INDIAN HEAD, Md. –
The Cartridge Actuated Device / Propellant-Actuated Device Joint Program Office hosted its 2019 International Logistics Meeting at the College of Southern Maryland, La Plata campus, June 11-12, to discuss new initiatives and emerging requirements in the field.
CAD/PADs are primarily the explosive devices installed within the aircraft escape and safety systems, weapon systems, shipboard and within personnel gear to save lives during emergencies, such as aircrew ejection, parachute deployment, life vest inflation or fire extinguishing. CAD/PADs are also used to power the aircraft systems that deploy weapons and jettison equipment.
The annual logistics meeting is an inter-organizational meeting dedicated to presenting the latest efforts with respect to CAD/PAD logistics and program updates relevant to the domestic fleet and international air forces and to foster communication within the CAD/PAD community.
“The CAD/PAD Joint Program Office’s Annual International Logistics Meeting provides a unique opportunity for our international and domestic customers to interface directly with our Indian Head engineering, acquisition and logistics professionals,” said CAD/PAD JPO Assistant Program Manager for Logistics Lee Manis. “This has been a fantastic forum in which to foster better communications, discuss issues and inform our fleet customers of our ongoing technology initiatives to improve the quality of our products.”
The guest speaker for the two-day meeting was retired Cmdr. Charles Sparks, currently employed by AT&T as a business development executive in the San Diego area. He told how CAD/PADs saved his life when he ejected from an EA-6B Prowler on June 29, 1994 upon landing at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, while attached to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141.
“It was a testament to those of you that were here, to those that preceded and those that have succeeded folks here at this facility, that all of those systems worked,” Sparks said. “We had four relatively unscathed aircrew – we had a couple of scrapes, couple of bruises.”
The CAD/PAD Joint Program Office, staffed primarily by Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division employees, manages the overall program. The NSWC IHEODTD Systems Engineering Department’s CAD/PAD Division develops, engineers, acquires and provides logistics support; the Energetics Manufacturing Department produces nearly 10 percent of the yearly CAD/PAD replacement requirements; and the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Department conducts qualification, lot acceptance and surveillance tests.
NSWC IHEODTD – a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command and part of the Navy's Science and Engineering Establishment – is the leader in ordnance, energetics and EOD solutions. The Division focuses on energetics research, development, testing, evaluation, in-service support and disposal; and provides warfighters solutions to detect, locate, access, identify, render safe, recover, exploit and dispose of explosive ordnance threats.