GPS Wing: Way Ahead

GPS Wing: Way Ahead
http://www.gpsworld.com/defense/gps-wing-way-ahead-10334

August 11, 2010 By: Don Jewell

I like doing interviews, and obviously GPS World Defense PNT readers
like them as well because I receive the most mail after an interview.
Following my May 2010 interview with General C. Robert (Bob) Kehler
(USAF), the commander of Air Force Space Command, it took me weeks (I am
still receiving e-mails about the interview) to wade through all the
e-mails and letters from loyal readers, and there were an unprecedented
number from our warfighters in theater.

While I was contemplating why this happens, it occurred to me that
warfighters like to hear from other warfighters, especially when they
are talking about a weapons system — yes, GPS is a weapons system — that
affects everyone, whether they are in theater or not. Plus, it appears
that it also gives you a chance to agree or disagree with the person
being interviewed and to chime in with your two cents worth. An E-1 or
an O-6 for that matter may not have many opportunities to tell a
four-star Air Force General what they think about his/her leadership or
the way he/she supports a particular weapons system; while
non-attributable e-mails and critiques level the playing field somewhat
and evidently remove all inhibitions. And that’s a good thing.

Early last week when I gave myself the task of finally cataloguing and
placing reader responses into a searchable database, it occurred to me
that the results might be interesting to you as well as to those being
interviewed, all without any attribution of course. That’s the path I
was on for this column when I received a particularly pithy but
thoughtful letter from a very senior warfighter. He said he was
perplexed by Colonel David Madden’s response during his exit interview
when I asked if Colonel Madden had any advice for the new incoming GPS
Wing commander, Colonel Bernie Gruber.

If you remember, Colonel Madden thoughtfully answered my question and
provided Colonel Gruber with the following advice: “First and foremost,
listen to your people — we have a great team! They are skilled
professionals who really care about GPS. Second, keep the MGUE program
focused and moving forward.” 


Now, as a former military commander I have to tell you that is a great
answer; Dave mentions his great team of people and then he mentions a
program that is near and dear to both of us, and I hope to you, GPS
military user equipment. Our senior military officer responder, however,
thought Dave was too pragmatic, and after looking over my newly
developed database of your responses, evidently so do many of you,
because the majority of your responses echoed those of the senior
warfighter.

Therefore, exactly what is the most common response to that type of
question, and what advice would our very senior warfighter and many of
you give to Colonel Bernie Gruber? Simply put, it is “Maintain the GPS
as the world’s PNT gold standard, never allow it to be less than it can
be, and always strive to keep it on the cutting edge.”

What more can you ask for Colonel Gruber? The warfighters are behind you
and despite the ubiquity, or perhaps because of the ubiquity of the GPS,
they realize it is the best in the world and, as our senior warfighter
put it, the gold standard, and they simply want you to support the
warfighter and all global users by maintaining that incredible standard
and not deviating from it. As George S. Patton, Jr. said, “Always do
more than is required of you.”

Your way ahead is clear: Maintain the GPS as the best PNT system in the
world, and when you depart, do so having made it even better than you
found it and you will have accomplished your mission.

So Bernie, there you have it, your most important mission, vision, and
goal, straight from your most important asset, your loyal users. Best of
luck, and remember this quote from Teddy Roosevelt: “The best executive
is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants
done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while
they do it.”

The iPAD in Theater

Normally I would end with that advice to Colonel Gruber, but I have
recently become aware of a new phenomenon in the AOR and that is an
ever- increasing number of iPAD users. There are tens of thousands of
iPhone and iTouch users in theater, and iPAD users are rapidly catching
up. When you contemplate the considerable capabilities of the iPAD, it
is easy to see why. I will write more about the iPAD in war in future
columns, but I want you to know that the most common questions I receive
from our warfighters with iPADs are, (1) What are the newest and best
GPS programs for the iPAD and (2) what are the best protective devices?
I will go into the GPS programs in depth at a later date, but suffice
it to say there are numerous GPS programs that can support our
warfighters in tremendous ways and I am now testing several of those.
The capabilities are truly cutting edge and supportive of our
warfighters’ needs. If you know of a particularly good PNT program that
runs on the iPAD, iTouch, or iPhone, please let me know and I will take
a look and possibly review it for GPS World.

