Time & Date: 6pm-8:30pm, Thursday, Jan 14, 2016

 

Sold Out

Venue: KeyPoint Credit Union
2805 Bowers Ave (just off Central Expressway)
Santa Clara, CA 95051

Park in lot adjacent to building on Bowers Ave.

Our Thanks To KeyPoint Credit Union

IEEE SV Tech History committee is extremely grateful to KeyPoint Credit Union for use of their auditorium as our prime venue. Many thanks to Doron Noyman of KeyPoint for his support in making that happen.
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Abstract:

In 1956 Lockheed moved its new division, Lockheed Missile Systems Division to a 275 acre site next to Moffett Field in Sunnyvale; Lockheed had been selected as the systems manager for the Navy’s Polaris Fleet Ballistic Missile and the developer of the missile itself. Lockheed in Silicon Valley went from zero employees in 1956 to more than 28,000 by 1965, far greater growth than HP or Fairchild – perhaps it should have been “Defense Valley,” but that’s another story. Polaris was the first submarine launched ballistic missile in the US’s triad of nuclear defense systems. Extended thru four production generations (Polaris A1, A2 & A3 and Poseidon C3) it was retired from service in the early 1990s. They were followed by Trident I C4 and today’s Trident II D5.  Polaris/Poseidon and Trident, collectively known as the US Navy fleet ballistic missiles recently celebrated a sixtieth anniversary and  they are generally recognized as one of the most successful military industrial programs.

Join four Lockheed senior leaders from then to get a retrospective on Defense Valley of the 1950s and 1960s and the Polaris/Poseidon program that led to today’s Tridents than make up the most secure leg of the strategic Triad.

VIDEO of Presentation

Panelists:

Dave Montague a forty year Lockheed employee retired in 1996 as the President of the Missile Systems Division and a Corporate Vice President.  He came to Silicon Valley in 1957 as an engineer on the new Polaris program and progressed up the supervisory and management chain in guidance and control, systems engineering, and program management positions on Polaris, Poseidon, Trident 1, to executive management of Tactical and Defense systems and Trident II as well as several compartmented programs. He is a fellow of the AIAA and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.  He graduated from Cornell University in 1956

Cliff Kancler  a forty two year Lockheed employee retired in 2007.  Starting in 1965 in Silicon Valley with work on the first digital flight control computer Cliff was a major contributor in computer architecture development for guidance computers and for tactical and defense interceptor computers.  In addition to being part of our strategic defense systems computers from Cliff’s group are circling the solar system and have helped explore the moon.  He has earned recognition as a LM fellow and has a number of patents, and awards. He graduated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1965.

Roy Dreisbach a thirty seven year Lockheed employee retired in 1997.  Upon graduating Menlo College in 1960 Roy joined Lockheed and held senior administrative assignments in Missile Systems, Research and Development, Advanced System, and Space Systems Divisions spanning programs such as Polaris A1 through Trident II as well as Tactical and Defense Systems.  He is an ex-naval aviator, having flown Lockheed Super Constellation early warning aircraft from 1954 to 1958.

Charlie Barndt is a forty eight year Lockheed Martin active employee. Upon graduating from Cornell University in 1965 Charlie joined General Electric as an engineer on Polaris and Poseidon. In 1967 he joined Lockheed as an engineer on Poseidon and Trident I. He progressed up the supervisory and management chain in missile electronics system and subsystems architecture and design, and was a major contributor on Trident II. Charlie is currently serving a third term as a Lockheed Martin Fellow for which he earned initial recognition in 2009. He is a recipient of the US Navy FBM Exceptional Achievement Award, and the Director of Strategic Systems Programs has recognized his 50 years of service in support of the US Navy FBM Program.

Moderator Tom Gardner from the valley’s storage industry would prefer call it the “Iron Oxide Valley,” but has learned much about Defense Valley preparing for this panel.