The Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) Program Office (PMA-251) is leading the Navy and Marine Corps’ charge to enhance launch and recover tracking through digital application development.  

Tasked with managing launch and recovery systems on land and at sea across the globe, Capt. Mike Kline, PMA-251 Program Manager, is focused on helping warfighters acquire efficient ALRE system management while keeping a focus on safety. 

“Big changes in acquisition often come at a high cost of time and funding, but thanks to an incredibly gifted and forward-thinking team, ALRE is rewriting the rules and rapidly setting new standards for Speed to the Fleet,” said Kline. 

When the shore-based E-28 Emergency Arresting Gear system was presented as a candidate for urgent application development, PMA-251 leadership engaged Digital Application Developer, Tarun Patel. As a self-educated app developer, with degrees in both mechanical engineering and aeronautical science, Patel is uniquely poised to develop revolutionary tools for the Navy. 

Patel was briefed on the community’s needs and given raw data on E-28 equipment status. Within two weeks, he built the E-28 dashboard from scratch; a robust, intuitive tracking tool that monitors Navy, Marine Corps, and NATO E-28 sites around the globe. 

The E-28 dashboard delivers immediate and clear visualizations of aggregated data across several stakeholders. Collectively, its features allow users to quickly see airfield gear status, upcoming inspections, deficiencies in manning and supply, and facilitates data driven decisions. It offers enhanced tracking, comparative analysis, and many other efficiencies, providing users with unmatched situational awareness and improving the outlook for E-28 well into the future.  

It’s not Patel’s first time contributing his talents to the ALRE community. The E-28 dashboard is his second digital tool created for PMA-251, and the 14th he has developed for the Navy.  

In 2023, he created the Nimitz Launch and Recovery (L&R) Readiness Tool, an intuitive, graphical representation of all catapult and arresting gear systems on Nimitz-class carriers. As with E-28, Patel completed a demo of the Nimitz L&R dashboard within days of his original briefing. 

The Nimitz L&R dashboard was built to support situational awareness for Nimitz-class ALRE and gives users real-time observation across all carriers. It provides visibility into issues over time, highlighting system availability, isolating systems and sub system relationships, and more, explained Patel.  

“These dashboard tools have been a complete game-changer in the ALRE community,” said Justin Homme, Nimitz-class Level II Integrated Product Lead. “We used to help the fleet deal with issues through long, tenuous email chains and phone calls, now all stakeholders are instantly on the same page. We’re saving countless hours while increasing safety and visibility.” 

Patel is both excited and motivated by the tangible difference he is able to make for the fleet.  

“I find so much satisfaction in serving and solving problems for the warfighter,” said Patel. “When I can help our people save time and efficiently solve problems, they can get back to doing other valuable work. Together, we can more efficiently face our adversaries.” 

Patel demonstrated the E-28 digital dashboard in October for Vice Adm. Carl Chebi, NAVAIR Commander; Vice Adm. Daniel Cheever, Commander of Naval Air Forces; Vice Adm. Christopher Grey, Commander, Navy Installations Command; representatives from Deputy Commandant for Aviation; and other key ALRE stakeholders. Patel is scheduled to do another demonstration for a NAVAIR Command Leadership Team in the coming months after the tool is populated with several months of data.