Montana State’s MilTech, now 20 years old, links U.S. military to manufacturers

BOZEMAN — MilTech, a Montana State University program dedicated to moving technology and information research to the U.S. military and Department of Homeland Security, is arguably one of the university’s least known offices, but its growth over the past 20 years has generated tens of millions of dollars per year in research expenditures and provided career paths for many MSU students.

In fiscal year 2024, MilTech spent $44.6 million on research expenditures, second only to the College of Agriculture’s $54.1 million. The organization takes neither state tax dollars nor money from MSU, relying solely on federal grants.

And that level of spending is no anomaly, according to executive director Al Deibert. MilTech, which reports to MSU’s vice president of Research and Economic Development, has experienced around 45% growth in research expenditures year over year since its inception in 2004.

“MilTech has quietly built an engine of innovation for seeking, developing and translating technology for our nation’s defense,” said Alison Harmon, MSU’s vice president for research and economic development. “In doing so, the organization has been a major contributor to the research goals of MSU.”

MilTech, which grew out of MSU’s TechLink Partnership Intermediary and the university’s Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, employs around 98 people, Deibert said. As many as a quarter of the employees are MSU alumni and approximately 30% are veterans. It continually employs around 15 graduate and undergraduate students, who sometimes become full-time employees upon graduation.

“We would have more student employees if we didn’t hire so many into full time work after they graduate,” Deibert said.

And because virtually all the work conducted at MilTech is “controlled unclassified” — and a small amount is deemed “classified” — some of the students may receive a government clearance to work on sensitive projects, he added.

Classified or not, what specifically does MilTech do?

“MilTech is a partnership intermediary that is tasked by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to provide information and mature technologies that can be evaluated,” Deibert said. “We also provide information research, analysis and technology scouting to help them make better, more informed decisions.”

Essentially, MilTech helps transition goods, services and technologies from the research stage to make them available to the U.S. military and Department of Homeland Security, Deibert said.

But MilTech’s role is distinct from that of procurement. Over the past two decades, the office has assisted in the development of hundreds of technologies, including medical oxygen generators for use in the field, a heavy-duty pylon stand to help ground crews working on F-16 fighter jets and improving a fluorescent coating system that can show stress fractures in aircraft parts during testing.

Some of MilTech’s work can help save lives too, Deibert said. When the military was evaluating the carrier for torso-covering armor it called MilTech. The office helped locate potential manufacturers capable of delivering a product that would meet the requirements of U.S. soldiers and Marines who would wear it daily. They also spoke with the people who’d actually be using the armor.

“What are you currently using? What works on it? What doesn’t work? What changes are you looking for?” Deibert said. “If we can’t talk with the Marines or soldiers, we will fail 100% of the time.”

MilTech also sought input from people who manage the logistics along the supply chain.

“It’s not just the Marine who will wear this thing every day on a yearlong deployment, it’s the other people involved in every aspect of handling it from supplying it, fitting it and training on how to use it,” said Deibert, who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in industrial and management engineering from MSU.

Once the expectations are clear, MilTech works with manufacturers capable of delivering prototypes for the military to consider.

“Once we understand those needs, we translate them into design features and design criteria, and we work with manufacturers to provide evaluation samples,” he said. “I would love for Montanans to know that every time they look at a soldier or Marine’s plate carrier they can say, ‘MSU did that.’”