i2 News Archive 0

Alaska-based Alaska Aerospace Corporation will provide operations and maintenance support at Fort Greely and Vandenberg, and NANA Development Corporation’s Sivuniq and Akima Logistics Services companies will provide logistics management, engineering and supply support services at Fort Greely and Huntsville.
The Lockheed Martin team will apply proven experience to ensure the reliability and readiness of the GMD element of the Ballistic Missile Defense System, which protects the nation, our allies and friends against limited ballistic missile attack. Strategic partners Lockheed Martin and Raytheon have developed systems that combined have achieved more than 50 intercepts in testing and combat – more than any other team. The team’s credentials include more than 30 years of experience in missile defense development, production, testing and fielding, more than 50 years of experience in strategic weapon system operations and sustainment, and award-winning performance-based logistics expertise.

The Missile Defense Agency has announced that it will issue a final request for proposals GMD Development and Sustainment this year and award the contract in 2011. The contract will entail development, manufacturing, test, training, operations support and sustainment support of the GMD element.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation’s 2009 sales from continuing operations were $44.5 billion.

Region aims to become a leader in near-space

16 Oct, 2009 : ANDREW WINEKE

ANDREW WINEKE 2009-10-16 16:34:15 Maybe space is not the final frontier. There have been satellites, rockets, space shuttles and space stations orbiting the globe for half a century now. On the other hand, there is a region of the atmosphere that’s barely been touched. A handful of Colorado Springs companies and organizations are eyeing the stratosphere — a band of the Earth’s atmosphere that begins at about 60,000 feet and reaches up 30 miles above the surface — as a resource that offers many of the advantages of space at a much lower cost and with far more flexibility.

To help get this stratospheric industry off the ground, the Springs-based Rocky Mountain Technology Alliance is organizing the nation’s first High Altitude and Near Space Conference beginning Monday in Englewood, to bring together business, military, scientific and emergency management groups with an eye on the sky.

“The whole reason we’re doing the conference is we think it offers huge economic potential,” said Michael Semmens, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Technology Alliance. “How big, I don’t know, but it can be very, very large.”

To establish a beachhead in the stratosphere, companies have to build a vehicle that can get there and stay there. The technology is called HALE — “high altitude, long endurance.” They’re serious about the “endurance” part: Boeing is working on a vehicle that could stay aloft for five years at a stretch, although most developers are shooting for a more modest several months. The idea is that if you can keep a vehicle up for weeks or months or years at a time, and give it enough engine power to fight the relatively mild stratospheric winds and stay in place over a spot on the ground, then you can use it like a satellite for communications or surveillance.

Even better, you can launch that high-altitude vehicle in a matter of hours, to cope with a natural disaster or provide surveillance in a new area, and at a price that’s a fraction of a rocket launch. Then, if there’s a problem or once the emergency passes, you can bring the unit down and save it for later.

The military potential is enormous, but there are also potential markets in emergency management, border patrol, environmental and scientific monitoring and telecommunications.

“Just use your imagination,” said Charlie Lambert, CEO of SkySentry, one of two Colorado Springs companies pursuing near space. “Once these things are up and running, the uses are going to be boundless.”

With the military know-how in Colorado Springs and the space industry in Colorado, our region could be a leading player in high altitude, said Ron Oholendt, president of Global Near Space Services, the other local company.

“This really can be the center, the hub, of the United States for this kind of technology development,” Oho-lendt said.

Mark Volcheff, executive director of the Springs-based Colorado Homeland Defense Alliance, said that’s the idea behind the conference.

“I think this conference plays into a sweet spot of an area that’s not covered well in other parts of the country,” he said. “This is going to be a growing, growing industry.”

Global Near Space Services was founded in 2006 and has 15 employees. The company has developed an aerostat — a tethered blimp that operates at low altitudes — to test its unique airfoil shape. It’s looking for customers for the aerostat, used in surveillance and research, while it works on a high-altitude version that can stay aloft for up to four months.

“With our technology, we can provide much greater capability than any aerostat that’s flying,” Oholendt said.

SkySentry is designing its own HALE craft using a different approach (which Lambert is keeping under wraps for now), while it operates a third-party aerostat as a technology testbed and works on communications and surveillance problems for clients.

SkySentry was founded in 2004 after Lambert retired from the Air Force. The company has 10 full-time and 10 part-time employees. It’s not just small companies that are chasing high altitude, however. Giant firms such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are building their own HALE vehicles. Although those companies are spending hundreds of millions on the technology, small, nimble companies can still lead the way, said Bentley Rayburn, a retired Air Force major general who is helping to organize the conference.

Consider the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, Rayburn said. Those vital pieces of equipment are built by a small company (General Atomics) that’s succeeded in a field crowded with giant defense contractors.

“There’s always going to be plenty of room for small companies,” he said.

The rewards are big, but so are the challenges.

Near space isn’t new — U2 spy planes have been up there since the 1950s, and weather balloons longer than that. These days, Global Hawk surveillance drones prowl the upper reaches of the sky, but can stay aloft for only 36 hours at a time.

If it were easy to put a blimp or a plane up there and keep it there, it would have been done long before now.

