HEADQUARTERS, NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. —
The 17th annual NAVAIR Commander’s Awards, held here March 22, recognized the role teams and teamwork play within NAVAIR in support of business innovation, technical innovation, improving fleet readiness and increasing speed of capability to the fleet.
NAVAIR Commander Vice Adm. Paul Grosklags commented on the increasing complexity of global threats and the importance of innovation, readiness and speed to NAVAIR’s mission.
“We need to get rid of the stuff that’s holding us back. The Chief of Naval Operations’ words were, ‘If it’s not making our Navy and Marine Corps more lethal, stop it! Stop doing it.’ That’s his challenge to all of his flag officers and senior executives, and I’m passing on that same challenge to all of you,” Grosklags said to winners. “All of you awardees are being recognized for getting stuff to the fleet more quickly, for improving readiness, for technical and business innovation, for not being complacent, for leaning forward.”
Finalists were selected from more than 100 teams and individuals from across NAVAIR for their dedication, innovative spirit and drive for results.
The winners are, by category:
Business Innovation
First Place: Commander, Fleet Readiness Center (COMFRC) N42 Deployed Support / In-Service Repair Team, led by Capt. Jeff Pronesti and Ann Wood, Patuxent River
This team led an aggressive naval aviation enterprise (NAE)-wide effort to modernize and integrate aircraft in-service repair (ISR) processes and information systems. The team’s efforts led to a 43 percent reduction in F/A-18A-D in-service repair aircraft in 16 months. This reduction returned 65 aircraft back to the fleet, reducing the number of out of reporting aircraft and decreasing the ready basic aircraft gap. This significant reduction was accomplished even though the average ISR repair phase and associated work content grew by 69.3 percent because of the complexity of the repairs. Additionally, during fiscal year 2016, COMFRC reduced ISR cycle times across all type/model /series as follows: initial response cycle time by 36 percent, aircraft evaluation cycle time by 66 percent and record closure cycle time by 57 percent. The team’s accomplishments have become the cornerstone for the NAE Vison 2020 Naval Aviation Sustainment Center. This small enterprise team focused on increasing ready basic aircraft by transforming naval aviation’s aircraft planner and estimator/ISR processes, policy, information technology systems and metrics in a short amount of time across the entire NAE.
Second Place: AIR-7.3.2 Business Intelligence and Data Analytics Division, led by Paul Mehrkam, Patuxent River
NAVAIR’s Total Force Strategy and Management Department developed a series of workforce data marts and associated dashboards to enable data-driven decision-making. Previous methods used to analyze workforce metrics and develop data products encountered numerous challenges, including data integrity, quality and latency, which required extensive data manipulation and normalization. With workforce requirements at peak levels, the protracted cycle time of these resource intensive processes was no longer sufficient to meet demand. This team derived required data elements, established quality standards and implemented persistent interfaces or recurring data loads into authoritative data marts. Armed with consistent, authoritative data sources, the team then layered sophisticated analysis and visualization, producing repeatable, value-added business intelligence. Deployed in a Microsoft SharePoint portal, the dashboards provide a secure, consolidated repository for command leadership, human resource specialists and supervisors to access and evaluate data to answer mission-driven human capital questions with actionable intelligence — providing tactical direction to meet strategic intent.
Honorable Mention: PMA-205 and Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) Acquisition Streamlining Leadership Team, led by Capt. Jason K. Lopez and Capt. Craig Dorrans, Patuxent River, and Capt. Erik O. Etz, Orlando, Florida
This combined team eliminated unnecessary oversight and redundancy in the Abbreviated Acquisition Program acquisition process, reduced the amount and complexity of required acquisition documentation, and simplified industry solicitations, enabling accelerated delivery of training capabilities to the fleet. Before implementing the streamlining initiatives, it took an average of 401 days to approve the required documents in support of a Milestone Decision. Of the two programs going through the acquisition process after streamlining, it has taken an average of 118 days, resulting in a 70.6 percent reduction in time. This business innovation has successfully reduced the burden on integrated product teams, government agencies and industry in the acquisition process.
