Wayne E. Meyer | 'Father of Aegis,' 83
Retired Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer, 83, the force behind the Navy's development of the Aegis weapons system, which transformed the nature of naval warfare by relying on computerized and radar-controlled missile defense, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at Washington Hospital Center. He was a resident of Falls Church, Va., and lived and worked in Moorestown for many years.
Retired Rear Adm. Wayne E. Meyer, 83, the force behind the Navy's development of the Aegis weapons system, which transformed the nature of naval warfare by relying on computerized and radar-controlled missile defense, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at Washington Hospital Center. He was a resident of Falls Church, Va., and lived and worked in Moorestown for many years.
Adm. Meyer, an engineer, was the founding project manager of the Aegis Weapon System Project, the research and development program that began in 1970. He took over the Aegis combat system in 1976 and the Aegis shipbuilding project a year later. Widely known as the "father of Aegis," he was involved with the program until his retirement in 1985.
With 89 ships built or in construction and more in planning stages, the system he championed is one of the longest and largest naval shipbuilding programs in history. It is widely considered the premier air defense system in the world.
Named for the mythical shield of Zeus, Aegis was initially seen by its supporters as the answer to a vexing problem of the Cold War era, Adm. Meyer told The Inquirer in 2004. "At the end of World War II, we had no defenses against a rocket or a ballistic-type missile or a kamikaze-type missile, today called a cruise missile," he said.
Rear Adm. Charles T. Bush, the Navy's program executive officer for integrated warfare systems in 2004, told The Inquirer that Aegis represented an advance in surface warfare that was more significant than the transition "from sail to steam."
The program was hugely expensive and hugely controversial. Adm. Meyer ultimately prevailed.
He retired from active duty in 1985. In retirement, he ran a management and consulting business for the Navy and chaired numerous Navy advisory boards.
Adm. Meyer's name adorns the Naval Postgraduate School's Institute of Systems Engineering in Monterey, Calif., and, in 2008, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer was christened in his honor at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. It is due to arrive in early October in Philadelphia, where it will be officially commissioned the USS Wayne E. Meyer. - Washington Post