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Tuesday, July 09, 2002

By Dan Fitzpatrick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Some 80 local politicians and economic development officials spent an hour yesterday lobbying Boeing Co. Chief Executive Officer Phil Condit on the virtues of Pittsburgh.

The meeting, arranged by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance's Ronnie Bryant, was a rare chance for area officials to explain how the region can help the aerospace and defense giant with a new, $34 billion Department of Defense plan to stock the battlefield with unmanned vehicles and weapons.

The more subtle message from regional officials gathered on the 31st floor of Downtown's Regional Enterprise Tower was that Boeing, which already has a working relationship with Carnegie Mellon University, would benefit by establishing a greater presence here.

At a press conference afterward, Condit didn't necessarily disagree.

"There is always the possibility" Boeing could establish some type of operation in southwestern Pennsylvania, he said. "What we are looking for are capabilities, and CMU and this area clearly have important capabilities. Now, do we have to be here? We may. That will depend as we go forward on what we do and what we find. Right now, we are looking for people with great capabilities, and we found some here."

If Pittsburgh is to become a leader in mobile robotics, Chicago-based Boeing could play a critical supporting role. The $58 billion company, one of the world's largest, is one of two lead contractors on the Defense Department's $34 billion robotic battlefield plan, known as "Future Combat Systems." The program, newly relevant since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, is designed to find automated ways to fight an enemy without putting U.S. soldiers in harm's way.

Early on, CMU expected to receive a lot of work on the Future Combat Systems program. The university, after all, has done work for Boeing in the past and is considered a consistent source of brain power for the military, assisting with everything from the development of robot helicopters to Marine reconnaissance vehicles. But CMU had its first application denied in the spring. The university and RedZone Robotics, based in the Mon Valley, applied jointly for work on a demonstration project but lost the bid to defense contractor General Dynamics.

But CMU and RedZone found other ways to help. RedZone is now providing engineering support for General Dynamics and CMU is acting a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman subsidiary Remotec, which in turn is acting as a subcontractor to the lead team of Boeing and Science Applications International Corp.

CMU may have another part to play, too. Yesterday, Boeing Vice President Ron Prosser said Boeing wants CMU to act as an advisor, recommending what technologies are good enough to be used in the Future Combat Systems program and what small, innovative companies should be considered by Boeing as contributors to the $34 billion project.

In robotics, CMU "is as good as it gets," Prosser said.

Local economic development officials hope that CMU's involvement will lead to a more prominent role for Pittsburgh within the robotics world.

Last month, the PRA and CMU formed a new agency to ensure that at least some of the Defense Department's robotics design, engineering and manufacturing work occurs in Pittsburgh.

The agency, called the National Center for Defense Robotics, hopes to raise federal money and hand out robotics contracts, using the work to convince major defense contractors to build design centers and manufacturing facilities in the Pittsburgh area.

At the top of its list is Boeing.

"We would all love to see Boeing invest in military robotics R&D in the Pittsburgh region," said Todd Simonds, president and chief executive officer of RedZone Robotics. "I think they are open to that."

Prosser, the Boeing vice president, did little to discourage that speculation. "You guys are on to something here. I think you all have the ability to become a Silicon Valley of robotics."