ADAPTING EXPERIMENTATION AND TESTING
been working for over two decades in their fields and are driven to make lives better for our warfighters.
“Te competitive prototyping effort for Future Tactical Uncrewed Aircraft Systems is a foundational experience for me,” he said. “Troughout this process, Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems and PM UAS leadership have provided excellent guidance and mentorship for executing this program as well as shaping the program and guiding the team. Additionally, my leaders have given me the latitude to grow and lead my team and interact directly with industry and Army senior leaders to share the successes we’ve had.”
Supportive leaders and team members combined with crit- ical career development programs helped Lilja navigate along his career path. Most recently, he took a program management course called PMT 3550/360V, which he completed in July 2021. Te course was designed to reinforce knowledge and hone analy- sis, synthesis and evaluative skills through the use of individual examinations, case studies and team exercises. Students complet- ing this course are expected to be effective leaders in program offices at the upper mid- and senior-level positions, while serv- ing in program management positions.
“It was a great capstone course for the pilot Army Acquisition Professional Education Program, allowing us to work through the fully Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System life cycle in small groups. I would recommend it to anyone who has a few years of PM [program management] experience,” he said.
Lilja said he always encourages his team and coworkers to seek challenges and challenging assignments to avoid stagnation and keep learning and growing in their field and beyond.
And the challenges don’t stop at the end of the workday. Outside of work, Lilja enjoys cooking and is always in search of new reci- pes. “A few folks on my team might know that I love to cook and am very interested in perfecting recipes,” he said. “Likewise, having a desire to improve processes and help the team with effi- ciencies is common to both [work and personal life] as well as having a passion for the resulting product.”
“Te product I’m working on is part of the Future Vertical Lift initiative of modernization. Using Shadow UAS, it can take a Soldier 12 to 24 hours to establish a working launch and recovery site requiring [Humvees] with ground controllers, maintenance support with air vehicle transportation shelters, trailer-mounted launchers and other associated equipment,” he said. “With
https://asc.ar my.mil 35
TABLE FOR NINE Lilja, fourth from left, dines with coworkers from PM UAS in Huntsville, Alabama, in May 2023. From left, Maj. Matt Huff, Lt. Col. Olin Walters, Maj. Mitch Boatwright, Col. Danielle Medaglia, Carson Wakefield, Lt. Col. Amanda Watkins, Maj. Josh McMillion and Lt. Col. Chris Getter. (Photo courtesy of Maj. David “Jon” Lilja)
FTUAS, the system takes off and lands vertically, eliminating the need for the majority of that equipment [previously needed by Shadow UAS], and the controller is small enough to sit on a table or in an ‘on-the-move’ configuration.”
Te modernization initiative is a group effort, requiring diverse knowledge and experiences to seek out and deliver capabilities, he said. “No one person knows it all. Acquisitions is a team sport, and understanding that everyone can contribute to solve prob- lems is critical.”
—CHERYL MARINO
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