Lt. Cmdr. Matt Tharp and Lt. Greg Machi after receiving their awards.

‘‘I was a little surprised to be honest,” said Machi. ‘‘Not only winning over VAW (Airborne Early Warning squadron) pilots since we are a little removed from the community here at Pax, but also being picked over some of my flight school classmates is a great honor.”

Recipients of the shore award are chosen as the most outstanding pilots and NFOs serving in a non-deployable, shore-based squadron, command or staff position.

‘‘It’s a privilege to be compared to, and picked over the Fleet Replacement Squadron,” said Tharp. ‘‘We were just happy to be nominated and generate more visibility for our squadron.”

Machi is currently an E-2D Advanced Hawkeye project officer and test pilot responsible for the cockpit developmental program that included leading a team of 25 active duty, civil service and contractor personnel, as well as managing a budget of three million dollars in the planning and execution of three high profile test plans. He has flown over 20 E-2D flights while completing over 270 data points.

In addition, Machi serves as NAWCAD’s Mode 5 project officer. He has completed the Mode 5 technical evaluation phase involving six different Navy airborne platforms and one Arleigh Burke class warship over the span of a year in which he executed 84 hours of ground test and 394 hours of flight test and briefed results to Flag-level executive personnel.

At VX-20, Machi is the primary E-2C NATOPS instructor responsible for the training and standardization of 10 E-2C pilots.

‘‘Lt. Machi is one of the most versatile and talented E-2 pilots and project officers in my command,” said VX-20 Commanding Officer Cmdr. John Lemmon. ‘‘He is the only pilot assigned to both E-2C and E-2D developmental test programs and has clearly made a dramatic impact on the Hawkeye community through his role in the developmental flight test arena.”

Tharp is an E-2D project officer and lead flight test NFO. Managing a budget of $19.5 million and leading a team of 32 government and contractor aircrew through the ground and flight test program in St. Augustine, Fla. and VX-20, Tharp was directly responsible for the E-2D’s transition from Florida to Pax River.

Tharp developed six highly sophisticated test plans that encompassed 6,500 data points ensuring an extensive evaluation of the E-2D weapon system.

Furthermore, Tharp was hand-selected as the officer-in-charge for the NC-130H detachment to Holloman Air Force Base to conduct follow-on E-2D risk reduction flights and integrated fire control demonstration.

‘‘Lt. Cmdr. Tharp’s exemplary performance at VX-20 is a direct result of his aviation excellence, engineering acumen and natural leadership,” said E-2⁄C-2 Platform Coordinator, Cmdr. James Borghardt. ‘‘He is motivated by an unrelenting drive to ensure that the community’s future needs are addressed with the Advanced Hawkeye during all test projects and his efforts will have lasting effects on the future of the Hawkeye community.”

Other nominees included pilots and NFOs from the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center and VAW-120.

‘‘We didn’t think that we would take both awards,” said Tharp. ‘‘To have two squadron guys nominated and actually win this award is great recognition for VX-20.”