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Inside the Air Force |
HONEYWELL GETS $30 MILLION TO STABILIZE
RAD-HARD ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY
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Date: July 5, 2002
The Air Force has awarded
more than $30 million in capital investments to Honeywell to bolster the
company's radiation-hardened parts production facilities, according to a June 28
Defense Department contract announcement.
Provided through the Capital
Expansion Project (CAPEX), the funds aim to subsidize the manufacturers of
radiation-hardened electronics to ensure the viability of their production
lines. The specialized electronics can withstand the powerful electro-magnetic
pulses released during a nuclear blast, and they are widely used for military
satellite systems. This particular effort seeks to establish a prototype
manufacturing capability to produce 0.25 micron radiation-hardened
devices.
The Defense Department is
the largest consistent purchaser of radiation-hardened parts since little
commercial interest in the technology exists (Inside the Air Force, March
16, 2001, p2). Private-sector standards call for "radiation-tolerant"
microelectronics made from materials that can survive natural phenomenon like
solar flares, officials said, though those parts are not guaranteed to withstand
a nuclear explosion.
A Defense Threat Reduction
Agency spokesman said last month only two vendors -- Honeywell and BAE Systems
-- still make radiation-hardened parts. At least six companies built them at the
height of the Cold War, Air Force officials have said, noting that the Defense
Department must sustain at least two manufacturers to promote competition and
innovation in the industry.
Maintaining a healthy
industrial base is critical because the hardened satellite parts are needed to
ensure the survivability of such capabilities as the Global Positioning System,
on which the military relies for precision-weapon guidance. GPS is also the
global standard for an array of navigational needs. Though the Cold War has
ended, a renewed fear of nuclear attacks by terrorists or countries like North
Korea following the September 11 attacks has forced the Pentagon to look at the
issue even more closely.
"There are still nuclear
weapons in the world and there is a continuing need for radiation-resistant
electronics basically to avoid creating a situation where one nuclear weapon
detonation could substantially degrade American military capabilities," said
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a DC-based group focused on
foreign affairs and defense issues. "One of the abiding problems with nuclear
weapons is the uncertainty of what the affects would be."
The Air Force has made
similar investments in BAE. Last June, ITAF reported the company received
more than $19 million under CAPEX to support facilities that could produce
slightly smaller electromagnetic devices.
Hans Mark, director of
defense research and engineering during the second Clinton administration, first
raised awareness of the problem in 1999. Mark formed the Radiation Hardened
Electronics Oversight Council, a group comprised of senior-officials from the
Office of the Secretary of Defense, the services, the National Reconnaissance
Office and other agencies designed to monitor the health of the industrial base,
officials said.
CAPEX was initiated in July
2001 as part of the Accelerated Radiation Hardened Microelectronics Initiative.
DTRA handles the overall management of the program, Air Force Research
Laboratory officials said in a statement last June.
The Air Force has considered
taking similar steps to shore up the industrial base in other areas, including
weapons programs. ITAF reported in April that officials were exploring
ways to make capital investments in several Joint Direct Attack Munition
subcontractors that feed parts to Boeing to further accelerate production of
this so-called "weapon of choice" during the strikes in
Afghanistan.
Honeywell officials were
unable to comment by press time (June3). -- Laura M. Colarusso