Honorable Mention: Triton Supportability Test and Evaluation Team, led by Carl “Howie” Holwerda, Patuxent River
While facing limited test asset availability and a compressed test schedule, this team collaborated across departments, competencies and business units to develop unique and schedule saving solutions to conduct dedicated supportability testing. The team matured and exercised a unique interactive electronic technical manual data module (DM) combined validation /verification process, which included embedded Naval Air Technical Data and Engineering Service Center quality assurance personnel conducting near-real time updates/edits to the DMs to ensure DM accuracy, reducing rework cost and schedule pressures. The team partnered with NAWCTSD to use a stricken aircraft repurposed as a training asset to conduct evaluations on systems that have a direct negative impact on mission readiness. This approach allowed the combined teams to pool their talents and efforts with zero impact to the Triton acquisition schedule. Combining Log-Demos with reliability and maintainability (R&M) maintenance demonstrations provided accurate data collection for R&M, while eliminating duplication of test event scheduling. The team has set the standard in creating a fully integrated logistics test approach for early identification and correction of deficiencies before initial operational test and evaluation.
Honorable Mention: Integrated Business Capabilities (IBC) Data Challenge Project Team, led by Joe Incorvia, Patuxent River
This team created and managed NAVAIR’s first “data challenge” – a crowdsourcing competition designed to improve fleet readiness through data analytics and visualization. The project team gathered and supplied more than 152 gigabytes of data, representing 10 years of naval aircraft maintenance data, to 33 self-formed teams representing all NAVAIR sites; created opportunities to accelerate learning, such as brown bag sessions on data science topics and frequent subject matter expert question-and-answer sessions; established and maintained a collaborative framework to aid the 178 challenge participants throughout the challenge milestones while simultaneously growing the data science community to more than 600 members; planned and conducted a multiday summit featuring NAVAIR flag officers and senior executives, industry and other Navy organizations to exchange knowledge on challenge activities, larger data science topics, along with recognizing a winning team. As a result of the team’s efforts, quick wins were identified in the area of fleet readiness tooling enhancements, NAVAIR’s data strategy was validated, partnerships were established with external data science leaders and NAVAIR’s power in solving data centric problems was demonstrated.
Improving Fleet Readiness
First Place: H-53E Ready Basic Aircraft Recovery Team, led by Lt. Col. Brian Taylor, Patuxent River
In response to unprecedentedly low readiness levels within the H-53E fleet, this team was created to identify the causal issues and make corrective actions. By identifying, initiating and tracking progress of actions that would create short-term readiness solutions and systemic long-term readiness improvement, the team developed a program that will provide a sustainable solution to the H-53E community’s ready basic aircraft issues. As a result of the team’s efforts and leadership, fleet H-53E ready basic aircraft levels have improved by more than 50 percent from their nadir by the end of 2016.
Second Place: F/A-18 Fleet Support Team, led by Thomas Jarvis, San Diego
This team was challenged to design and implement an end-of-life sustainment plan for the F/A-18 Hornet fleet to mitigate a major ready basic aircraft shortage in A through D models. In response, the team developed a new sustainment program that consolidated depot-level maintenance, modification and inspection requirements and schedules; increased the number of in-reporting aircraft over existing inventory and readiness forecasts; and mitigated the impact to depot level capacity. The team’s efforts will result in a cost avoidance of $249 million to $400 million in the next five years. Ready basic aircraft rates will dramatically improve while maintaining airworthiness and reducing depot-level impact. End-of-life planning for other type/model/series aircraft will be able to adopt the same formula.
Honorable Mention: PMA-299 Organic Maintenance Capability Assessment Team, led by Woodrow Payton, Patuxent River
This team identified 41 cases where fleet repair capabilities failed to achieve necessary levels of program-funded capabilities. The problem resulted in $9.9 million per year in unnecessary beyond capability maintenance actions and led to unsustainable negative trends in cost per flight hour (CPFH) and ready basic aircraft gaps. Subject matter experts performed onsite maintenance capability analysis and corrective actions at multiple Fleet Intermediate Maintenance Activities to reverse these trends. Through their efforts, the team achieved a 19:1 return on investment; a cost venture of only $722,410, which netted a savings of more than $9.9 million. The team’s efforts resulted in a reduction of MH-60R CPFH by $8.7 million and MH-60S CPFH by $9.5 million across the future years defense program.
