Unmanned systems work earns two NAWCWD teams top NAVAIR honors

NAWCWD Commander Rear Adm. Mat Winter, left, Naval Test Wing Pacific Commander Capt. Tim Morey, center, and VX-31 Commanding Officer Cmdr. Brady Bartosh, participate in the NAVAIR National Commander's Awards ceremony July 27 via video teleconference at NAWCWD China Lake. Photo by Joy Lewis.

Date: 28-Jul-10
News Release Number: ECL201007281

Ferguson Ayers, of the Weapons and Energetics Department, accepts a NAVAIR National Commander's Award in the Science and Technology category from Vice Adm. David Architzel, NAVAIR commander, on behalf of the Ultra Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Heavy Fuel Engine Team during a ceremony held July 27 at Patuxent River, Md. Photo by Kelly Schindler.

NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER WEAPONS DIVISION CHINA LAKE, Calif. - Two teams from the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) were recognized with Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR) National Commander's Awards during a ceremony July 27.

"Today's awards are about teamwork," said Vice Adm. David Architzel, NAVAIR commander. "I'm proud of each and every one of you; you are all making a huge difference in naval aviation." The NAVAIR Saber Focus Team, led by Capt. Tim Morey, commander of the Naval Test Wing Pacific, won in the Research Development Test and Evaluation category. The Ultra Endurance (UE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Heavy Fuel Engine (HFE) (UE UAV HFE) Team, led by Ferguson Ayers, of the Weapons and Energetics Department (4.7), won in the Science and Technology category.

Every year, the NAVAIR Commander's National Awards recognize technical, business, and leadership excellence in support of all three of NAVAIR's strategic priorities - current readiness, future capabilities, and people.

"To be selected for this prestigious award is a real honor," Ayers said. "This was truly a joint effort.

Ayers was the principal investigator on the UE UAV HFE Team and had five others from NAWCWD China Lake on the team. They were John Caufield, 4.7, Zachary Beeler, 4.7, Dr. Ephraim Washburn, 4.7, Lynn Cunnien, 4.L, and Charlie May, Jacobs-Sverdrup. There were two team members from NAWCAD Patuxent River - Robert Brucato and John Henry. Three team members were from NASA Glenn Cleveland, Ohio - Dr. Karl Owens, Michael Halbig, and Dr. Robert Handschuh. Dr. James Cowart, from the U.S. Naval Academy, was also on the team.

The goal of the UE UAV HFE Team was to develop an engine that increased reliability and endurance for small tactical UAVs. The team created a lightweight, efficient, heavy-fuel engine that is aligned with DOD's single-fuel initiative to improve safety and simplify logistics. Plans are in the works to transition the engine to fleet use.

"The magnitude of the UE UAV HFE development is far-reaching," Ayers said. "The engine we created is key to the ever-expanding role of UAVs."

The NAVAIR Saber Focus team was a cross functional team of NAVAIR employees in support of a Chief of Naval Operations special project.

"I'd like to thank Capt. Mark Storch for submitting this award to recognize such a unique and talented team who have displayed the real power of our competency aligned organization," Morey said. "Although I am listed as the lead, the project was actually led by David Lathrop, working under N2/N6, and assisted by Capt. Bob Dishman, PMA-262, who recently took on project management responsibilities full time. Cmdr. Tom Cecil is doing a fantastic job stepping up to the plate in the recent months."

Morey highlighted the NAVAIR Reserve Program that took on the responsibility of standing up a squadron organization (NAVAIR 0966 Combat Experiment Unit) to manage the air vehicle and aircrew elements. The test wing worked very closely with this unit to develop and tailor aviation departments and procedures to provide the right level of rigor and standardization to deploy effectively. Capt. Mike Yukish and Cmdr. Terry Moran were the commanding officers of this unit.

"To quickly field these types of capabilities requires the agile and well trained technical work force that NAVAIR possesses," said Morey, who noted that on more than one occasion, the team had to quickly call in the pros from the NAVAIR 4.0 Engineering competency to solve problems to keep the project on track.

Morey led the team that consisted of NAVAIR Point Mugu, China Lake, Patuxent River and North Island employees. Those from Point Mugu were Mike Laber, NTWP/5.1, Cmdr. Larry K. Davis, NTWP/5.1, Matt South, 5.1, Billy Stepler, 5.1, Nidhal Akl, 5.1, and Kevin Kavanaugh, 4.0.

