Computerbase Wins Key Pact to Design System for Air Force

Computerbase International, a small Irvine technology company with big-time aspirations, has received a $300,000 contract to design a new generation of military computers for the Air Force.

Computerbase Chairman Richard Manweller said the contract will have a “tremendous, positive effect” on the company, which develops computer systems for military and aerospace applications.

For more than two years, Computerbase researchers have been designing a system utilizing a computer language known as ADA, which the government has chosen as the standard for future defense equipment. While some commercial computers now can be modified to use the ADA language, the Air Force system would be the first built specifically to utilize ADA, Manweller said.

The Air Force contract is potentially more significant for the Irvine firm than the initial $300,000 award indicates. According to Manweller, the system Computerbase is developing could set the standard for military computers of the future, opening a large and lucrative market to the company.

Manweller said Computerbase will report its first-ever quarterly profit today when it announces results for its fiscal 1988 second quarter. Computerbase reported sales of $1.3 million for its fiscal 1987, which ended April 30, 1987.