O.C. Firms Enlisted to Produce Supplies for Gulf Troops on Emergency Timetable : Defense: None of the area contractors has a major role in Desert Sheild, but several are playing small roles by providing software, screws and spare parts, for example.
As the U.S. military prepares for war and the possible need to replenish equipment lost on the battlefield, several Orange County companies have been enlisted to manufacture supplies on an emergency basis.
Three weeks ago, Micro Technology Inc. in Anaheim received a rush order from the Pentagon to supply computer software for Operation Desert Shield. The company says the software will be used to link military computers at command centers in Saudi Arabia with computers in the United States.
“Everything happened in a short period of time,” said Tom Raimondi, vice president of product strategy. “That’s atypical in doing business with the government.”
The Anaheim firm’s software acts like a watchdog over the system, allowing computer operators to automatically check the amount of traffic on a computer network and to reroute data if a network cable is severed.
Micro Technology had tried to sell its software to various military agencies before, but hadn’t had any luck until Pentagon buyers called in late December and ordered the software, Raimondi said. The product was shipped within a week.
“MTI was eager to assist our country in Operation Desert Shield,” said Steve Hamerslag, the company’s president and chief executive.
The sale to the Pentagon will be a small part of Micro Technology’s estimated $80 million in sales for its fiscal year ending March 31, Raimondi said.
Orange County defense contractors make few of the major weapons systems that have been deployed in the Middle East, but several companies are playing a small role in the current crisis.
Interstate Electronics, an Anaheim aerospace manufacturer, has received orders for a few spare parts but no major work that resulted from the Mideast conflict, said Len Jacobsen, vice president of business development.
Kapco Industries Inc. in Buena Park added a night shift to ramp up its manufacture of screws and nuts for military jeeps, jets, helicopters and tanks.
Rockwell International’s Defense Electronics unit in Anaheim focuses mainly on strategic weapons systems such as the MX nuclear missile or the “Star Wars” space defense instead of conventional arms that would be used in a Middle East war.
However, a division of the Anaheim unit in Atlanta makes the Hellfire anti-tank missile carried by the Apache helicopter, said Christine Rodriquez, a Rockwell spokeswoman.
Loral Corp. in New York, which last year acquired Ford Aerospace Corp. in Newport Beach, could bring in $100 million in additional bookings this year if war breaks out, the company’s chairman, Bernard Schwartz, said in October.
The Newport Beach unit, renamed Loral Aeronutronic, could receive a portion of that extra business if the Pentagon decides to purchase more AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles, which are used in air-to-air combat. The Aeronutronic division makes the guidance systems for the missiles.
In an indirect way, Global Van Lines in Orange has seen its business pick up as families of Marines based in Camp Pendleton or the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station move their belongings into storage, such as when spouses return to their parents’ homes.
