Latest news with #American-made
New Indian Express
5 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
What is 'bunker buster'? The US bomb that could reshape Israel-Iran conflict
As Israel's confrontation with Iran escalates, the American-made GBU-57 'bunker buster' bomb has drawn renewed attention as the only weapon capable of striking Iran's deeply buried nuclear sites, raising questions over whether US President Donald Trump will authorise its use as he mulls over military intervention. While Israel has already targeted multiple nuclear-related sites and struck key military positions, Fordo — Iran's heavily fortified underground uranium enrichment plant — remains untouched. Its depth and construction make it nearly impossible to destroy without outside help, raising questions about whether the United States might intervene more directly by deploying its bunker-busting bomb. What is the 'bunker buster'? The 'bunker buster' broadly refers to bombs designed to penetrate deep underground before detonating. In this case, it specifically refers to the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound (13,600 kg) precision-guided bomb designed to destroy deeply buried bunkers and tunnels, according to the US Air Force. Measuring 6.6 metres in length and equipped with a hardened steel casing and specialised delayed-fuse system, the GBU-57 is capable of penetrating up to 200 feet (61 meters) through rock or concrete before exploding — much deeper than standard munitions. 'It's not going to immediately explode under that much shock and pressure,' said Masao Dahlgren, a missile defense fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 'These weapons need to be designed with thick, hardened casings to punch through layers of rock.' The US began designing the bomb in the early 2000s, and Boeing was awarded an order for 20 units in 2009. How is the bomb deployed? The only aircraft capable of deploying the GBU-57 is the US B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, produced by Northrop Grumman. While theoretically any aircraft with sufficient capacity could deliver it, only the B-2 has been configured and tested for the task. With a range of 7,000 miles (11,000 km) without refueling — and over 11,500 miles (18,500 km) with aerial refueling — the B-2 can reach targets worldwide.
Business Upturn
9 hours ago
- Business
- Business Upturn
A&S Manufacturing Is Approaching a 35-Year Milestone of Manufacturing Process Excellence
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 19, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — A&S Manufacturing A&S Manufacturing is approaching its 35-year milestone of offering end-to-end manufacturing processes and celebrating its foundation as an American-made company. Founded by Steven Churchill, the American manufacturing company has fostered a reputation for their specialty in custom metal fabrications and decades of unfaltering trust, quality, and hands-on leadership. Founded in 1991, A&S Manufacturing began with a one-punch press in a 5000 sq. ft. building in Philadelphia. Churchill's inspiration came from observing a family member who was a nuts-and-bolts salesman. 'These screws had to go somewhere, someone's got to build the frame,' he reflects. This thought inspired the company that today ships into Mexico and across the US, serving in various industries from hospitality to cutting-edge manufacturing. When the company began, it was solely a one-man operation. 'In the beginning, it was just me,' Churchill recalls. 'I didn't have any family backing or investors, I wasn't financially secure.' This hurdle didn't deter him from his goal. He took a $10,000 loan from the bank and started his shop. After establishing a humble 24-hour repair shop, fixing manufacturing tools for production lines, he found his footing in the industry, which became the turning point for his career. The early years at A&S Manufacturing weren't easy. Churchill experienced numerous growing pains, including internal theft, a lack of a network, and fighting to earn the trust of clients who were wary of a solo operation. Yet, Churchill was set on overcoming these hurdles, accepting that they were part and parcel of growing a business. His people-first approach helped him win long-term clients. 'People do business with people. If they don't like you, no matter what you're selling, they won't buy from you,' Churchill states. 'I still take clients to dinner and shake hands with them to build trust. That's how we do business.' A&S Manufacturing is carving out a strong position in the battery industry, offering high-quality precision and customization the company has long specialized in. 'We're working with various sectors, and we're currently deep in the battery industry,' Churchill shares, 'But we're looking to branch into new industries and even expand internationally.' With nearly 35 years in the industry, Churchill attributes much of the company's longevity to his team, some of whom have stayed with the company for over a decade. The company offers 401 (k) plans, health benefits, and most importantly, mutual respect. 