October 12, 2018
Colloquium Topic: The Impact of APL’s Ongoing Support to US Navy Commander, Task Force 70 (CTF-70)
(APL Only -- Secret Clearance Required)
In November 2015, the Force Projection Sector and Commander, US Navy Task Force 70 (CTF-70) entered into a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a mutually-beneficial relationship through immersion of JHU/APL technical staff in CTF-70 patrols. This experience provides an excellent opportunity for JHU/APL staff to gain first-hand knowledge of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) operations in an operationally challenging environment, while participating in experiments designed to improve Fleet tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). It also provides JHU/APL with a unique experience to demonstrate maturing technologies in an operationally-relevant environment and to gain operator insight for improving those technologies prior to fielding.
In this presentation, Kim Ruiz (AMDS/A4H) and Christopher Wood (FPS/KBE) share their recent experiences as APL’s embedded analysts to CTF-70. During 2017, Chris spent May to August and Kim spent September to December living aboard the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) as members of the CTF-70 staff, conducting experimentation and analysis for Carrier Strike Group 5 across a broad spectrum of warfare areas. Kim and Chris will present the results of their efforts as well as an overall summary of CTF-70 patrols that took place in the Western Pacific Ocean during several North Korea ballistic missile launches, major US Navy exercises, a presidential trip to Asia, and a Tri-Carrier Strike Force operation.
This briefing will be held at the SECRET//NOFORN level.
Colloquium Speaker: Kimberly Ruiz and Christopher Wood
Kimberly Ruiz is a member of the Senior Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). She received her B.S in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis in 2010 and her M.S in Mechanical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 2012. Kim joined JHU/APL in 2010 and is currently in the Air and Missile Defense Sector serving as a section supervisor for Threat M&S and Advanced Studies and a project manager of the Sensor Integration Technology portfolio. Throughout her tenure, Kim has worked closely with the intelligence community to characterize foreign adversary capabilities against many surface Navy programs influencing system designs for effective threat negation. She has also led predictive analyses of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) combat system performance for both acquisition requirements development and operational Fleet reach back.
Christopher Wood is a member of the Senior Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL). He received his B.S. in Computer Science from Penn State in 2001 and his M.S. in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University in 2009. Chris joined APL in 2013 and is currently Assistant Group Supervisor of the Software Engineering and Data Transformation Group (KBE) within the Force Projection Sector (FPS). Chris has led and contributed to several software modernization projects at APL including the Signal Level Electronic Attack Kit, Passive Detection System, and Trident Shipboard Initial Processing projects. Prior to joining APL, Chris was a Principal Software Engineer at Northrop Grumman Corporation where he led teams of software engineers in development of air-to-air, ground-to-air, air-to-ground, and electronic warfare modes software for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter’s AN/APG-81 radar, the AN/APN-80 Ground / Air Task Oriented Radar (G/ATOR), and the F-22 Raptor’s AN/APG-77 radar. Chris participated in flight testing of the JSF’s radar as in-flight radar operator and test director as air crew aboard specially modified commercial aircraft in both development and operational testing environments.