Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division commander makes first visit to AEDC

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. --  The commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division and assistant commander for research and engineering of the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), at Patuxent River, Md., made his first visit to AEDC this week. 
After touring Arnold's ground test facilities and meeting with AEDC's leadership, Rear Adm. Donald Gaddis took time to share some thoughts on his command's role in the center's mission and what he learned during his initial visit. 
As the chief engineer for Naval Aviation for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, the admiral said his interest was in learning about AEDC's test and evaluation capabilities.
 "I wanted to come down here to see firsthand what the technologies were, the engineering activities and test and evaluation capabilities here at Arnold Air Force Base - to see why it really is a Department of Defense center of excellence for aeropropulsion systems testing." 
Admiral Gaddis, who was once the deputy program manager for the F/A-18 Hornet and EA-18G Growler test and evaluation program at NAVAIR, said he came away from his time at AEDC with a greater appreciation for the support Arnold has provided for the Navy. 
"My impression is that this is a crown jewel for the Department [of Defense] and actually it's a world-class organization," he said. "You guys have a lot of space work, missiles, engine and air systems, new technologies and a lot of commercial work. There is no place in the world where all that can come together and be tested, as either a weapon system or a sub system across subsonic, transonic and hypersonic types of test scenarios. It's a one-of-a-kind facility." 
Admiral Gaddis met a lot of the military work force during the two days he was at AEDC. 
"I was very impressed by their professionalism, expertise, technical skills and their knowledge of what they do day-to-day," he said. "I was really impressed with the first and second lieutenants. There were a few captains who briefed me as well. I noticed they took a lot of pride in what they do inside the test squadrons." 
Admiral Gaddis acknowledged there is no substitute for getting an on-site look at the complex of ground testing facilities at AEDC. 
"Having firsthand knowledge of the work and the capability that is down here in Tullahoma, Tennessee, will go a long way toward continuing the work flow into this place," he said. "One of the things that [Col] Art [Huber, AEDC commander] and I talked about was there is a knowledge gap between the folks who controls the dollars and spend the dollars." 
The admiral said "more government insight and oversight" is needed. 
"That's the strategic direction that we have got to change," he said. "[We need to] move back towards a more robust skilled and experienced work force on the Air Force [side]. That's where we really need to go. And I think my visit down here will hopefully help in changing that direction." 
Admiral Gaddis said he feels very optimistic about the future. 
"I think it's going to be continuous," he said. "The Super Hornet has been in the fleet for 10 years now and we built well over 300 airplanes. We still have a lot of weapons systems integration work to go and plus we're building and integrating new weapons systems. So they've got to be integrated into an already existing weapons system and we're going to continue down that path. 
"The Joint Strike Fighter is just starting that and when they get more weapons, internal and external stores, they're going to have to come down here as well," he continued. "But I see a lot of continuous work, like on the EA-18G. Eventually we'll probably put JSOW [Joint Standoff Weapon] and the, JDAM [Joint Direct Attack Munition] on the E-18G. The E-18G is going to have a bright future. 
"The other thing we're doing with the E-18G is there's a follow on, an electronic warfare pod, we call it the next generation pod. We're moving away from the ALQ-99 electronic warfare pods and we're in the middle of an analysis of the alternative. So, we'll be back down here with the E-18G and major aerodynamic work on the next generation jamming pod." 
The admiral said Colonel Huber is working on educating the acquisition community outside of AEDC that Arnold's small number of Navy civil service positions, are really joint service billets. 
"Art and several others are fighting an uphill battle in trying to get some of our acquisition billets coded as joint billets, but they really are joint billets," he said. "The aerospace engineers, the program analysts, the folks who work on the program side for the test squadrons; they're all doing joint work. They're doing Army, Navy and Marine and Air Force programs. It's a small contingent, about 11 people, but I think it is vital to have that presence here. We need that connection between Pax River and Arnold and those guys provide that connection and that jointness." 
Admiral Gaddis said he still sees a need to improve an admittedly good relationship between AEDC and commands outside its usual sphere of ground test operations. 
"We need to be more collaborative and we need to connect and communicate more," he said."We need to know what each other's capabilities are so we can share experiences and learn from each other." 
The need to collaborate more between the Navy and Air Force came up in a meeting Admiral Gaddis had with Colonel Huber and AEDC's top leadership. 
"That was one of the opportunities that we briefed this morning, especially for some of our young engineers that we hired into our aeropropulsion shop up in Pax River," the admiral explained. "Because we don't have these capabilities at Pax and so, why not get our young engineers and bring them down here on some of these world class test facilities to gain that experience and then take that back to the Navy?" 
Admiral Gaddis acknowledged the Navy and Air Force and more specifically his command and AEDC, share many of the same issues. 
"We have the same work force challenges with the college kids coming out now," he said "Are they going to work for a military installation or are they going to work in the warfare centers and places like this? Are they going to have the right degrees? Are they getting aerospace, electrical, structural engineering or mechanical engineering degrees? The country needs more engineers, and we're all fighting for the same folks. We're all going to the same places to recruit. Of course the folks that are here are getting older and we've got to fill that gap." 
While at AEDC, one of the most important things on Admiral Gaddis' agenda was to present some NAVAIR awards to two members of Arnold's work force, Navy Commander Steven Kroll and Gene Klingensmith, a Department of the Navy civilian. The admiral said bestowing awards is important for several reasons. 
"It feels pretty good," he said. "It's always neat to get an award and we probably don't see that enough, especially in the acquisition business. There are not a lot of people patting you on the back. "
Job satisfaction, more than not, has to come from inside the organization, but anytime you get an award, it's a great morale booster. It really means something to me - I love reading the citations." 
Admiral Gaddis' advice to young people who are graduating from high school or entering college and considering engineering is simple. Look to the military for the best opportunities. 
"What I have been saying is no matter what engineering skills you go into and no matter what systems command or service you go into there's a tremendous amount of opportunity to take advantage of," he emphasized. "There's a tremendous amount of opportunity in both in professional growth and personal growth as well. You have the ability to travel across the country and the world. We have world-class facilities and laboratories that are second to none. 
"We don't have laboratories like this in Europe or India," he added. "We're at the cutting edge of technology and you have an opportunity to get on that edge and take this technology to lead us into the future and you ought to take advantage of it."