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Home : Media : News
NEWS | Dec. 12, 2019

NSWC Indian Head EOD Technology Division Employees Recognized for Exceptional Accomplishments

By NSWC Indian Head EOD Technology Division Public Affairs

Two Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technology Division (IHEODTD) field service technicians and two other command teams were recognized recently at the fiscal year 2019 3rd and 4th Quarter Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems (PEO IWS) Excellence Awards ceremony held at the Washington Navy Yard, December 5. The PEO IWS Excellence Awards are presented twice a year and acknowledge individuals, teams and organizations that have made significant contributions to PEO IWS.

Richard McDonough, Systems Integration Department Field Service Tech

Richard McDonough, a field service technician with the command’s Systems Integration Department’s Guns Division, provided mission essential fleet technical assistance to the then-deployed USS Momsen (DDG-92) in 2019 after troubleshooting efforts by Ship’s Force Repair Facility were exhausted. At the time, Momsen was experiencing an intermittent signal processing failure on the Close-in Weapon System (CIWS). McDonough met the ship and immediately began work, identifying the cause of the weapon fault and repaired the failed parts in record time within five days of arriving aboard the ship. While troubleshooting the fault, McDonough provided more than 50 hours of advanced CIWS training, specifically on system alignments and weapons maintenance to the Sailors.

Lacey Flagler, Systems Integration Department Field Service Tech

Lacey Flagler, a field service technician with the command’s Systems Integration Department’s Guns Division, deployed to Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON) 6 serving aboard USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) from January through July 2019 to maintain and troubleshoot the CIWS on PHIBRON 6 Amphibious Readiness Group’s (ARG) ships. His role was to serve as the CIWS subject matter expert and to diagnose and repair any issues that may be keeping any CIWS from being ready to engage any target. He not only helped ARG assets keep their systems up during an extended underway, he also provided training to the Sailors maintaining the gear; conducting fault isolation, analysis and correction; technician enhancement training; and technical assistance/distance support on systems other than the CIWS. 

Quad City Cartridge Case Facility Start Up Team: Michael Hagn, Cale Williams, Michael Bottass, Eric Lambert and Timothy Freehling 

Numerous personnel across NSWC IHEODTD were involved in the reactivation of the Quad Cities Cartridge Case Facility: an Army ammunition plant operated by the command to manufacture Navy 5" cartridge case. This team entered a 200,000 square foot facility in a lay-away status, became familiar with every piece of equipment, and overcame a multitude of obstacles as equipment was turned on and operated. In August 2019, the team hit a milestone by transforming raw steel plate to the first ever U.S. Navy-produced Mark 109 steel cartridge case. 

MK 45 Gun Team: David Culhane, Jesse Hitch, Jared Wood, David Conover, Larry Dulin, Lamar Anderson, Gregg Lafave, Gary Williams, Drew Howells, Stephen Smith, Shane Hanna, John Parks, Christopher Mahony, Zachery Rutledge and Charles Pipes

The NSWC IHEODTD Mark 45 team were recognized for their modernization of a fully-automatic 5-inch/54 caliber lightweight naval gun mount employed against surface, air and land attack targets. The team completed a significant overhaul aboard USS Shiloh (CG 67) by updating, procuring and validating components vital to the Mark 45 Gun Mount System to overcome the challenges of obsolescence, as well as resolving an 11-year-old abnormality with the Mark 45 Battery Backup System.


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.

-NAVSEA-