Background: Mr. Aberle has worked for the Army as a civil servant at Redstone Arsenal for 27 years. Mr. Aberle has spent the majority of his career researching, developing, and managing science and technology efforts relating to lasers. For the past 15 years he has been leading efforts to advance the state-of-the-art in electrically driven high energy laser technology for the Army at the Space and Missile Defense Command/ Army Forces Strategic Command Technical Center. Mr. Aberle is the Army's High Energy Laser Technology Development and Demonstration science and technology manager and oversees the majority of the science and technology dollars the Army currently invests in high energy laser research and development. The High Energy Laser Mobile Test Truck (HELMTT), the High Energy Laser Tactical Vehicle Demonstrator (HEL TVD), and the Mobile Beam Control System Integration Laboratory (MBC SIL) are a few of the major Army laser science and technology efforts Mr. Aberle oversees.
Candidate's Statement: I have been working laser technology development and demonstrations for over 20 years for the Army. The Army is on the verge of transitioning high energy laser weapon technology into program(s) of record. The DEPS organization, and the professional engineers and scientists that are represented in the DEPS community, have been instrumental in creating the collaborative environments and maturing high energy laser technology to the point that all the services are acting upon the warfighter demands for innovative and new weapon systems to deal with emerging threats. Laser weapon systems directly meet that need and the DEPS community is central to helping make sure the laser system technology base and knowledge is ready to continue responding. If elected as a DEPS board member, I will strive to ensure that the DEPS remains committed to bringing professionals together for collaboration and that the proverbial 'ball' keeps moving in the right direction. DEPS has done a lot and there's still more to do. My goal is to ensure that the directed energy community, cross-service, cross-organization, and across industry all work together for the benefit of our warfighters that face uncertain future threats and will make every effort to ensure high energy laser technology is ready and mature to effectively defeat those threats.
Chris Behre
Background: Chris Behre is currently the Surface Navy Laser Weapon System Technical Director on the Directed Energy Division Staff at Dahlgren, providing oversight and guidance to the Navy Laser Family of Systems, which will deploy ten laser weapon systems in the next three years. Mr. Behre has been working in Directed Energy for nearly 20 years, beginning with a position in the optics group at Thomas Jefferson Laboratory, working on the Free Electron Laser. In 2006, Mr. Behre transitioned to the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division where he established a laser lethality laboratory, open air laser range testing and became the Laser and Optics Integrated Product Team (IPT) Lead for the Navy Laser Weapon System (LaWS). Mr. Behre continued to help lead programs such as the Solid State Laser – Technology Maturation (SSL-TM) and Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD) Future Naval Capability at the IPT level until he accepted a detail to the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Space Policy in 2014. At OSD Space Policy, Mr. Behre overhauled the policy for "Management of Laser Illumination of Objects in Space" enabling the deployment of laser weapon systems within DoD Policy and reducing the burden on laser system testing. Mr. Behre has a Bachelor's of Science in Electronic Engineering with a minor in Physics from Old Dominion University and Masters of Science in Systems Engineering with a concentration in Directed Energy, from the Naval Postgraduate School.
Candidate's Statement: As a technical leader within the Navy's Directed Energy community, I recognize the challenges we face in meeting increased demand from our warfighters. The Directed Energy Professional Society (DEPS) is the best forum to work through our capacity issues and improve our resources to deliver capability. The DEPS educational outreach programs encourage new graduates and provide workforce development to new scientists, engineers and managers transitioning into our community. DEPS is also the best organization to encourage new industrial partners to join the DE community. As a member of the DEPS Board of Directors, I will work across services, agencies and industry to increase these efforts. Through broad coordination we will meet our organization's mission statement to transition Directed Energy capabilities to our national defense.
Phil Macklin
Background: Dr. Phil Macklin is currently the Director of Business Development for MZA Associates Corporation. He currently supports the phenomenal growth of this over 27 year old company that has provided technical solutions to Directed Energy Weapons advancement over decades. His 40 year career in the Department of Defense brings a blend of military, corporate and academic experience to any organization. Through military operational positions from STINGER platoon leader to division air defense operations and from his experience as a Department of Army Acquisition selected Project Manager, Dr. Macklin’s focus has been in ‘system of systems’ for countering airborne threats and the enabling associated technologies to support the Warfighter.
As a 20 year career U.S. Army Air Defense Officer, he provided leadership and management in joint and multinational “3rd dimensional” aspects of force protection from platoon to division level under General Schwartzkopf, 24th Infantry Division. This experience provided significant “operational defense of the warfighter” perspective. As a U.S. Army military Project Manager under Missile Defense Agency oversight, at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, he managed the design, development and customer acquisition for Extended Air Defense Simulation (EADSIM), Extended Air Defense Testbed (EADTB) and Israeli Testbed (ITB). These diverse synthetic environment simulation systems were designed for integration and interoperability assessments for multiservice and multinational asset defense. These electronic ‘sand tables’ were significantly used to assess system of system technical capabilities for multiple platforms at the strategic and tactical levels in the context of an integrated battlespace.
