TASC company produces 3-D maps, technology for government

ST. LOUIS -- In a secure downtown office, the TASC company produces database systems to help agencies navigate aircraft or locate objects on the ground.

In one project, employees are placing information from Federal Aviation Administration books into a database that can later be accessed by pilots as computerized maps.

Other TASC technicians work over digital three-dimensional maps, the kind that show buildings in sharp relief.

TASC officials declined to identify its customers or clients' specific uses for the technology.

Yet, TASC's Web site shows a high-powered list of clients, starting with the CIA.

"We help people who have a serious job to do, and we take it seriously, too," said Charles Austin, manager of geospatial applications development for TASC, a subsidiary of Los Angeles-based defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp.

Following the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, TASC is preparing for its products to be in higher demand, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday.

The company employs 65 people in downtown St. Louis, where staffing may double by next year, he said.

Sept. 11 had a significant effect on the stocks of defense contractors. On the day before the attacks, Northrop's stock closed at $81.94.

When the markets reopened Sept. 17, the stock boomed in heavy trading to close at $94.80. On Tuesday, it closed at $105.20.

TASC has a long history in the private industry that profits from the nation's drive for national security.

The company, originally known as The Analytic Sciences Corp., was founded in 1966 and worked for the government on guidance systems for weapons like the Minuteman missile and the Trident submarine.