Region’s defense innovations focus of conference

Magee
Magee

Several cycles of Pentagon budget cuts and plans for a smaller U.S. military haven’t dimmed the optimism of the southern New England defense sector. Largely thanks to submarine giant General Dynamics Electric Boat, the industry has remained stable over the last several years and could even see growth ahead. But military contractors and the numerous companies linked to their supply chain are not relying solely on the political clout of the local congressional delegation to keep contracts comings.
The Southeastern New England Defense Industry Alliance, a regional trade and lobbying group, is working to help them find new growth opportunities. This week, Sept. 3-5, SENEDIA will host the first Defense Innovation Days conference in Newport featuring many of the country’s top military decision-makers, including Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.
Alliance Executive Director Molly Donohue Magee, a former chief financial officer at Naval Station Newport who began running the alliance full time last year, discusses the event and industry trends.

PBN: Is the southeastern New England defense sector growing or shrinking right now?
MAGEE: The defense sector is probably holding its own, which is a good thing for the environment we are in. And there are a lot of positive things that could potentially help us grow. But we are in an environment of a declining defense budget, so being where you can hold your own and grow means you are doing very well.

PBN: Do we attribute holding our own solely to Electric Boat?
MAGEE: Certainly Electric Boat is a very important reason and when they succeed their supply chain succeeds. The other reason is the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, which is headquartered in Newport. Both EB and NUWC are focused on submarine warfare and that is a very important mission in this environment and in some cases a growing mission.

PBN: What are some of those opportunities where the defense sector could grow in the future?
MAGEE: A major thrust is with unmanned vehicles – unmanned undersea vehicles but also surface and air. That certainly is going to be a growing environment. We know we have the Virginia-class submarine which EB has gotten the contract for and then there is going to be the Ohio replacement program. That will be another thrust going forward. We are well-positioned because we have both large and small businesses in the area that are innovative and able to produce solutions to problems and are recognized for being able to do so.

PBN: Who are some of the businesses doing really interesting things in defense that people may not be aware of?
MAGEE: Along with the large businesses like EB and Raytheon, we also have some small businesses that can go from a couple of hundred people to a handful of people. There is one company, called Propel LLC, in northern Rhode Island, and they do some interesting work with textiles related to the uniforms and protection that our men and women in the service need to wear. We have Sea Corp. that has done some interesting prototyping, development and production of how you launch weapons. It is a technology that is similar to how you launch an airbag in a car.

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PBN: What is the No. 1 thing you would like to ask Chuck Hagel if you get the chance when he comes to Newport?
MAGEE: First of all I am just thrilled that Chuck Hagel is coming to Rhode Island. I think it is a reflection of the importance of our congressional delegation, and in particular Sen. [Jack] Reed. I think one of the questions that will likely be asked is: going forward in the environment of a decreasing defense budget, how is the Department of Defense going to make sure we get the innovation we need for our war fighters? How are they going to reconcile those somewhat conflicting dynamics?

PBN: Is there a way to do that?
MAGEE: There is a way to do that. We have been through defense cycles before where you grow and then you come to a point where you decrease because of the political and social environment we are in. Research and development is always going to be important. It is one thing to look at the needs of today, but if you also don’t look at the needs of tomorrow, then when you get to tomorrow you are going to be caught without the needed technology. There are programs out there that can help facilitate it. One is the Small Business Innovation Research program, which allows companies to put forward innovative ideas to identify government problems and issues. They get a grant to do so. Rhode Island this year initiated a matching grant program for that, so companies that win an SBIR phase 1, the state will match up to $45,000. And that is a very important addition allowing companies to leverage their innovation even further.

PBN: Is Defense Innovation Days more about giving local executives the chance to listen to senior government officials – perhaps getting clues about what those officials are looking for – or for the chance to speak to and lobby those officials?
MAGEE: To me they are both important and that is what I see as the real power from this conference. It is a forum where policymakers and business leaders within the defense arena can engage with each other and learn from each other. The policymakers can look at our companies and see what they are doing and our companies can listen to the policymakers and what they see for the future and where they see thrusts are going to be needed. You both walk away from there with some pretty powerful knowledge.

PBN: To give folks a flavor of the event, one of the discussion topics is “innovation from the technology perspective.” What does that mean exactly, as I think most people think of innovation and technology kind of synonymously?
MAGEE: When you look at it from a tech perspective, the question is what technologies can facilitate doing things faster, better, quicker in a more stealth manner? One of the speakers is from the directed-energy professionals society and would be looking at what can the directed-energy technology provide us? Another is from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and they are in the forefront of asking what can change the way we do business. Examples in the past have included nano technology, where we used to have a whole circuit board doing a function and now we have something doing the same function that is very small. That buys you a lot – decreasing cost, increasing processing power – just a real multiplier of what you can accomplish.

PBN: Do many regions have these kinds of conferences?
MAGEE: You will find conferences like this in Washington, D.C., but this is the first one in southern New England and most parts of the country don’t have anything like this. This is the first one, but we hope to make it an annual event.

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