NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. - Members of the Avionics Architecture Team (AAT), from NAVAIR’s Air Combat Electronics Program Office (PMA-209), were recently recognized as one of four winners of the prestigious 2016 Defense Standardization Program Achievement Award.

The team was chosen for their work on two Open Architecture initiatives, known as the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) and Hardware Open Systems Technologies (HOST), for Navy and DoD aircraft. These standards establish and standardize the frameworks for software and hardware and enable the rapid acquisition of affordable systems, resulting in a common avionics architecture that supports the ability to reuse software and hardware across platforms and services. As a result, the DoD will gain the ability to adapt to changing requirements, threats and technology at a faster rate and continue to provide the Warfighter with best-in-class capabilities.

Gary Kurtz, NAVAIR assistant commander for Acquisition, congratulated the team and highlighted their contributions May 9 at a staff meeting at the Rear Adm. William A. Moffett Building.

“The AAT has had to address and overcome numerous barriers to achieve standardized and interoperable avionics capabilities,” he said. “The first barrier was the current development practices and culture that have generally resulted in stove-pipes. The second was achieving a sustainable level of industry involvement and adoption. Despite these challenges, the team has continued to foster a collaborative environment within the consortium and built a cohesive team from over 75 diverse, competitive companies, the Navy, Army and Air Force.”

The team, consisting of Rod Dailey, John Funk, Chris Kimmel, Mike Hackert and Keith McDonnell, originally accepted the award at the 29th Annual DSP Achievement Awards Ceremony in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes March 15.

“We’re extremely proud of the accomplishments of the AAT,” said PMA-209 Program Manager Candace Chesser. “Their efforts in building standards to support Open Architecture in software and hardware will truly change the paradigm of aviation acquisition and increase speed to the Fleet.”

Candidates are nominated each year for the awards which honor personnel and organizations from the military departments and defense agencies for outstanding performance in the implementation of the Defense Standardization Program. Recipients have made singular improvements in technical performance, greatly enhanced safety for DoD personnel and avoided billions of dollars in costs.