Outlook Magazine - Fall 2024

F-22 FIGHTER JETS FOR LOCKHEED-MARTIN

arry Bauer (’83, ’93) remembers the moment early in his career with aerospace giant Lockheed-Martin when his team’s four-year project was put to the test. They had been tasked with designing and developing the leading edges of the Air Force F-22 fighter aircraft, which were key to achieving stealth — avoiding radar detection. When an F-22 vertical stabilizer was mounted on a pole for a radar range test, nothing came back. The work was a success, one of the reasons the F-22 became a stealth jet in the U.S. arsenal. Only when a bird landed on the stabilizer during the test — something that wouldn’t happen on a plane going 1,500 mph — was the stabilizer detected. The F-22 project is one of many successes in Bauer’s 36-year career as a project manager with

Lockheed-Martin. While he may not be a designer, he’s played key roles in leading major projects. His team’s F-22 design remains in use on the state of-the art F-35 made by Lockheed-Martin. On the F-35, he managed the integrated core processor project for the plane’s onboard computer. He led the merger of IT systems when Lockheed-Martin Space and Boeing Defense formed United Launch Alliance. He has worked on projects for the F-16, F-117 and other military aircraft. “Design can go beyond the aircraft. When a plane flies, there’s an army of people you never see working behind the scenes to make it all happen,” Bauer said. “It’s all in the interest of national security. I’m motivated: Some of the threats out there are pretty sobering.”

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University of Wisconsin-Stout