Crain's Chicago Business March 24, 2003
Profile: J. Michael Johnson, Former Navy aviator trains his eye on military reconnaissance market
The last time the United States went to war in the Mideast, J. Michael Johnson was a U.S. Navy officer and intelligence specialist who led efforts to destroy Iraqi air defenses.
He commanded a 14-ship battle group, directed operations for all U.S. military support and training programs in Europe and was responsible for all aviation-related weapons, maintenance programs and aircraft systems for the chief of naval operations.
In a sense, he's still in the midst of the action as president and CEO of Recon/Optical Inc., a small but highly regarded maker of military reconnaissance cameras based in Barrington.
Mr. Johnson took the corporate helm in October 2001, after 33 years in the Navy, shortly after Recon made a bet-thecompany switch from film to digital technology.
Bypassing the Pentagon's normal evaluation procedures, prototypes of Recon's latest product have been rushed into service on three F/A-18 Hornets on board the USS Nimitz, one of five carriers in the Persian Gulf.
Going from conceptual design to combat in two years is "relatively unheard of," says Mr. Johnson, 56, a retired rear admiral and highly decorated combat aviator.
The new cameras are uniquely capable of taking highresolution pictures in both visible and infrared light, allowing targets to be identified despite darkness or camouflage.
The pictures can be transmitted electronically to a command center nearby or in the U.S., so that during battle, a decision about whether to attack a specific target can be made in minutes instead of hours
"If one picture is worth a thousand words, two pictures is worth 10,000 words," says John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a defense policy think tank in Washington, D.C.
Recon recently won a $19.3-million no-bid contract to start producing the dual-band cameras, with an initial order for eight and options to build up to 54 units.
Owned by privately held Bourns Inc. of California, Recon has grown to 225 em ployees in Barrington, up 25% in the last year. Annual revenues, which typically range from $50 million to $70 million are expected to reach $100 million or more this year, says Mr. Johnson.
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