The Orlando Sentinel June 03, 2007
Military device is stolen near OIA -- briefly
By Jonathan Parker Walton
Burglars almost made off with the display and controls for an Apache helicopter weapons-targeting system last week after cutting a hole in a door at the Lockheed Martin facility near Orlando International Airport.
This system, called a TEDAC, consists of a 5-by-5-inch screen and joystick-like controllers that can be used by a helicopter co-pilot or gunner to find targets and aim weaponry. It was recovered Wednesday behind several bushes "south of the business" on Tradeport Drive, according to a police report.
Lockheed, the leading defense contractor for the U.S. military, has a contract with the Army to retrofit every Apache helicopter in the fleet with TEDAC units.
"Obviously, Lockheed Martin puts a high priority on security, and this will be thoroughly investigated," Don McClain, Lockheed Martin's director of communications, said Saturday.
"It appears that that was the only thing removed, and it was recovered," he said.
McClain said he did not know what kind of security was in place at the Tradeport Drive location, nor whether security workers had responded while the burglary was taking place. He said he did not know of any other break-ins at Lockheed facilities.
This burglary was similar to another on Tradeport Drive that night. There, surveillance tapes show at least two suspects backing a truck up to a freight company's loading dock, cutting a panel from a gate and removing at least six TVs, according to a police report.
Whoever stole the TEDAC may not have known what it was.
"I would think if they were serious about it, they would have taken it or gotten away with it," said Lt. Shirley Coleman of the Orlando Police Department.
International buyers, such as foreign governments, might be willing to pay several hundred thousand dollars or more for such a unit, according to John Pike, a military-defense policy analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.org.
"They stole the wrong TV," he said. "They could have gotten a heck of a lot more for the one they dumped."
Pike also said he was puzzled over how it might have been "as easy to steal this thing as TV sets.
"Generally, when you have something that valuable, you would have them better locked up, you would think."
© Copyright 2007, Orlando Sentinel
