News Looming U.S. defense budget cuts lead to uncertainty for deploying members of military With family members waving from a pier, sailors aboard a Navy destroyer left for an overseas mission with more uncertainty than ever about their homecoming as potentially massive budget cuts reshape military plans.   Business Airbus studies dropping Li-Ion battery for…

787 battery approval should be reconsidered A top federal safety official says the U.S. government should reconsider its approval of the kind of batteries used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner because they can explode into fires, a specter that manufacturer testing did not pick up. National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said Feb. 7…

Business Dreamliner probe results “weeks away,” NTSB chief says The National Transportation Safety Board is “probably weeks away” from completing its probe into battery problems on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, but will share its latest information on the jet Feb. 7, agency head Deborah Hersman said. Boeing asks for permission to start new Dreamliner flights…

United Technologies approves buyback of 60 million shares United Technologies may buy back up to 60 million of its shares, replacing an approximately $4.3 billion stock buyback program which began almost three years ago and is nearly spent. The industrial conglomerate said Feb. 4 that the new program’s value is $5.4 billion at today’s stock…

News Boeing sues Sea Launch partners for $350 million Boeing has sued its Russian and Ukrainian partners in satellite launch service Sea Launch, saying they refused to pay it more than $350 million following the joint-venture’s bankruptcy filing in 2009.     Business Pratt & Whitney seals F-35 engine deal with Pentagon Pratt & Whitney,…

Navy sets cost controls at Maine sub shipyard A U.S. Navy admiral says new cost-control measures will impact Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. Foster’s Daily Democrat says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, wrote in a Jan. 25 memo that the Navy is looking to reduce “base operating support” by 10 percent in the coming year….

Space How Columbia crew died in ignorance NASA has revealed that the Columbia crew were not told that the shuttle had been damaged and they might not survive re-entry. The seven astronauts who died will be remembered at a public memorial service on the 10th anniversary of the disaster this Friday at Florida’s Kennedy Space…

Northrop Grumman fourth quarter net income falls 3 percent Defense contractor Northrop Grumman said Jan. 30 its fourth-quarter net income fell 3 percent, hurt by lower government spending. The Falls Church, Va.,-based company earned $533 million, or $2.14 per share, down from $548 million, or $2.09 per share, a year ago. The recent quarter’s results…

News   F-16 fighter jet from U.S. Air Force base ‘crashes in Adriatic Sea off the coast of Italy during training exercise The Air Force is searching the Adriatic Sea after losing contact with a U.S. fighter jet during a training mission off the coast of Italy. The headquarters of the 31st Fighter Wing, at…