Unlike most of us, decades of problem solving in the U.S. Civil Service for Reuben Pitts were “literally rocket science!"
The Pontotoc County Historical Society invites the public to a special presentation on Tuesday night, May 3, when Pitts, a Pontotoc native, discusses his career as a scientist/missile expert in the inner circles of the U.S. Department of Defense.
The program will begin at 6 p.m. at the Pontotoc Community House. This event is free.
A 1964 graduate of Pontotoc High School, Pitts is a defense consultant and President of Lyceum Consulting, LLC. He retired from the U.S. Civil Service in 2008 with more than 40 years of service to the U.S. Navy. For most of his career, Pitts led programs in Integrated Air and Missile Defense.
Pontotoc County Historical Society President Bob McGee said, “Reuben’s life story is the stuff of adventure novels, yet he came from right here in Pontotoc, Mississippi. Please join us on May 3 as Reuben relates his experiences developing major weapon systems, countering the Soviets during the Cold War, shooting down a failing satellite and much more.“
“We are excited and honored to have Reuben as our featured speaker because he is truly a rocket scientist,” McGee praised. “His career and stories are amazing and so are the places he has been, the things he has done. When I recently asked him about the current ongoing war in Ukraine and the weapons systems being used there, he talked about the weapons, but he was even more excited about the the politics, the strategies being used, the geography of the country and why that is so important.”
“Reuben was often in the room when numerous major events were occurring back in the ‘70s, 80s 90s and 2000 onward,” McGee said. "He was a civilian employee of the Department of Defense but he would often be in the room with three star generals and others who were making decisions about what was going on all over the world.”
“He is an expert on weapons systems, an expert on projectile explosives and a problem solver. His work and innovations on weapon system, particularly with target alignment, led to the development and usage of global positioning systems (GPS).”
McGee said that Pitts was a colleague and friend of Gladys Mae West, an American mathematician known for her contributions to the mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of the satellite geodesy models that were eventually incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS). West was inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame during a ceremony in her honor at the Pentagon, December 6, 2018. West’s career began in 1956 when she was hired to work at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, where she was the second black woman ever hired.
“Reuben worked with people like Gladys Mae West, the best and brightest this country had to offer,” McGee said. “He has been all over the world. This is a can’t miss event featuring one of the most accomplished persons ever to come from Pontotoc."
Pitts received a B. S. in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University in 1968. Early successes in ordnance test and design at the Naval Weapons Laboratory earned Pitts a promotion as the Navy’s Gun Ammunition Design Agent’s Principal Engineer for gun ammunition design. Then, as Design Manager for the 8-Inch Guided Projectile project team, he achieved the first successful firing of guided munitions from shipboard guns.
As Head, Intelligence Systems Processing Branch, Pitts directed the development of the first mobile, field-deployable, computer-based Intelligence Analysis Center (IAC) for the Marine Corps. He subsequently served on the planning team to reintroduce the Navy to Wallops Island, Virginia; currently a multiple ship combat, over-the-water weapons testing lab for Surface Ship Combat Systems, Fighter Aircraft and live missile firings.
For two years he served as the Science Advisor to the Commander of the U. S. Sixth Fleet, the commander of all U. S. Naval forces in the Mediterranean theater of operations. He was Head of the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) Surface Ship Program Office from 1985 to 2003, where he had program management oversight for the Division's efforts in the Navy's AEGIS, DD(X), Theater Ballistic Missile Defense, Aircraft Carrier, Expeditionary Warfare Ship, and Manning Reduction Technology Programs.
Pitts was selected to lead the technical analysis team in support of the formal JAG investigation of the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by USS Vincennes, and participated in subsequent briefings to CENTCOM, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the Secretary of Defense.
Anticipating the future course of combatant surface ships, Pitts co-founded the NSWCDD Advanced Computing Technology effort, which eventually became the Aegis/DARPA-sponsored High-Performance Distributed Computing Program; the world’s most advanced distributed real-time computing technology effort.
That effort was the foundation for the Navy’s current Open Architecture Initiative. Pitts led the applications of total ship system engineering to surface ship combat system developments at the platform level, integrating combat systems and Hull, Mechanical & Electrical functions and achieving commonality of technologies, equipment, and computer programs across ship classes.
While in this position he was promoted to the rank of Senior Science and Technology Manager (SSTM).
In 2003 Pitts accepted responsibility as Technical Director for PEO Integrated Warfare Systems (IWS), the overall technical authority for the PEO. In September of that year, he was reassigned as the Major Program Manager for Integrated Combat Systems in the PEO.
In this position, he was the Program Manager for the Combat Systems and Training Systems for all U. S. Navy Surface Combatants, including Aircraft Carriers, Cruisers, Destroyers, Frigates, Amphibious Ships, and auxiliaries with total obligation authority that approached $6 billion. In this position he began the Navy’s Warfare System Way Ahead effort that formed the Surface Navy’s basis for future ship combat system budget strategies, he began the Enterprise Test and Evaluation effort which demonstrated savings of hundreds of millions of dollars, and he established the Navy strategy for acquisition of Warfare Systems based on Open Architecture principles.
In July, 2006, Pitts returned to NSWCDD to form and head the Warfare Systems Department, a hands-on research and development organization with over 700 employees and an active budget in excess of $400 million. Under his leadership, the department became the leading Navy field activity voice for the future of Navy Surface Warfare Systems and Warfare System architectures and technologies.
While in this position he maintained his personal technical involvement as the certification official for Surface Navy Combat Systems. He also served as Chair of the Combat System Configuration Control Board and Chair of the Mission Readiness Panel for Operation Burnt Frost, the killing of inoperative satellite USA 193 in February, 2008.
Pitts has been a guest speaker/lecturer/symposium panelist at many NAVSEA-level and DoD symposia, conferences, and at the Naval Postgraduate School, the Defense Acquisition University, the Applied Physics Lab of the Johns Hopkins University, The University of Mary Washington, and the National Defense University.
For 19 years Mr. Pitts was the sole certification authority for all Aegis Combat System computer programs for fleet use.
Since retirement, Pitts has consulted with several defense companies, has served on the Senior Advisory Team for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program, and chaired the investigation into the failure of the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground Based Midcourse System test (FTG-06) which occurred in January of 2010. He also led a team of missile defense experts to examine and improve the way ahead for the SM-3 Blocks IB and IIA Divert and Attitude Control Systems.
He was a member of the Independent Expert Panel chartered by the Director, Missile Defense Agency to review the status and to recommend improvements to the Ground Based Interceptor, the primary weapon to defend the homeland against ballistic missile attack, and he currently continues to advise the Missile Defense Agency on a number of initiatives.
Pitts’ awards include the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award (two awards), the Navy Meritorious Civilian Service Award, the John Adolphus Dahlgren Award, the James E. Colvard Award (first recipient), the Navy Science Assistance Program Science Advisor of the Year Award, selection to membership in Pi Tau Sigma Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, and was listed in Outstanding Young Men of America.
He is an active Baptist Deacon and serves on the Board and the Executive Committee of Global Outreach International where he is Secretary/Treasurer.