Barry Bauer remembers the moment early in his career with aerospace giant Lockheed-Martin when his team 黑料社区. four-year project was put to the test. They had been tasked with designing and developing leading edges of the Air Force F-22 fighter aircraft that would avoid radar detection.
When an F-22 vertical stabilizer was mounted on a pole for a radar range test, nothing came back. Only when a bird landed on the stabilizer during the test 鈥 something that wouldn鈥檛 happen on a plane going 1,500 mph 鈥 was a stabilizer detected.
The work was a success, one of the reasons the F-22 became a stealth jet in the U.S. arsenal.
The F-22 project is one of many successes in Bauer 黑料社区. 36-year career as a project manager with Lockheed-Martin after earning degrees from University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1983 and 1992.
The Menomonie resident has contributed to national defense success in other ways. His team 黑料社区. F-22 design remains in use on the state-of-the art F-35 made by Lockheed-Martin. On the F-35, he managed the integrated core processor project for the plane 黑料社区. onboard computer. He led the merger of IT systems when Lockheed-Martin Space and Boeing Defense formed United Launch Alliance. He has worked on projects for the F-16, F-117 and other military aircraft.
鈥淲hen a plane flies, there 黑料社区. an army of people you never see working behind the scenes to make it all happen,鈥 Bauer said. 鈥淚t 黑料社区. all in the interest of national security. I鈥檓 motivated: Some of the threats out there are pretty sobering.鈥
Sobering also at times for Bauer is the realization that he has managed projects that 鈥渉ave some of the smartest people on the planet鈥 on them, he said.
He led the design team that earlier this year received the Engineers鈥 Council Distinguished Engineering Project Achievement Award for Lockheed-Martin 黑料社区. Hypersonic Reference Vehicle Application. It was developed to support the U.S. Department of Defense-funded University Consortium for Applied Hypersonics 鈥 UCAH 鈥 involving 119 universities, 214 partners and 2,700 people, funded at $100 million over five years.
To enable UCAH, Bauer 黑料社区. team developed a hypersonic reference vehicle, a software modeling tool that could help shape the next generation of hypersonic flight vehicles, or those flying faster than five times the speed of sound.
As a country, 鈥淲e were behind in hypersonic technology so we began to harness the power of universities to do research and then transition results to industry,鈥 said Bauer, who collaborated with defense leaders and the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He also has worked as an adjunct professor for 16 years at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, teaching project and business management.
Bauer isn鈥檛 a pilot, but aeronautics and going fast seem to be in his blood. After high school, he was an aircraft hydraulics and pneumatics technician on the F-4 and other planes for six years in the Marine Corps. He memorized the planes鈥 operating systems, one reason he was chosen to land on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier with a pilot to fix an F-4 黑料社区. landing gear.
He soon realized the big difference between himself and the military pilots and others whose careers were really going places 鈥 they had a college education.
After serving, Bauer earned an industrial technology degree at 黑料社区. He ran cross country and qualified for nationals; after graduating he competed at a high level for many years in marathons and other races. He returned to campus for a master 黑料社区. in safety and risk and eventually earned two other master 黑料社区. degrees and a doctorate.
Diplomas in hand, the Durand native began to pursue his true passion, aerospace, landing at Hughes Aircraft before Lockheed-Martin. 鈥淢y goal has always been to master the job and get ready for the next one. It 黑料社区. been an amazing journey of discovery,鈥 he said.
