| San Diego Business Journal

Australia Planning to Buy Six Northrop Grumman Tritons

AIRCRAFT: Surveillance Drones Deal Reportedly Worth $5.1 Billion

Australia plans to buy six Triton high-altitude surveillance aircraft made by Northrop Grumman Corp. in a deal that reportedly could be worth as much as $5.1 billion.

Northrop Grumman Gets $97M Signal Jammer Contract

The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a $96.5 million contract for radio signal jammers designed to foil improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Sempra Announces Sale of Renewables As ‘the First Phase’

ENERGY: Activist Investors Push Greater Simplification of Co.

Sempra Energy plans to sell its solar and wind energy generation businesses, as well as two natural gas storage facilities in the southeastern United States.

Smaller Drone Cos. Look for Niche in Market

AIRCRAFT: Beyond Military Use, Businesses Have to Get Creative

The riddle of the drone has San Diego companies captivated. While it is one thing to build a working piece of technology, the real puzzle may be how to build a sustainable small business around it.

RF Industries’ Dawson Gets Board Seat

RF Industries Ltd. has named Robert Dawson to its board of directors.

McCain to Supply Los Angeles With Traffic Signal Electronics

A North County company, Vista-based McCain Inc., won a contract to supply as many as 1,500 traffic signal control cabinets to the city that is practically synonymous with the automobile.

GA-ASI Plans Transatlantic Flight

Ninety-one years after Charles Lindbergh did it, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. plans to cross the Atlantic. Only this time, the aircraft will be unmanned.

Being Public Can Put Cos. in Tough Spotlight

ECONOMY: Troubles Include Activist Investors, Short Sellers

Public companies don’t get to lock the door. At any time, a company can find unwelcome visitors in the form of short sellers betting on a company’s fall or activist investors arriving with plans for how things should be — or more precisely how they need to be.

Moody’s Eyes Sempra for Downgrade

Moody’s Investors Service Inc. placed the credit rating of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE) on review for a downgrade, citing several concerns about the company's business.

RF Is Flying Under the Radar and Soaring at Same Time

PRODUCTION: New CEO Leverages Distribution Channels, Diverse Clients

Cables, connectors and jumpers. That’s the space where specialty manufacturer RF Industries Ltd. is finding its spark.

Sempra to Talk About Its Future June 28

Sempra Energy plans to talk about its future later this week, and in doing so will offer some sort of response to activist investors’ plans to remake the company.

Big Green IT Opens in San Diego

Big Green IT, a Northern California company providing cloud computing solutions, announced in mid-June that it has opened an office in San Diego.

Military Radio Work Means Up to $42M for Viasat

Viasat Inc. said June 21 that it received a U.S. Air Force contract to sustain MIDS-LVT radios.

U.K. Acquisition Gives Viasat Market Intelligence

DEFENSE: Deal Part Of Viasat’s Growing Presence in Europe

In a bid to increase its international defense contracting business, Carlsbad’s Viasat Inc. bought Horsebridge Defence and Security of Cheltenham, England, closing the acquisition in early June. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kratos Autonomous Vehicle Earns Its Stripes

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. announced June 21 that its unmanned vehicle technology received government approval to drive on the public highways.

Commission Scuttles SDG&E Natural Gas Pipeline Plan

The California Public Utilities Commission on June 21 turned down a proposal from San Diego Gas & Electric Co. to build a $639 million natural gas pipeline from Rainbow Station to Miramar, saying there is no need.

CPUC Gives OK for SDG&E’s 5 New Energy Storage Facilities

ENERGY: Utility Enlists Five Businesses to Build Lithium-Ion Battery Sites

San Diego Gas & Electric Co. has enlisted the help of five businesses to develop more energy storage within its service territory.

Activist Investors Seeking Major Changes at Sempra

ENERGY: They See Co. As Unfocused Conglomerate Of Disparate Businesses

Sempra Energy has the potential to grow to at least $139 per share, activist investors said recently as they introduced a proposal to remake the company’s board and streamline its business model by jettisoning certain assets.

Metawave Expects to Find Needed Workforce in SoCal

TECH: Radar Allows for Autonomous Cars to Identify Objects, Beings

A company combining a Silicon Valley pedigree with a Southern California wireless specialty has opened an office in Carlsbad.

Teradata Sues SAP

Teradata filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against German software maker SAP, alleging that SAP took trade secrets from Teradata, infringed its copyrights and violated antitrust laws.

Cubic Transportation Gets $276M Contract

Cubic Corp. said on June 20 that its transportation business received a $276 million contract from Queensland, Australia.

Petco Names HP Executive as New CEO

Petco Animal Supplies Inc. is turning to the technology world for new leadership by naming Ron Coughlin as its chief executive.

Kratos Pulls in $2.6M Satellite Communications Deal

Kratos RT Logic received a $2.6 million U.S. government contract for satellite communications work.

Viasat Buys U.K. Firm

Viasat Inc. said June 13 that it acquired Horsebridge Defence and Security of Cheltenham, U.K.

Cubic Rings Closing Bell on Analyst Day

Executives with Cubic Corp. rang the bell and banged the gavel at the close of trading June 13 at the New York Stock Exchange.

Kratos Drone Deal Could Exceed $10M

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. said June 13 that its Unmanned Systems Division received an engineering services contract that could be worth as much as $10.2 million over five years.

