Meet 2 Circle’s Newest SVP: David “Streaker” Lowe

In the warm, sunlit fields of Satellite Beach, Florida, 24 miles south of the Kennedy Space Center, David “Streaker” Lowe often gazed up into the vast sky, dreaming of becoming an astronaut.

Growing up in the Space Shuttle era, his childhood was steeped in the magic of space exploration. The roaring engines of space shuttles thundered in the background, fueling his aspirations to one day wear a space suit, enter the service elevator that leads to the spacecraft, and experience the rumbling, shaking, and vibration as the space shuttle took flight.

This dream shaped his life’s trajectory in profound ways.

Journey to the U.S. Naval Academy

Streaker was a gifted athlete. His childhood and teenage years were marked by a talent in baseball and football. His exceptional talent on the football field caught the attention of college scouts, earning him a football scholarship to Vanderbilt University. Around the same time, his skills on the baseball diamond were recognized on a national level when he was drafted in the 1986 MLB amateur draft to be a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners.

Yet, amidst these enticing opportunities, another offer aligned more closely with his childhood dreams — the chance to attend the U.S. Naval Academy.

“The quickest way, even today, to become an astronaut is to be a Navy fighter pilot. The Naval Academy has produced more Naval Aviators who have become astronauts than any other college. So, I said, all right, that’s the path I have to take. I’ll be a Navy fighter pilot.”

Upon entering the Naval Academy in the fall of 1986, Streaker quickly realized that the path to his dream was far from easy. The rigorous demands of the Naval Academy pushed him to his limits. He was expected to perform under all forms of pressure — fatigue, physical stress, academic stress, and sleep deprivation.

“I had no idea what I was getting into. Plebe (freshman) year is all part of the process designed to break you down, rebuild you, and prepare you to an Officer in the Navy or Marine Corps – to lead sailors and Marines into combat…and win. Plebe year was miserable and discouraging, but it was necessary,” he recalls.

In the summer of 1987, after completing his Youngster (sophomore) year, Streaker got his first taste of flying airplanes at Naval Air Station Pensacola.

It marked a turning point in his journey, reigniting his passion and determination for his childhood dreams. “It allowed me to see what life was like in the Fleet,” he says. “Then, something clicked. I still wanted to be an astronaut, to go into space. That dream did not die. So I put my nose to the grindstone and committed myself to earning a pilot billet.”

Over the next few years, Streaker balanced a demanding academic schedule with 23 semester hours of engineering classes while excelling in athletics, earning varsity letters in both football and baseball.

His commitment, resilience, and adaptability paid off — it allowed him to go through the jet training pipeline, earn his Wings of Gold, become an F-14 Tomcat pilot, and embark on an eventful career in Naval Aviation.

Streaker’s Navy career was distinguished by his mastery of the supersonic, twin-engine fighter and his talent in aerial combat and tactical systems.

After two successful deployments, he found himself at a crossroads, contemplating the next chapter of his professional life. He faced a choice that would alter the course of his career and his life: pursue a path to Test Pilot School, a stepping stone to his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut or delve deeper into the world of Naval Aviation by completing the Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) course at the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School (TOPGUN).

The allure of space travel had captured his imagination since he was a boy. But there was something undeniably thrilling about the adrenaline and rush of flying fighters and the skill, precision, and determination required to fly, complete missions, and be part of something greater.

Yet, Streaker’s decision-making was not solely about his professional aspirations; it was deeply intertwined with his role as a devoted husband and father to his two sons, Nathaniel and Joshua. The impact of his career choices on his family weighed heavily on his mind.

As he weighed his options, Streaker realized that his dream was no longer just his own. He decided to attend TOPGUN instead of Test Pilot School, which anchored him closer to home and allowed him to be present in his children’s formative years. “My dream changed when we had kids,” Streaker reflects, his voice tinged with a mix of nostalgia and contentment. “It’s been a blast ever since.”

In 1999, he completed his Strike-Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) Course. Then he became an Instructor at Strike Fighter Weapons School Atlantic (SFWSLANT) – a U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet weapons school based at NAS Oceana in Virginia Beach, VA. In this role, he supported multiple Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness Program (SFARP) training events and channeled his experience and understanding of aerial combat into mentoring a new generation of fighter pilots. He found a sense of fulfillment in this role, he says.

