3dbm Inc. Wins Contract for Navy Simulators

A Camarillo firm with the unusual name 3dbm Inc. has been awarded a $1.8-million contract to produce “threat simulators” for the Naval Air Weapons Station at Point Mugu.

The simulators act as enemy radar and are used by the Navy as targets in missile test firings, reports James A. Tranovich, 3dbm’s vice president of engineering. “It’s our last defense contract,” he said. “Five years ago, we were 90% defense-related. Now, military work accounts for less than 20% of our revenues.”

These days, 3dbm is concentrating on producing low-power television transmitters. The firm already has a significant share of the U. S. market and is negotiating a joint venture with a company in China to make and sell the transmitters there.

If the Chinese deal is successful, 3dbm expects to hire additional engineers and assembly workers, Tranovich said. The firm now has 65 employees. As for that strange name, Tranovich says it has to do with wattage. “Somebody thought of it 25 years ago when the company was founded. It was a feeble attempt at wordplay, but we’ve stuck with it.”