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By Dianne Claydon
The Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative plans to strengthen its focus on local defense industry growth and will create a new board of directors following last year’s successful mission to save two local bases.
MassDTI is a group of policymakers, technology leaders and economic development advocates that formed in 2003 to save Hanscom Air Force Base and the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick from closure under the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.
With that mission accomplished, MassDTI is now ramping up to support Bay State companies and universities involved in defense technologies in creating jobs and winning more U.S. Department of Defense contracts.
Sen. Edward Kennedy and Gov. Mitt Romney will no longer co-chair the organization, according to Alan MacDonald, executive director of MassDTI.
“It made sense to have the two politicians as co-chairs during the BRAC process because it was a political effort. Now we’re in the transitional phase,” MacDonald said. “We are rolling together what is the right structure.”
The final organizational structure is expected to be decided within a month, although MassDTI will remain a subsidiary of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, MacDonald said. MassDTI will have its own board, membership and defense-focused issues, he said.
The council’s president, Christopher Anderson, who coordinated much of the anti-base-closure effort, will also remain president of MassDTI.
MassDTI’s focus on economic development in defense was reflected in its recent “Future Combat Systems” event on Feb. 6 at Textron Systems Corp. in Wilmington. The event highlighted the U.S. Army’s FCS program, which is modernizing combat equipment such as unmanned ground vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics and so-called intelligent munitions.
About 38 New England-based companies participate in the FCS program, which is expected to procure about $120 billion over 30 years, according to U.S. Army data.
To date, New England companies have been awarded about $6.8 billion for technology development related to the program, according to MassDTI.
It was the first FCS event held in New England, with the closest one previously held in upstate New York, MacDonald said.
Burlington-based iRobot Corp. showed a prototype of a small, unmanned ground vehicle at the event, and the Natick Soldier Systems Center modeled a lightweight army uniform from the “Future Force Warrior” program.
Dynamics Research Corp. is developing embedded training systems for FCS, and Textron provides unattended ground sensors.
Speakers included U.S. Rep. Martin Meehan; Ranch Kimball, the Massachusetts Secretary for Economic Development; Richard Millman, Textron’s president; Jim Regan, president and CEO of Dynamics Research Corp.; Helen Greiner, chairman of iRobot; Lt. Gen. Dan Zanini, program manager of FCS and senior vice president of SAIC; and Dutch DeGay, an equipment specialist at the Natick Soldier Systems Center.
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