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Someone smart on this board (there are many IMO) suggested in a private conversation that you could consider DAC "sort of" a tracking stock if they actually do go public. I looked it up and it did not fit the definition exactly. Hence, "sort of" in the description. But it did become clear to me how important it is that DAC go public. How do you react to the "sort of" a tracking stock description? You seem to understand it as a strategy IMO. Sincerely, IndyJonesOhio
Wanted to thank you and Niapoc for some new milestones to shoot for and track (they are all concrete I think):
* Increased funding for R and D from recent round of funding (this was from Niapoc)
* GTC amped up (I changed ramped to amped for fun)
* Debt significantly reduced
* DAC goes public (I got this one from a dialogue with Cole I think)
* DAC achieves and holds good SP
* Argus gets going more
* Salaries/overhead reduced
I would agree with your thoughts that the new investors would share many of these same milestones/goals. Will you help me track these, friend? I had another list a year or so ago that I should have tracked more closely. Still some overlap here but some new. I recall that replacing LJC was one of my old ones. Some of the BiB related will have to transfer to DAC. But, sincerely, your and Niapoc's are better than mine--at least for the short term IMO. Thanks for your good thinking. Respectfully, IJO
Monti, I got us a nice pic for WSGI Ihub town but I need to hold it until at least next Wednesday in case State of Ohio or others want to do PR. It is my pic but I don't want to be perceived as scooping them. It will be interesting I think. We got back home about 3PM dead tired but full of stories. As to 2000 posts my dad always said that quantity and quality are two different things! Best wishes, IJO
Real development money--$1MM for both companies already and maybe more to come. Then let's talk some more when/if DAC goes public. None of these moves make sense IMO if it doesn't. Best wishes, IJO
How much? IMO enough. Just my opinion. We do need that term sheet converted though. JMO. Hey, another milestone! First DAC needs to go public and then another $1MM for WSGI--or whatever order they happen--two more milestones to track. Better than I could have hoped six months ago. Nice weather here in Florida--how is Texas? Fondly, IJO
Very little of A so far--no B and a lot of C. We are resellers so we do markup our sales. Sat tech has opened some doors for us that would have been closed so that also justifies the investment. We also do enjoy helping underdogs. Thanks for reminding me. Keep connecting the dots. IJO
We made it in 14 from Dublin, Ohio. But the Marine was driving. :<) IJO
Nothing apparent here but goodwill and determination to work hard together IMO. Kevin and Felicia joined Drew and me for a nice lunch together at the Blackfinn Café. Great people with whom to work. IJO
Point taken. I said "in my opinion" and I am less than an amateur at structuring/restructuring publicly traded companies. I sometimes use the word "elegant" when others would say "complicated" to describe something. It is only elegant if it fixes SP eventually, no? Thanks for the clarification. I am sitting at Kevin's place having a delightful chat with Felicia. Nice people, really. IJO
JMO but I think Insighter and Glenn agree. Insighter complains we sold most of LTAS from a position of financial weakness. Glenn's letter says essentially the same thing while saying we got as much as $2MM in actual and potential new funding for both companies by restructuring. Insighter and others are confident this was an effort to divert the revenues of big contracts just round the corner. If they are right we will know by the end of summer I guess--or by the end of the year? Who knows? I personally doubt there is a conspiracy very much. JMO. If so, I am either a dupe or part of it. LOL. JMO but companies are built be building strong teams and working hard. IMO this is an elegant restructuring. Restructuring or conspiracy--each of us gets to make our judgment and place our bets--or our rants. Me, I am down here to tow back an aerostat for Ohio, State of. From that perspective it looks like a team working hard to me. I will ask permission to take a pic or two. All JMO, IJO
