Month: September 2023

Source: United States Navy

Cmdr. Laura Nevel from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania; Cmdr. Matthew Snodgrass from Hampstead, New Hampshire; Cmdr. David Pascoe from Hornell, New York; and Cmdr. Brian Lucas from Sacramento, Calif.; are the first Navy Reserve O-5 SWOs to command at sea in over a decade.

The Navy established the command-at-sea insignia to recognize the responsibility placed on unrestricted line officers who are in command of, or have successfully commanded, afloat, deploying, and or operational units defined as sea-going commands under the Navy and Marine Corps. The shift recognizes the responsibility and accountability the Navy asks of its leaders regardless of their component status. 

Rear Adm. Mark Haigis, deputy commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) provided the keynote remarks for the ceremony and said designating these officers as at-sea commanding officers is a reflection of the trust and confidence that the Navy has in them.

“We recognize their exceptional leadership skills, operational experience, and unwavering commitment to our mission” said Haigis. “By granting this designation, we are trusting these officers to lead at the highest level, to make critical decisions and to use their authorities to shape the future of our Navy. It is a testament to the fact that leadership knows no boundaries and that excellence can be found in every corner of our Navy.”

Earlier this year, the Navy approved the security boat company commanding officer billets for the command-at-sea designation. After meeting the requirements, the four SWOs applied for the positions and went through a screening process prior to their detailing.

Previously, the Navy reserved the command-at-sea designation within the Maritime Expeditionary Security Force (MESF) for O-6 squadron commanding officers only. However, as part of a force redesign, MESF emphasizes Reserve warfighting readiness and the operational competencies needed to address today’s maritime security challenges, which prompted the change.

Nevel said that she was honored the Navy granted her the opportunity to serve in such an important role at sea leading Sailors.

“The weight of command is heavy, but I also know that this will be one of the best jobs I’m ever going to have,” said Nevel. “My sailors are some of the best I’ve come across in the Navy, and I could not be more honored to be their commanding officer.”

Rear Adm. Ted LeClair, deputy commander, Naval Surface Forces, also attended the ceremony, celebrating the milestone for the Reserve surface warfare community.

“We are laser-focused on identifying and delivering Navy warfighting capabilities that are best suited for the Reserve component,” said LeClair. “By adding these four SWOs to command at sea billets, we are showing our nation that the Navy Reserve is a part of our lethal and resilient force, ready for tomorrow’s fight.”

The Maritime Expeditionary Security Force is actively looking for more candidates who are interested in commanding security boat companies. To be eligible for command at sea of a Reserve security boat company, officers must meet the following requirements:

Must have an 1115 designator (Reserve surface warfare officer)

Must have previously completed a MESF officer-in-charge tour, served at a Navy Reserve Readiness Unit, or have the BX3 qualification, symbolizing successful completion of at least 18 months in an operational expeditionary warfare billet within the NECC Force

Must have the 2N1 qualification, symbolizing successful completion of the Navy Reserve Augment commanding officer/officer-in-charge command qualification process

Must have a nomination/endorsement from reporting senior for the command screening board

Must have the the 2D1 qualification, symbolizing successful completion of the MESF command qualification board

Must pass a rules of the road exam with at least an 80% score

Reserve SWOs who are interested in applying for Reserve O-5 command at sea should contact the NECC Reserve Program Director for more information at USFF_COMNECC_LTLC_N1_RPD@us.navy.mil.
 


The MESF deploys globally and operates throughout the sea-to-shore and inland operating environment protecting maritime infrastructure, providing insertion and extraction capabilities and supporting Fleet assets in support of maritime operations. Learn more about NECC and the MESF by visiting our website at: https://www.necc.usff.navy.mil.
 

Source: United States Navy

NAS Patuxent River, Maryland is a Class IV Facility and is considered one of the most complex ATCFs in the Navy’s AC community. The NAS Pax River control tower works in excess of 40,000 flight operations per year, and its radar operations control over 6,000-square-miles of airspace, including the Special Use Airspace complex, and provides approach control service to 14 additional airports.

