Submitted by TEAM Public Affairs, Headquarters

March 22, 2001

NAVAIR received four of the seven Defense Standardization Program (DSP) Achievement Awards this month when the Office of the Secretary of Defense announced the winners for the year 2000.

The awards were for the development of a standardized digital communications system; for a standardized aircraft Ground Proximity Warning System; for standardization of a Transponder Set Test Set; and the fourth award as the lead organization in a Joint Service team that developed a standardized set of procurement specification guides.

Each winning team demonstrated an accomplishment that solved a problem brought on by a lack of standardization among the military services, problems that caused additional expenditures, created lag times in the development of needed equipment or processes, and increased concerns about the safety of people and equipment.

The NAVAIR Air Combat Electronics Team, lead by PMA-209, developed, fielded and supported an ARC-210 Electronic Protection radio that is in use on more than 40 types of aircraft, ships and ground-based platforms. The evolution of the ARC-210 into a communications system standard has dramatically increased total force interoperability for DOD and Allies of the U.S. During the past five years the AN/ARC-210 reliability has increased by almost 500%, and the unit price has decreased by nearly 50 percent. Standardization resulted in cost savings, cost avoidance and space and weight savings estimated at more than $790 million in total life cycle costs.

The Air Combat Electronics Team, lead by PMA-209, produced the standardized Ground Proximity Warning System addressed an issue that was the leading cause of aircraft mishaps between 1991 and 1998. The team overcame the difficulty of developing a standard set of system solutions that worked in each type model and series of aircraft, taking into account the unique mission requirements, architecture, and design constraints. The GPWS is scheduled for installation in 3,500 aircraft throughout the armed services, saving the lives of pilots and crews, and saving as much as $200 million per year in aircraft replacement costs.

The standardization of the AN/APM-480 Transponder Set Test Set was accomplished by PMA-260 at NAVAIR, the Common Aviation Support Equipment, Communication/Navigation Integrated Product Team. The team produced the Test Set that addressed a need for an all-encompassing system that would be vital to the survivability of armed forces in the probable co-location of multiple platforms in the battlefield of the future. The unit would be smaller, more rugged, more highly adaptable and more mobile.

Leveraging the recent advances in semiconductor electronics technology for cell phones, the AN/APM-480 provides a cost-effective and capable replacement solution for a number of pieces of equipment nearing the end of their service life. Savings and cost avoidance is expected to exceed $270 million per service by supporting every conceivable aircraft, ship, submarine, landing vehicle, air defense system, unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as systems currently under development.

The Joint Service Specification Guide (JSSG) Development Team consisted of members from the Navy, Air Force, Army and Industry produced a set of Tri-Service, performance-oriented specification guides to be used by Government and Industry Program Offices'. The team managed the development of a set of eight separate guides addressing Air Systems, Air Vehicles, Avionics, Engines, Air Vehicle Subsystems, Vehicle Control Management Systems, Structures, and Aircrew Systems

The team harmonized common key aviation system and subsystem requirements across the Services. In doing this, they identified the detail requirements typically used by the three Services and Industry and translated these requirements into generic performance terms. The team published the resulting requirements in a manner that allows program teams to extract and tailor the generic requirements into program-unique specifications. Use of the JSSGs will enable Government and Industry program teams to develop procurement specifications that foster industry innovation in meeting essential military aviation requirements.