Just arrived Jacksonville FL. Glad you missed me. IJO
You are asking the wrong guy IMO. Everything I know about stock trading I learned here--not the best place to learn I think. My ignorant answer would be that the market hates uncertainty and a lot is uncertain here right now. To me not much has changed except some strange kind of spin off of LTASCorp--that may or may not have been about "to hit big contracts" as some believe here. I have been converted to multiple small contracts over time by Irt65 here. My big projected spiral buys for the aerostat just didn't come in but it is a baseline system and will sell over time I think--maybe too long a wait for WSGI needed cash flow though. JMO. Both WSGI and the spinoff got over $1MM in cash for development between them and there is a term sheet for another $1MM for WSGI, although just a term sheet, right? But there is a toxic emotional atmosphere here that is easy to trigger I think. I am watching to see if Drone Aircraft Holding Corp ever merges with Drone Aircraft Corp and what the outcome for WSGI balance sheet would be then. That would be telling I think. Again, despite the naysayers (they are certain of disaster, conspiracy and failure as always)gobs of uncertainty here right now. That is my opinion. Back to the Bat Cave, IndyJonesOhio
I agree with your viewpoint. Thanks for sharing it, Regards, IJO
There are other lighter WAAS sensors and sensor suppliers. I liked the article and shared it because it had a good explanation of WAAS. I don't believe you read my post carefully. Understandable in this time of uncertainty. IJO
No, Trunk is right about this one being too heavy. They are not the only WAAS game in town, however. Many others under development--WAAS is a trend in sensor evolution at the moment--for the reasons stated in the article. I just wanted to have folks thinking about what Argus-dedicated sensors might look like. For those folks who can still think about such things in these times of SP uncertainty, of course. Back to that Bat Cave, IJO
For those few still interested in technology, this article does a nice job of explaining WAAS sensors versus narrow field sensors. Whether it is Argus, BiB or tethercraft, unmanned aerial vehicles have to carry something. I believe it is public knowledge that the Argus was originally designed with L-3 sensors in mind.
http://www.c4isrnet.com/article/20140515/C4ISRNET08/305150005/
OK, I can't sit this one out. 9K MSL is 9K MSL whether it is 4k AGL or 4 feet AGL! IMO that is a really smart way to test without the expense of a pressure chamber. Nothing sinister at all IMO. IndyJ
ALL communication is controlled by WSGI as per the agreement. I am playing a little fast and loose today because I know Glenn and Dan are busy. I may pay the price. :<) Our CEO thinks the market for stratospheric operations is turning. That is new with him since he has been really more passionate about Marines in foxholes up until now. I think we have said publicly that the Argus is following two tracks in Ohio--militarization and commercialization. One of those will necessarily be quieter than the other but we are no longer on a pure militarization path as I understand it.
IMO electric propulsion would let the present Argus prototype travel to the stratosphere. JMO--no way to verify without a trial. That is why I have been so big on new propulsion. But I could not agree more that the present approach to communication is not very helpful. I was pleased that as much got into the 10-K as it did. Felt like a lot of little victories by our team had not been celebrated. Boo-hoo, poor us. :<) Best regards, IJO
LOL, I just told Insighter there was a demo coming in the summer. Maybe Glenn is going to call and tell us not to? All I can say is that I am under pressure to do an untethered demo early this summer. The FAA paperwork isn't in yet so, if it is early, then we may have to tether under 500 feet to comply with FAA Part 101. The reason I can tell you the FAA paperwork isn't in is because COAs are posted to the FAA website and you can check when it comes up.