Reflecting on his 20-year tenure in the Navy, Streaker highlights two roles that stand out as his proudest achievements. As the Forward Air Controller (Airborne) (FAC-A) program manager for the F-14 community, he was able to defend the extremely burdensome training syllabus during tight budgetary times for Fighter Wing Atlantic Fleet.

The mission set was so different and difficult for Navy Tomcat aircrews that the highest training standard had to be defended. There is no other mission in aviation that is as dangerous to friendly troops on the ground than misdirected ordnance delivered in close proximity to friendly troops. The FAC(A) training syllabus is almost entirely intact still today.

It was in Iraq that Streaker found his most fulfilling role. Tasked with mitigating the threat of radio-controlled improvised explosive devices (RC-IEDs), his mission was to protect American and Coalition personnel from these hidden dangers.

Streaker’s unique background as a fighter pilot and tactics instructor brought a fresh perspective to the critical roles of Brigade Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) for Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force Arabian Peninsula (CJSOTF-AP) and Director of Operations, Joint CREW Composite Squadron ONE (JCCS-1), where he coordinated efforts across a vast region, from Turkey to Kuwait. His time in Baghdad and other locations, spanning almost 11 months, was marked by safeguarding thousands of soldiers’ lives.

This tour stood out as the most rewarding of his 20-year Navy career. “Taking the skills I learned in the Navy and applying them to a ground war in Iraq… it’s something that I’m very proud of. That was pretty much the most impactful time in uniform, where I made the largest contribution,” he says. In July 2008, Streaker was awarded the Bronze Star from the Multi-National Corps Iraq (MNC-I) for his efforts during those 11 months.

A blend of professional opportunities, family considerations, and personal preferences influenced Streaker’s retirement from active duty in 2010. Despite offers and recommendations to take high-profile Pentagon positions, Streaker prioritized his family’s wishes, particularly respecting his family’s desire for stability and a relatively settled life – or as much of one as can be expected with a parent on active duty.

This decision led him to settle in Atlanta, Georgia, where he joined the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI). There, he was drawn to a variety of projects, advanced research, and the opportunity to establish a Navy-focused program that would provide support to the Naval Aviation Enterprise. His time at GTRI involved extensive business development resulting in the creation of a field office near NAS Patuxent River and securing/managing major contracts.

In his role as a Senior Research Engineer, Streaker provided operational insights and expertise to an engineering team evaluating hardware and software upgrades for the EA-18G Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS), Integrated Aircraft Survivability Equipment (IASE) for the MV-22, advanced EW capabilities, and embedded EW training software upgrades for the MH-60 community. After working at GTRI for six years, Streaker was offered a new challenge in his professional life.

In 2016, Streaker’s career took a turn when he received a call from a friend and classmate from TOPGUN, Dave “Poof” Harris. Recognizing Streaker’s expertise as a strike and air warfare specialist, Harris enlisted his help for two key roles: data collector for the Navy’s relatively new Training Analysis Project (TAP) and a position as the Mission Engineer for the Navy’s Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) Deployment Office, now known as the Effects Deployment Office (FXDO).

Excited by the opportunity to support and provide the warfighter with urgently needed capabilities, Streaker joined 2 Circle in April 2016, which coincided with a move back to his home state of Florida. He was drawn not just by the roles themselves but by the company’s dedication to impactful and pioneering projects and working alongside dedicated professionals.

“I joined 2 Circle to work on projects that provide direct impact to the warfighter and to work with exceptionally talented people. I got everything I was looking for,” he explains.

Once part of the TAP initiative, Streaker dedicated himself to evaluating aircrew performance and training. Drawing from his experience as a former tactics instructor, he aimed to boost aircrew skills and enhance their combat effectiveness for current and future challenges.

“As our weapon systems and aircraft become more complex, we don’t always have the ability to train to the level of complexity required to maximize the aircrew’s skillsets,” Streaker explains. “We’re relying on these folks who are still wearing flight suits and doing God’s work to be the best they can be, but we aren’t providing them with the training environment to make them the best they can be. I have a problem with that.”

