The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, May 15, 1995                   TAG: 9505130191
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY          PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 
COLUMN: SMALL BUSINESS 
SOURCE: By MYLENE MANGALINDAN, BUSINESS WEEKLY 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   51 lines

CLT MOVES FROM SUBS TO TRAINS

Consolidated Launcher Technology exemplifies how defense conversion should work. The Chesapeake-based submarine repair and technology company has moved into the commercial sector to apply its knowledge to a high-speed rail system.

CLT, which was incorporated in 1985, was honored for its work and success last week with a Small Business of the Year Quality Award from the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.

Established to work on Navy submarines torpedo launching systems, CLT started working on a prototype of the ``Friendly Mobile Barrier'' for the high-speed rail system.

This joint public and privately funded $700,000 project will prevent vehicles weighing up to 35 tons from hitting the high-speed rail.

The company's first crash test met or exceeded the standards set up under the Federal Railroad Administration's grant. CLT crashed a 4,500 pound truck at 45 miles per hour against its barrier.

Necessity provided the impetus for CLT's entrance into the private sector.

``Navy work has been cyclical,'' said vice president R. Wayne Bromwell. ``One thing we think the commercial work will do is level out that cyclical world.''

The company's executives credit the Center for Innovative Technology for helping them apply their defense-oriented technology and expertise to commercial areas.

President Charles W. Coker expects revenues, currently more than $2 million, to exceed $25 million potentially when the high-speed rail takes off.

CLT has now turned its know-how with hydraulics, air systems and pneumatics toward other industries, specifically work spaces that are self-contained.

It began working with some paper and pulp mills to make them more efficient, Coker said.

``What we can give them is superior quality for not much in price,'' Bromwell said. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by BETH BERGMAN

Left front, CLT owner Diana Bromwell; CEO Dan Lynch; owner Charles

Coker; back, owner Wayne Bromwell, left, and operations director

William S. Russell.

KEYWORDS: AWARD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE by CNB