Honorable Mention: H-1 Drive Systems and Diagnostics Team, led by Allen B. Jones, Patuxent River
This team developed a proactive data analysis, reporting and alert notification system to address the H-1Y/Z drive system reliability issues. The team developed a condition-based maintenance (CBM) capability that focuses on the H-1Y/Z main gearbox because it is a top reliability issue affecting fleet readiness. The team implemented CBM practices to proactively remove failing modules, reducing secondary damage and improving safety. Since implementing the CBM capability, the team has avoided H-1 main gearbox removals, improved safety and readiness, reduced operating costs and reduced the incidence of precautionary emergency landings.
Honorable Mention: F/A-18 Chemical Milling Implementation Team, led by John E. Benfer, Jacksonville, Florida
This team at Fleet Readiness Center Southeast was driven by the goal of creating F/A-18 parts and routinely shattered timelines and policy associated with standing up a new capability. Chemical milling improved existing business by creating a new manufacturing technique to reduce delays associated with designing and analyzing expensive repairs for aircraft components. This team leveraged resources without the need for a budget and repeatedly delivered innovative and adept solutions to resolve problems at the lowest level. Risk was managed by incorporating a multiphase training approach that focused on chemical milling knowledge, skill and process control proficiency. As a result, more than 200 components were produced via chemical milling with a 50 percent decrease in turnaround time, as compared to conventional manufacturing practices.
Increasing Speed Capabilities to the Fleet
First Place: Fixed Wing Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) AV-8B Integration and Fielding Team, led by Michelle McBride and Lt. Cmdr. Christopher DeBons, Patuxent River
Responding to a July 2015 U.S. Marine Corps deputy commandant aviation request, the combined skills of NAVAIR and British Aerospace Engineering Systems Nashua personnel helped to achieve early operational capability with the Fixed Wing (FW) APKWS variant of the Marines’ AV-8B. As a result, the combat capability of the AV-8B was increased, enabling employment of the guided 2.75-inch rocket weapon system on targets in the battlefield. Close collaboration and cooperation among key government and industry stakeholders enabled the team to deliver a new capability to the warfighter within an aggressive timeline. Seven months after requirements definition, 80 FW APKWS were delivered to a deployed squadron. The AV-8B FW APKWS program leveraged existing product to deliver new warfighting capability and tailored NAVAIR processes to meet operational needs. This measured approach saved $11.6 million and 17 months compared to the POM-2017 estimate.
Second Place: Ship and Air Integrated Warfare Team, led by Stephen Metcalf, AD-4.11.3, St. Inigoes, Maryland
Over a period of six months, this team, working with NAVAIR PMA-263, rapidly designed, prototyped and fielded 29 fully operational small form factor Tactical Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) Processing Exploitation & Dissemination (PED) System (TIPS) variants that met the requirements of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM’s) combat mission needs statement 220 and enabled Navy Special Warfare Command and U.S. Army SOCOM to forward deploy ISR teams with crucial cross-domain and data dissemination capabilities. In addition to increased capability, the team leveraged cutting-edge mobile chipsets and parallel-processing graphics processing unit architectures to miniaturize the solution into a SOCOM-friendly footprint one-fifth the size, one-quarter the weight and less than 30 percent of the cost of earlier TIPS variants. By engaging approval stakeholders early to socialize security concerns and proposed mitigation strategies, the team achieved Department of Defense-level cross-domain solution approval within the six-month rapid development period. Further, using advanced full motion video encoding techniques, TIPS helped SOCOM realize its distributed PED concept by allowing operators to disseminate exploitation quality video and metadata at data rates as low as 128 kilobits per second —effectively enabling intelligence analysts to exploit ISR data remotely instead of having to be collocated with the unmanned system.
