Datum Subsidiary Gets $3.4-Million Air Force Contract for Cesium Clocks

Datum Inc., an Anaheim-based manufacturer of precision timing devices, said one of its subsidiaries has received a $3.4-million order for more than 100 cesium clocks to be installed in Air Force communications equipment.

The clocks, called cesium beam frequency references, generate signals that regulate digital data links in tactical air control communications systems. The devices will be supplied by Frequency and Time Systems, a Datum subsidiary located in Beverley, Mass., to the Air Logistics Center at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento.

“This is a large contract for us,” Datum Chairman Louis Horwitz said. “It’s for a lot of one of our primary products. The more of those products we have out, the stronger the market for replacements, the lower the unit cost for us and the more competitive we are.”

Horwitz said that most of the assembly work will be done in Massachusetts but that the company may manufacture some components at its fabrication plant in Anaheim. Datum employs about 185 people at the facility.