Technology Import
"There's a perception that the Soviets and the East Europeans don't have the [advanced] technology, and that's a fallacy," says John Ziker, a research associate at Kiser Research Inc. in Washington. For more than a decade Kiser Research, founded by John W. Kiser III, has been proving the fallacy by importing a broad range of industrial technologies from Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.
One of its latest projects involves self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of exotic ceramic products. The technology, developed in the Soviet Union, uses exothermic materials and systems to produce coatings, welding materials, and other products, including high- temperature super- conductors, an area of technology in which the Soviets have been maintaining a strong lead. While more than 2,000 researchers and other personnel are employed at five SHS R&D centers and 15 industrial facilities in the USSR, Kiser estimates that about 200 scientists are working on the ...
