put us on the map here.” The new sign’s installation coincided with the emergence of promising new opportunities for the site as Boeing shifts more cutting-edge work to Smithfield. “The work we can do here today is much different from what we did in the past. Some of our newer programs involve technology I would never have envisioned us being able to assemble in such small packages,” said site leader George Smith. He cited examples such as Line of Sight–Short, a hand-held laser targeting system, and the Degraded Visual Environment Pilotage System, which provides helicopter pilots better vision in smoke, dust, fog, rain or snow. Smithfield and Lemont Furnace are small towns in rural Fayette County, a couple of hours’ drive south from Pittsburgh. The coal mines and steel mills that once dotted this region are long gone and have recently begun being replaced with hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations that extract natural gas from the vast Marcellus Shale formation that lies beneath much of the Appalachian Basin. These new wells have led to an economic boom there in the past few years. But back in 2010 when the acquisition of Argon ST closed, many locals were not optimistic about the region’s economic prospects. Then, only about 50 people worked at the Smithfield 30 Frontiers September 2014
Frontiers September 2014 Issue
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