I actually prefer a tethered demo so I don't have to worry about a new propulsion system and flight control at the same time. I am just going to say that if Glenn softened it then it is probably a lack of confidence in our project team or maybe just bad communication. But, to my knowledge nothing has changed since the 10-K except maybe talk about much more research funding (as Glenn's letter also said). Still, I hate to think he expects our team to let him down! :<( Best regards, IJO
I bought mine. I have to check to see if I am allowed to talk about the company's. I may have said too much already. Ask me again next week. But a reasonable question. IJO
I used it as an example, I did not say this was the version we were going to use. Just to clarify. And I mentioned it since Ren had already scoped it out here on Ihub. But you get the idea at least. Smart people will know that electric propulsion is needed to do the stratosphere. IJO
It is a logo that Eastcor designed that symbolizes Argus, the Latinized name of the Greek God Argos--the god of a hundred eyes. It is kind of creepy looking but maybe that was the point. George was an old snake-eater type and a little psyops on the opfor would be his style. I will PM you the high res photo and you can zoom in. Trust me, it is creepy. I don;'t know how to post the photo here. I like the flag better! :<) Your friend, IndyJonesOhio
As I told Run, if the SHs are scrued then so am I and our company. But, even if that were ever true, I would still fight for the company I "own"--that is what my dad taught me. The Argus is a real full-size operational prototype and does NOT fit in my kitchen when inflated. Although it is designed to be transported in a UH-60 so if I widened the door it would fit when packed for deployment I guess but the wife wouldn't like it. :<) I just took a long trip off the beaten path and my wife followed me with a GTC tracker for peace of mind. There is real tech here and it works. Now we just need to make sure the company does. Hope you avoided all that bad weather down there in MS recently. Sincerely, IJO
Thanks, Run. Learned most of the lingo here, no small amount from Pagan correcting me. I have the SHM on my calendar and may try to go with Fathem--he is a bright and objective young man. I need to PM him to make the offer--I'd be glad to host him. You would like him. I have a place in Ormond I can stay and the family owns some places over in Ocala area--we could get up early and drive to the Cape. My father-in-law was a real Florida cowboy in the 1940's and 1950's and Ocala is horse country. I guess someone could see me at the SHM and post that I am a real SH. Like in archaeology, things are hard to prove but I am a real SH.
If we are all getting scrued I am in with the rest here. Together with the company we have about 1MM shares--maybe just over. To be fair. not much at these penny prices but we have invested a lot of time, resources and energy since Argus work is on our books mostly. I think I have more time on the Argus than anyone but George at this point--he spent A LOT of time on it and it shows to his credit. I hinted before that I have been inside the Argus. Even with the ballonets full of helium, most of the interior is just air and you can walk around without your shoes. You need to in order to check the fans and the sensors (all this is in the public patent).
Truth be told I hate the pubco world. I over-communicate and that is not a good thing here or so I am told. While Glenn and Dan are distracted I am having a little fun. I had Norovirus and then two weeks in the field so this is a personal day. I would like to meet you someday. That is sincere. With respect, IJO
What I am is a WSGI shareholder whose investment rises or falls with the success or failure of the company. Apparently, that is more than you can say. That may well make you more shrewd than I. So be it. I am a Long in the sense that I bought to hold and to make it to the stratosphere. What a view that would be! Best regards, IJO
Risk, if you are going to disparage men like Dr. Phil Frost, you will never get your driveway paved IMO! LOL. Ask Coasti to check if there were two weeks Glenn K spent as CEO at FTOH (5to1) setting up the $28MM sale to Yahoo. I never got to track that one down and haven't heard a peep about it from you "DD" experts. You characters are so selective about the "DD" you offer--always carefully twisted and bent IMO. Personally, I wouldn't skirt defamation charges with people like this. That is just me. . . But I guess if you have no wealth to lose. . . Interesting days ahead. IMO people would do better to listen to people like BeReal and Run than more biased people like you or me. But, as Run says, there is entertainment value. May prosperity flow to you abundantly, IndyJonesOhio
Sorry it took so long to find this post, Cole. These are exciting days. Even Risk and Gotcha are back! Your post was buried pretty well back there.
I would say "pleasantly surprised" by George and crew and not shocked. I went on the team to pick up the Argus at Easton (I have pictures!). The Eastcor folks were great. Their facilities are all secure because of the work they do and we arrived early but they accommodated us very well. I have two big notebooks at our Springfield lab and, so far, they have been more than adequate documentation.
Obviously, the 10-K indicates that we are updating the technology with things that didn't even exist when they built the prototype so we need Eastcor less and less. But a lot of their electronic control systems are elegant work and probably can take us right through to production. I don't think it is a NDA violation to praise them.
