By Denise Deon TEAM Public Affairs, F/A-18

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet team added another award to its long list of achievements by receiving the 2000 Aviation Week Quality Center Award during a ceremony in Long Beach, Calif. Nov. 14.

The award recognizes superior quality management in civil, military and space organizations and facilities. The Super Hornet team -- Naval Air Systems Command, The Boeing Company, Northrop Grumman, GE Aircraft Engines and Raytheon -- was chosen for consistently remaining on or ahead of schedule and under budget, meeting or surpassing key performance parameters and flying the first engineering development aircraft one month early.

Kenneth E. Gazzola, executive vice president/publisher of Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine, presented the award to the F/A-18E/F Team. Speaking to an audience from the Aerospace Expo 2000 Gazzola said, "This team represents an extraordinary cross-section of some the airspace industry's best talent and most respected companies."

"The award also recognizes, for the second time in two years, the excellence of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command. NAVAIR won our first quality center award in 1998 for its commitment to total quality leadership."

Aviation Week's Quality Center Award is a major initiative to identify and celebrate the industry's finest examples of quality practices at aerospace and defense operations, logistics, procurement, manufacturing and research-and- development centers worldwide.

Accepting the award on behalf of the Navy was Bill Stussie, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (Air Programs). Stussie addressed the crowd and commented, "We're just getting started!"