'My mother did my books for 20 years, and now I have people in my team that I couldn't function without,' Churchill reveals. 'I know the importance of nurturing connections, not just with clients, but even employees. They're the ones working tirelessly to achieve company goals. I wouldn't be where I am without them.' By establishing a two-way street, Churchill ensures that while he steers the ship, he and his team both move forward. In an era where outsourcing and offshoring have risen increasingly, A&S Manufacturing is building an ecosystem that is rooted in American soil. With values like hard work, personability, and relentless adaptability, the company is determined to contribute to the country's economy through consistent insourcing and a pivotal focus on building from within. As A&S Manufacturing approaches its 35-year milestone, Churchill offers a piece of advice for anyone looking to build a legacy of their own: 'It takes long hours and a lot of hustle, you've got to be willing to grind,' he says. 'But if you stick with it and treat people with respect, success won't be a far-fetched dream.' As the company gears up for venturing into other industries and expanding internationally, A&S Manufacturing is ensuring that its next 35 years look even brighter and rewarding. Media Contact Name: Steven Churchill Email: [email protected] Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Qatar Tribune
14 hours ago
- Business
- Qatar Tribune
US firms eye partnerships to tap European defence spending boom
Agencies Top U.S. defence firms, backed by a strong Congressional delegation from Washington, used this week's Paris Air Show to showcase cutting-edge technologies and court European partners as they seek to tap into rising regional military spending. Many European nations have pledged to significantly increase defence budgets in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has threatened to scale back military support for the region. That tension has been notably absent at this week's Paris Air Show, where U.S. lawmakers and arms manufacturers pledged greater transatlantic partnership as Europe ramps up spending on everything from artillery shells and fighter jets to missile defence systems. 'We understand that our allies and partners are a force multiplier, so we are stronger when we are working together,' U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, a member of Trump's Republican party, told reporters at the show, the world's largest aerospace and defence gathering. Moran, whose delegation was supporting U.S. weapons makers, said it was in Paris to send a message that the U.S. 'is a dependable and reliable partner.' The conciliatory tone stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration's recent string of disparaging remarks about Europe and its defence industry. 'I think antagonizing our allies does not make us stronger,' Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen told reporters in Paris, expressing her desire to cement defence relations with Europe. Despite pledges by many European nations to boost military self-sufficiency, the continent remains heavily reliant on U.S. defence manufacturers. For instance, Europe buys American-made fighter jets and missiles from Lockheed Martin, Patriot missile defence systems from Raytheon Technologies and military jets and helicopters built by Boeing. In emerging military areas, like artificial intelligence, drones and satellite constellations, U.S. tech firms like Anduril, Palantir and Elon Musk's SpaceX are far ahead. U.S. firms are hoping to press home their advantage as European military spending surges, including through partnerships, which are a way to soften any potential diplomatic tensions, delegates said. U.S. drone-maker Anduril and German defence giant Rheinmetall said on Wednesday they will link up to build military drones for European markets, in a sign of Europe leveraging American technology to boost military capabilities. Thomas Laliberty, president of Land & Air Defence Systems at Raytheon, said there were no easy replacements for its weapons in Europe and he expected the firm to maintain a long-term footprint on the continent, including through new partnerships. Laliberty said Raytheon was close to announcing a plan to manufacture Stingers – a lightweight air defence missile used by Ukrainian forces against Russia – in Europe. 'For immediate needs, Raytheon is well-positioned to support the European demand,' Laliberty told reporters in Paris. 'We have a very bright future here.' Boeing, which won a contract from Trump's administration to develop the next-generation F-47 fighter jet this year, said Europe and the U.S. would remain long-term partners despite political wobbles, partly to hold off the Chinese threat. 