Mr. Dave Wallhermfechtel, prior to his retirement in 2008, was the Program Manager – New Business in the Support Systems Business Unit at Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) in St. Louis, Missouri.
Dave had over forty-two years experience in the support equipment business spanning multiple military services and multiple programs. His background includes new business development, project management, requirements analysis, concept definition and automatic test systems hardware/software design.
Dave began his career with Emerson Electric Co. (later, Systems Engineering Inc. - or SEI - now DRS) where he designed and developed ATE and test program sets on the USAF GPATS (General Purpose Automatic Test System) program(June 1969 to July 1998). After serving two years on military leave from Emerson as a test officer in the U. S. Army (July 1969 to July 1971) at the Electronic Proving Ground in Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, he returned to Emerson and worked on the ADTS/IFVM (Avionics Depot Test Set/Intermediate Frequency Video and Microwave) for the depot support of the F-15 radar. As a Group Engineer he was responsible for the design, development and validation of the E8200 family of testers for the TOW (Tube-launched, Optically-tracked Wire-guided) missile launcher and the F-5 radar system. Through direct customer contact, he supported the foreign sales of these products in multiple countries.
Dave went on to provide the technical leadership leading to capture the Depot Automatic Test System for Avionics (DATSA) program, the first system procured by the USAF utilizing its Modular Automatic Test Equipment (MATE) system concepts. He subsequently served as the program manager for the design and development of the DATSA and successfully expanded the role of DATSA with the capture of programs to provide depot support for the B-1B (bomber), MILSTAR (a strategic, satellite communications system), PAVE TACK (an airborne EO targeting pod) and Maverick missile launcher systems. He managed the R&D (research and development) efforts to add radar test capability to a portable tester resulting in the Radio Frequency Mobile Electronics Test Set (RFMETS) which was chosen to support the Special Operations Forces Combat Talon II and Gunship radar systems. As the Director of Applications Engineering, he developed the technical proposal strategy for the capture of the High Power Device Test Subsystem for the US Navy’s CASS automatic test system program, which SEI won in 1996
After leaving Emerson in July 1998 and joining Boeing BDS, Dave fostered the expansion of their Support Systems business base through key wins on new programs such as the Man Portable Electro-optical Test System (MPETS) and the Reconfigurable Transportable Consolidated Automated Support System (RTCASS.) He was responsible for the identification and capture of new business opportunities and guiding their R&D efforts to satisfy overall business unit strategies while capitalizing on the organization’s core competencies to provide affordable support systems to Boeing customers for their aerospace products.
Dave received a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from St. Louis University and has completed post graduate studies at both St. Louis University and the University of Missouri-Rolla.
He has been active in the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) where he chaired the NDIA’s Automatic Test Committee for 8 years. He was the vice-chair of an industry wide conference in 2005 on automatic test equipment, AUTOTESTCON 2005, which is sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE.) He served on the AUTOTESTCON Board of Directors until 2009. Dave has published technical papers, including a paper in the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation & Measurement.

Dave and his wife of more than 40 years, Charlotte, live in St. Louis, Missouri, where they have three children and two grandchildren.