Norbert Metternich

Background

About Norbert Metternich

I am a technical expert in missile performance assessment. I analyzed aircraft/missile interface of the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) for the AV-8B and FA-18 integration projects. I particpated in development and operational Test and Evaluation (T&E) of FA-18/AMRAAM. The T&E methods I applied include injecting aircraft cueing into missile simulation in order to identify weaknesses in aircraft support. I improved simulation fidelity by including software components vice simulated functionality in digital programs, defined aircraft waveforms to stimulate hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) threat jammers, and compared the performance of the weapon in in Flight Test to the HIL. The AMRAAM HIL at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, is the sole remaining facility of its kind in the Government, though plans are to re-build a facility at China Lake by 2011 as part of the Base Re-alignment And Closure (BRAC) process. I worked with AMRAAM development engineers at Raytheon, Tucson and our facility for 10 years to improve both simulation prediction and weapon system performance. I identified performance gaps and presented them to the Air Armament Center, Joint Services Program Office (JSPO) at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, Naval Strike Warfare Center (NSAWC), Fallon, NV, and FA-18 Advanced Weapons Laboratory, China Lake, CA. Early in my career, I evaluated missile Operational Flight Program (OFP) written in assembly by wrapping simulations around individual and groups of software modules to isolate errors and recommend corrective action. I identified five critical errors which were corrected by the then developer, Hughes Missile Systems Group, Canoga Park, CA. I gained expertise in the software design controlling radar, navigation, seeker, guidance and autopilot control of AMRAAM. Specialties: Data extraction from telemetry, data processing, MathWorks(r) MatLab(tm) and DataProbe, tool development, C, FORTRAN programming languages, Unix, VMS, and DOS operating systems.