Date: May 03, 2007 Author: Kevin Robinson-Avila Source: bizjournal
Management Sciences Inc. is rolling in military dough.
The Albuquerque company, which makes "smart" wiring systems to monitor ground and air vehicles, won an open-ended, $25 million contract on May 1 from the Maryland-based Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). It will soon be adding staff to work on the project.
Under the contract, MSI will immediately receive $3 million to design a new intelligent monitoring system and to subcontract a partner to manufacture it. The system will be installed on AV-8B Harrier planes, says James Tilton, a NAVAIR flight recorder systems engineer.
MSI will receive more funds under the NAVAIR contract as work progresses, Tilton says.
"The main contract is for the maximum amount [of $25 million]," Tilton says. "As work goes forward, MSI will get contracted for more and more."
MSI isn't the only New Mexico company to get a large military contract in recent months. The Department of Defense awarded $48.5 million on March 29 to three firms -- Albuquerque-based ATA Aerospace, Schafer Corp. and Washington, D.C.-based Jackson and Tull. Together, the three will build and test satellites and satellite components for the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.
"That's an ongoing program and this is new funding for the next installment," says Rich Garcia, AFRL public affairs officer. "The total value is $48.5 million for all three companies, but the distribution of funds depends on the individual work done by each company."
In addition, New Mexico State University -- as part of a consortium that includes three other universities -- was awarded a $215 million contract by the Army Research Laboratory to manage the Army's High Performance Computing Research Center.
MSI already has a separate, Future Combat Systems contract with the DOD to outfit new combat vehicles with its proprietary "Sentient Guardian" technology. Once imbedded in the wiring systems of vehicles or equipment, the Sentient Guardian continuously monitors performance, analyzes problems and offers solutions. Most important, it predicts problems before they happen, says Ken Blemel, MSI's vice president of research and development.
MSI has received $1 million so far for the FCS contract, although it expects to receive up to $10 million over the next few years.
In contrast to the FCS contract -- which is for new combat vehicles -- the NAVAIR contract is to retrofit aircraft that have been functioning for up to three decades or longer, Blemel says.
"Our system will replace obsolete equipment from the 1970s, '80s, and '90s with miniaturized,
computerized tools that do far more than the original flight recorders that they're replacing," Blemel says. "The new technology is like having R2D2 on board. It will do everything R2D2 did in 'Star Wars,' except it doesn't move around."
The system -- contained in tiny boxes that are much smaller and lighter than current flight recorders -- will monitor the aircraft propulsion system, record cockpit voices, take video images of flights and monitor the health of most other electric and mechanical systems on the planes. It also acts as a survivable crash box to preserve all data, Blemel says.
"The new box has about 15,000 hours of operating life between maintenance, which means it will store an immense amount of data," Blemel adds. "The old recorders only have a few hundred hours of operating life."
The recorded flight data could later be used for pilot training.
"We're developing training software as a new capability using the images recorded from battles the plane is flown in," Blemel says. "Having yesterday's battle in your face is a good way for new guys to prepare."
The NAVAIR contract is the third phase of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. In the first phase, bidders conducted research and documented their proposals. In the second phase, the list of bidders was chiseled down to just two, each of which built a prototype of their technology, Tilton says.
"There were multiple proposals, but the program management aircraft group liked MSI's the best," Tilton says. "The contract means MSI is now transitioning from a research to a production phase. Not many SBIR projects actually get that far."
Apart from NAVAIR, MSI won two other small military contracts since March. The company will receive a $750,000 SBIR grant to design an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to monitor systems in aircraft other than the AV-8B, Blemel says.
It also will receive $500,000 from the Army's Tank and Automotive Research and Development Center to adapt the new ASIC system to monitor and control electric-powered ground vehicles.
MSI is a family-run business that has developed the Sentient Guardian system over the past decade. Blemel's wife, Marlene, owns that company, and a son and a daughter also work there.
MSI currently employs 12 people, but it is now hiring four more. It expects to double its workforce by next year.
"Research and development is one thing, product delivery is another," Blemel says. "It takes a lot of people to deliver stuff."
