| By Amy Bryer
Denver Business Journal
From fighter jets to combat-ready Palm pilots, American
troops fighting in Iraq are armed with products from several
Denver-area defense contractors.
The media blitz of war coverage has sent images of advancing
troops meeting enemy fire and satellite photos of bombed-out
Iraqi palaces to audiences around the world.
Two Colorado companies are big players in the war by providing
satellite images. Another makes the optical lenses on those
laser-guided missiles that have struck with precision accuracy
in the air war.
Defense has been a major part of Colorado's economy for
decades. It's been estimated that aerospace and defense
companies employ about 100,000 Coloradans, and defense contracts
brought in $2.3 billion to the state in 2001. Last year's
numbers are not available, but were projected to increase
by $23 million.
Some defense contractors are hesitant to talk about their
role in the Iraq war because of the sensitive nature of
their product. Others are wary of potential picketing by
anti-war protesters.
Two Colorado companies already have received a lot of media
attention since the war started because their detailed satellite
photos have been seen in The New York Times and Newsweek,
and on CNN, CBS Evening News and MSNBC.
Longmont-based DigitalGlobe and Thornton-based Space Imaging
have contracts with the federal government to provide satellite
images for mapping, but now the companies are getting more
than 10 times as many requests from newspapers and television
stations throughout the world and from allied governments
for photos of Iraq.
"We're getting hundreds of requests a day for photos
from national and international news agencies in regions
overseas like Europe and Australia," DigitalGlobe spokesman
Chuck Herring said. "Normally we get about five or
10 on any given day."
The images cost from $250 to $10,000 for premium locations.
The news media has been getting a promotional rate for images,
Herring said, but they don't receiving the same priority
as premium customers.
DigitalGlobe's satellite can see things on the ground that
are about two feet wide from a satellite that revolves 280
miles above the Earth. It takes two to three days for the
satellite to cross over a given area, so it can take two
to three months to properly photograph an 11-mile-by-11-mile
area of Baghdad, Herring said.
The hottest photo request right now is the Republican Palace.
A current photo of Basra or Baghdad — post-bombings
— costs tens of thousands of dollars, he said.
For civilians to be able to produce such high-resolution
satellite photos requires a certain balancing act by the
satellite imagery industry in order to maintain the safety
of troops. The federal government provides the companies
with a list of parties who are denied access to the photos
to guard against sensitive images falling into the hands
of enemies.
DigitalGlobe holds photos for 24 hours before releasing
them. Photos from the company's archive are easier to obtain
and cheaper, but will not have the current condition of
buildings after recent bombings.
The DigitalGlobe satellite was scheduled to make a pass
over Iraq in the early part of the week of March 24, but
weather reports in the region predicted poor visibility
with violent sandstorms.
"You have to remember there are several constraints
to work around — weather, clouds, sandstorms, and
the dust that gets stirred up from the bombing," Herring
said.
Lafayette's role with lenses
The bombing campaigns have been predominantly restricted
to military-related sites in Iraq, using the smart bombs
made famous in the Gulf War. The weapons rely on laser-guided
technology to pinpoint targets as small as a doorway from
the cockpit of a combat jet. Much of the accuracy of the
laser-guided missiles depend on the lenses of the laser.
The lenses in the weaponry mounted on many of the fighter
jets are manufactured by Lafayette-based Rocky Mountain
Instrument Co. RMI recently was hired by Lockheed Martin
as a subcontractor for the lens on a a new targeting weapon
that can locate and stay fixed on a target that is farther
away that earlier versions of the weapon.
"The advantage is that the pilot can zoom in, lock
on and be flying back home before he fires the shot,"
RMI spokesman Keith Liese said.
The subcontractor also manufactures lenses for missiles
that have the laser sensor mounted on the missile itself.
Both types of weapons are being used in the Iraq war.
RMI also produces an optic used in cockpit displays that
help pilots see the different colors and prevents glare
on the display screen used in combat. The RMI optics will
be installed in the cockpits to be used in the F-35 Joint
Strike Fighters under development.
Ball boasts long-term contracts
Approximately 55 percent of Boulder-based Ball Aerospace
& Technologies Corp.'s business is in the defense sector.
The company refused to comment on its involvement in the
Iraq conflict, but released a prepared statement saying
it has had a long history of supporting the nation's defense.
Ball has long-term contracts for satellites, fuel cells,
antennas, camera and other sensors.
"We do not know what, if anything, has been taken
to Iraq," the statement said.
Last year, Ball won a contract to develop portable lightweight
fuel cells that could power military electronic devices
without compromising power requirements. Weighing only two
to eight pounds, the battery pack should be able to power
hand-held radios, GPS systems, flashlights and night-vision
goggles. Soldiers can typically carry about 12 pounds of
batteries to power a full-sized two-way radio. This can
push total backpack weights to 85 to 105 pounds when counting
equipment, ammunition and protective gear.
Raytheon aurora campus playing role
Lexington, Mass.-based Raytheon has received a lot of attention
because of its Tomahawk missiles, but the Aurora campus
with its 1,800 employees is not involved in the manufacture
of weapons.
The company was reluctant to comment on the specifics related
to the war in Iraq, but about 80 percent of the business
at its Aurora campus is in the areas of defense and national
security. The company specializes in the operation and maintenance
of satellites and networks on the ground. Raytheon software
controls and tracks satellite activity.
It has a contract through 2010 with the National Reconnaissance
Office for a next generation of advanced imagery reconnaissance
satellites. Raytheon also handles several classified satellite
programs command and control, mission management and data
processing of national security information.
Tracking troops with a PDA
Not all Denver-area companies are involved in the high
level of security. Another company, Warrior Solutions Inc.,
has developed a software program for hand-held PDAs called
the U.S. Army Leader's eBook. The hand-held device replaces
the cumbersome three-to five pound spiral notebooks that
squad leaders are required to keep.
"Every leader needs to know everything about his people,
and it's kept in a notebook," said retired Marine Lt.
Colonel Oke Johnson, Warrior Solutions' vice president of
operations.
Unit leaders are required to keep personal information
— such as family information, basic medical information
uniform size, training background, qualifications and licenses
— on each member of his unit.
Warrior Solutions' program has the structure to maintain
all these reports in an electronic form, reducing weight
and saving time for the soldier, Johnson said.
The software runs on most PDAs and costs about $120. Although
the company does not have a contract with the Army, many
units use their discretionary funds to buy the program for
their leaders.
"It frees up the soldier to concentrate on their mission,"
Johnson said. "They want to focus on their mission,
which is to train their subordinates."
Lockheed sending satellite skyward
Denver-based Lockheed Martin Space Systems has an indirect
role with the war in Iraq as it works on the April 6 launch
of the Milstar satellite for the Department of Defense.
Denver's Lockheed built the Titan IV rocket that will carry
the communications satellite, which was built at the company's
other site in Sunnyvale, Calif.
The satellite is the fifth and final one in a constellation
that is meant to provide unjammable and secured communications
for all military personnel in the field around the globe.
The $455 million rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral,
Fla., and will place the $800 million satellite into an
orbit around the Earth that is more than 23,000 miles away.
The Titan rocket has been used for more than 40 years by
the federal government, but will be retired later this year
and replaced by less-expensive and easier-to-handle Atlas
and Delta rockets, also produced by Lockheed.
The satellite will allow troops to communicate with command
posts and each other on high-speed links that can share
data and even videoconferencing. It works as a switchboard
in the sky, said Lockheed spokesman Steve Tatum, because
it doesn't require any ground stations. Each satellite can
transmit the message to the next until it reaches its destination,
making it much more secure.
"We like to say it's like the Fed Ex of communications,
you know, when you absolutely have to get it there,"
Tatum said.
Earlier this month, Lockheed launched another military
communications satellite of a lower level of security. And
on March 31, a Defense Department GPS satellite will be
launched from Cape Canaveral. The launch date for the Milstar
had been set before the war in Iraq began and actually was
delayed from January.
"The Milstar system changes the face of communications
from the days of Desert Storm," said Rich Blakley,
Lockheed manager for business development of the Titan IV.
"We know how important this launch is to the nation
and we're going to make sure it's successful."
© 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.
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