Standing before a Gulfstream NC-20G in the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 30 hangar June 11, Rear Adm. Keith Hash delivered a clear message about the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division’s mission: The demand for innovation is growing, not shrinking.

“But it also means that we have an opportunity to focus in on the most important things,” Hash continued. “And to make sure that every moment we spend is solving the hardest problems.”

Hash also emphasized NAWCWD’s historic role in pushing technological boundaries.

“It’s been a history of innovation at Point Mugu and China Lake,” Hash said. “We have been delivering for our warfighters for 80-plus years, and that isn’t going to stop today.”

Director of Innovation Jared Fife coordinated the awards ceremony. Josh Cotterell designed and constructed the awards in NAWCWD’s Innovation Lab, reflecting NAWCWD’s culture of innovation. NAWCWD Deputy Technical Director Andy Corzine served as emcee.

The ceremony recognized five NAWCWD employees across three award categories for fiscal 2024, celebrating innovations that range from air traffic control improvements to cutting-edge weapons testing capabilities.

Richard Rolniak II received the Process Transformation Award for developing the Gray Flag arrival procedure at Point Mugu Sea Range. His analysis addressed critical operational inefficiencies in aircraft recovery during large-force test events, including inconsistent sequencing and nonstandard aircraft speeds and altitudes. The innovation resulted in significant reductions in delays, disruptions and emergency fuel diverts.

Dr. Jean Paul Santos and Spencer Holloway earned the What’s the Future Award for developing Blue Water Instrumentation through the Point Mugu Sea Range Future Capability Office and Lab. Holloway leads the Future Capability Office, while Santos leads the Future Capabilities Lab. Their system captures data and enables remote flight termination for long-range and hypersonic weapons. The solution cuts costs by 90%, letting weapons programs spend more on fleet weapons than testing.

Ian Malone and Jillian Schwalb received the Digital Disruption Award for establishing a transformative DevSecOps pipeline for the Air Force, Navy and F-35 Lightning II enterprise. Their approach unified disparate systems across service branches, fostering collaboration among nearly 400 personnel. The system achieved greater than 99% availability to developers with more than 30,000 builds per quarter.

Guest speaker Erick Went, chief technology officer at Matter Labs and director of Future Labs, shared insights from his distinctive experience with innovation during the ceremony.

“Usually it’s my job to inspire,” Went said. “But the thing I like about this group each year is that it’s the other way around. This is a group I go to and I get inspired.”

Went outlined five concerns about the future of innovation in the United States, warning about complacency, incremental innovation and the accelerating pace of technological change, where adversaries may not wait to see how new technologies develop.

“This is one of the few groups on the planet where I really see people doing innovation, not talking about innovation,” Went said.

The Gulfstream NC-20G stationed nearby served as a visual reminder of how NAWCWD innovations integrate into operational Navy platforms. As Hash noted during his remarks, the aircraft helps NAWCWD “deliver weapons systems to the Navy and to our nation and to our partners around the world,” directly connecting the ceremony’s honorees to the broader warfighter mission.

In his closing remarks, Hash delivered a challenge to the audience:

“I encourage you to go back and re-examine that thought process, reimagine what we do, how we do it and what we deliver every single day.”