In many ways, the stratosphere is trickier territory than space. A HALE vehicle needs enough lift to stay aloft in tenuous air. It has to deal with huge temperature variations. It has to have a source of power that lasts for weeks, months or years, day and night. It needs enough engine power to stay in place. It needs a payload capacity large enough to be useful and operating costs low enough to be attractive.

“The physics are very unforgiving up there,” Lambert said. “You can’t afford a gram of extra weight in the stratosphere.”

Most HALE developers, including Global Near Space Services and SkySentry, believe a helium- or hydrogen-filled airship is the most promising approach, while others, including Boeing, think an ultra-efficient aircraft can do the job. All of the vehicles are designed to be unmanned and remotely operated.

Both local companies think they can build a working vehicle in the next two years or so.

“What’s interesting about a capability like this is, once you have it, people are going to find ways to incorporate it,” Semmens said. “The applications that can be put on a high-altitude device can really impact our lives.”

HIGH HOPES
The first High Altitude and Near Space Conference opens Oct. 19 in Englewood. Go to rockymountaintechnol ogy.org for information.

Imprimis, Inc. Continues its Support of the United States Army

25 Sep, 2009 : Helen Porter

Colorado Springs, Colorado, September 25, 2009

Imprimis, Inc. Continues its Support of the United States Army.

Imprimis, Incorporated, as a member of the SGIS team, has been awarded the Space and Missile Defense Initiatives Support III (SMDIS III) contract supporting US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT). Imprimis will continue its long standing tradition of providing world class missile defense and space operations expertise in support of USASMDC/ARSTRAT and United States Army.

The SMDIS III contract provides SETA and operational support services for the five core USASMDC/ARSTRAT mission areas: Space, Missile Defense, Information Operations, Global Strike and C4ISR. Imprimis’ expertise and experience with Integrated Missile Defense (IMD), Ballistic Missile Defense Systems (BMDS), Space Operations, Modeling and Simulation and Exercises and Wargames provides integrated and multifaceted support to SMDC/ARSTRAT.


ABOUT IMPRIMIS, INCORPORATED - Imprimis, Inc. (i2) is a small business headquartered in Colorado Springs with offices in Huntsville-AL, El Paso – TX, and Omaha – NE.
I2 was founded in October 2004 with the mission to support government and private organizations in achieving operational excellence with the effective use of technology…turning technology into capability. Presently, i2 serves government agencies and laboratories such as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA); Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Program Office; the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM); the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense (JFCC IMD); Army Research Laboratories (ARL); and the US Air Force Academy Research and Development Centers.

ABOUT SGIS
With locations nationwide, SGIS provides services and solutions specializing in the areas of Intelligence Analysis, Information Technology, Engineering/ Integration, Training and Cyber Security. SGIS supports critical services for Intelligence and Defense community customers as well as customers at the state and local levels.

For additional information on Imprimis, Incorporated and its role in SMDIS III, contact Helen Porter or visit www.imprimis-inc.com.

CONTACT:
Helen Porter
Imprimis, Incorporated
719-785-0313 - Voice
719-471-2968 - Fax
Helen.porter@imprimis-inc.com
www.imprimis-inc.com

High Altitude and Near Space Conference Coming to Colorado

25 Aug, 2009 : Eric Savage

High Altitude and Near Space Conference Coming to Colorado

Imprimis, Incorporated (i2) and The Rocky Mountain Technology Alliance (RMTA) are proud to present the inaugural High Altitude and Near Space Conference to be held at The Inverness Hotel and Conference Center, Englewood, Colorado from October 19-21, 2009.

The Mission of the Near Space Conference is to provide an ongoing forum for the presentation and perpetuation of Near Space technology development, policy, and commercialization. This will be accomplished though the acquisition and presentation of relevant information and collaboration. The goal is to assist Government, Commercial and Educational organizations to develop systems, procedures and policies that will add to the Nation’s economic growth, technological independence and physical security.

With the cornerstones of innovation, ingenuity, creativity and passion, the Near Space Conference is committed to becoming America’s leading venue for the discussion, promotion and advancement of Near Space technology, policy and development.

Invited Keynote Speakers include General Victor E. Renuart, Jr., Commander, USNORTHCOM; Lieutenant Governor Barbara O’Brien, State of Colorado, Co-Chair, Colorado Space Coalition; Mr. Steve Landeene, Executive Director, Spaceport America New Mexico and Major General Michael C. Kostelnik, USAF (Ret.), Assistant Commissioner, Office of CBP Air & Marine, US Customs and Border Protection.

Invited Panel Leaders include Dr. Tom Bowles, Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Science Advisor, State of New Mexico; Mr. Mike Meermans, Vice President, Sierra Nevada Corporation; Mr. Ron “Oly” Oholendt, President, Global Near Space Systems and Mr. Will Whitehorn, President, Virgin Galactic.

For additional conference and registration information, please call 719-785-0399 visit the RMTA website at www.rmtech.org and click on the Near Space Conference banner.

Imprimis to Provide R&D Support to Air Force Academy

25 Aug, 2009 : Eric Savage

Imprimis to Provide R&D Support to Air Force Academy

Imprimis, Incorporated (i2) currently supports the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) through the Academy’s Dean of Research and Development (R&D) Contract which includes 10 research centers and 2 institutes. Bridging industry and academia, i2 is proud to support USAFA cadets and faculty in innovative and collaborative research.

i2 employees currently perform the following research in conjunction with USAFA cadets and faculty: