The Columbia Group is a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 defense contractor

Defense contractor

A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...

 that specializes in acquisition

Military acquisition

Military acquisition is the bureaucratic management and procurement process dealing with a nation's investments in the technologies, programs, and product support necessary to achieve its national security strategy and support its armed forces...

, logistics

Logistics

Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...

 management, ship design, marine engineering

Naval architecture

Naval architecture is an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of marine vessels and structures. Naval architecture involves basic and applied research, design, development, design evaluation and calculations during all stages of the life of a...

 & fabrication

Fabrication (metal)

Fabrication as an industrial term refers to building metal structures by cutting, bending, and assembling. The cutting part of fabrication is via sawing, shearing, or chiseling ; torching with handheld torches ; and via CNC cutters...

, human performance strategy, financial management and information technology

Information technology

Information technology is the acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications...

. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has offices in Alexandria

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

 & Quantico

Quantico, Virginia

- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there are 561 people, 295 households, and 107 families living in the town. The population density is . There are 359 housing units at an average density of .-Racial composition:...

, Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and Panama City, Florida

Panama City, Florida

-Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...

. Its 2010 revenue is expected to reach $45 million.

The Columbia Group was founded in 1967 by Dr. Norman Witbeck as Columbia Research Corporation (CRC). In 2005, CRC merged with Computer Products, Incorporated (CPI), which was founded in 1985 by Martin Arase. On June 15, 2008, The Columbia Group assumed the operations of (Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman Corporation is an American global aerospace and defense technology company formed by the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company was the fourth-largest defense contractor in the world as of 2010, and the largest builder of naval vessels. Northrop Grumman employs over...

 subsidiary) AMSEC's Rosenblatt Washington, DC Office, forming the company's Rosenblatt Ship Design Division. The name Rosenblatt was retained from when the office was the M. Rosenblatt & Son naval engineering firm begun by the late Lester Rosenblatt in 1947.

Leadership

Martin Arase is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 (CEO) of The Columbia Group. Rod Buck is the company's President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

, and Norman Welsch is its Chief Financial Officer

Chief financial officer

The chief financial officer or Chief financial and operating officer is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management...

 (CFO). Its advisors include: former Commandant of the Marine Corps

Commandant of the Marine Corps

The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...

 General Al Gray, Jr.

Alfred M. Gray, Jr.

Alfred M. Gray, Jr. , is a retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the twenty-ninth Commandant of the Marine Corps from 1987-91. He retired from the Corps in 1991 after 41 years of service.-Personal:Alfred M. Gray, Jr...

, William Thomas Odum, and founder Dr. Norman Witbeck.

Divisions

The Columbia Group is composed of six business divisions:

• Homeland Security and Maritime Programs Division — based in Washington, DC; Michael Hammes, Senior Vice President of the Homeland Security and Maritime Programs Division
• Marine Corps Programs — based in Quantico, Virginia
  Quantico, Virginia
  - Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there are 561 people, 295 households, and 107 families living in the town. The population density is . There are 359 housing units at an average density of .-Racial composition:...
  
  ; Major General E. Gray Payne, USMC (Ret) Senior Vice President of Marine Corps Programs Division
• Engineering Solutions Division — based in Panama City, Florida
  Panama City, Florida
  -Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...
  
  ; Ross Lindman, Senior Vice President, Engineering Solutions Division
• Rosenblatt Ship Design Division — based in Washington, DC; Barry Capelli, Senior Vice President, Rosenblatt Ship Design Division
• Financial Management & IT Services — based in Alexandria, Virginia
  Alexandria, Virginia
  Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
  
  ; Michael Hammes, Senior Vice President Homeland Security and Navy Programs Division

Pluto Plus ROV

In 2009, The Columbia Group was awarded a $10.6 million firm fixed price contract to supply the Egyptian Navy with three Pluto Plus

Pluto Plus

The Pluto Plus is an Unmanned Underwater Vehicle designed for use in underwater mine identification and destruction by militaries. The vehicle is battery operated, has a maximum speed is 6 kt, and an endurance of 2 to 6 hours. Its ability to be fitted with a wireless link makes it suitable for...

 Unmanned Undersea Vehicles

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle

An autonomous underwater vehicle is a robot which travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includes non-autonomous remotely operated underwater vehicles...

 (UUVs). (May also be called Remotely Operated Vehicles or ROVs.) This contract was awarded by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

's Naval Sea Systems Command

Naval Sea Systems Command

The Naval Sea Systems Command is the largest of the U.S. Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel organizations...

 (NAVSEA) as part of their Foreign Military Sales

Foreign Military Sales

The U.S. Department of Defense's Foreign Military Sales program facilitates sales of U.S. arms, defense equipment, defense services, and military training to foreign governments...

 (FMS) program. The Pluto Plus is a minehunter

Minehunter

Minehunters are mine countermeasure vessels that actively detect and destroy individual naval mines. Minesweepers, on the other hand, clear mined areas as a whole, without prior detection of mines...

 intended for use "in mine

Naval mine

A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...

 identification and destruction." The Columbia Group is licensed by GayRobot, a defense contractor based out of Milan, Italy, as the exclusive builder of the Pluto Plus System in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.