NAVAL AIR WARFARE CENTER AIRCRAFT DIVISION, St. Inigoes, Md. – Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Webster Outlying Field (NAWCAD WOLF) hosted more than 200 members of the workforce for an open house June 25.
The biennial event brings the workforce together from across the command to see firsthand NAWCAD WOLF’s unique approach to developing and delivering shipboard, air, and land based rapid engineering capability solutions to the warfighter, allowing them to make connections and align requirements to NAWCAD WOLF resources.
For Capt. Tim Castro, the open house was his first since he began his position as Military Director of NAWCAD WOLF, making it a unique experience for him that he hoped attendees found informative as well.
“This event is designed to give the workforce from across the command a look at what goes on at this little-known base 15 miles south of Patuxent River,” said Castro. “Before I came here I thought 80 percent of the work at WOLF is related to air traffic control and landing systems but it turns out that is only 20 percent of what we do.”
The open house featured stations with representatives from each of WOLF’s divisions, including Airborne Systems Integration, Combat Identification and Integration Systems, Ship and Air Integrated Warfare, Special Communications Mission Solutions, Integrated Command and Control and Intelligence Systems, Air Traffic Control and Landing Systems, and the Engineering and Prototyping Facility (EPF). At the divisions and EPF, attendees had a firsthand look at some of WOLF’s labs and technologies, including the Environmental Lab, Special Communications Rapid Integration Facility, and several stations featuring specialized manufacturing equipment.
Hundreds of attendees braved the heat for the open house, where WOLF teammates welcomed attendees into each division to learn about many of the products NAWCAD WOLF prototypes, develops, manufactures, and sustains touching nearly every program office at NAVAIR.
Like the last open house, this year included a series of briefs with live question and answer sessions. NAWCAD WOLF Department Head Tim Hickey discussed how the organic Lead Systems Integrator business model works including how the command uses existing contract vehicles to go fast, how the government saves money by developing solutions in-house and retaining the data rights for follow-on efforts, and how WOLF empowers the technical workforce to both ensure solutions meet requirements and allows the command to retain talent.
“The NAWCAD WOLF government project leads are engineers with both the technical and programmatic knowledge to made decisions at the lowest level developing solutions, allowing us to both go fast and retain the data rights necessary for follow-on efforts,” said Hickey.
Questions from the attendees included queries about timelines from requirements to solutions, how each division operates, and whether rotation opportunities were available for engineers. Regarding rotations, NAWCAD WOLF has a 98 percent retention rate for interns, making the return on investment high for WOLF.
“I’m always inspired by the way everyone involved comes together and the excitement they have in sharing what they do,” NAWCAD WOLF Operations Officer and Open House planning lead Kelly Weiner said about this year’s event. “It just makes for an invaluable experience for the attendees, especially to the members of the workforce who have never visited WOLF and first-year interns and journey level employees looking for rotation opportunities.”
The event allowed members of the workforce from across the Naval Aviation Enterprise to not only find out more about NAWCAD WOLF capabilities but also allowed attendees to engage in discussion about common hurdles and technologies used and form new teaming relationships across NAWCAD and NAVAIR.
NAWCAD WOLF develops and delivers airborne, shipboard, and shore-based rapid, organic Lead Systems Integrator capability solutions for DOD, intelligence, and Homeland Security missions anywhere around the world.
For more information, please visit: www.navair.navy.mil/nawcad/NAWCAD-Webster-Outlying-Field-WOLF