Annual Conference Program
The Design and Construction of the Minuteman ICBM – Providing Deterrence for over 60 years
Speaker
Mike Ozatalar, P.E., LEED AP
At the 2025 NSPE-CA Annual Conference, on July 11, 2025 in Pasadena, CA, Mike Ozatalar, P.E., Parsons Vice President and Manager of Engineering, will discuss how the Minuteman Lauch Facilities and Launch Control Centers were designed and constructed in the early 1960’s. The Ralph M Parsons Company (Parsons) was designer of record of the Minuteman launch infrastructure, and all deployed US ICBM infrastructure.
It was the height of the Cold War. The United States was faced with growing evidence that the Soviet Union was developing thermonuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. The October 4, 1957 launch of Sputnik 1 on a modified ICBM, created increased urgency by the United States to accelerate its ICBM program. Development and deployment of the Atlas, Titan, and Minuteman ICBMs became the highest national priorities. Each system was on the scale of a $B program today, distributed across the country, and developed concurrently.
Minuteman became the “Ace in the Hole”. The engineering challenges were significant. These were first-of-a-kind, complex nuclear hardened structures. Construction had to advance concurrently with design on hundreds of sites being built by multiple contractors across several states. Learn how this was successfully accomplished prior to CAD and modern computer modeling.
Michael Ozatalar, P.E., LEED AP, DCEP
Vice President and Manager of Engineering, Parsons Government Services Inc.
Mr. Ozatalar has been with Parsons for 34 years and has held several key leadership roles within the company. Currently, Mr. Ozatalar is the Manager of Engineering; is Parsons Engineering Qualifier/Officer in Responsible Charge in multiple states; and is responsible for all infrastructure engineering staff and services in Parsons Federal Segment, which performs over $1B in annual revenue for the federal cyber & intelligence; infrastructure & environment; logistics, security & training; and engineering & technical services markets.
Other key roles include program manager on strategic programs such as the Independent Validation and Verification (IV&V) Program, and the NASA Goddard Facilities Construction, Engineering, and Technical Services (FaCETS) Program. In addition, he has worked on several engineering, procurement, & construction (EPC) projects, and mega scale DoD and Federal infrastructure projects. He has developed several in-house engineering productivity tools to support computer integrated engineering (CIE) and building information modeling (BIM). He has also served on Parsons’ leadership council in support of Parsons’ executive committee.
Mr. Ozatalar is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), and the International Society of Automation (ISA). He currently serves as President of NSPE-CA, is a Past President of the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers (MDSPE) Potomac Chapter, and former Treasurer of the District of Columbia Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies (DCCEAS). He holds a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from San Diego State University. He is a registered professional engineer in electrical engineering and controls systems, a LEED-accredited professional, and a data center energy practitioner (DCEP).
Mr. Ozatalar has formerly presented Innovation in Design – Laser Scanning, Drones, and Augmented Reality at the NSPE-MD 2017 Annual Conference and The Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) Contracting Methodology at the MDSPE 2016 Annual Conference.
Mr. Ozatalar’s recent research includes documenting Parsons Designer-of-Record involvement in all US Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) hardened ground infrastructure designs and other US launch infrastructure / command and control facilities.