1. SPACE AND MISSILE DEFENSE WORKING GROUP
14 September 2017

2. Agenda Welcome Host Welcome and New Member Introductions SMDWG Charter
Introduction of Special Guest
Kickstart Report
Announcements
News and Trumors
Next Meetings – Schedule
SMDWG Officers

3. Agenda Welcome and Introductions Host Welcome New Member Introductions
Jeff Gronberg, President, Decibel Research
President, NDIA Tennessee Valley Chapter
Past Chairman, Space and Missile Defense Working Group
New Member Introductions
SMDWG Charter
Why the SMDWG exists

4. Space and Missile Defense Working Group (SMDWG) Charter
Background
The SMDWG is formed to respond to our civic responsibility to assist in the decision making process on issues pertaining to space and ballistic missile defense.
Scope
The Scope of the SMDWG is to Educate the general population and elected representation on space and ballistic missile defense.
Membership
Membership is open to all individuals in government, industry, and the community. SMDWG members must belong to the NDIA or an affiliate.

5. Wayne Olson Consulting, LLC
Dr. Raymond Watson
Wayne Olson Consulting, LLC
When asked to speak to the SMDWG, Dr. Watson responded with -
“I'm honored to be asked, so I will do it – “The Start of Ballistic Missile Defense in Huntsville," and only tangentially related to the Von Braun program.  In fact, I feel obliged to do it; as there is only a small number still around who were participants.” Ray Watson

6. Dr. Raymond Watson R.C. Watson & Associates
Raymond C. Watson, Jr. was born in 1926 at Anniston, Alabama, and spent his early life during the Great Depression on a 13-acre farm just outside Fort McClellan.
After raising his first – and only – bail of cotton at age 9, he decided that his life would not be as a farmer and took up building radios as a hobby. This was augmented by hanging out at the Army’s regional wireless station at Fort McClellan.

7. Dr. Raymond Watson R.C. Watson & Associates
With the approaching war, Alabama Polytechnic Institute – today’s Auburn University – was one of the 120 engineering schools that contracted with the U.S. Senate to organize and offer a program called Engineering, Science, and Management Wartime Training, commonly called ESMWT, developing “instant engineers to replace engineers in industry who were going into the service.
In 1942, he completed a diploma program in Radio Engineering from API and began his life-long career as a licensed engineer.

8. Wayne Olson Consulting, LLC
Dr. Raymond Watson
Wayne Olson Consulting, LLC
After two years working in industry, he was in the U.S, Navy between 1944 and 1946, first as a V6 college attendee and then teaching advanced electronics and radar theory.
Following naval service, he returned to industry. Still without a degree, he also attended higher edcation part time and didn’t stop until he had earned a bachelor’s degree in physics, mathematics, and electrical engineering; master’s degrees in physics and in engineering mechanics; a Ph.D. in engineering science; and finally an M.B.A., all while working full-time.

9. Dr. Raymond Watson R.C. Watson & Associates
His experience included developing advanced farm equipment for J. I. Case; developing the CBS Television network Atlanta facilities; founding Dixie Service Company, a consulting firm licensed by the Federal Communications Commission; a National Science Foundation research fellow founding the radio astronomy observatory at the University of Florida. Through the years, he also held positions as an Associate Professor at the University of Alabama and Jacksonville State College, and was the President and Professor at Southeastern Institute of Technology, including SIT’s Graduate Center in South Africa. Other overseas activities included founding and directing firms in Israel and Singapore.

10. Dr. Raymond Watson R.C. Watson & Associates
Coming to Huntsville in 1960, he was hired by Milton Cummings to establish the Brown Engineering Research Laboratories, the first non-government, high-technology operation in this city. The resulting facilities were the foundation for the present-day Cummings Research Park. Activities centered on the lunar landing, missile intelligence, and ballistic missile defense. For the lunar program, both Cummings and Watson were among 98 industrial leaders nationwide receiving the NASA Outstanding Public Service Award for this accomplishment.

11. Dr. Raymond Watson R.C. Watson & Associates
He presently operates as R.C. Watson & Associates, a defense and space consulting firm, with DESE Research as his primary customer.
He also writes history books, and is currently working on The Race to Space that includes a novelette.
In his talk today, Watson will describe the Huntsville origins of ballistic missile defense.

12. Trumors Programs and Timelines Organization Changes
Personnel/Leadership Changes
Industry and Industry Leadership Changes
Significant Events or Prognostications in Space and Missile Defense 12

13. SMDWG Schedule
Next Meeting –
26 October – Location: TBD 13

14. SMDWG Leadership Officers: Treasurer: Bob Darnall
Secretary: Mike Roddy
Deputy Chair: Ray Baker
Chair: Joe Fitzgerald