'Nobody can do it themselves – maybe the Chinese can try, but certainly the rest of us, we are going to have to work together,' said Turbo Sjogren, Boeing's general manager for government services. 'To do otherwise takes too long and will be unaffordable.' The chairperson of Italian aerospace and defence group Leonardo, Stefano Pontecorvo, added that U.S. participation in some European programs would be 'unavoidable' in the coming years due to the defence technologies available to rivals were bullish about their future growth prospects but said budget constraints and a lack of regional alliances were holding back progress, conceding that they would continue to need significant U.S. support. 'National sovereignty matters, but fragmentation is detrimental. We need to find a way to hit a balance,' Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani told reporters on Tuesday. Jean-Brice Dumont, head of air power, defence and space at Airbus, said Europe's dependence on the U.S. was 'very high.' 'Zero dependency on the U.S. I believe, is a dream. We have a need for interoperability that drives some U.S. needs,' said Dumont, whose firm makes the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet with Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo, as well as Earth observation satellites and drones. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said Europe had 'too much bureaucracy' compared to the U.S. and needed to adapt to a new military era of faster, cheaper and more nimble technology. 'Either Europe adapts its industry to these new parameters – different from those with which it has lived until four years ago – or it will have huge competitors, and not only the American ones,' he said.
Miami Herald
21 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Gavin Newsom Mocks Trump's ‘Made in China' Smartphone
California Governor Gavin Newsom has poked fun at the smartphone unveiled on Wednesday by the Trump Organization, jumping on the mounting doubts over whether it can honor its "made in America" branding. On Wednesday, the governor posted a link to a Daily Beast article entitled "Trump's New 'All-American' Smartphone Is Made in China," alongside the caption: "Oh." Newsweek has reached out to Trump Mobile, the new company marketing the phone, regarding its manufacturing origins. Despite the Trump Organization, the umbrella company for the president's business ventures, billing the phone as American-made, experts remain skeptical over whether the U.S. possesses the necessary infrastructure or technical know-how to manufacture the "T1" entirely on U.S. soil by its September launch or at the listed price of $499. Others have also noted similarities with other devices already on the market and which hail from China, raising further questions about this made-in-America designation. On Monday, the Trump Organization, control of which the president ceded to his eldest sons at the start of his second term, announced the launch of Trump Mobile, its flagship cellular service—"The 47 Plan"—and the T1 Phone, billed as a "sleek, gold smartphone engineered for performance and proudly designed and built in the United States." Both Eric and Donald Jr. have repeatedly said that the phone will be manufactured in the U.S., though the former said that this would be done "eventually." A representative for the Trump Organization told The Wall Street Journal that manufacturing "will be in Alabama, California and Florida." But many have expressed doubts as to whether this is feasible, given the current disparity in manufacturing capabilities between the U.S. and China. Supply chain expert Tinglong Dai told Newsweek earlier this week that, "barring miracles, building a smartphone entirely in the U.S. by September is all but impossible." Many have also pointed out the striking similarities with existing Chinese-made models, casting further doubt on the "made-in-America" claim. The Daily Beast article mentioned by Newsom cited research from Apple Insider, which found that the body of the specifications of the new gold-colored phone match with the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G, an Android built by Chinese company Wingtech and available on Amazon for as little as $169. Donald Trump Jr., vice president of the Trump Organization, in an interview with conservative host Benny Johnson, said the new phones were for users who want "American hardware, built by Americans here in America without the potential, you know, let's call it back door into the hardware that some of our adversaries may have installed in there." Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at International Data Corp, told CNBC: "There is no way the phone was designed from scratch and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the U.S. or completely manufactured in the U.S. That is completely impossible." Leo Gebbie, principal analyst at CCS Insight, told Fortune there was "no serious chance" of the phones being made in the U.S. in time for their launch date, and that this "absolutely does raise the specter of the Trump Organization mobile falling foul of the tariffs that have been instigated by the Trump administration." Robert Atkinson, founder and president of tech-focused think tank the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, told Newsweek that the high costs of manufacturing a phone in the U.S. would preclude the possibility of the phone being sold at $499. "I suppose if tariffs were established on imported phones then it might be price competitive," he added, "but I doubt the price would be at or below $500, especially if the components (e.g., chips, camera, battery, screen, etc.) also had tariffs placed on them." Given the doubts expressed by experts, and conflicting messaging from the Trump Organization and Trump Mobile over whether and when the new phone will be manufactured in the U.S., questions remain over how the T1 will maintain the American-made designation that has marked its launch. Related Articles Gavin Newsom's Chances of Being 2028 Democratic Nominee Surge-PollMost Voters Back Sending Troops to Quell Riots, But Blame Trump for LA-PollGavin Newsom Responds to Donald Trump's ICE ThreatGavin Newsom Accuses Trump Administration of Spreading Fake Protest Images 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
This phone is made in the USA, and Trump's name isn't on it
President Donald Trump's family business is taking preorders for a gold-colored smartphone, the T1. Trump Mobile, which launched Tuesday, says the device will be available in September, cost far less than Apple's and Samsung's smartphones — and be made in the United States, aligning with the president's "America First" economic ethos. Industry experts and tech journalists instantly cast doubt on those claims. And if Carlsbad, California-based smartphone maker Purism is any example, it would take much more than two months for Trump Mobile to build an American-made smartphone from scratch. It would also most likely be more expensive than the T1's advertised price of $499. At $2,000, Purism's Liberty Phone is more expensive than an iPhone 16 Pro. It has half the iPhone's memory with roughly twice the thickness. You also can't download many apps on it. According to Todd Weaver, who founded Purism in 2014, it's the only U.S.-made smartphone on the market. But with "kill switches" to turn off its Wi-Fi, camera and microphone, the Liberty Phone is marketed as a secure option because it also carries its own operating system designed by Purism. It took a lot of time and effort to get to that point, Weaver told NBC News. Going from "I would like to make a phone and I would like to make it in the U.S." to actually achieving it took six years, he said. Purism's assembly line consists of just four people screwing together phones by hand — a far cry from the shoulder-to-shoulder line of people and automated machinery often associated with mass production facilities in China. The "Made in the USA electronics" sticker that Purism slaps on the product is a declaration of confidence — since the Federal Trade Commission regulates claims of that sort. Yet even Purism's built-in-America phone needs some foreign help. Ninety percent of its materials come from the United States, Canada or Europe. Among the components made elsewhere: a chassis from China, camera modules from China or South Korea and a Bluetooth module from India. Purism publishes that information online. For materials like a specific crystal necessary for the motherboard to operate, Purism says there are no options for U.S. sourcing, meaning there's no choice but to buy from China. "There just isn't a company yet providing that single crystal," Weaver said. The Trump Organization didn't respond to questions about how Trump Mobile's T1 phone would be made. Another issue looming over the market: Trump's ever-shifting trade policies. He recently threatened a 25% tariff on all smartphone imports, taking aim at manufacturers like Apple and Samsung, which make their phones abroad. "Again, when they build their plant here, there's no tariff, so they're going to be building plants here," he said last month. The percentage of the materials for Purism's phone that come from overseas is small enough that tariffs from the Trump administration wouldn't affect its $2,000 price. But the tariffs would affect a phone Purism does make in China, called the Librem 5. It's priced at $800, but new import duties would take it closer to the Liberty phone's $2,000 level. While tariffs are a "good incentive" for manufacturing in the United States, Weaver said, the administration's on-again, off-again approach makes it tough to plan. "It's terrible," Weaver said. "If you have no idea and you can't predict [the policy], it's very hard for any company, for any business owner. From T-shirts, textiles to high tech, it is very hard to make a long-term business decision when you're in a whipsaw."