Honorable Mention: MAGIC CARPET Team, led by Alexander Reimann, Patuxent River
The Maritime Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies (MAGIC CARPET) team embodied speed-to-the fleet by answering the call to deliver critical capability three years early. Responding to requests to deliver revolutionary Maritime Augmented Guidance with Integrated Controls for Carrier Approach and Recovery Precision Enabling Technologies for the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G early, the team architected a complex and highly innovative acquisition and technical approach to move Precision Landing Mode (PLM) fleet capability delivery. The team reduced time to deliver new PLM capabilities to operational users by identifying and overcoming acquisition, engineering and test processes that are fully integrated and interoperable with currently fielded F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growler aircraft , significantly increasing the safety and efficiency of carrier landings. Early release of the MAGIC CARPET Precision Landing Modes will improve near-term readiness posture by increasing safety, decreasing aircraft wear-and-tear, and will improve operational capability by decreasing recovery time and tanker requirements.
Honorable Mention: Additive Manufacturing (AM) and Digital Thread Integrated Product Team, led by Elizabeth McMichael and Dr. William Frazier, Patuxent River
Building on the successful design, production and flight test of the first Navy additively manufactured flight critical part on the V-22 in July 2016, the team worked with H-1 and H-53K programs to demonstrate additional AM candidate parts. These efforts have been focused on further developing and validating the process and standards associated with 3D printing with metallic and polymer materials. Combining the concept of AM with the concept of the digital thread is the beginning of a future capability to manufacture mission-critical parts ashore and afloat, directly at the point of need. This team’s achievements will dramatically improve the speed of parts delivery to the fleet.
Honorable Mention: Air Defense Strike Group Facility (ADSGF) Project Team, led by Matthew “Reggie” Hammond, Patuxent River
The ADSGF is an unprecedented prototype training capability at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, enabling fleet operators to gain familiarization and initial proficiency of naval integrated fires capabilities in a simultaneous and coordinated manner across both aviation and surface systems and personnel. The concept of naval integrated fires, which originated from NAVAIR in conjunction with NAVSEA personnel, enables extended range defense of carrier strike groups, thereby greatly improving the strike group’s efficacy against adversary capabilities at standoff ranges. The ADSGF prototype capability was initiated in 2014 to provide Strike Group operators with initial familiarization of integrated fires’ capability execution. In November 2016, the team’s hard work came to fruition as the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group, as part of their pre-deployment workup schedule, arrived in NAS Fallon for a weeklong cross-aviation and surface force familiarization event for naval integrated fires capabilities. The ADSGF performed as expected, with Strike Group operators expressing positive feedback about the facility and its capabilities as part of their pre-deployment activities.
Technical Innovation
First Place: E-2D Support Equipment Integrated Program Team, led by Mariam Corrigan, Lakehurst, New Jersey
Current support equipment required to perform major Rotodome repairs to the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye is permanently installed at original equipment manufacturer facilities, which presents difficulties for maintainers. To combat this challenge, this team organically designed and manufactured the Rotodome Assembly Maintenance System in Lakehurst. The system significantly increases fleet readiness by providing an air/ship/land transportable maintenance solution for the 24-foot diameter, 3,200-pound Rotodome.
Second Place: F-35 Reprogramming Laboratory Team, led by Dr. Andrew Chen, Point Mugu, California
This team not only developed an effective fifth-generation aircraft mission data laboratory for the Joint Strike Fighter, but also concurrently integrated complex mission data file sets for three foreign military sales countries. Before the laboratory’s inception, a laboratory to support multiple customers with unique functional and security requirements did not exist within the F-35 program, thus making this achievement vital for the organization and the future of the program.
Honorable Mention: F-35 Shipboard Weapons Loading Organic Development Team, led by John Peterson, Lakehurst
The F-35 Joint Program Office approached this team to assess the feasibility of developing alternative designs in-house to address deficiencies in the baseline designs of two critical areas of weapons loading: the internal weapons bay Ordnance Hoist System and removal and installation of the missionized gun pod and external weapons pylons shipboard. With only two years until F-35 squadrons would be deployed with weapons capability, the team acted quickly to design, build, test and evaluate the full complement of prototype support equipment (SE). This prototype hardware also served a pivotal role in supporting multiple F-35 developmental and operational testing events, both shore-based and shipboard. The team successfully streamlined SE development and testing while complying with applicable systems engineering and program management requirements, and keeping key stakeholders, review chairs and decision authorities abreast of their approach to avoid program delays. This government-developed solution is now the program of record and is projected to save $27 million in initial outfitting and approximately $30 million in cost avoidance associated with Ordnance Hoist System infrastructure.
