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CNO, NAE Leaders Discuss Navy Priorities with Industry Leaders

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060323-05
Release Date: 3/23/2006 9:38:00 AM

From Naval Air Systems Command Public Affairs

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen spoke March 8 at this year’s Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Symposium to 300 naval aviation and industry leaders about priorities in today’s Navy.

The NAE is a command partnership designed to resolve issues affecting its members, including Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF), Naval Education and Training Command (NETC), Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Naval Sea Systems Command, Naval Supply Systems Command and the Naval Inventory Control Point. The U.S. Marine Corps and Joint Commands, such as the Defense Logistics Agency also participate.

Mullen applauded the efforts of CNAF Commander Vice Adm. Jim Zortman, NAVAIR Commander Vice Adm. Wally Massenburg and NAE leadership for the continuous interchange with industry on best business practices.

“I’m very anxious to view what’s going on here,” Mullen said, “which is partner with industry so we’re all on the same sheet. And being on that same sheet, we move forward. I believe to the degree we can do that together, almost anything is possible, and to the degree that we separate, almost nothing is possible. That’s a real fundamental undertaking for me, whether it’s shipbuilding, aviation or any other part of the business. We’ve got to understand each other and then move out.”

The primary goal of the NAE is to deliver the right force, with the right readiness, at the right cost using single process ownership guided by best business practices. A single Fleet-driven metric - aircraft and carriers ready for tasking at reduced cost - gauges the effectiveness of the NAE.

Mullen underscored the symposium’s theme of cost, readiness, and people by reaffirming the priorities he set when he became the CNO: to sustain a high level of readiness and our ability to respond, to build a fleet for the future, and to develop a workforce for the 21st century. He cited building the future Navy as the biggest challenge due to budget constraints and a constantly changing war environment.

“I believe that this is the maritime century and that the Marine Corps/Navy will be in position to make a difference, to be dispersed, netted, disaggregated, aggregated, depending on whether it’s a theater, a security engagement kind of operation, or whether it’s a major combat operation,” he said. “We’re going to be called in ways that we just can’t imagine right now. And there are a lot of people depending on our ability to respond.”

That ability will require some tough decisions, Mullen said, but he’s confident in today’s Navy and encouraged by the teamwork of the NAE.

“The Naval Aviation Enterprise has been a terrific example...able to do what we do now and figure out the best way to move together in the future and to try to add a complete understanding of the whole picture," he said.

In his introductory comments, Massenburg described the symposium as “an opportunity for flag [officers] and general officers to sit with the people who are the rest of the Naval Aviation Enterprise - where we spend our money - and who produce the products to create the warfighting capabilities for the kids that are out there fighting today.”

Massenburg defined the NAE construct and the concept of its "Air Boss," Zortman.

“Until you decide that one person, given the information to make decisions based on an information flow that is constant, has the authority to represent us all, then this single fleet-driven metric represented by the single process owner, known as the Air Boss, becomes a powerful, powerful tool,” Massenburg said.