"Today the Army is driven by innovation and by our strategic environment," said the Honorable Dr. Joseph Westphal, Under Secretary of the Army, who presented the awards and represented the Secretary of the Army, John McHugh. "Our Army leads in innovation because of the people we honor today. They are instruments of transformation, pioneering and fundamentally changing the way the Army does business. They have pushed the envelope and gone far beyond what is expected or what we could hope for. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to be standing here today."
Twenty-two individuals representing different categories such as diversity and leadership, small and disadvantaged business utilization, editing and publications, exceptional civilian service and "suggester of the year" were recognized at the ceremony.
Gozdur is lauded for his 'unrivaled' technical abilities and program management skills that have ensured the most innovative and cutting edge capabilities to the warfighter and have delivered them both efficiently and effectively. Most notably, he is credited for his innovation and pioneering efforts that launched the RQ-7B Shadow, the RQ-11B Raven Small UAS, and the One System Remote Video Terminal.
Gozdur began working on unmanned aircraft systems programs in 1994 and has been an integral part of the UAS program for 18 years. "I fell into that [program], and I fell in love with it," he said. There was a separation of only one year when he was on special assignment in the Aviation and Missile Command G3. Even then he supported UAS by coordinating the building of the Shadow runway and ran the fly-off for the Extended Range Multi-Purpose UAS, which is now the MQ-1C Gray Eagle, the largest UAS in the Army fleet. "UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) from the beginning have always been in my blood and in my heart."
Gozdur ran the Shadow program, then called the Tactical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program in the early 2000's. Before the TUAV, the Army did not have any UAV assets in the division, corps or brigade level since the Hunter, one of the first UAV programs was cancelled. "There was a great need for a tactical UAV at the brigade level so that the Army would have eyes on targets. So we focused on the tactical UAV and worked with Fort Huachuca, our user at the time, to write the requirements."
Gozdur oversaw the first 'fly-off' of the TUAV in which the Army brought four competitors to Fort Huachuca, Ariz. for the competition. "We spent three months there and chose the best of the best, and Shadow was that best value," and quickly filled the void for the Army brigades in the field.
Since there were no UAS operators in the beginning, Gozdur and his team took Soldiers who had never trained on a UAV, and trained them for a year. They became the first UAS operators in the Army. The next step was to pass the Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOTE) in order to field Shadows at full rate production. "The first operational assessment was a disaster," said Gozdur. They crashed numerous times during test, so the Army stopped the IOTE. "They made us go back to the drawing board to fix some problems."
After a year of training at Fort Hood, Texas and a lot of perseverance to iron out the wrinkles in the program, Gozdur and his team took the Shadow back to IOTE. "We passed with flying colors." The 4th Infantry Division became the first unit trained and equipped with the Shadow system which was quickly deployed to the Gulf War.
And the rest as they say is history.
Today, the Army has 102 Shadow systems (four UAVs in each system) and is described as the "workhorse" in the Army's UAS fleet. The Shadow has exceeded 700,000 combat hours in Iraq and Afghanistan since it was introduced to the Army fleet in 2001. One of the most advanced aspects of the Shadow is its ability to transmit live video feed to ground and aviation forces simultaneously, providing the brigade commander dedicated flexible, responsive, over-the-horizon near-real-time Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition (RSTA), Intelligence, Battle Damage Assessment and Force Protection. This technology also allows rotary wing assets, such as the combat aviation brigades, to conduct covert operations by specifying a target prior to visual contact.
Gozdur was also the first deputy product manager for Small UAS. The Raven was one of few small UASs flying at the time, and again, Gozdur and his team took this system through the acquisition milestones and successfully executed the IOTE. "We took it from ground zero right after selection and took it to fielding." The first 30 systems were fielded to the 1st CAV that took the Raven to Iraq for the first time in 2006. Today there are 1705 Raven systems and have flown almost 400,000 hours.
Skepticism for the value of UASs quickly turned to advocation, with ground and air units calling for the need of more UASs in the field to provide not only the eyes for the ground Soldier but also to be the "hunting dog in front of the hunter" for aviation units. Today Army UAS are not just another product in the intelligence gathering tool, they have become "wingman" assets for Army aviators.
One of the most successful milestones in employing UASs in the fight was the development and integration of the One System Remote Video Terminal, which Gozdur also helped to pioneer. OSRVT is a device that allows Soldiers and commanders in the field to view the video from various platforms. One of the outcomes of OSRVT is the incorporation into the Army's manned airpcraft, which has enabled manned-unmanned teaming (MUMT).
Today both AH-64 Apaches and OH-58 Kiowa Warriors have integrated the OSRVT into their systems. "Now, the pilot can see the environment he or she may be flying into before he even takes off from the ground, before he gets into a hostile environment, before he gets into danger. He knows what is going to be there," said Gozdur.
Gozdur and his team also developed interoperability standards across Army aviation by which the AH-64 Apache Block III for example, is now able to perform level four interoperability or LOI 4. Before the development of these interoperability standards, MUMT achieved LOI 2 which meant a pilot was able to receive video images and other sensor information from a UAS. Now, that Apache pilot is able to control the flight path and payloads such as the sensors on a UAS.
"That has allowed the pilot greater flexibility on his control of the UAS and its payloads. It can designate targets before he even comes in. So now you have a real manned-unmanned team. It has truly revolutionized the way the Army fights."
The Manned-Unmanned Systems Integration Capability (MUSIC) Exercise held at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah September 2011 became one of the crowning achievements in proving interoperability across manned and unmanned platforms. MUSIC was the largest integration test ever conducted and showcased the sharing of products, reduction of training with the universal operator, and the cost effectiveness of reducing resources while simultaneously becoming more effective in the employment of Army weapon systems. All UAS platforms including the Hunter, Gray Eagle, Shadow, Raven and Puma participated. On the manned side, two Apaches and a Kiowa Warrior participated in the exercise.
"MUSIC was the next generation or iteration of UAV employment," said Gozdur. "The next MUSIC will show how we can fight interoperable." The UAS project office also plans to expand that into the joint community.
Gozdur feels his greatest achievement is having been part of the introduction of the unmanned aircraft systems into the Army. "That has to be the thing I'm most proud of."
"I wish this was a team award, because it really is a team accomplishment. The team that I've worked with over the years and the UAV family has made this possible." Gozdur also credits not one mentor but all the PMs and colleagues with whom he has had an opportunity to work and serve side-by-side supporting the Soldier. They each have various strengths and weaknesses and attributes that Gozdur admired. "But I've learned from all of them, and they have helped me be a better contributor to the Army, a better Soldier, and a better civilian."
"I want my team to know that they have made a difference in the UAV community, in Army aviation. There were no UAVs 15 years ago. Then there were a bunch of folks who needed information, and we figured out how to get it. It's a testament to the UAV community to go from nothing to where it is today in such a small time. And I'm glad I was part of it."
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