Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division(NAWCWD) Public Affairs Deidre Patin– Ridgecrest native Greg Bell celebrated his retirement after 39 years with a flag-raising ceremony on Sept. 27 in China Lake.
Bell first worked at China Lake as a computer technician during the summers of 1981 and 1982 while attending Bakersfield Junior College. He transferred to California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo in the spring of 1983. That summer he entered the command’s Electrical Engineering co-op program in the Systems Electronics branch supporting the Sidewinder missile program. Bell continued working as a co-op student and graduated with a degree in Electronics Engineering in 1988.
He entered the Junior Professional program in China Lake, and after several JP tours settled in the Airborne Instrumentation Division where he spent 20 years as a telemetry systems design engineer, branch head and division head supporting numerous aircraft and weapons systems including F18, AV-8, Sidewinder, RAM, and HARM.
In 2008, Bell transferred to the Ranges Department where he spent 11 years as the head of the Instrumentation Division. During this time he successfully consolidated the Instrumentation and Data Systems Divisions, improving process efficiency and capability-based test and evaluation at the China Lake Ranges. As a result, he was awarded the Michelson Laboratory award for his exemplary leadership and technical achievements.
In 2019, Bell transferred into RDT&E division as the chief engineer implementing systems engineering, project management and configuration management processes and procedures across the IT environment. He also took on the program manager role for Digital Information Technology Analysis and Cyber Department’s earthquake recovery, including the installation of IT services into over 60 temporary facilities, 18 Major MILCON projects and multiple other construction projects across China Lake until his retirement.
