NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. -- The 12th Annual Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division’s Commander’s and Innovation Award Ceremony celebrated the best and brightest the organization has to offer by recognizing 22 teams and two individuals for blazing new trails in technology, business and leadership. The ceremony, held Nov. 20 at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, acknowledged military, civilians and contractors at Patuxent River; Lakehurst, N.J.; and Orlando, Fla., for team/individual efforts and excellence that positively impact the NAWCAD mission. “The selection process for these awards is always difficult,” said Rear Adm. Randy Mahr NAWCAD commander. “The selection team is challenged to review the many highly-qualified and deserving nominations we received, reflecting the superior work that is being performed across the entire NAWCAD team.” Awards received by individuals and teams recognized personal achievements, team achievements, innovation and patents. Nineteen teams and two individuals were selected as this year’s recipients. Individual Awards: Robert Sweeney, Air Combat Electronics Program Office, or PMA-209, led a team of industry and academia engineers in the development of the Future Airborne Capability Environment, an open technical standard and software architecture that enables software capabilities to be re-used across DOD aircraft. Richard Adams, Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division Research and Engineering Competency, or AIR 4.0, was recognized for his expertise and excellence in the area of Unmanned Air Systems, which had a direct and positive impact on the command’s ability to field UAS capabilities. Team Awards: In response to a 2011 DOD/DON hiring reform milestone, the Total Force Strategy and Management Department Business Case Analysis Team, AIR-4.0, undertook numerous smart, innovative and streamlined methods to reduce the command's average civilian hiring cycle time to 70 days, from 86; this exceeded the Navy’s revised threshold of 80 days. The T-45 Virtual Mission Training System Test Team, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, efforts enabled identification and implementation of system software fixes in successive software builds to deliver critical capability within program cost and time constraints. Leveraging systems engineering and development tools from previous test efforts on other platforms, the team developed and implemented innovative information technology enterprise architecture. The F/A-18 Super Hornet Air Vehicle Loads and Dynamics Team, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, efficiently executed two full envelope flight-test programs in support of F/A-18 Super Hornet final operational test and evaluation in 2012. The nose-landing gear cost-reduction initiative and the trailing-edge flap buffet programs’ timely execution was critical to support an aircraft production decision to incorporate the new landing gear doors and flaps in 2013. The NAWCAD Airworthiness and Flight Clearance International Joint Reciprocity Team, 4.0, undertook a two-plus year effort to forge recognition agreements with the United Kingdom and Italy to expedite, streamline and reduce costs of operating and certifying multi-nation aircraft across the DOD and international partners. The initial application was with the U.K. F-35B aircraft operating at Eglin Air Force Base, Calif., and was recognized as a huge success. The Atlantic Test Ranges Joint Strike Fighter Cooperative Avionics Test Bed Support Team, AIR-5.2 NAVAIR Range Department, Atlantic Test Ranges, Aircraft Signature & Avionics Measurements Branch, Patuxent River, created a new, mobile capability to enable testing of electronic attack and electronic warfare mission systems on the F-35 Cooperative ATB. The team developed a portable tracking antenna in three days and fielded it more than 1,000 miles away in less than five days. The MH-60R Sea Hawk Automatic Radar Periscope Detection and Discrimination Integrated Test Team, Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (HX) 21 successfully planned and executed a software intensive and technically complex test on schedule and 16 percent under budget. The team worked in a seamlessly integrated fashion to identify, analyze and correct deficiencies as they were discovered. This resulted in no Part I deficiencies on the system at integrated test completion. The NAWCAD MV-22 Osprey Ship Suitability Test Team, Patuxent River, successfully orchestrated the consecutive mobilization of two shipboard test deployments aboard USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) and USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77). Testing executed during these events greatly expanded shipboard operating envelopes and supported the employment of improved flight control software, bringing increased operational flexibility and safety to operational commanders and aircrew. The P-8A Poseidon Integrated Test Team, comprising representatives from Air Test and Evaluation quadron (VX) 20 and VX-1 at Patuxent River and Boeing Test and Evaluation, demonstrated technical, business and leadership excellence through a series of initiatives and practices founded in cross-functional/cross-organizational teaming and other program lessons learned. Accomplishments included a redefined strategy for managing and reporting test point completion, continued development on future P-8A increments and the execution of integrated tests in several international exercises. The E-2D Integrated Test Team’s VX-20 developmental ground and flight testing of the E-2D will result in a next-generation weapon system for the warfighter that will accomplish carrier and expeditionary airborne command and control of joint and combined forces in a vastly more effective way. The Unmanned Carrier Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike System Analysis of Alternatives Team, Warfare Analysis and Integration Department delivered a proven process for analyzing and formulating the required system attributes, cost and mission-effectiveness characteristics for a next generation Navy carrier-based unmanned aircraft. The AoA leveraged a mainly NAWCAD team of experts in acquisition, engineering, test, logistics and cost to ensure relevant insights and constraints were applied in defining a preferred and executable system concept. With help from the F-35B Engineering and Sustainment Team, Systems Engineering Department in Arlington, Va., and Patuxent River, the first operational F-35B squadron began flight operations at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in May. Due to the high-level concurrency of the program, these fleet operations began when the system development and demonstration program had completed less than 1,000 flight hours of its testing program. This necessitated intense engineering effort to ensure sufficient system qualification for safe operation and an adequate flight envelope to permit training operations and supportability efforts to provide maintenance data, spares, training, support equipment and configuration management. The T-45 Hook Shank Production