“We call getting fully qualified at Pax equivalent to earning your Ph. D. in Air Traffic Control,” said ACC Kristen Costlow, NAS Patuxent River Air Traffic Control Training Chief. “In order to become fully qualified here at Pax, you have to go through a rigorous training pipeline of 14 air traffic control qualifications. On average, it takes three years to obtain designation as a Facility Watch Supervisor, which is the highest qualification you can obtain after completing the prior 13 qualifications.”

NAS Patuxent River had previously marked a similar milestone in 2018 with an all-women Air Traffic Control qualified tower crew, but this was the first time in the station’s history that all positions on the air traffic control watch were staffed entirely by women Sailors.

“When I checked in to Pax in February 2018, the women controllers on board made history by having enough qualified women to staff the entire control tower,” Costlow said. “Now, in 2023, we can run the entire facility by ourselves, 100-percent female. A class IV facility. The most complex facility and aggressive air traffic control training pipeline in the Navy. This goes beyond us being proud of ourselves for standing out in a male-dominant rating. This sets the example for their daughters, sisters and future women that aspire to join the Navy. We have 70 controllers on board, 13 of them are female. The ability to fully staff the ATCF with all women is truly a historical milestone for NAS Pax.”

While all the Pax River ACs are extremely focused on their demanding jobs in Air Traffic Control, they did pause briefly to remark on the gravity of the occasion. Twelve stories up in the Pax River Air Traffic Control Tower, Tower Supervisor and Local Controller AC1 Amanda Galentine, Ground Controller AC1 Talyssa Martin and Flight Data Operator AC2 Brianna Boore made note of the occasion in between flights.

“It’s pretty cool; you don’t see this very often at many facilities,” Galentine said. “My Senior Chief at my last shore facility—I really look up to her and she’s one of my mentors—I think she’d be especially pleased to know that this happened. She’s a Master Chief now, so it’s not only nice to see a female leader, she helped me grow into the person and leader I am today. So, to be standing here with these other professional women ACs is awesome.”

Across the street from the tower in the Air Operations building, Flight Planning Supervisor/Dispatch-AC2 Autumn Rauen, in between phone calls remarked on the impact this will have on future ACs.

“I think this will be particularly impactful on new airmen coming in, both men and women, seeing that women are capable of doing these kinds of jobs and not just relegated to the background,” Rauen said. “It’s good to have all these quals to show the people who still say that women can’t do certain things.”

Up in the radar room, Costlow and her crew of Approach Controller AC1 Kristy Lescrynski, Sector Controller AC1 Erica Headrick, Clearance Delivery AC2 Syrenia Cuevas, and Final Controller AC2 Tieraney Edmond diligently tracked aircraft, pausing only to take a photo and to offer a few words.

“This speaks volumes of the hard work these women have put in to their professional development and dedication to the team by earning qualifications in record time,” Costlow said. “You’re looking at some trailblazers in the Air Traffic Control community.”

Later in the day the remaining ACs on watch were visited by Capt. Derrick Kingsley, NAS Patuxent River commanding officer, who presented command coins to the all-women crew and offered words of encouragement.

“In the 26 years I’ve been in the Navy I haven’t seen too many milestones like this, and I’m pleased it happened on my air station,” Kingsley said. “When I first joined the Navy, women were just beginning to fill roles in combatant commands, now you all have played a part in the Navy’s history too. I’m damn proud to be your skipper.”

Chief Petty Officer Patrick Gordon is a public affairs officer with the Navy Office of Information, Media Content Operations-Navy Reserve Component, at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.  

Source: United States Navy

The upgrade enhances strategic communications capabilities for the nation’s senior leadership.

Northrop Grumman Corp. conducted the upgrades over the last year at its Aircraft Maintenance and Fabrication Center at Lake Charles. Under its Integrated Maintenance and Modification Contract (IMMC) with the Navy, it will overhaul multiple E-6B Mercury aircraft by 2027. The $111 million contract provides six major modifications—called Block II—to improve the aircrafts’ command, control and communications functions connecting the National Command Authority with U.S. strategic and non-strategic forces.

Block II will ensure the E-6B can successfully execute its mission for years to come. Upgrades to the second aircraft are already underway.

