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The companies that supply the U.S. military drive the state’s economy. But does anyone care?
By Eileen Kennedy
Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer
Rich Helle knew his company, BJA Magnetics, in Rutland could offer large defense companies great magnetic components, but he wasn’t sure how to break into the behemoth that is the U.S. defense industry.
Over time — and with a lot of networking — BJA succeeded in finding a niche in the defense world. And as a result the company is one of 2,434 defense companies that employ 32,240 workers in Massachusetts.
But there are challenges the state faces in maintaining and growing its defense and high tech sectors as well as protecting its existing military bases.
A recent report from the Mass Insight Corp., a Boston-based consulting firm, found that the broader category of defense and high tech is responsible for 331,000 jobs and “has the largest economic impact of any state industry.” However, the report warns that “slowing growth and the lack of a state strategy” could lead to Massachusetts becoming a “high-tech outpost.”
Covering The Bases
One key aspect of protecting the state’s defense industry is protecting its two military bases, according to Greg Bialecki, undersecretary of business development at the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.
“The two military bases that we have are very important to keep in Massachusetts. As can be seen from the past decade, any military base that isn’t growing is at risk to be closed,” Bialecki said.
The Pentagon periodically undertakes the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process to reassess its assets. Those reviews can result in base closure, like it did for Fort Devens in the 1980s.
More recently in 2005, Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford and the Natick Soldier Systems Center made it through another BRAC process. But the state’s not resting on its laurels.
Gov. Deval Patrick and other state officials are lobbying, along with the state’s congressional delegation, to make Massachusetts home to the first new Air Force command in 20 years: the Cyberspace Command. Of course, 17 other states are trying too, but Massachusetts has a lot of high tech and scientific companies that could support the new command, Bialecki said.
“Hanscom is the big dog in the area. It has a $3 billion impact on the region’s economy and we want to ensure that continues,” said Brigadier General Donald Quenneville USAF (Ret.), director of the Defense Technology Initiative, a regional organization in Waltham that works on behalf of New England’s defense companies and the region’s military facilities.
Another large part of the state’s defense industry is the Natick Soldier Systems Center, a military research complex where a wide range of clothing, food, shelter and other supplies are developed and tested, which contributed $500 million to the state’s economy for the last two-year period, according to Len Dube, the principal deputy to the center’s commanding general.
During the last BRAC process, the Pentagon made it clear it would like to see more activity at the center. In response, the Natick center created a Science and Technology Advisory Board, made up of defense companies, academia, business people and other community leaders. Its purpose is to bring the center and its research to the attention of more peop
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