During Dr. Macklin’s tenure from 1995 to 1999, these systems grew from several casual users to over 400 users worldwide. Dr. Macklin’s 4 year Assistant Professorship of Chemistry at West Point provided significant support for his abilities in technical and educational areas, which will be necessary for outreach to the broader DE community.
Dr. Macklin’s experience with industry involves capture and management of defense contracts with Bechtel National, Inc. a $4B, 15 year Kwajalein Range Operations contract; DRS Technologies, capture and management of a $400M Force Protection business line and for Universities Space Research Association (USRA) a $20M Philip Scholars Intern Program contract for Air Force Research Laboratory.
Dr. Macklin has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University.
Candidate's Statement: The Advancement of Directed Energy from a technical, political and historical perspective will require the DE community pulling together to this end. As a business developer for one of the premier companies in the industry, MZA Associates Corporation, the strategic view of those needs and requirements for the advancement of DE as a community are studied, analyzed and acted upon both strategically (long-term) and tactically (immediate and short-term) on a daily basis. My contribution to the DEPS Board, as well as the DE community moving forward will come from a former warfighter operational perspective (former Army Ariborne Ranger, Pathfinder in Air Defense) and those actions that I see daily from an industry perspective that are necessary to advance DE as a community. Those political, technical and cost aspects of providing effective support to the Warfighter with DE technologies should always be foremost in our daily pursuits.
Jeff Maloney
Background: Jeff Maloney has been supporting HEL weapon system development since 2001 when he joined Brashear, now L3. He has been the Program Manager for L3 of several HEL systems, including: ABL, HELTD, LaWS, and LWBD. He now oversees all HEL system development at L3 and works closely with the government and commercial partners to continue the advancement of HEL systems toward a fielded system for soldier protection. While at L3, Jeff has also managed several large telescope projects, specialty optics programs, and oversaw the design and installation of the worlds largest MRF optical polishing machine. Prior to joining L3, Jeff worked in advanced development projects for BWX Technologies. These projects included: Superconducting Super Collider, Tokamak Fusion Reactor, AVLIS Uranium Enrichment process development, Naval Nuclear Reactor fabrication, and he ran the production line for the Virginia Class Submarine Steam Generator. Jeff attained the rank of Captain in the Army and served in Germany and Desert Storm.
Candidate's Statement: To my fellow DEPS members: Once again, I am on the ballot for your vote for leadership on the DEPS Board of Directors. During my first term, I served as the Vice President of the Board and then was honored to serve as the President for the remaining two years. It was in this time that I learned a great deal about the inner workings of this fantastic organization. The work that we (DEPS) do to foster the development of DE weapon systems, encourage collaboration across the spectrums of DE, and prepare our future scientists, engineers, and war fighters to make this world a safer place, is a necessity and is unique to our industry. I will continue my efforts to grow this organization through expanded membership, quality and engaging events, and solid financials (for a non-profit.) We (DEPS) support your needs through scholarships, DoD and Hill outreach programs, and numerous collaborative events that are held at levels above public distribution.
Every vote counts– please vote. Thank you!
Howard Meyer
Background: Dr. Howard Meyer is a S&T SME with Strategic Analysis, Inc. He currently serves as the Science Advisor to the Director for Electronic Warfare and Countermeasures in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E)) where he tracks and advocates directed energy, electronic warfare, aircraft survivability equipment, sensing, and related advanced technologies. He previously supported the HQ USAF Operational Capability Requirements and Strategic Planning Directorates and the Army Chief Scientist, advising these organizations on a wide variety of advanced technologies including directed energy. Howard retired from the Air Force in 1999 after a 22 year career in a variety of technical, educational and operational assignments including serving as the Deputy Director of the Airborne Laser System Program Office.
Howard has been actively involved in the directed energy community for over 25 years. In addition to serving as the Deputy Director of the ABL SPO, he oversaw the inclusion of a wide variety of directed energy concepts in the 2001-2004 Title X Future Capabilities Wargames, led development of the Air Force's 2003 and 2007 Directed Energy Master Plans, and was the lead AF representative in the 2006 DoD DE Roadmap effort. For the past several years, he has been involved in efforts to accelerate the fielding of a wide variety of warfighting technologies including directed energy applications. He has worked with staff from the Services' laboratories and headquarters organizations, industry, operational users, and OSD organizations to advocate support and funding for a variety of DE R&D efforts. He supported the development of Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments' (CSBA) "Changing the Game: The Promise of Directed Energy Weapons" and was one of the key organizers of the first Directed Energy Summit sponsored by Booz Allen and CSBA in July of 2015.
Candidate's Statement: Our vision of transitioning DE systems to operational use is closer than it has ever been because of the significant advances that have been made in all DE technology areas. The recognition that DE will be a major future capability and capability-enabler resulted in the establishment of DE as a focal area within USD(R&E). As we thus begin to look toward many forthcoming DE transitions, the DE Weapon Review and Approval Process (DEW RAP) will become very important to our community, as well as something that we will want to sunset thorough increased warfighter acceptance and advocacy of DE.