“The delivery of the first IMMC aircraft is a monumental achievement,” said Bob Stailey, the E-6B deputy program manager for the Airborne Strategic Command, Control and Communications Program Office, which awarded and manages the maintenance contract. “We are delivering enhanced capabilities to the fleet quicker and ensuring they have the tools to successfully execute this critical mission for years to come.”
Working with the Navy, Northrop Grumman is getting closer to the contract’s required turnaround time of six months by implementing process improvements that span engineering, scheduling, management and production. This is the first time a single company is responsible for the entire installation, reducing bureaucracy and improving speed.

“An incredible amount of work went into this aircraft, which can now perform its nuclear deterrence mission better than ever.” said Capt. Adam Scott, program manager. “During the past year, the team that fielded this capability worked tirelessly to implement improvements to deliver the Block II capability with urgency.”

Pilots from Strategic Communications Wing One (SCW-1) picked up the plane on June 6 and flew it home to Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
The E-6B Mercury is a communications relay and strategic airborne command post aircraft. It executes the Take Charge and Move Out (TACAMO) mission, connecting the nation’s senior leadership with naval ballistic missile forces during times of crisis, and the Airborne Command Post mission, which facilitates the launch of U.S. land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles using an airborne launch control system.
It is flown by Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons 3 and 4 under SCW-1 out of Tinker Air Force Base.

The Airborne Strategic Command, Control and Communications Program Office is an acquisition command with the mission of delivering and supporting survivable, reliable and endurable airborne command, control and communications for the president, Secretary of Defense and U.S. Strategic Command. The program’s vision is to provide national security and deterrence through assured airborne strategic communications.

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Source: United States Navy

The program office is in the early stages of using digital twins,which are virtual models designed to reflect a physical object accurately. It has developed digital twin technology with an industry partner for the past six months. 

The program office selected the pod interface unit on the ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS), first used in the 1970s, as the initial capability on which to test the new technology. The jamming system is unique as an older technology that converts analog signals to digital signals. By using an older system, the team members can test the bounds of their creativity and exploration.  

“We wanted to prove to ourselves we could take an existing piece of hardware and develop a digital twin that would be useful,” said Capt. David Rueter, program manager. “We picked something fairly easy as a starting point.” 

Digital twin technology can enable the sustainment, upgrade and evolvement of systems over time. 

“From a capability perspective, if I have a digital model of a system that requires improved processing, I can now figure out what that upgrade is and test it out digitally before I even purchase new hardware,” Rueter said.

The commercial industry has used digital twin technology for some time. For example, many new cell phones were developed digitally in a lab before consumers could purchase them.  

“There are multiple uses for digital twins, including designing, troubleshooting, simulating and enhancing. Digital twins replicate the real-world performance and have a huge utility,” said Chief Engineer Christie Agamaite, who leads the program office’s digital twin efforts. 

She explained how a digital twin can aid in troubleshooting.  

“There is a plethora of signals from a platform and an integrated system; if you are using a digital twin, you can vary those signals at myriad different rates and see the resultant behaviors in real-time,” she said. “The resultant behaviors are where we find the problems.”  

The digital twin approach provides the Naval Aviation Enterprise with increased resiliency, efficiency, adaptability and autonomy to accelerate learning on old and new systems. 

Rear Adm. John Lemmon spearheaded the idea of using digital twin technology during his tenure as Commander of Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD). This initiative invested in workforce development to apply “Get Real, Get Better” principles to utilize technology to benefit the warfighter.  

Now, according to Rueter, the program office is providing subject matter experts to build the twin. It hopes to boost readiness as the NAWCAD workforce learns from this endeavor.

The potential future benefits of digital twinning expand to more capabilities. For example, digital twin provides massive learning potential to work with Airborne Electronic Attack systems. 

Furthermore, Agamaite explains that “digital twins can benefit maintainers. By building a virtual model of a capability and using virtual reality goggles, technicians can touch and feel the system virtually. This will quickly increase the learning curve by starting the training earlier. It puts you virtually in the world before you get the hardware in your hands.” 

From Naval Aviation Enterprise Communications.