Honorable Mention: Avionics Architecture Team, led by Keith McDonnell, Patuxent River
This team’s future airborne capability environment software, hardware open systems technology hardware and functional architecture for strategic reuse (functional decomposition) standards are developed with input from Department of the Defense, industry and users. The team continues to create and facilitate enabling technologies to bring capability to the warfighter faster, at lower cost and with less risk.
Honorable Mention: Multipurpose Reconfigurable Training System 3D® Mobile Electric Power Plant Integrated Product Team, led by David G. Thomas, Orlando, Florida
This team transformed the latest 3D® physics-based gaming technologies successfully by developing the MRTS 3D® Mobile Electric Power Plant (MEPP) simulator for the aviation support community, progressing from concept to demonstration in less than a year. Employing commercial-off -the-shelf computer hardware running a commercial, open source physics-based gaming engine, the team created a virtual MEPP that replicates the details of an actual A/M32A-109 to the smallest detail. The new MRTS 3D® MEPP provides a realistic training capability that is surpassed only by the actual tactical systems. By avoiding the use of proprietary software packages and ensuring the government retained all software data rights, the team ensured future device installations and code maintenance would come at minimal cost.
Outstanding Technical Performance on a Classified Program
PMA-274 Advanced Capabilities Office, led by Thomas Daley, Patuxent River
This team identified a deficiency common to all aviation platforms. Gathering together a multiservice team, they first empirically defined the problem, then developed and tested potential solutions. From the results of this work, the team fielded material solutions, addressing the issue for the platforms deemed most critical, as well as laying the groundwork for potential solutions for the remainder. From start to finish, this effort was completed in under a year.
Edward H. Heinemann Award for Outstanding Achievement
GGU-7 Upgrade Program, led by Shane Morast and Scott Adley, Patuxent River
This initiative was to modify the T-45’s current GGU-7 oxygen concentrator to improve reliability and performance via a class I engineering change proposal. The upgraded GGU-7 concentrator sieve bed added a carbon monoxide catalyst to provide for cockpit carbon monoxide and volatile organic compound reduction. The team advanced an expedited asset deployment schedule for impending unit deliveries. Using a theory of constraints approach, the team shaped an expedited fielding plan that reduced intermediate maintenance modification time by 75 percent and minimized aircraft out of reporting. The original schedule had a timeline of three years from contract award to first aircraft installation, but the schedule was analyzed and ultimately reduced to a four-month retrofit.
Small Business Advocacy
Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Lakehurst Contracts Division, led by Thomas F. Hill, Lakehurst
Aggressive market research and commitment to small business initiatives resulted in realizing an increase of 35 percent in obligations to small business per action from fiscal year (FY) 2015 to FY 2016. Additionally, as a result of the work done by Lakehurst Contracts in support of NAVAIR Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs, they were asked in 2016 to award SBIR/STTR contracts on behalf of the Office of Naval Research. By the close of FY 2016, more than $346 million was obligated to SBIR and STTR awards in support of developing technologies that benefit the fleet, reduce costs and expand the supplier base of research and development sources beyond the typical large defense contractors.
Lawrence D. Butts, supplier manager, Patuxent River
After his NAVAIR Leadership Development Program rotation as a technical adviser supporting the NAVAIR Office of Small Business Programs, Butts was selected to service as the program office’s supplier manager, a “first of its kind” position born from Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) guidance to establish a process to ensure all prospective orders are screened for competitive opportunities, particularly those that can be made available to small business. In this new role, Butts established a process to instill oversight and review into the planning cycle for acquisitions with a team who had limited knowledge of appropriate market research tools/methods to identify small business capabilities. He facilitated multiple program office training sessions to educate the workforce on small business opportunities and market research. He mentored this team into one of increasing expertise and effectiveness in uncovering opportunities for small business use. By participating in all Acquisition Oversight Council meetings and Procurement Planning Conferences, he was instrumental in ensuring small business opportunities were identified at the prime and subcontract level early in the acquisition timeline. Butts directly engaged with small business representatives, consistently providing focused feedback on the company’s profile and suggestions for improvement to increase company visibility to government buyers.