For you I will try to change my Ihub photo from me flying an aerostat in the Mideast to one of our early static inflations/inspections at the EWA/Northrup Grumman facility in Fairmont. After all, the Argus is front and center for WSGI right now! That pic is on another computer--give me until Friday.
Hope the weather is good in Texas. Sincerely, Indy
I would say the factor everyone is missing here is sequestration. It doesn't change the eventuality of BiB/WASP contracts IMO but it does change the trajectory IMO. Irt65 has said this plainly here--smaller contracts more often. That sounds Ok but major contracts were previously issued on 3-5 year cycles. Smaller contracts every year may build a great newco over time IMO--especially if you have deep enough pockets to pick up some other drone technology start-ups that are starved for capital--but it is hard to see how you clear up the WSGI balance sheet without big contracts fast.
Watch CSPAN a little and you can see the Marine Corps Commandant talk about squeezing money out of post exchange budgets! I became aware of the impact of sequestration last fall when the next spiral of Fort Polk BiB purchases didn't happen. Then one of our key DOD partners went up for sale. Then SAIC/Leidos restructured--and so on. MM and others could taunt me about the missing spiral and they were right--something had changed in procurement patterns and this tech was proceeding in procurement but on a new trajectory none of us had seen before.
I told my boss to expect a classic starburst and we would be working with and holding stock in three companies--WSGI, GTC and LTASCorp. It seemed the only way to align LTASCorp with the procurement trajectory. I never thought about making it a Drone company and doing some tech acquisitions--although LTASCorp already has its two tethercraft prototypes starved for development capital. He just frowned at the thought of a classic starburst because he thought that would strand the Argus in a struggling WSGI just when the tech is coming in line with market interest. Apparently WSGI and their consultants didn't see that as the way to go either.
I have no idea if this new strategy which is not yet fully visible will work better or worse. It is my opinion that a strategy is needed that will face the realities of a decade of federal sequestration. Post 9-11 we had a decade of profligate defense spending. Now IMO we will have a decade of shrewd and careful acquisition by the DOD. Someone should have noticed how LTASCorp was looking for other non-DOD channels--DHS (Border Security Expo)and Ohio/state government uses. Why spend the effort if massive DOD contracts are coming that will rescue WSGI? Maybe enough is on the way to build a strong newco but not enough to rescue the WSGI balance sheet. Maybe.
I agree that 10MM seems to hang in thin air. To do this it seems that you would need to build a private company at the same time you prepared a corporate shell for the reverse merger. Then you would try to get the SP up on the future pubco and time the merger right while controlling the float/supply and demand so you get a publicly traded newco worth something. You also need angel/venture resources for both the newco and WSGI to make acquisitions so your value proposition increases in both. I have not been briefed on this so I am just guessing mostly from some of my own research and data I have seen here--especially Ren's. And I know that elegant solutions are subject to chaos factor and are subject to cascade failure much more than simple ones. But I actually prefer elegant solutions--like electric-hybrid propulsion systems like Mainstream Engineering is working on for the Air Force. Complicated things are risky, though.
Sorry, my friend, this was not an answer but they were my thoughts, observations and impressions. I was not allowed to discuss the sequestration impact upon contract trajectories while we owned LTASCorp. That is understandable. So I took my licks on my missing spirals. They were good projections for a non-sequestered environment, though. JMO.
