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Naval Aviation Leaders Talk Enterprise

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100818-05
8/18/2010

From Naval Aviation Enterprise Public Affairs

GREAT LAKES, Ill. (NNS) -- Navy and Marine Corps senior leaders and senior executive service personnel associated with Navy and Marine Corps aviation met in Great Lakes, Ill., Aug. 10-11 to discuss ways the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Extended Air Board can improve current and future aviation readiness.

"The purpose of this gathering is to understand what we did right over the past year, reinforce that [goodness], and then look to where we can be more effective and efficient in the coming year," said Vice Adm. Al Myers, commander, Naval Air Forces and a NAE co-leader.

"It is not enough to rest on what we've done in the last year," said Myers. "I think we've had a very good year in terms of cost avoidance. But, as budgets get leaner and the pressures increase, it is up to this group to look for efficiencies within the NAE, in a way that maintains or improves our effectiveness."

The NAE today is represented by all of the more than 180,000 Sailors, Marines and civilians, 3,800 aircraft, and 11 aircraft carriers involved in Navy and Marine Corps aviation. The NAE's mission is to support naval aviation readiness requirements with transparent, cross-functional processes, which inform risk-balanced decisions.

"I would note the accomplishment of bringing together so many top Navy and Marine Corps aviation leaders as an enterprise group to make decisions...I am not aware of any other enterprise forum like this one," said Vice Adm. David Architzel, commander, Naval Air Systems (NAVAIR), who has the role and responsibility of primary provider for all naval aviation hardware and systems.

Architzel was encouraged by NAVAIR's participation in the meeting.

"If you think about what we have to do to provide the right force, with the right readiness, at the right time...today and in the future, NAVAIR plays into every one of those roles," said Architzel.

Working across traditional command boundaries, naval aviation personnel associated with cross-functional teams focused on current readiness, the total force and future readiness use transparency, collaboration and metrics-based decisions to efficiently synchronize naval aviation's readiness delivery processes and help naval aviation leadership make smarter risk-balanced decisions.

Defining a hard return on collaborative and cost-wise decisions can be complicated; however, a look at just one accomplishment of NAE practices shows significant cost avoidance to naval aviation and the Department of the Navy (DON).

From 2004-2009, naval aviation arrested cost-per-flight hour growth rates, reducing costs by as much as $4 billion. Navy growth rates were slowed from approximately $300 per-hour, per-year during 2000-2003, to an average growth of approximately $70 per-hour, per year between the years 2004-2009. That four billion dollars not spent on flight hours was redirected toward other emerging but unfunded priority requirements, ultimately saving the DON and the taxpayer money that would have otherwise been needed.

NAE extends beyond the ranks of the Navy.

"The NAE has made a tremendous positive change in the way that Marine aviation has been able to perform over the past three years that I have been the deputy commandant for aviation," said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Trautman, III, the other co-leader of the NAE. "The level of transparency and communication flow and the interaction that has been generated inside the Marine Corps, from my squadron commanders, to my Marine aircraft group commanders, to my wing commanders, all the way up to me, has been invaluable to helping Marine Corps aviation perform better."

Vincent Walls, deputy director of the Navy's Fleet Readiness Division (N43), is one of the newest members of the NAE and experienced his first Extended Air Board meeting in Great Lakes.

"There is value in getting the leadership focused on identifying opportunities to reduce costs and drive efficiencies," said Walls. "It is also good for [N43] to be involved and hear what the leaders consider to be the biggest challenges, which helps inform our decisions."

The meeting helped determine the best return on investment through continued enterprise activities and to strategically communicate the benefits of enterprise behavior to achieve a complete cultural transformation to one of cost-wise readiness. A lot of ideas were presented that leadership will consider as they develop and execute the new fiscal year 2011 NAE strategic plan.

Naval aviation leadership departed the meeting having recommitted to the transparency and collaboration that drives readiness improvements within naval aviation.

"Our ability to work together and take the Enterprise to the next level is going to be key to our future, and I'm fully committed along with my co-lead and other participants...I see nothing but goodness ahead for the Enterprise," said Lt. Gen. Trautman.