The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) and Naval Air Warfare Center Warfare Division (NAWCWD) took home three of the coveted Department of the Navy (DON) Test and Evaluation (T&E) Awards for 2022.

The Surface Aviation Interoperability Lab (SAIL) team received the DON Award for Technical Excellence at a T&E Facility or Range, U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Gordon Finlay, F/A-18 Project Officer with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 31, received the DON Aspiring Tester Award Military and Sarah Naiva, CH-53K Integrated Test Team lead test engineer in the Heavy Lift Helicopter Program Office, received the DON Lead Tester Award, announced last month.

“Congratulations to Lt. Cmdr. Finlay, Ms. Naiva and the SAIL team,” said Rear Adm. Keith Hash, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division commander and Naval Air Systems Command’s Chief Tester. “Their work is making a huge impact for naval aviation and our warfighters.”

The DON T&E Awards were established to recognize the outstanding efforts and achievements of teams and individuals among the Navy’s testing and evaluation workforce.

“The Test and Evaluation Awards are highly competitive,” said Rear Adm. John Dougherty IV, NAWCAD commander. “To have three awardees really goes to show the hard work and dedication that goes on at NAWCAD and NAWCWD.”

The DON Award for Technical Excellence at a T&E Facility or Range is awarded to an individual or team at a test range or facility that has made a significant advance in testing and evaluation effectiveness and efficiencies through a technical innovation or solution, resulting in improved test or assessment capabilities and/or improved approaches to conducting test activities.

SAIL is a fully-contained shipboard combat-system evaluation and exercise facility equipped with the current combat systems used on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers and frigates.

According to their nomination letter, the team at SAIL was able to diagnose a critical error in the newest version of mission computer software for the Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopter, as well as provide support to the development, test and evaluation of datalink systems across nearly every aircraft and ship in the Navy and Marine Corps inventory.

The SAIL team is comprised of Bill Rabbit, Bill Leavitt, Conner Woode, Ed Wathen, Andres Quinones-Perez, Hoan Bui, John Regan, Sean Rowan, Miranda Rowan, Danny Williams, Donald Behrens, John Threadgill, Sara Barker, James Francis, Christopher Dofka, Ian Bill, Christopher Wilson, Daniel Small and Andrew Bell.

The DON Aspiring Tester Award Military category recognizes a rising military T&E workforce member who is new to the testing and evaluation field and has shown excellence and demonstrated initiative in their assigned duties.

In nominating Finlay, Naval Test Wing Pacific Commodore Capt. Ryan Bryla, F/A-18 Project Officer with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 31, lauded Finlay as “a consummate Project Officer, professional, and tester” with an “unmatched” work ethic. Bryla went on to note that even with less than two years in the T&E community, Finlay has significantly contributed to “cutting-edge technologies in the F/A-18 and EA-18G that will help us maintain an advantage in the coming high-end fight.” 

The DON Lead Tester Award recognizes a military or government civilian member of the testing and evaluation workforce who has excelled at the planning, management and oversight of testing and evaluation activities as a program lead tester, according to the nomination criteria.

According to her nomination letter, Naiva, a U.S. Air Force veteran, led more than 300 personnel through numerous concurrent high-risk flight test events while simultaneously developing a significant revision to test program’s scope. Her innovative approaches identified opportunities and realigned test resources, yielding an estimated $205 million in costs savings to the program.

The Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division employs more than 17,000 military, civilian and contract personnel. It operates test ranges, laboratories and aircraft in support of test, evaluation, research, development and sustainment of everything flown by the Navy and Marine Corps. Based in Patuxent River, Maryland, the command also has major sites in St. Inigoes, Maryland, Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Orlando, Florida.

Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s 7,900-strong civilian, military, and contractor workforce delivers integrated, interoperable warfighting capabilities through cutting-edge research, development, test, evaluation, and sustainment to provide the warfighter the decisive advantage. The command operates multiple ranges and laboratory facilities in China Lake, Point Mugu, and San Nicolas Island, California, and supports the warfighter in sites around the globe.