For well over four years, Streaker supported the collection and reporting process of TAP, providing crucial data to decision-makers and ensuring investments in technologies and training methods that prepare Naval Aviators for combat.

“You don’t have to ask me twice. I’m going to be there every day of the week and stay as long as you need me to ensure we’re providing that information back to decision-makers so they can invest in the technologies and the architectures that will allow aircrew to be prepared for combat. Maybe that’s just the former tactics instructor coming out in me, but I want to make these folks fail in training so they win in combat. Help them so they come back home to their families, and make the bad guy pay their price for being bad, as opposed to us as a nation paying the price for not being trained well enough.”

In his Mission Engineer role at the FXDO, Streaker has played a pivotal role in this program since 2016 — supporting the development and integration of a family of systems that work in coordination to create a desired effect, enhancing survivability and lethality of the weapon system within the battlespace.

His role bridges the gap between operational/warfighting requirements and engineering solutions, translating the needs of the warfighter into actionable requirements for weapon system design, while communicating engineering aspects back to the operational side — “so it’s all a seamless, bi-directional exchange of tactical and technical information,” he explains. His work has involved collaboration with kill chain providers and fleet weapons schools from the Navy, Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, and soon to be the U.S Marine Corps.

Streaker serves as a Senior Warfare Analyst/Team Lead for the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) Research & Engineering (R&E) America’s Mid-Band Initiative Team (AMBIT) Joint EW Live-Virtual-Constructive (LVC) Training Project. In this role, Streaker leads a team tasked with two objectives:

Identify EW training gaps for Joint LVC training venues while also addressing service-specific training gaps created by spectrum sell-off; and,

Develop and demonstrate EW LVC training prototypes for advanced EW modeling that are specific to training venues and align with the Joint Operational Training Infrastructure (JOTI)-defined LVC ecosystem to lessen the need for AMBIT-related spectrum use, allowing the Joint Force to conduct EW training for the pacing threat.

“The end state of the AMBIT project is a Joint/Coalition Force high-end EW training prototype that plugs into a blended LVC environment to create an operationally representative electromagnetic operating environment (EMOE),” he says.

In his new role as Senior Vice President of the Technology Maturation & Acquisition Support (TMAS) Department, Streaker believes his main responsibility is to lead, shape, and grow new leaders within TMAS.

“We predominantly hire former warfighters who are leaders in their respective communities. They generally don’t need a tutorial from me on leadership. But what they do need to see is how we run our business processes, how we manage contracts, how we manage customers (especially those who can be difficult at times), and how we take care of the little things so they don’t become big things later on. Having open discussions with our employees, allowing them to ask questions, to voice their opinions, allows for very good dialogue and creates an edifying environment. This is how we are growing tomorrow’s leaders in TMAS.”

TMAS consists of two divisions, the Program Analytics Division (PAD) and the Program Support Division (PSD). PAD provides analysis for the U.S. Air Force’s Joint Program Office & Eglin Armament Directorate supporting the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) / Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) Program, including analysis of materials, supply chains, workforce, and pricing for supported programs.

PSD provides support to the F/A-18F and EA-18G Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Integrated Product Team (IPT) in PMA-265. It also provides programmatic and operational analysis support to PMA-281’s Collaborative Mission Planning Continuum (CMPC), OUSD R&E’s Joint EW LVC Training Project, and MH-60 Mission Rehearsal Trainer (MRT) studies. Lastly, PSD supports the FXDO in PMA-201, PMA-266, PMA-299, OUSD Strategic Capabilities Office, and the QF-16 SPO.

Together, PAD and PSD are committed to enhancing warfighting capabilities through strategic innovation and expert analysis, laying the groundwork for future advancements in defense technology. “We provide operational and acquisition subject matter expertise to program managers and program offices, enabling them to create and/or modernize technology that enables the warfighter to better execute their mission,” Streaker says.

Looking ahead, Streaker envisions significant growth for the department by adding a new division with three or four additional groups, which will enable TMAS to elevate team members into new leadership roles.

“All to expand warfighter support to a broader array of DoD organizations and allies,” he explains. “I want to be able to provide more support to our trusted partners because they are in the same fight we are in. Our FMS team’s work with the RAAF is a great example of the critical work we do for the future of the Naval Aviation Enterprise, our warfighters, and our foreign partners.”