Pax River Briefs

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

One of the Navy's Global Hawk unmanned surveillance planes returned this month to Patuxent River Naval Air Station after an eight-month testing deployment in the Middle East.

Officially called the Broad Area Maritime Surveillance Demonstrator, the plane is one of two Northrop Grumman Global Hawks being tested by the Navy. The BAMS-D flew more than 60 flights, totaling more than 1,000 flight hours, while being controlled via satellite by a team at Pax River. The team flew the aircraft, operated the sensors, performed first-pass analysis of intelligence data and provided information to CTF-57 in near real time, according to the Navy.

The Navy says the plane provided Commander Task Force 57 with thousands of images to support maritime intelligence and surveillance activities during the deployment in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea. Prior to the aircraft's return, a second BAMS-D deployed from Pax River. The Navy said the returning aircraft will undergo depot-level maintenance and conduct tests.

Janke now commanding P-3 wing

Cmdr. Chris D. Janke became the fifth commander of VXS-1, the Pax River-based, anti-submarine P-3 Orion wing, this month. He relieved Cmdr. Darrell Vance, who has been assigned to U.S. Joint Forces Command in Suffolk, Va. Janke takes command of VXS-1 as the unit transitions to the P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

SAIC names Egbert as manager

Science Applications International Corp. has appointed career naval officer Larry Egbert as the aviation command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations manager. Egbert will oversee all activities supporting U.S. Navy aviation customers.

Rocket, robot mentors needed

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aviation Division education outreach office is seeking mentors from Pax River to support the Great Mills High School student team in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, the world's largest rocket contest. The office is also seeking a mentor with robotics experience to support the robotics club at Little Flower School in Great Mills. The club meets 3 to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays. E-mail kathryn.glockner@navy.mil or call 301-342-2281 to sign up for either program.