Mr. Kenneth A. Sarkady, U.S. Naval Analysis Laboratory (NRL) head of the Counter Measure Methods Part obtained the Roger L. Easton Award for Engineering Excellence for excellent engineering perception and visionary management within the growth of a nationally acknowledged functionality in missile warning and infrared countermeasures (IRCM) expertise, July 24, 2023.
His contributions to the sphere have transitioned to a Division of Navy (DoN) program of report in addition to different Air Power and Army plane self-protection applications.
“I’m honored to have been capable of work with a workforce of extremely gifted scientists, engineers and program managers who labored collectively to make these achievements potential,” mentioned Sarkady. “This award is really a fantastic honor to me however the recognition ought to actually be shared with the many individuals I’ve labored with through the years to develop these applied sciences and programs.”
By way of his in depth and intimate expertise with the AAR-47 and ALQ-24 menace warning and countermeasures programs, Sarkady’s elementary and enduring contributions to the sphere of electro-optic and infrared (EOIR) menace detection and countermeasures, led him to acknowledge the Division of Protection’s (DOD) want for a higher-performance, low weight and inexpensive missile warning and IRCM system.
“The continued assist of ONR, NAVAIR, HQ USMC Aviation, N98 and OSD was essential to our successes,” Sarkady mentioned. “With out their programmatic steerage and insights, none of those achievements would have been potential.”
Sarkady at present serves because the senior authorities advisor for the Workplace of the Secretary of Protection (OSD) Joint Plane Survivability Program Workplace (JASPO). Sarkady can be a member of different DOD applications working to detect and counter superior threats to DOD plane. His data and expertise are in excessive demand by many tri-service and DOD program places of work.
“A system was required able to combining longer detection ranges, decrease false alarm charges and the aptitude to jam and defeat incoming missiles in a small, light-weight, cost-effective bundle appropriate for U.S. Navy and Marine Corps rotary wing plane,” mentioned Dr. Crag Hoffman, NRL Optical Sciences Division superintendent. “He developed a system idea to detect hostile hearth and jam IR-guided missiles appropriate for small and medium rotary wing plane and efficiently proposed this idea to the Workplace of Naval Analysis in September 2006.”
Sarkady led the analysis and growth of this method, which was based mostly on the IR relatively than ultra-violet signature of the menace, by means of a number of successive ONR-sponsored Future Naval Capabilities applications. He’s principal architect and lead program supervisor for the Distributed Aperture Infrared Countermeasure (DAIRCM) System now being deployed within the fleet because the AAQ-45.
The AAQ-45 incorporates a number of applied sciences developed by Sarkady’s IRCM Methods Part in collaboration with the Utilized Optics Department of the Optical Sciences Division: together with two-color IR Focal Aircraft Arrays for the menace sensor, missile, and hostile hearth detection algorithms, jamming methods, quantum cascade lasers, and IR fiber optic cables able to transmitting excessive optical energy.
”Hopefully the expertise contributions now we have made will lead to saving lives and permit our service personnel to return safely residence,” Sarkady mentioned.
Sarkady’s efforts guarantee NRL analysis stays on the cutting-edge of the quickly altering countermeasures area and the DoN and DOD applications are capable of seamlessly broaden the technical advances made by the IRCM Methods Part and decrease redundancy in DOD applications.
Concerning the U.S. Naval Analysis Laboratory
NRL is a scientific and engineering command devoted to analysis that drives revolutionary advances for the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps from the seafloor to house and within the data area. NRL is positioned in Washington, D.C., with main area websites in Stennis House Middle, Mississippi, Key West, Florida, and Monterey, California, and employs roughly 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and assist personnel.
For extra data, contact NRL Company Communications at (202) 480-3746 or nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil.
