Paul Reindollar, a senior software manager for Cubic Corp., which encourages continuing education for employees.

On an electronic battlefield, software systems from Cubic Corp. help create war theater management scenarios that provide what Paul Reindollar calls a “God’s eye view” of military maneuvers. “It’s live training,” says Reindollar, a senior software manager for Cubic. Using software systems on airplanes and the ground, “we know where everybody is, what weapons have been fired, who’s been hit or not. Any time you’re talking about a training system, you’re talking about letting your troops practice for survivability.”

Training and ongoing education are a key component of San Diego’s thriving defense industry, whether it is creating special programs for the military, in-house programs for staff or support of employees heading back to college for advanced degrees.

The stakes are high for the nearly 1,300 San Diego firms that deal in defense: a share of the nation’s $419 billion defense budget.

The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce pegs defense as the county’s second largest industry, behind manufacturing. Worth $18 billion, it represents about 15 percent of the region’s economy. More than $10 billion of defense-related spending comes directly from the Department of Defense in military payrolls, maintenance of installations and defense contracting.

A productive coordination exists in San Diego between defense contractors and educators; the relationship is taking on added importance as the Pentagon looks for greater uniformity and predictability from its contractors.

In the early 1980s, a software engineering institute at Carnegie Mellon University was sponsored by the Department of Defense to figure out how to assess defense contractors. A rating system that certified companies at levels one to five was created. DoD wants contractors to meet level three requirements. “That’s so they get some predictability in the work they get back, they’re looking for repeatable processes,” Reindollar says.

DoD contracting requirements create a demand for training, to bring employees up-to-date. San Diego firms benefit from the military infrastructure in place here and throughout Southern California. Among those teaching contractors are retired military personnel or executives with a track record at another major Southern California defense contractor.

Reindollar, for example, worked at Lockheed Martin in Palmdale on a similar mission: making sure his company’s system engineering and training was in line with what the customer expects back in Washington.

At Cubic, this means a partnership with UCSD for technology specific learning. One effort brought employees up to date on the Java computer language. In house, the company encourages continuing education. “We have programs so if employees want to take a class related to their job area they can do it through universities or a sponsored workshop users group, all reimbursable through the company,” Reindollar says.

In addition, when Cubic sends employees to an educational conference, Reindollar schedules a debriefing for the employees who didn’t get to go. He also holds a monthly lunch with software team leaders to look at areas where Cubic could improve training.

For the military, Cubic operates a “top gun” training system that brings together pilots from various branches of the military in offensive and defensive situations. “It’s a very large exercise over several weeks,” says Reindollar. “It’s training but it’s real.”

More than 500 San Diego-based employees of Cubic Defense Applications went through an estimated 11,000 hours of training this year, its human resources department reports.

At SAIC, San Diego’s largest defense contractor with $7.2 billion in revenue last year, education and training programs are offered to everyone, from administrative assistants to those with doctorates.

“We have a certificate program for administrative assistants now in its fourth year,” says Mary Pietanza, senior manager for professional development. The program covers public speaking and writing, and self-discovery. For training in more technical arenas, SAIC partners with locally based Learn Soft.

Pietanza says SAIC offers reimbursement for master’s and other graduate degrees. Participants in systems engineering programs can earn stock incentives.

The broad education program at SAIC earned it the 37th slot in a list of the top 100 organizational training firms published by Training magazine. “We try to bring as many programs on site as we can,” says Pietanza, “especially for a cohort (training group) that lasts a long time. Microsoft certification for systems engineers comes on-site, and so do Cisco Certified Network Administrator programs.”

For those taking programs, SAIC has an in-house accredited testing center. “After someone completes training, they have to pass an exam (for a certification), and we’re able to offer those exams on-site to our employees,” says Pietanza. “It saves a lot of time and money. The employees can do it on their lunch hour, and they find out right then and there whether they passed.”

The challenge to remain nationally ranked in training is investing in the right technologies.

“Development is becoming more and more important because we want to keep our good employees and develop them as best we can,” Pietanza says. “The challenging part of it is technology is so diversified in the work we do, so we’re constantly trying to determine what our needs are. We want to be sure that what we offer has the most bang for our buck to meet our business objectives.”

Although contractors must be selective about which technologies they invest in, they are also obliged to be knowledgeable across a wide range of platforms. “One of the advantages of SAIC is we are platform agnostic,” Pietanza adds. ”We try to stay as up to date as we can so we’re competitive.”

The training effort at SAIC is forward-looking. “We are in the process of designing additional courses,” Pietanza says. “What will ultimately differentiate us are our people.”

Northrop Grumman’s radio systems unit employs 1,600, three-quarters of whom work in San Diego. If some contractors are charged with implementing one set of DoD inspired standards, Northrop’s radios may have to satisfy a variety of masters, says Rudy Lozano, human resources manager for the radio systems unit at Northrop.

In San Diego, Northrop has working relationships with both SDSU and UCSD. The contractor offers incentives for employee development, such as schedule flexing and tuition reimbursement.

It is up to companies like Northrop Grumman to meet evolving DoD standards. “It’s our business plan to go with whatever we think is most likely to meet the customer’s needs and try to work with the universities to bring a professor on-site,” Lozano says. “Or we send a (cohort) to a university trying to impact the curriculum at the local engineering schools to address those challenges.”

Education plays a key role in helping defense firms to keep their customers satisfied. As DoD steps up its contracting requirements, San Diego defense contractors can be expected to place increasing emphasis on relationships with the region’s educators to retain their competitive edge.