A Navy civilian engineer won a prestigious award for leadership impacting new radar and laser technologies deployed to the fleet, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). Kyle Lackinger – recipient of the Technology to the Warfighter Award – will be among 90 individuals and 39 teams formally honored with various Department of the Navy and NSWCDD awards in a special video program to be released later this month.
Specifically, the NSWCDD topside engineer is recognized for “his significant leadership and technical contributions to the expedited establishment of approved topside locations for the fielding of the Simrad Halo radar and the ODIN system in support of Speed to Fleet capabilities,” according to the award citation. “Mr. Lackinger successfully met aggressive timelines and fleet needs without sacrificing technical rigor.”
ODIN – or the Optical Dazzling Interdictor, Navy – is a laser weapon system designed, developed and produced by NSWCDD engineers that allows a ship to counter unmanned aerial systems. Simrad Halo is a state-of-the-art marine navigation radar that provides pulse compression technology enabling collision avoidance in an environment of stationary and dynamically accelerating targets such as small boats, ships, and land masses. “The work boils down to effectively placing systems on Navy ships, but it’s much more involved than that,” said Lackinger. “As project lead, I aligned test, evaluation, and analysis to support safe and effective system integration.”
Winners of the Technology to the Warfighter award are selected for their significant and direct impact for developmental efforts that transitioned into operable capabilities meeting technology needs. “I was fortunate enough to have mentors that provided me with the opportunity to excel,” said Lackinger who started his government career at Dahlgren through the Naval Acquisition Development Program. “They gave me guidance when needed but pushed me to figure out things for myself.”
The Naval Acquisition Development Program builds the acquisition workforce while providing professional development to promote the growth of entry-level professionals in finance, contracting, logistics, science and engineering. “I’d like to thank our project’s leadership – Jennifer Clift, Bill Lenzi, Greg Brobjorg, Robert Bozarth, Mike Workman, and Jillian Berry. They enabled the team to move as expeditiously as possible,” said Lackinger. “Without Aaron Krause, Jonathan Vick, David Kulka, Justin Rison we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what we did.” “Kyle spent a lot of time and effort managing this high-visibility project, explaining to others what we’re doing and why it’s important,” said Krause. “If he hadn’t done such a good job, this project may not have been successful.”
NSWCDD’s mission is to provide research, development, test and evaluation, analysis, systems engineering, integration and certification of complex naval warfare systems related to surface warfare, strategic systems, combat and weapons systems associated with surface warfare. The command also provides system integration and certification for weapons, combat systems and warfare systems and fulfills other responsibilities assigned by the NSWC commander.