To accelerate forthcoming DE transitions, our Society must evolve to become more than just a scientific society. While DE S&T must always remain the foundation of all we do, broader interactions with many other organizations are essential if we hope to accelerate DE transitions. This will require broader interactions with operationally-focused societies (including air/land/sea operations, special operations, etc.), operations-enabling societies (intelligence, sensing, modeling/wargaming, strategy, etc.), and developmental and industry societies (NDIA, etc.). These interactions must include both educational outreaches and participation in their efforts to facilitate greater DE advocacy and acceptance. Over the past three years, I have had the opportunity to help facilitate some of these efforts through work with the Association of Old Crows (AOC), the EW community's professional society.
In my day-to-day job, I am called upon to look at a wide variety of technologies and how they are developed and transitioned. I have had the opportunity to successfully advocate a wide variety non-DE technologies including sensing technologies, aircraft survivability technologies, electronic warfare technologies, and fundamental technologies that enhance a broad range of operational capabilities. As I've done this, I have had to consider strategic, operational, acquisition, and developmental issues from the perspective of those who will be using these new technologies. This has given me an understanding of how those outside our community view DE that very few within our community have.
I have served as the DEPS Vice President for the past two years and have helped guide the development of our strategic plan with these thoughts in mind. To further our efforts to transition DE applications and also advance the goals of our Society within the scientific and military communities, I would like to continue serving our Society as we address the challenges I've outlined. I would thus greatly appreciate your vote.
Stephanie Miller
Background: Stephanie Miller has had the privilege of working in the Directed Energy (DE) community for 30 years and is best known for her expertise in radio frequency (RF) bioeffects and non-lethal weapons (NLWs). In 2007, she was elected to the Institute for Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR) and is proud to be both an Air Force Research Laboratory and DEPS Fellow. She launched the first Effects Mitigation Conference for DEPS and has chaired countless technical sessions. Miller has blazed many trails throughout her career building and leading an internationally recognized team with incomparable research capabilities for defining the fundamental biological effects in response to DE exposures. Their efforts have resulted in modifications to overly restrictive international safety standards, maximizing the DoD's ability to fully exploit the electromagnetic spectrum for operational use. As the Bioeffects Program Manager for the Active Denial System (ADS) Joint Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD), she was charged with characterizing the biological effects of ADS and optimizing system parameters for maximal safety and effectiveness. Her 22-member team of AF and Navy scientists crafted a comprehensive bioeffects research program the results of which enabled the first live-fire force-on-force military utility assessments of a directed energy weapon (DEW). The DoD Human Effects Advisory Panel recognized this body of work as the "gold standard for non-lethal weapons." Their seminal work on ADS along with a bit of initiative led to the first ever Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition Technology and Logistics)-approved alternate exposure policy permitting live-fire demonstrations, training, and assessments of the system including an Extended User Evaluation. To attain this goal, Miller presented the biological effects of ADS to numerous DoD leaders including the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Deputy Director, J8, Assistant Secretaries of Defense for Health Affairs and Public Affairs, and Directors, Defense Research and Engineering and Operational Test and Evaluation, addressing the individual concerns of each of these senior decision makers. Most recently, she was tasked to solidify the AF's strategic plan for DE. After identifying 12 critical flight plan shortfalls, the team and Miller crafted three operational use cases, integrated Major Command inputs, and defined the AF's 28-item flight plan that directs activities throughout the AF in support of the SECAF and CSAF's vision for DEW implementation.
Today, as Chief of the Bioeffects Division, she defines, leads, and manages the AF bioeffects research portfolio. Under her leadership, this team has become the first to visualize responses to DE at the molecular level and is on the path to the first near real time modeling and simulation suite of tools for predicting RF and laser energy deposition and subsequent bioeffects in complex environments for fire control systems and probabilistic risk assessments.
Candidate's Statement: The field of DE presents complex technical and political challenges whether demonstrating the effectiveness of a revolutionary anti-personnel NLW, harmonizing international exposure standards, or managing aero optics. I will advocate for the importance of an integrated proactive approach to facilitating the transition of these game-changing technologies. I have seen members of this community develop incredible capabilities for our warfighters, but fall short of a true transition and employment because something was miscommunicated, a key player was not briefed, or some piece of the DOTMLPF-P (doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, facilities, and policy) had not been considered. I believe DEPS is uniquely poised to inform and, indeed, influence decision makers and those needed to make the full integration of DE into the US inventory a reality. We must ensure that accurate, useful, appropriate information is being shared in the broadest means available. It is important to approach the broader community via publications, conferences, and educational campaigns, not only to educate others, but to allow others to educate us. Free flowing dialogue is essential to the introduction of transformational technology. I also believe strongly in the importance of developing the next generation of scientists and engineers (S&Es). Many members of DEPS bring a wealth of experience to the community. I suggest we look at providing a mechanism by which new S&Es could adopt a mentor.
