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By Robert Weisman | October 16, 2005
The military-industrial marriage is alive in Massachusetts. And state government and business leaders would like to see it flourish.
''Here we have a hand that, if we play it well, we can add jobs," said Ranch C. Kimball, the state's economic development secretary, who has spent the summer and fall meeting with defense technology companies. ''We've got a real cluster here that we can build on."
Kimball estimates there are 60,000 to 80,000 defense-related jobs in Massachusetts. They range from researchers at high-tech labs like Draper and Lincoln, to manufacturing workers at giant military contractors like Raytheon and BAE Systems, to employees of smaller software and precision-engineering companies across the state.
Dating back to the 1940s, when MIT's famous Rad Lab designed radar for American forces in World War II, there has been a strong connection between Massachusetts research and the evolving capabilities of the US military.
That link was strained by a recent round of base closings, which threatened Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford and the Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick.
Both bases survived, thanks in large part to a bipartisan lobbying campaign that drew support from the state's high-tech businesses. But a Pentagon recommendation that Hanscom be expanded, with 1,000 jobs transferring from other bases, was rejected by the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, known as BRAC, after it concluded the bulk of the jobs weren't related to Hanscom's research .
Still, the coalition wants to capitalize on its momentum. Toward that end, it will continue the Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, seeking to attract out-of-state defense contractors, encouraging companies to bid for military contracts, and pressing for state grants supporting defense research.
''What we do now means we're going to be ahead of the game when and if the next BRAC arrives," said Christopher R. Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High-Technology Council, who led the defense technology initiative during the two-year fight to save Hanscom and the Army post in Natick.
Massachusetts is already a the leading recipients of Pentagon research money. In fiscal 2001, the most recent year for which figures are available, state companies, labs, and universities took in nearly $2 billion in research and development funds from the Department of Defense -- more than the $1.7 billion they took in from the National Institutes for Health.
With the BRAC process concluded, nonmilitary companies may find it easier to get military business, according INPUT, a Reston, Va., research firm. A recent report by the firm said the Pentagon has been outsourcing support and administration jobs. That could boost the fortunes of still-struggling Massachusetts technology companies.
''For companies developing new technology, the federal government represents an opportunity," said Payton Smith, director of market analysis for INPUT. ''The Department of Defense is one of the proving grounds for new technology."
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