Let me say this--Glenn has had a couple of opportunities to take advantage of Trident and walk away with cash in WSGI's pocket. Each time he has stepped up and been a great partner. I am willing to find out who these new guys are and see if they are the same as I have found Glenn or another bunch of crooks. But I mean, something has to balance out the LJC bad karma, right? Maybe not! Glenn has earned his licks and I reckon it is the SHs job to give them to him. So keep it up--he will take it like a man IMO. SHM should be fun either way. Thanks for kindly asking my opinion. I was as candid as my incomplete thoughts allowed. I really do have best wishes for all. Respectfully, IJO
Agreed, there is absolutely no public evidence definitively linking L-T or Dr. F to any of these activities. Thanks for being clear on that. I also agree with Bank that they are the real deal, however. Clearly Glenn K and Harvey K have some good connections though. Have a great day, IJO
Thanks Fathem. I was waiting for Harvey K's name to come up. As I recall he is Glenn K's older brother and the two of them separately carry water for some very large Angel Investors/Venture Capitalists. The mention of his involvement is encouraging to me. Thanks for reporting Ren's DD. And, thanks to you Ren. IJO
What makes you think my opinions of George or his contribution have changed? They have not. He is just not an Air Force guy. You should find other things to do on Saturday night IMO--JMO. IJO
Forgot to express my respect for Dr. Frost, his abilities, his accomplishments and his philanthropy. I would not want to be associated with any disparagement of this highly respected and generous man. The world needs more like him in my opinion. JMO IJO
Ah yes, Phil Frost. Thank you.
Phil who???
Seems to me that the identity and capability of these new consultants whom we are "honored" to have as help would be useful to know before we jump off any bridges. JMO. IJO
I think you mean "Kesner" not "Kesler" in your post.
Hardly seems an "honor" to have him as a consultant but we will see.
Best wishes, IJO
Since it was said publicly, I will repeat it:
The consultants WSGI will be receiving advice and guidance from are a group of experts and investors with a proven track record in restructuring and recapitalizing companies in the small- and mid-cap space. We are honored and excited to begin working with our new investors and advisors and look forward to transitioning the results of our soon to be growing business and the improvements in our balance sheet into a reflection in our share price.
Finally, the shares of DAC received by the Company as purchase price in the sale of LTAS are also now a significant asset of the Company and could become more valuable based on the value of the DAC common stock going forward, which will be partly a result of the success of our LTAS business acquired by DAC.
At least the DOD is trying to find ways to push ahead with increasing mobile data bandwidth enablement on the battlefield in the present acquisition environment (see link below). The Blimp in a Box and Argus were originally conceived as ISR platforms but this data exchange capability is clearly becoming a significant additional opportunity. Learning how to distribute data from aerial platforms like the BiB and Argus are obviously great steps toward Stratellite capability IMO.
http://www.c4isrnet.com/article/20140505/C4ISRNET04/305050004/C4ISR-Conference-DoD-seeking-ways-around-mobility-hurdles?odyssey=nav|head
As an archaeologist I obviously have spent a lot of my life in the desert. It isn't always cold at night and it usually depends on the altitude and latitude. But discussing desert meteorology will probably be considered off-topic by our mods! I do love the desert, however, and spend time there whenever I can. Best regards, IJO
This could be a good thing for the entire UAS industry IMO, not just WSGI:
April 29, 2014 1:47 PM
The Department of Defense would be required to establish an office to specifically manage unmanned systems if language proposed in a new Asia-Pacific Region Priority bill holds.
“It is the policy of the United States to maintain an independent organization within the Department of Defense to develop and coordinate the unmanned air, land and sea capabilities of the United States to ensure unity of effort and the prudent allocation of resources in accordance with military needs,” reads the legislation proposed by Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, and Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii).
The bill was proposed on Monday and would have to pass through the House of Representatives and the Senate before being signed into law by the President.
Passage of the bill is not a foregone conclusion.
The bill would require the Secretary of Defense to appoint a Director of Defense Unmanned Systems who would have oversight of all unmanned systems within the Defense Department.
The new office would coordinate all of the Pentagon’s unmanned systems acquisitions, research and development, experimentation, fielding “to ensure unity of effort and interagency awareness of emerging capabilities.”
The new unmanned systems office would make recommendations — in coordination with the Joint Staff and other strategic planning offices — on how best to integrate unmanned systems with existing operational concepts.
The office would also help to determine future operating concepts that could be enabled by new technologies such as advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
Analyst Mark Gunzinger at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said that the idea is an interesting one.
“There should be an unmanned systems champion within DoD that can work integration issues across the services and be an advocate for developing next-generation capabilities,” he told USNI News on Tuesday.
http://news.usni.org/2014/04/29/new-bill-calls-pentagon-unmanned-systems-office