Transformational Work at Raytheon in Indiana

800+ words just doesn't do justice. As I've previously grumbled in this Blog, trying to fit an entire experience and/or interviews into my Chicago-based Midwest Business column ("The Hoosier Coefficient") is tough to do in 800-900 words.

Just was the case during my recent trip inside the Raytheon defense citadel in Fort Wayne. As readers of the MB Chicago column already know (if you haven't read it, here's a link: http://indiana.midwestbusiness.com/news/viewnews.asp?newsletterID=19283), trying to explain the Raytheon-developed "Networked Urban Operations Test Bed" (NUOTB) and its profound implications for saving lives and improving national security in 800+ words represents a singularly tough assignment.

The cutting-edge technology that I was able to view was indeed impressive. Surrounded by plasma screens and projected data, it was easy to see how combat commanders and civil authorities could much more quickly grasp, understand and act on key data as it emerged from turbulent environments (such as a riot, battlefield, raging fire, etc.). As the defense folks put it, NUOTB "collapses the communication dimension."

Whether or not the profundity of that came across in the column is up to the reader's judgment.

My takeaway? If Indiana-based engineers and professional staff can come up with superb innovation such as this, then the $6 billion in defense and related contracts that presently land in the state are no way representative of the true capacity that Indiana could be making to national technology advancements.

If you could sit in one of the chairs above (as I did in early June), you might be surprised as to the depth of innovation that is already well established, both in Fort Wayne and elsewhere in the Hoosier state.