| By Caron Schwartz Ellis
Staff Writer
Watch any of the spectacular up-to-the-minute television
coverage of the war in Iraq, and you’ll be immediately
dazzled by the technology.
Companies in Boulder Valley have a hand in some of this
technology, ranging from high-tech satellite images of Saddam
Hussein’s palaces right down to the underwear worn
by American soldiers.
And some companies are engaged in top-secret projects.
Much of the research and development funded by the Department
of Defense and the military is classified. Some are so sensitive
they are classified “black programs,” projects
whose existence is not publicly acknowledged and whose funding
is not publicly reported. The U.S. Air Force’s B-2
Spirit stealth bomber, for example, started out as a black
program.
Colorado has the fourth-largest aerospace industry in the
United States, employing some 100,000 people. Colorado Springs,
home to the U.S. Space Command’s headquarters at Peterson
Air Force Base and the North American Aerospace Defense
Command inside Cheyenne Mountain, may seem like the hub
of Colorado’s defense industry. But plenty of Boulder
Valley companies are involved, at least peripherally, in
supporting the war effort.
The following is a summary of some of the defense-related
work going on around Boulder Valley, a glimpse into area
contributions to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
TSA Systems Longmont-based TSA Systems LTD manufactures
nuclear radiation detection equipment that detects nuclear
materials that could be assembled into a weapon. The company’s
products range from small belt-mounted devices to large
walk- and drive-through systems. TSA President Allan Frymire
said the military may use a few of the belt devices, but
the primary market is local law enforcement.
Frymire couldn’t say whether the large monitors are
in use in Iraq. But they have been placed at “strategic
points” around the world including “countries
that border Iraq, for sure,” Frymire said.
Outlast TechnologiesOutlast Technologies of Boulder makes
phase-change materials used in clothing that keep the wearer
at a constant, comfortable temperature. Outlast material
absorbs body heat when the wearer creates too much and releases
it when she needs it most.
Although Outlast doesn’t sell directly to the military,
troops are wearing Outlast-equipped outfits, said Brad Poorman,
vice president North America. Dakota Outerwear of Minot,
N.D. embeds Outlast material in flight gloves, jump boots,
socks and long underwear. “Dakota Outwear is selling
all of that as we speak to the military, and it's been flying
off the shelves,” Poorman said.
Outlast also is involved in developing a classified specialty
product, Poorman said.
Warrior SolutionsWarrior Solutions Inc. provides military
software for use with personal digital assistants. The Boulder-based
company’s product, the U.S. Army Leader’s eBook,
is a digital notebook that runs on both the Palm and Windows
CE operating systems.
The Leader’s eBook has two components, Personnel
and the Leader’s Guide. Personnel tracks information
about the individuals the leader is responsible for, including
military specific information, personal, family, medical,
uniform sizes, certifications, qualifications, licenses,
awards, equipment and more.
The Leader’s Guide is a basic table of instructions
for war fighting, based on the Army’s “Combat
Leader’s Guide.” It contains checklists and
memory aids for those things that are routine in the field
and in training. “If we can do something to lessen
the load of the leader so he can spend less time doing administrative
chores, they all have a better chance of coming home,”
said Oke Johnson, vice president of operations who’s
also a retired Marine lieutenant colonel.
The company has thousands of units deployed, said Cate
Lawrence, president and chief executive, but has no way
of knowing how many are being used in Iraq. Among the organizations
using the software are the 3rd Infantry Division, 10th Mountain
Division and the 7th Cavalry, she said. Some Marines use
it as well, she said.
The $119.90 software has been selling very well, according
to Lawrence. “We have seen some increase in sales
and some increase in the speed at which we need to deliver
the software because soldiers are deploying,” she
said.
DigitalGlobeIf you’ve been watching war coverage
on television, there’s a good chance you’ve
seen high-resolution images of everything from overviews
of Baghdad to details of presidential palaces. These are
most likely satellite images from either Longmont-based
DigitalGlobe or Thornton-based Space Imaging.
DigitalGlobe Spokesman Chuck Herring said his company’s
images weren’t being used for reconnaissance but were
very much in demand by the media for “putting things
into perspective.
“Up until recently most people have seen maps of
Iraq but no detailed maps of Baghdad,” he said. “These
are used by the news people to put things in context. They
can even zoom down to individual buildings where the story
is occurring.” Although there have been a lot of sales
to media, DigitalGlobe’s biggest customers are the
U.S. government, other governments and commercial entities,
Herring said. Television exposure has produced “at
least three times” the typical interest level, Herring
said, but he could not quantify the increase in sales, yet.
Orders range from $500 to hundreds of thousands of dollars,
he said, stating that an image of a very large city like
Baghdad would be in the $100,000 range.
Herring thinks business will really pick up after the war,
when archived images can be used to see the original infrastructure
of the country. “We'll see a lot of agencies from
the U.S. and international using the imagery to help rebuild
Iraq,” he said.
Rocky Mountain InstrumentRocky Mountain Instrument Co.
of Lafayette designs and produces optics and coatings for
defense contractors including Lockheed Martin, Kaiser Electronics,
Textron and others, said Debbie Hunt, vice president and
general manager.
In March the company received Lockheed’s Outstanding
Small Business of 2002 award for optics it crafted for Lockheed’s
Sniper XR Advanced Targeting Pod. The Sniper allows pilots
to identify tactical targets from 16 to 20 miles away.
Rocky Mountain Instrument also has done lens work for Textron
Systems' Sensor Fuzed Weapon, a smart munition that can
detect, aim and engage both fixed and moving targets within
a 30-acre coverage area. The company also has contributed
optics for Boeing’s F-16 pilot’s console through
its contract with Kaiser Electronics.
Although Hunt can’t say how much of Rocky Mountain
Instruments’ work is being used by the military, she
credits defense work with keeping the company afloat. “If
it hadn't been for government contracts we would have been
in as much trouble as the rest in our (photonics) industry,”
she said.
GoLiteDemetri Coupounas didn’t market his company’s
products toward a military audience, but is happy it’s
turned out that way. The president of Boulder-based GoLite
LLC was aiming his lightweight gear at hikers and adventure
racers, but said the military came after it immediately.
“The reason is that they are concerned about winning,”
Coupounas said. “To win on the battlefield is not
only winning, but also with the maximum effectiveness and
minimum casualties.
With the lightest-weight, highest-performance equipment,
a decision-maker on the battlefield is less stressed by
things that don't need to be as stressful as they commonly
are.”GoLite products including underwear, outerwear,
sleep systems and packs are all in use by American soldiers
in Iraq, Coupounas said. The number one item sold to the
military is its C-Thru Performance Base Layer underwear,
he said. C-Thru is the company’s proprietary moisture
management technology that wicks moisture away from the
skin to evaporate into the atmosphere. “It’s
the biggest seller to the military because that helps every
single person in the military to stay cool and comfortable,”
he said.
According to Coupounas, military sales amount to about
5 percent of total revenues, but orders have increased “many,
many, many fold” since the war began. Prices range
from $12 for a small stow sack to $399 for a sleep system.
Base Layer articles start at $19 for briefs to $99 for endurance
wear.
Conduant Corp.
Longmont-based Conduant Corp. develops ultra-fast, long-duration
digital recording and playback systems for scientific research,
military and instrumentation applications.
Along with partner, BiTMICRO Networks, a solid state disk
storage provider based in Fremont, Calif., the company recently
released a solid state version of its Big River digital
recorder. Big River portable and rack mount recorders offer
hours of sustained recording from 22 megabytes per second
up to 175 megabytes per second even in the most extreme
environments including “shock, vibration or high altitude,”
said Marius Tudor, BiTMICRO’s U.S. sales manager.
Karen Davis, Conduant’s director of inside sales
and marketing, would not comment on whether or not Conduant
products are in use in Iraq. But, Tudor said Boeing and
Lockheed Martin have used Conduant and BiTMICRO devices
in airborne applications, so presumably they are being used
in the current military engagement.
However, because the new product was just released and
hasn’t been sold yet, he said he did not know whether
it would be used in Iraq. “Hopefully the war will
be over before we have a chance to get them out there,”
he said.
Top secretBoulder Valley has its share of traditional defense
contractors as well.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. is a Boulder-based
aerospace and defense contractor. Approximately 55 percent
of Ball Aerospace's business is in the defense sector. The
company develops satellites, remote intelligence sensors,
antennas and missile guidance systems. The company also
subcontracts many components out to local companies.
Lockheed Martin Management & Data Systems has a facility
in Boulder. It’s corporate policy “not to talk
about products, services and systems that are deployed during
a time of war,” said Spokesman Jim Waddington. He
would say that Lockheed Martin’s products and systems,
including information technology support, satellite imagining,
air traffic control systems and precision-guided munitions,
“are part of America’s defenses and security.”
The Northrop Grumman Electronics Systems’ Space Systems
Division facility in Boulder provides software and system
engineering support to Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air
Force Space Based Infrared System program, Spokeswoman Debbi
McCallam said in an e-mail. The system will provide worldwide
missile warning and space launch event detection and reporting
for the Air Force and Department of Defense.
Contact Caron Schwartz Ellis at (303) 440-4950 or e-mail
csellis@bcbr.com
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