Restart Team, Structures Division at Patuxent River, successfully performed rapid, cost effective engineering development of a replacement arresting hook shank forging die, avoiding a T-45 fleet supply shortfall. The team addressed the T-45 program’s critical issue of producing and certifying the forging die within an extremely short timeframe to meet fleet readiness demands. The team also optimized the hook shank design with a stronger, more durable, next-generation material, providing the potential for increased mechanical performance, longer service life and reduced total ownership costs. NAVAIR began risk managing the T-45C fleet in response to several instances of in-flight failure of low pressure turbine blades that cascaded into catastrophic events. Under extreme schedule pressure due to the dwindling stockpile of existing LPT blades, the F405-RR-401 Accelerated Simulated Mission Endurance Testing Team, Propulsion and Power Engineering Department at Patuxent River, completed the first-ever uninstalled run of the F405 Turbofan Engine in the Patuxent River hush house within six weeks of project initiation. The NAWCAD F414 Integrated Product Team overcame critical engine readiness issues in the F/A-18 E/F and EA-18G communities. Gaps between engine demand and production emerged in 2011 that drove increased engine cannibalization and constrained the fleet’s ability to manage engines. By December 2011, PMA-265 organized a broad stakeholder readiness action team to address the degrading readiness trend. The F414 IPT was a fundamental component of this larger team, providing forecasting, analysis, engineering and logistic support and improvement initiatives that formed the basis of the recovery plan. The NAWCAD Target Level of Safety Team, developed the first of its kind in DOD, standardized method to assess the risk to uninvolved third parties on the ground resulting from the crash of an Unmanned Air System. One of the critical requirements for expanding the UAS operational area is to understand the risk to uninvolved third parties on the ground posed by the crash of a UAS. The risk assessment tool provides two significant benefits: information for operators on the risk of operating a UAS and means to quantify the cost/benefit of design modifications to improve safety. The Future Airborne Capability Environment Team from the Air Combat Electronics Program Office, or PMA-209, worked with Navy, Army, academia and industry partners, with a limited budget and aggressive timeline, to develop the FACE technical standard that details how to achieve high degrees of software reuse and reduce the cost of software development through a modular, product-line approach. The open architecture will enable Navy and DOD aircraft to implement portable and reusable software components in software intensive systems. The Naval Air Warfare Center training Systems Division and NAWCAD Aviation Distributed Virtual Training Environment Integrated Product Team, Naval Aviation Training Systems and Ranges Program Office, or PMA-205, at Patuxent River, successfully developed and launched state-of-the art local and wide-area networks capable of classified operations at continental U.S. Marine Corps air stations. The IPT successfully implemented a technical solution that linked the AV-8B simulator with the supporting arms virtual trainer, demonstrating tactically relevant forward air control. Additionally, the team developed and launched a software solution that will link Marine Corps training devices, of varying configuration, while ensuring interoperability. This summer, the NAWCAD Command Cyber Readiness Inspection and NAWCTSD Cyber Security Inspection Teams, located at Patuxent River and Orlando, Fla., in cooperation with the RDT&E labs in 4.0 and 5.0, received “outstanding” scores of 91.3 percent at NAWCAD Patuxent River for the cyber command readiness inspection and 97.6 percent at NAWCTSD Orlando for the cyber security inspection conducted by Fleet Cyber Command. To date, this is the highest score given to any unit in the entire Navy. The NAWCAD Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment Science and Technology Transition Team, at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., developed and institutionalized a strategic plan that provides a clear overarching path to manage technology development and transition while addressing program capability gaps, affordability needs, emerging technologies, and program budgets. To accomplish these requirements, the team has built a robust S&T process (flight planning) that supports the smooth transition of research out of the laboratory and into the customer’s hands. Innovation Awards: The NAWCAD Innovation Awards provide motivation and incentives for individuals or teams who achieve the NAWCAD corporate goals. The program also emphasizes the value that NAWCAD places on innovation. The NAWCAD Persistent Ground Surveillance Systems Support Team at Patuxent River is the acquisition winner. Through teamwork and innovation, PGSST has continued to be rapidly configured, tested and deployed to Afghanistan, to be operated and sustained at forward operating bases. The team was able to improve products in development for the warfighter, increase capabilities and lower ownership costs. The Future Airborne Capability Environment Team, PMA-209, spearheaded a tri-service initiative to standardize an open software environment that supports portable, reusable applications. The team addressed the technical framework and business practices needed to reduce the cost and time to field new capabilities and encourage competition and innovation. As a result, the Navy and other services will gain the ability to adapt to changing requirements, threats and technology at a faster rate and continue to provide the warfighter with affordable, best-in-class capabilities. The Defense Messaging System Center of Excellence Management Team, AD 7.2 at Patuxent River, created significant cost avoidance through the implementation of technical and business process innovations developed utilizing continuous process improvement methodologies. The team’s collective efforts reduced the DMS shared-service budget to $700,000 in fiscal year 2013, from $2.1 million in fiscal 2009, $1.4 million in annual savings. The latest effort implemented automated outbound message processing and after-hours system performance monitoring, reducing round-the-clock manpower requirements, saving four work years and $300,000 in labor. Patent of the Year: The NAWCAD Patent of the Year Award was established to recognize the cutting-edge technology being performed throughout NAWCAD. The winner of this year’s award is Patent No. 8,056,196, titled “Quick Release Fitting.” This invention provides protection against inadvertent release and aircrew injury by more evenly distributing the loads applied by integrating into the aircrew endurance vest. The quick-release fittings are attached to a shoulder harness that is integrated into the aircrew endurance survival vest. This invention, proven via testing, is a major improvement over the existing gunner's belt. It is planned to be fielded with the aircrew endurance vest April 2013.