[Premium-Rx] WJ / DRS Gaithersburg is closed

[Mark Rauchfuss]

Here's a clip about finmeccanica-drs and disposal plans:

http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/industry/2015/01/27/finmeccanica-drs-italy-sell-off/22425299/


On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 4:31 PM, Steve Pappin via Premium-Rx <
premium-rx at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

> This is an update to my post about DRS and what's left of WJ. Terry O's
> comments track what I'm being told. There is a lot of misinformation
> floating around. I got an email from Dave Shane and he clarified exactly
> what has occurred. I will continue to send your requests for support to DRS
> when it is appropriate. Hopefully this clarifies the current situation:
>
> 1) Vintage / Legacy WJ product support has been eliminated for most
> products older than 15 years
> 2) There are no more hard bound manuals. Everything that remains has been
> digitized or was never available in hard copy.
> 3) There is no longer any support for the WJ 8615, 8617, 8618, 8888, 8716,
> 8718 or anything earlier
> 4) There may be very limited support for the 8711A, 8712A, 8611, and 8607,
> subject to change at any time
> 5) The Watkins-Johnson facility at 700 Quince Orchard Road Gaithersburg,
> Maryland 20878-1794 closed in December of 2014
> 6) The new DRS Signal Solutions facility is located at 1 Milestone Center
> Court - Germantown, MD 20876 - USA
>
> Many of the people who worked on the original WJ products are gone but a
> few are still at DRS. The new DRS people are focusing on the new product
> lines and have limited interest in the old product lines. Answers are not
> going to come quickly because legacy products are not a high priority.
>
> Watkins-Johnson is gone. What remains is limited to a handful of resources
> at DRS. The original WJ building is empty. 95% of the WJ contents were
> purged while most of the DRS contents were transferred to the new building.
> A limited number of the original WJ products were converted to DRS products.
>
> There are rumors that new radios with front panels are still available
> from WJ / DRS. I can assure you that this is just a rumor!
>
> I would encourage anyone who still has connections with WJ employees to
> discuss the legacy and collect whatever they can while they can. Like you I
> love the original products but I have limited time to investigate each and
> every one. I also have to focus on the newer products because that's what
> they pay me to do. I will continue to service the original products as long
> as parts and resources are available. If you have any of the early CEI or
> WJ manuals please scan them so that I can post them on the FTP site. This
> is the best way to ensure that the legacy lives on.
>
> Best Regards,
> Steve
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Pappin via Premium-Rx" <
> premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
> To: <premium-rx at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Monday, January 26, 2015 11:29 AM
> Subject: [Premium-Rx] WJ / DRS Gaithersburg is closed
>
>
>  It's official: DRS / Watkins-Johnson Gaithersburg MD is closed.
>> Everything is gone. According to Chris Biddix they scrapped everything,
>> hardware, replacement parts, demo units, chassis, and all of the printed
>> material. If it was physical it was either crushed or incinerated. Chris is
>> going to ask if any of it went to surplus dealers but we doubt it. I placed
>> a bid on the demo units last year but management decided that the liability
>> was too great. All that remains of WJ is intellectual property. The
>> building is up for sale. There will be no more new factory replacement
>> parts for WJ radios.
>>
>> DRS will continue to build the new radios for UAV's and Command Centers.
>> None of them have front panels! So any new radios offered will be:
>> a. Expensive
>> b. Network Appliances controlled by host computers
>> c. Require system integration
>>
>> Best Regards,
>> Steve
>>
>> ---
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