Category Archives: Missile Defense

Passing of a Destroyer Leader

Rear Admiral George R Meinig, Jr, USN (Ret)

RADM George R Meinig Obituary

We have lost another true hero of AEGIS BMD — RADM George Meinig has cast lines ashore on his final voyage.

RADM George Meinig, Jr
November 8, 1936 – April 30, 2026.

I probably first encountered RADM Meinig shortly after 9/11/2001, when I joined the small Navy Theater Wide Program office.

George was a member of the Navy Theater Wide (NTW) Senior Advisory Team (SAT), headed by RADM Meyer.  The SAT was an assemblage of gurus probably never equalled in their knowledge of Navy Weapons and Missile Systems – RADMs Meyer and Meinig, George Threston, Milt Silvera, Jim Whalen, Capt Fritz Wendt, Marion Oliver, among others.

This was not a pontificating group (well, on occasion, esp FOA), but a group that would proactively identify weakness in the program, then roll up sleeves and get to work on corrective action, working directly with industry, labs, HQ, or the front office as needed.  

We had a term in AEGIS BMD – Blue Collar Captains – senior officer knowledge and experience combined with a junior officer roll up your sleeves and solve the problem while not worried about getting dirty approach.  The SAT did not have exclusive claim to the Blue Collar Captain title, we had other examples in Anteon and BecTech.

While an Admiral by rank, George was a true Blue Collar Captain.  He helped tackle some of the knarly technical and organizational challenges facing the program.

Hard to remember now, but late 2002 into 2003 was a time of program turmoil:
— The Aegis Project was being disassembled, 
— Missile Defense was gaining priority, eventually with a Presidential Directive to deploy by 9/30/04.  
— The NTW Program Manager had departed for a headquarters position, leaving the program in the hands of an untested1, acting Technical Director.
— We had a new Program Director inbound.
— Program personnel were flux, not knowing if we were NavSea or BMDO / MDA,2 going to be retained in the program, promoted, or put in the NavSea Placement Program.
— NavSea was stuck in a hiring freeze, even downsizing, with a directed personnel placement program, when we desperately needed more folks to achieve the deployment date.
— In Feb 2003, we were redirected from an “engagement” initial capability (with SM-3) to a LRST initial capability, supporting GMD, a completely new type mission area, starting with a blank white board.
—  Mostly forgotten now was that NTW was envisioned as a mere gap filler, intended to be replaced after a production run of 12 (or maybe 24) missiles by the Kinetic Energy Interceptor.  KEI was, like most PowerPoint programs, a “perfect” program, untarnished by any real data, and AEGIS BMD was under continuous attack by the KEI PM.
— the list goes on …

George was an anchor though this chaos.  In particular, he helped focus leadership on the battles that really mattered in achieving the 9/30/04 deployment directive, while building a program office on the fly, deftly switching focus to the latest technical challenge when required3.  The fact that AEGIS BMD survived the chaos, deploying on schedule, then becoming the ascendant BMD capability, with an enviable test success record, was in no small part to his help keeping leadership focused.

In 2012, RADM Meinig was recognized as an AEGIS BMD Pathfinder

The AEGIS BMD Pathfinder Award honors the contributions made to the nation’s defense by persons instrumental in the acquisition or operationalization of naval ballistic missile defense systems

In Oct 2019, the new CSEDS4 annex at Moorestown was named in his honor:

RADM George R. Meinig, Jr.
Integrated Air and Missile Defense Engineering Center

As our program YNCS, retired, observed, it is going to make quite an acronym. I think that was also the impetus for the last loonie-gram5.

RADM Meinig at the CSED Dedication with two other AEGIS BMD heroes – Jack Ransbotham (2nd from right), Bob Reichert (right)

Personally, George was an anchor for me.  He spent a lot of time listening, mentoring, and doing his best to keep me out of trouble – a typically doomed effort. On the most difficult day of my Naval Career, he stood with me, along with three others.  (Been 20+ years, so I am finally trying to write the story – stay tuned.)

I’m very sorry to relay the news that RADM George R. Meinig, USN(Ret.) passed away on 30 April.

He was instrumental in bringing many of our air and missile defense systems to reality as an engineering duty officer, with decades of service in NAVSEA and PMS 400.

His calm but determined demeanor was the “yin” to RADM Meyer’s “yang” in the heydays of AEGIS in the 1970s and 1980s.

He was a warm man, loved his family dearly, and spent lots of time mentoring younger officers and civilians.

The Navy honored RADM Meinig by naming the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Center in Moorestown, NJ after him in 2019.

