By Linda Lou Crosby
Wyle/P3R

The Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) Integrated Program Team (IPT) at Point Mugu recently achieved its Capability Maturity Model Integration® (CMMI) level 3 rating.

“I am extremely proud of each and every member of the Airborne Electronic Attack Integrated Product Team,” said Allan E. Graves, AEA IPT chief engineer, and acting AEA IPT lead.

Graves praised the AEA IPT for achieving a benchmark level 3 rating in software and systems engineering. The team achieved level 3 using the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) CMMI version 1.1 SE/SW in June.

“This process improvement milestone comes only after 18 months of hard work and alignment towards a common goal,” added Graves. Software intensive systems now provide over 70 percent of an aircraft platform’s capability. So bringing about major software and systems engineering improvement for the EA-6B and EA-18G brings greater efficiency and effectiveness to products developed for the fleet.

The level 3 rating was based on an in depth assessment. This included a formal and disciplined two-week process that assessed all 18 CMMI level 2 and 3 process areas for systems and software engineering. Five projects at various stages in their EA-6B and EA-18G development cycle were appraised including three focus projects (EA-18G AEA Unique Planning Component, EA-6B ICAP III Block 3, and EA-6B Litening Pod) and two non-focus projects (EA-6B Mission Planning Environment and EW Tactical Information and Report Management System (ETIRMS)).

“In laymen’s terms, the team is doing a great job in multiple areas,” said Graves.

The AEA IPT provides support to a variety of weapon systems, including major upgrades to the EA-6B Prowler and development of its replacement, the EA-18G Growler. The EA-6B Prowler provides an umbrella of protection for strike aircraft, ground troops, and ships by jamming enemy radar, electronic data links, and communications. “It is an essential platform that provides protection for the fleet,” added Graves.

The EA-18G Growler is scheduled to start replacing the aging EA-6B aircraft in 2009. “The Prowler and Growler bring to the table software intensive applications that provide the United States Armed Forces with the ability to detect, analyze, attack, and defeat electronic threats through complete AEA systems development, integration, test and support. Towards this goal, our team is dedicated to reducing cost and improving quality of the products we deliver to the war fighter” said Graves.

The independent assessment was lead by Applied Process Solutions. They are authorized by the SEI at Carnegie Mellon University to perform these assessments. The appraisal team included Alice Souza, Kyung Kim, David Davis and Tuan Le (AEA IPT Process Improvement Lead) all from NAVAIR and Linda Locke (site coordinator) ( L-3 Titan) and Pete Hassett (Northrop Grumman PRB). Also, Truc Nguyen (NAVAIR) acted as the librarian for the assessment team.

Graves highlighted the teamwork that made this achievement possible, “Many project and competency managers from the local 4.1, 4.5, and 5.1 organization worked long hours to lead improvement efforts while still providing outstanding product delivery and "reach back" support to the fleet. Thank you Alice, Kyung, Linda, David and Pete for your dedication and participation as an appraisal team member. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Tuan Le. His expert leadership was instrumental in establishing the CMMI process areas that are required to reduce the cost of future warfighter products.”

The AEA IPT brings a tremendous amount of expertise to the table. The AEA IPT is a Navy organization comprised of 149 government personnel, four military officers, and about 83 contractor personnel stationed at Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu, Calif. Engineers make up 85 percent of the work force. The contractor personnel are integrated with the Navy personnel, and use the Navy facilities, equipment, and processes. The organization’s depth of AEA experience averages over 10 years per individual and the team is dedicated to delivering the right force, at the right readiness and at the right cost - today and in the future.

The AEA IPT improvement goals won’t stop with this effort. Le also talked about the future. “A number of process improvement opportunities were identified as the result of the assessment, and we are in the process of scheduling training and workshops to address them,” he said. “The AEA IPT also plans to start using the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) method to improve the performance of our processes.”

PHOTO CUTLINE
Photo by Dan O'Conner
The Airborne Electronic Attack Integrated Program Team celebrates its Capability Maturity Model Integration level 3 rating at Point Mugu.