. With many jobs going through turnkey environments, late communication about impedance issues takes valuable time out of the fabrication process and can delay delivery of product, leaving the end-user and the turnkey assembler unhappy.

At the IPC International Flex Circuit Conference, I spoke about the military and aerospace opportunities for flex circuit manufacturers. During my talk, I explained how the 2-8-9 Quoting System proves that price is not, and should not be, the sole differentiator for your customers.

With mission-critical, high-reliability PCBs, the study of barrel cracks is critical. When the failure criteria are set at 10% increase in resistance, a powerful method can be used. Paul Reid explains why stopping at 10% allows us to observe a ripening failure "dripping" with information, rather than a catastrophically failed circuit that is significantly deformed.

Ask any North American circuit board shop what their targeted markets are and most will include military in their response. But the allure of military market opportunities may be based on a lack of understanding of the underlying requirements.

IPC's Technet offers a snapshot of the issues of the day as hundreds of engineers attempt to sort out the industry's latest technological challenges. Harvey Miller, PCB007 columnist and President of Fabfile Online, has agreed to gather a few of the latest Technet exchanges for our Tech Tuesday readers.

Numakura considers market research firms to be no better than fortune tellers. He says market research analysts tend to state the obvious--just like a fortune teller--and provide safe answers that are not too far "out there."

It was a star-studded conference with fabricators looking to the government for support to develop the technologies needed along with commitments to strengthen the supply chain, while the government looked to the industry for solutions to its counterfeit components, reliability and supply chain security.

By bipartisan, I'm referring to the military customers and manufacturers of rigid and flex circuits who attended IPC's conference on "The North American PCB Industry: It Can and Will Support the Military Market." Learn why cooperation like this is so vital to the survival of the NA PCB industry.

Blackfox Institute and Export Solutions are helping to educate companies on export compliance laws and regulations. Al Dill of Blackfox and Don Buehler of Export Solutions discuss their partnership, as well as the free ITAR/EAR Webinar scheduled for December 8, 2009.