Team member from China Lake were Grant Kowalchick, NTWP/5.1, Mark Thomas, NTWP/5.1, Dave Ganger, NTWP/5.1, Greg Glen, 5.1, Ole Henden, 5.2, Kelly Pate, 5.2, Ken Koch, 4.1, Roy Harmon, 4.L, Cathy Mattox, 4.L, and Tammy McEntee, 4.5.

Patuxent River employees on the Saber Team were Shawn Denihan, Don Polackovics, Rick Dudash, Shawn Donnelly, Pete Heasley, Tom Garrett, Dave Parker, John Junek, Steve Jobe, Chuck Slade, Kristi Reeves, Steve Fagan, Wayne Boblitt, John Warren, Don Zrebiec, Cmdr. Tom Cecil, Dennis Baker and Mat Durkin, Charles Neppach and Bill Facey.

Alex Reimann from NAS North Island was also on the team.

Combat Experiment Unit – NAVAIR 0966 is a NAVAIR Reserve program unit reporting to NTWP. Members of that unit supporting the Saber Focus Team were BM2 Jonathan Abbey, AG1 Amy Allen, Lt. Kevin Altemara, EO1 Harold Anderson, IS2 Christopher Arellano, CTR2 John Barrett, BM3 Carlson Buenavista, Lt. Jennifer Daniel, Lt. Cmdr. David Behnke, Lt. David Britton, AZ1 Joshua Budde, Ensign Julie Christie, Lt. j.g. Michael Cilia, Cmdr. Lance Collier, Lt. j.g. Alvin Cortez, BM2 Eddie Cortez, GSE3 Jason Cotton, John Davis, CE1 Jacob Dole, BM2 Leonard Escobido, Lt. James Farrow, Lt. John Fisher, Lt. Michael George, CTI2 Janna Hageman, Lt. Cmdr. James Hale, Cmdr. Greg Hand, IS1 Anthony Hipszer, Cmdr. Tracey Keefe, CTI1 Nathaniel Jarrad, SK1 Simeon Jasson, SWCS Richard Johnson, Cmdr. Steven Johnson, IS3 Laura Jones, YNCS Kathryn Kamego, Lt. Anthony Kim, Lt. Cmdr. Christopher King, Capt. John Lemmon, CTI2 Aaron Lowe, Cmdr. Alastair Macgregor, Lt. Cmdr. Rico Magbanua, Cmdr. James Maher, Lt. Christopher Martin, Cmdr. Brian Martinez, Lt. Cmdr. James Meadows, Lt. Cmdr. Terence Mejos, HM2 Pacoshia Moffett, Cmdr. Terry Moran, Lt. Laura Murillo, Lt. Michael Murphree, CTI2 Matthew Myers, SK3 Edgar Naraindas, Cmdr. James Nees, SKC Ronald Nicolas, AOC Kenneth Ryan, MA1 Tony Park, Cmdr. Gene Picciano, CTI2 Anne Plowman, IS2 Matthew Poirier, SK2 Jason Potts, Lt. Cmdr. Robert Pudlo, IS2 Devin Richardson, Cmdr. Rory Rieger, SKC Omar Rimmer, CTR1 Amy Rinearson, BM1 Alberto Ruvalcaba, AT1(AW) Travis Schefcik, Cmdr. Thomas Schmidt, AE1 Darrel Schof, Lt. j.g. Joseph Sicat, BM2 Marino Solorio, BM3 Jason Thomas, AECS Quintin Townsend, Lt. Cmdr. Brandon Tucker, HM3 Ernest Tullos, PS1 Kelley Valencia, Ensign Miko Wade, ISC Jessica Walton, AE2(AW) Robert Wasilchuk Jr., CTR1 Justin Watts, Cmdr. Joel Welch, Lt. Jonathan Welsh, BU1 Brian Wenning, Cmdr. Darren Woods and CAPT Mike Yukish.

"Providing capability to our fleet is why we all come to work every day," Morey said. "This non-traditional project has been challenging to work on, but extremely rewarding when sitting on the VTC listening to our warfighters use the capability you all provided. It is an honor for this team to be selected for this recognition, especially given the competition with so many other major RDT&E efforts we are currently engaged in."

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