Meanwhile, I am also testing protective devices for the iPAD. Currently
the front-runners are from Otterbox, which makes both a light to medium
protection device called the Commuter Series and a heavy-duty protective
device called, appropriately enough, the Defender Series. I am still in
the early stages but I am impressed. Again, if you know of something
that works, please let me know. The iPAD is not exactly fragile, but
neither is it rugged, so if you are going to use it in theater or any
rugged environment you definitely need some protection.

Plus, since so many of you have reminded me, yes I am going to have a
full review soon of the Touch Inspect software application from Mobile
Epiphany. This unique application has, without a doubt, some of the best
adaptable features and capabilities, and the friendliest user interface
I have ever encountered. I am happy to say the military users and
providers that have been privileged to review it tell me they feel the
same way, so it deserves a full review and that will happen soon.

Dr. Don DeGryse

Meanwhile, in the stop the presses category, it appears that Dr. Don
DeGryse is now the "former" head of the GPS IIIA program at Lockheed
Martin. Dr. DeGryse is moving from the Philadelphia environs to the
Denver area to become the vice president of Business Capture Excellence
for Lockheed Martin’s Surveillance and Navigation Systems line of business.

Don did a simply superb job at Lockheed Martin on the GPS III program,
and indeed, has them at least 120 days ahead of schedule at this point;
so my hat is off to Don and I hope I can catch up with him in his new
position soon. We all owe Dr. Don DeGryse a debt of gratitude for the
outstanding GPS IIIA program he engineered, for his candid and honest
dealings with the government, and for his leadership, integrity,
dedication, and professionalism. We need more PM’s and VPs like Don. It
is rare to have all these positive attributes combined in one person. He
will be missed in the GPS arena.

To fill Don’s shoes, Lockheed Martin has named Joseph Trench the new
vice president of Navigation Systems. Prior to his new role, Joe was the
president of Performance Excellence for Lockheed Martin’s Information
Systems and Global Solutions business area. Joe has more than 32 years
of service at Lockheed Martin with experience in the design,
integration, and test of satellites and ground systems. He holds a
bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and a master’s degree in
Engineering Science from Pennsylvania State University.

Joe, you have some big shoes to fill. Best of luck.

IIF Update

Last week during qualification testing and initialization of the IIF
satellite, which is scheduled to take anywhere from 90-120 days, the AEP
software temporarily lost contact with or command and control (C2) of
the IIF satellite during a Delta “V” maneuver, now called by a different
name for the IIF program. But the fact remains that the AEP control
segment lost effective C2 contact with the satellite and the LADO
experts (Braxton Technologies), were called in to contact/regain control
of the satellite and get everything back to normal, which they did, and
then they subsequently turned the wayward IIF satellite back over to the
AEP control segment. By the way, similar events have happened to the IIR
and IIA satellites as well — it is not a problem with the satellite, but
the control segment, and fortunately LADO has been there each time to
save the day.

This is just one of the many tasks that the LADO (Launch/Early Orbit,
Anomaly Resolution, and Disposal Operations) system is designed for.
Still, it just makes me feel more confident knowing that when the
primary system has a glitch or fails momentarily, for whatever reason,
there is a backup waiting in the wings to take over and make everything
right again. Oh, and it turns out that Braxton was disposing of a
defunct GPS satellite at the same time, so the LADO system was called
upon for double duty. The folks that watched it all take place say there
was never a glitch, and the LADO system disposed of the tired GPS
satellite, recovered the momentarily lost IIF Sspace vehicle (SV), and
added yet another residual SV to the stand-by constellation, all
simultaneously without a hitch. So I guess that’s actually triple duty.

The amazing thing about it is that all three operations are functions
that are not performed every day, but are special to the LADO system.
Obviously the Braxton software and procedures work extremely well. My
hat’s off to Braxton and LADO. If I were Colonel Wayne Monteith, the
50th Space Wing Commander, I would sleep better at night knowing Braxton
was on the job. Actually, the more I hear about Braxton and LADO, the
more I think of them as a baseball manager thinks of a relief pitcher.
To quote Dan Quisenberry, “A [baseball] manager uses a relief pitcher
like a six shooter. He fires until it’s empty then takes the gun and
throws it at the villain.” In this case the analogy works, except that
Braxton never seems to run out of bullets.

Stay tuned for more.

Until next time, happy navigating.