Project Could Sow Windfall for Southland
The Bush administration’s push to build a robust missile defense system is a potent boost for Southern California, where dozens of companies are developing the key technologies for what could be one of the biggest military programs ever.
While debate over missile defense has raged for years, high-tech research laboratories stretching from San Juan Capistrano to Santa Barbara have been quietly working on the most advanced elements of the system, from supersensitive sensors to detect missile launches to high-powered lasers that can shoot them down from space.
The preponderance of Southern California companies involved in missile defense is a reflection of the area’s leadership in defense research and development, despite the loss of manufacturing jobs over the last decade.
“Most people don’t know that there is quite a lot going on around here,” said Capt. Colleen Lehne, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center in El Segundo. “This is the center for advanced missile defense research.”
Although spending is likely to increase under the Bush administration, missile defense has already been garnering a sizable share of the Pentagon’s research dollars. Spending on missile defense is expected to top $4.9 billion this year, the largest Defense Department program by far. The next largest expense is the $4-billion Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier under construction at Newport News, Va.
Major beneficiaries of Bush’s plan include TRW Inc.’s operations in Redondo Beach and Raytheon Co.’s unit in El Segundo, as well as Boeing Co.’s space and communications business in Seal Beach.
Several Industry Leaders in Area
TRW is widely considered the leader in high-powered chemical lasers, while Raytheon has become instrumental in developing the precision machinery that aims lasers. Boeing is the leader in integrating complex space systems and builds military satellites.
Smaller contractors that could also get a significant shot in the arm include Irvine Sensors Corp. in Costa Mesa, Aerojet in Azusa and Wyle Laboratories in El Segundo. Northrop Grumman Corp., whose acquisition of Litton Industries last month made one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, agreed to buy Aerojet two weeks ago to beef up its missile defense business.
The little-known Los Angeles Air Force Base, adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport, is responsible for overseeing dozens of companies that are developing several crucial components of missile defense envisioned by Bush and the Pentagon.
The base, which has about 1,500 military and more than 3,300 civilian and contract employees, has been charged with managing the development of the airborne and space-based lasers, as well as a system of satellites that can detect missile launches from hundreds of miles above Earth. TRW, Raytheon, Boeing and Lockheed are working on major elements of all those programs.
An additional 3,000 engineers and scientists at adjoining Aerospace Corp., a government-funded research complex, provide technical assistance and system engineering for the Air Force base and its private contractors.
The Bush administration has highlighted both ground and space laser systems, as it has called for a faster deployment of a “layered” defensive system against ballistic missiles. The plan greatly expands on the Clinton administration’s system, which proposed deploying 100 interceptors in Alaska that would shoot down incoming ballistic missiles.
Implementing a multilayered defense, as envisioned by Bush, could cost up to $80 billion, analysts said. Under the “layered” scenario, the U.S. would have the capability of shooting down a ballistic missile during any of its three stages of flight, from the initial booster stage as it is lifted into space to mid-course flight and then its descent back into the atmosphere.
One of the key elements of the first layer of defense would be the airborne laser, under development by Boeing. Fitted on a modified Boeing 747-400, it would be able to detect and destroy a missile as it clears the cloud layer at around 35,000 feet.
If missiles go past the first defensive layer, then the space-based laser would be able to step in and shoot it as the missile clears the atmosphere. The interceptors could be used to shoot the missile in mid-course.
In addition to remarks by Bush on Tuesday, local defense contractors have been emboldened in recent weeks by a Pentagon panel recommendation to significantly increase spending on the two laser systems. In particular, the panel appointed by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld recommended that the Pentagon spend an additional $2.7 billion over six years to accelerate work on the airborne laser system, as well as an additional $2.3 billion for the spaced-based laser.
TRW and Boeing, along with Lockheed Martin Corp.’s Missiles & Space operations in Sunnyvale, are developing the space-based laser, which is undergoing tests at a TRW complex near San Juan Capistrano.
In December, the Air Force and TRW were able to successfully test the optical system that a space-based laser would use to shoot down ballistic missiles. The test, at the Capistrano facility, involved generating a megawatt-class energy beam with a TRW-built “Alpha” laser, feeding it through a Lockheed Martin-built beam control device and then directing it with a 31-foot diameter telescope. The laser was housed in a massive five-story-tall vacuum chamber built to simulate space conditions.
The program has received $240 million in funding so far but is expected to have a lifetime program value of about $4 billion, which would include building, launching and testing the laser on a satellite. The Air Force’s original plan called for launching the satellite laser by 2012 with the goal of shooting down a missile from space in 2013. That schedule may be accelerated under Bush’s plan.
“The basic technology has been proven,” said Dan Wildt, TRW’s space-based laser program manager. “Now we need to integrate the laser into a system.”
All three contractors are also teamed up in building an airborne laser that would be fitted onto a modified Boeing 747, which is scheduled to roll out from its Wichita, Kan., hanger in October. A demonstration laser recently destroyed Scud-like missiles.
A military laser doesn’t actually destroy the target by itself. Rather, a beam aimed at a missile heats up the metal sheet around the fuel tank, which then begins to tear apart, eventually destroying the rocket in mid-flight.
The laser-equipped airplane circling a few hundred miles from the enemy launch sites would be able to detect a missile and fire at it during the booster stage. The airplanes are intended to protect troops in the battlefield.
Seven Jumbo Jets Equipped With Lasers
Under current plans, the Air Force would field seven jumbo jets equipped with the lasers beginning in 2007 in a program that is expected to eventually cost about $11 billion. The Air Force has so far spent about $1.1 billion on research and development. Raytheon’s Santa Barbara Research Center is developing the tracking laser for the airplane.
In addition to lasers, TRW and Raytheon are competing against Gilbert, Ariz.-based Spectrum Astro and Los Angeles-based Northrop to build the so-called Space Based Infrared System-Low, also known as SBIRS, a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit that would detect and track ballistic missiles. The Air Force plans to select the winning team next year with the goal of launching the first satellite by 2006.
Aerojet in Azusa, which is being acquired by Northrop Grumman for $315 million, is working on several components for the SBIRS-Low program as well as developing the warhead for the ground-based interceptors, the first of the defense systems Bush wants to field by 2004.
In the development of the interceptors, Los Angeles Air Force Base is responsible for taking old Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or ICBMs, stripping them of the nuclear warheads and turning them into targets for the antimissile missiles.