Cubic Completes Sale of Global Defense Services

DEFENSE: Pentagon Policies Made Services Sector More Difficult to Operate In

Facing ever-smaller margins in its U.S. military services business, Cubic Corp. has exited the space.

Airline Eyes Fall Start, Pending Environmental Approval

San Diego County officials are now evaluating an application from Carlsbad’s California Pacific Airlines to operate commercial service out of McClellan-Palomar Airport.

Kratos Wraps Up Sale of Security Division

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. said on June 11 that it concluded the sale of its Public Safety & Security Division to Securitas Electronic Security Inc., part of Sweden-based Securitas AB.

Investor Group Says Sempra Must Change

An investor group called on Sempra Energy to seat six of its candidates on its board of directors and conduct a thorough review of the company with an eye toward remaking it.

Fisher Phillips Chooses San Diegan as Chief Diversity Officer

The Fisher Phillips law firm has named Regina A. Petty chief diversity officer. Petty is a partner in the firm’s San Diego office.

Sanford Makes $100M Gift to National University System

GIVING: Record Gift to Support, Expand Innovative Educational Program

Philanthropist, banker and La Jolla resident T. Denny Sanford made a landmark, $100 million gift to the San Diego-based National University System to expand Sanford Harmony, a social emotional learning program.

Soundcast Names Tom Dixon Vice President

Soundcast LLC has named Tom Dixon as vice president of sales and marketing.

Law School Moving to 701 B Street

Thomas Jefferson School of Law announced it is moving from its location on Island Avenue to 701 B Street.

Silicon Valley’s Metawave Opens Engineering Office in Carlsbad

Metawave Corp., a Silicon Valley company with an interest in automotive radar, said on June 6 that it has opened a development center in Carlsbad.

Signal Jamming Contractor Lands Navy Work in San Diego

Phoenix Air Group Inc. will perform several million dollars worth of work in San Diego under a recent U.S. Navy contract modification.

Cubic Hires New Manufacturing and Procurement Executive

Cubic Corp. has named Jeffrey Blakeman as its vice president of manufacturing and procurement.

Cubic Completes Sale of Its Global Defense Services Unit

Cubic Corp. said on May 31 that it closed its sale of its Cubic Global Defense Services unit for approximately $135 million cash.

GA-ASI Kicks Up Desert Dust With First MQ-25 Engine Test

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. said it successfully tested the jet engine that will be at the heart of its carrier-based refueling aircraft design.

At Cubic, CEO Is Making Connections

LEADERSHIP: IT, Acquisitions, And Work Come Out of The Silos

For decades Cubic Corp. has traded on its innovative streak.

Filling the Cybersecurity Ranks

Sector Faces Daunting Task of Finding And Competing for Qualified Employees

Cybersecurity professionals are in short supply. Even in cyber-rich San Diego — where the U.S. Navy has its information technology command — there are challenges to filling jobs, local executives said.

Defense Work Demand Soars For Cobham

DEFENSE: Co. Is Hiring; Local Facilities Expand

At Cobham PLC’s Kearny Mesa factory complex, technicians bend over microscopes, applying deft touches to the defense contractor’s electronic products.

They Can’t Be Too Thin: Chips

There was other news that took in Qualcomm and Samsung. The South Korean company operates foundries that have produced Qualcomm chips for decades. The two companies said Samsung will produce Qualcomm chips with extra-thin, 7 nanometer wide circuitry, produced using the cutting-edge extreme ultraviolet (or EUV) lithography process.

Viasat-2 Puts Home Internet in Fast Lane

Carlsbad-based Viasat Inc. rolled out broadband internet service on its Viasat-2 satellite during the last days of February, billing it as the fastest satellite-based home internet service across the nation.

Some Galaxy S9s Have Trick Up Their Sleeve: Snapdragon 845

Samsung’s newly unveiled smartphone, the Galaxy S9, contains Qualcomm Inc.’s newest premium processor, the Snapdragon 845 mobile platform, in select regions of the world. Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) made the announcement at the Mobile World Congress event on Feb. 25 in Barcelona, Spain.

Local Companies at Heart of VR, Seismic Shifts in Sports Viewing

Seismic shifts in technology and sports are ahead, judging from a daylong conference at UC San Diego.

Qualcomm Seeks Third Meeting as Broadcom Questions Sincerity

Representatives of Qualcomm Inc. and Broadcom Ltd. met for a second time on Feb. 23 to discuss Broadcom's bid for the San Diego company. The landscape has changed now that Qualcomm is offering more to buy NXP Semiconductors.

TransPower Looks to Rev Up Its Commercialization Efforts

ENERGY: Co. Aims to Double Revenue, Inks Big Funding Deal

Escondido-based TransPower, a maker of electric-drive systems for big-rig trucks and industrial-site tractors, is on a growth path.

Tortuga Gets to Scene of Cybercrimes Before Criminals Do

SOFTWARE: Finding Chip Flaws in Development Stages Can Be a Lifesaver for Cos.

A flawed microchip is a hacker’s best friend. Tortuga Logic aims to spot those flaws before they ever make it into a silicon chip.

Qualcomm Poses Objections, Invites Further Broadcom Talks

Two days after a face-to-face meeting with Broadcom Ltd., Qualcomm Inc.’s board laid out several problems with Broadcom’s proposal to buy Qualcomm, but said it was open to more talks.