Troy Kimmel May 13th e-mail to AEGIS friends

We have seen our AEGIS BMD Destroyers in the news frequently in the last few years, starting with Arleigh Burke’s first successful operational use of AEGIS BMD / SM-3, continuing through ongoing Middle East Events.  George had a huge hand in the success of the AEGIS Weapon System, the Destroyer, and the SM-3.  Our Sailors are relying on his contributions, even if they do not know his name. And for those keeping a complete record, his contributions also included the Phalanx systems, RAM, and SeaSparrow, among others.

We have lost a giant, one whose contributions to AEGIS BMD are not easy to summarize, and even less easy to overstate.

RADM Meinig Biography ca 2012 Pathfinder Award

CDR Meinig, RADM Meyer, VADM Doyle CSEDS Ribbon Cutting 1977
2003 AEGIS Infrastructure
RADM Meinig family 2019 CSEDS
  1. i.e, exactly zero relevant program office experience. No one in their right mind should have left this knuckle-head in charge. And not the last time this happened – see $183M in the hole and counting ↩︎
  2. As ADM Rickover learned, having two hats turned out useful, no one know which one you are wearing. Became one of the contributors to AEGIS BMD Success ↩︎
  3. The one written SAT missive from RADM Meinig I was able to find on short notice was to the incoming Program Director, ca Feb 2003, before they transferred their flag to AEGIS BMD, laying out the challenges facing the program, and endorsing the untested, acting TD, in place of changing leadership. I am afraid most of his numerous missives are irretrievable on the old outlook PST files that defy current efforts to decode. At least I had printed one.  ↩︎
  4. Combat Systems Engineering and Development Site ↩︎
  5. IAMD and the Barbarians at the Gate ↩︎

Arleigh Burke Sailor selected MDAA Navy Missile Defender of the Year

FCA1 Julian Smith was selected as the US Navy Awardee for the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance 2024 Missile Defender of the Year

Riki Ellison, FCA1 Julian Smith, ADM James Kilby

This is a special night where we gather annually here in the National Capital Region to recognize the best of the best in the missile defense profession. On January 17th in Alexandria Virginia, the 15th annual Missile Defender of the Year awards ceremony took place.  In the National Security area, 2024 has been the biggest and most consequential year for missile defense in our history.    

United States Navy  

Awardee: Fire Controlman Petty Officer 1st Class Julian Smith   

Presented by Admiral James Kilby  

Recognized for:  

Fire Controlman Petty Officer 1st Class Julian Smith distinguished himself for this award by “Revolutionizing fleet tactics,” fundamentally changing the execution of BMD missions. By spearheading this tactical development, he played a critical role in the advancement of tactics, techniques, and procedures at the Task Force and numbered Fleet Commander level, showcasing performance far above what is expected of a first-class petty officer. 

https://missiledefenseadvocacy.org/alert/2024-missile-defender-of-the-year/

Awardees receive one of Riki Ellison’s trademark MDAA footballs (if they can catch a throw from a linebacker). Riki was a national championship winning linebacker with USC, then winning three Super Bowls with the 49ers, before working with Dr Edward Teller in early National Missile Defense and later founding the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

AEGIS BMD – SM-3 First Combat Use Coin Presented to Program Executive

Rob Jobrack, Paul Mann, Rick Easton

Aegis BMD Program Executive, Mr. Paul Mann, was presented the Arleigh Burke commemorative coin on 30 Sept by CAPT (Ret) Rick Easton. The coin commemorates the ship’s April 2024 combat events in the Mediterranean Sea. The events marked the first use of Standard Missile 3 in combat to achieve successful intercepts of ballistic missiles in defense of our Allies.

The presentation was on the 20th anniversary of initial deployment of AEGIS BMD on 9-30-04.

Mr. Mann was a project engineer during successful preparation of the Arleigh Burke for Development and Operational Test.

Continue reading “AEGIS BMD – SM-3 First Combat Use Coin Presented to Program Executive”

AEGIS BMD – 20 Years on Patrol

Long Range Surveillance and Track Capability

Ballistic Missile Defense System Initial Defensive Operations commenced on September 30, 2004, in response to National Security Presidential Directive 23.

Two destroyers, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS John S. McCain were outfitted with the long range surveillance and track capability, supporting defense of the homeland by providing radar track data to the Ground-Based Midcourse system.

Later in October 2004, the initial deployment SM-3 Block I missiles were transferred to the US Navy.

SM-3 Initial Deployment Rounds

Since then, AEGIS BMD, hosted in AEGIS Cruisers and Destroyers has been on patrol, with continuously advancing levels of combat system performance supporting more capable missiles: SM-3 Blocks I, IA, IB, and IIA, and SM-6.

Continue reading “AEGIS BMD – 20 Years on Patrol”