Photo By Ronald Rodriguez | Bob Hintz, a senior physicist at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, receives a...... read more read more
Bob Hintz, a senior physicist at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, has an extensive résumé of experience immersed in electro-optic, infrared and laser radar targeting and fire control technology systems. Five decades’ worth of experience, in fact.
“Your 50-year list of accomplishments is eye-watering from my perspective,” said Rear Adm. Scott Dillon, NAWCWD commander, as he presented Hintz with a length of service award during a Feb. 19 ceremony. “It’s really impressive and it’s the sort of thing that makes this a special organization. I personally thank you for everything that you’ve done.”
A native of Milwaukee, Hintz was recruited while attending the University of Wisconsin, where he majored in physics and completed a senior project working with lasers.
“When I came out to China Lake in 1968,” he said, “I took two Junior Professional tours with organizations that were working with lasers and a couple of tours in the Engineering Department, which was actually the group that hired me. My background lined up with the work within Engineering, but I stuck to my guns and went to work with one of the groups that was developing lasers and that’s what I’ve been doing for a long time.”
Early into his career, Hintz started getting approached by organizations like the Office of Naval Research and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He eventually became a NATO chairman after an outgoing chair told him, “Don’t worry about it, you’ll be good at it,” – and he was. So much so, that he’s led multiple NATO groups for over 30 years since then.
“In the first 10 years of working for this gentleman, he taught me a lot about how to handle international relationships,” Hintz said of the former chairman. “He was pretty knowledgeable and, by osmosis, I picked up everything I needed to know. We won the NATO Scientific Achievement Award twice and nobody else has ever done that.”
With plans to spend 90 percent of his time in the lab and just 10 percent working on proposals, the demand for his skills in proposal writing grew and those numbers soon switched.
“I was fortunate because I got to work in the lab for so many years that I never proposed something that I didn’t know how to do,” he said. “As a result, I’ve become very successful at getting funding and doing interesting technology.”
Throughout his career, Hintz has served as a program officer for ONR, contributed to several direct detection laser systems and has led teams in airborne imaging laser radar. He was a key member of scientific teams for the Strategic Defense Initiative Office, which became the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization and Missile Defense Agency, and he led the team that developed airborne infrared sensor technology that collected data on the first Scud missile tests conducted in the United States.
Fifteen years in, NAWCWD almost lost Hintz to industry, but he walked away from a few offers that weren’t a good fit for him. Hintz continued to support the government and, years later, NATO presented him with an opportunity to run their first electro-optic lecture automatic target recognition series, leading him to travel to Paris, Poland and Turkey. Soon after, Hintz was recognized with NATO’s Von Karman medal, their highest technical award.
“My original goal was to be 55, have 30 years in and go out the door,” he said. “There were just a couple of interesting programs that I was doing and I thought, ‘I’ll just stay a little bit longer’ and here I am at 50 years.”
Hintz considered retirement about five years ago, but an opportunity to work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency reeled him back in. More recently, he’s been working on multiple research projects in support of counter unmanned aerial systems and F/A-18 infrared search and track systems among others.
“I’ve seen a lot in 50 years,” Hintz said. “For years, I always had contacts in the other services and with other countries. I was able to stay ahead of the technology developments, but it’s a very different time now. I think the challenge is huge compared to what it used to be, but I still think that technology and reaching out to the world can provide an edge for us. I think more and more, we’re going to need that edge because of how well the other side is doing.”
Dillon echoed his sentiments on the importance of interacting with external partners to maintain a competitive edge.
“That’s the sort of interaction that really cements the value of this organization in the minds of partners and stakeholders who are trying to accomplish a common goal,” Dillon said. “When they can reach into an organization like this and take advantage of the capability that we offer them, that’s where you really see the value of the expertise that’s built up over the course of a 50-year career.”
For the upcoming workforce and those in the Engineer and Scientist Development Program, Hintz advises them to talk to and work with people who have a lot of experience.
“Make sure the tours that you take are with people who you really believe you could learn something from,” he said. “I always felt that I was very lucky coming in during the ‘60s because there were some real giants in the field and I had the opportunity to work with them. If you see folks who have some gray hairs, you might want to talk to them as much as you can because that’s information that you may never be able to find anywhere else.”
For his work and leadership, Hintz has been recognized as a Fellow of the Military Sensing Symposium and received their Dowd Award in addition to being inducted as a Naval Air Systems Command Fellow and then Esteemed Fellow in 2017.
“I’m putting a stake in the sand for March 2020,” he said of retirement. “My last program wraps up by then and I don’t want to leave until I’ve got it all nailed down.”
As far as anyone filling Hintz’ position, that’s still to be determined.
“There was a guy who wanted my job,” he said, “then I told him it takes years of experience, traveling and getting to know people to do something like this. He works for the Treasury Department now.”
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 03.19.2019 13:54 |
| Story ID: | 314857 |
| Location: | CHINA LAKE, CA, US |
| Hometown: | MILWAUKEE, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 148 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Hintz looks back on 50 years, forward to retirement, by Stacie Lawrence, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT