The Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service was recently awarded to Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division employee Brian R McMahon. Scott O’Neil, NAWCWD executive director, and Paul Wiedenhaefer, representing the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program Office, presented the medal and citation.

McMahon distinguished himself by exceptional civilian service as the F-35 Lightening II Program Lethality IPT lead, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, from January 2006 to November 2007. McMahon directed the development, engineering and verification planning of the F-35 program’s lethality requirements. According to the citation, “His requirement definition and verification plans demonstrated an elegant balance between the operational needs of the warfighter, advanced weapon delivery system technology capability and affordability.”

McMahon described the approach taken by the JSF Lethality team. “We used the kill-chain concept model to decompose the JSF’s performance based system level requirements into a series of discrete functions in the context of specific missions. We then defined verification objectives and success criteria for each function, making use of existing specific requirements to the maximum extent possible. Successful system performance is then the ability to meet the criteria for each function, and to do so within the constraints and time-line required by the mission objectives. This approach provides for verification of integrated system performance through a linked series of measurable, quantitative requirements. Additionally, the program established many of the stressing elements as system level technical performance measures (TPM) to be tracked through the integration phase of development, replacing some of the subsystem TPM from earlier phases.”

McMahon currently serves as a systems analyst on the Horizontal Integration and Capability Assessment Process (HICAP) IPT in the Systems Analysis Division of the Warfare Analysis and Integration Department (Code 4.10). He credits teamwork with the success of the JSF lethality program for which his leadership was recognized.

“These accomplishments,” he said, “are the result of the efforts of a number of engineers here at NAWCWD and other field sites, key individuals at the prime contractor, and the support and backing of the program office.”

From left, Paul Wiedenhaefer, JSF Air Systems Requirements Integrated Product Team, SECDEF Exceptional Civilian Service Medal recipient Brian McMahon, and Scott O’Neil, NAWCWD executive director.