Welcome back to another episode of commissioned. Thank you so much for joining us. As we discuss today, another career field. This one is known as the developmental engineer, or the 62 echo career field.
The Air force has a whole set of career fields dedicated to acquisitions. Well, what is acquisitions? Acquisitions is research, development, the actual acquisition, but sustainment of weapon systems and other things that we need in order to conduct our combat operations. That can be anything from a helmet to a missile to an actual aircraft.
It’s important to think about what actually goes into getting the stuff that the Air force needs. The f 35 didn’t just appear out of nowhere. There was a very long, very arduous acquisition cycle, research and development that went into producing that aircraft. And developmental engineers were at every single stage and will continue to be at every single stage of the f 35 or any other type of equipment or platform or anything else that the air force uses from cradle all the way to the grave of that particular asset.
Yeah. A good way to think about what a developmental engineer is going to be responsible for. They’re that connective tissue between the government contractors who build these weapon systems and the airmen who are going to use them in order to make sure that they can speak both air Force and that developmental language, that engineering language, in order to make sure the weapon system does what we want. You need someone with a very specific set of skills. That’s where these books come into play. Yeah.
And in order to develop that very specific set of skills, it has to start with a very technical background. And so there are some educational requirements. In order to become a developmental engineer, we’ve got some links in the description that will show you exactly what those requirements are. But generally speaking, if you want to be a developmental engineer, you’re going to have to have some sort of bachelor.
Of science degree in engineering, and you’re also going to have to do three weeks of training at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The fundamentals of acquisitions management, that is your entry into what is actually a career long training pipeline through the defense acquisitions university, or DAU. There’s a lot of training that you have to go through in order to be and stay current as an acquisitions officer, and that’s going to be continuous throughout your career. Not only that, but there are a lot of higher education opportunities as well.
Yeah. One example of that is the Air Force Institute of Technology. This is located in Dayton, Ohio, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Their developmental engineers can spend a year and a half, two years or so being just a student. That is their job as an officer is to get that additional information that will prepare them for when they return to the operational Air Force and use that knowledge to better acquire, better sustain, better maintain some of the equipment that the Air Force has already purchased or is anticipating purchasing.
So speaking of the operational Air Force, there are a limited number of locations where developmental engineers can be stationed. Nearly all of them are within the boundaries of the United States. There are also few opportunities for those folks to deploy. And if they do deploy, they’re almost certainly going to be doing something other than their career field, say maybe an executive officer or something of that nature. There’s also not as many opportunities to lead. There aren’t exactly a large force of enlisted engineers that we have in the Air Force. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to lead. They’re just not going to lead in the traditional sense that most of us think of one officer and a lot of enlisted countermeasures.
Absolutely. In fact, the developmental process for a 62 echo is that they are going to continue gaining that experience, that academic knowledge, and eventually get to a point where they are turned into a 63, a program manager, and then given the responsibility of being a material leader, where they are in charge of an entire program and all of the other civilians and other officers who make that program successful.
Yes. And as we’ve described, this ability to translate Air Force needs to the people who build these weapons for us and make sure that both of those parties are on the same page. This is not easy stuff. I came from the acquisitions community, Colin. I started my Air Force career there, and as a trained scientist, I found a lot of peers with a lot of intellectual capacity. It was a really challenging environment to work in. And if this is something that you’re interested in, engage with us. Find us on social media. You can email us at [email protected] we’re more than happy to put you in touch with folks that are doing this day in and day out. It’s a very rewarding career field and can develop skills that you can use not only as an air force officer, but on the outside. If that’s something that you’re interested in.
Absolutely. The skills that you develop here can be applied not only in the Air Force, but outside. And most importantly, you are still an officer. You still carry that same level of trust and authority that any other officer has in the Air force. And there’s still that expectation that you’re going to have a high level of character, especially that high level of competence and the ability to connect not just in the air force, but people who.
Are outside of it, as always. Link below to some items in the description that can be very helpful for you. Like and subscribe this video. We’d love for you to share it with those that are interested in this career field and anything else this week.
Colin, before we wrap up, that’ll do it for this one. Thanks for joining us for today’s episode of Commissionet.