Aviation Week Network 2020 Program Excellence Winners

The winner of the Special Projects category is the Lockheed Martin Orion Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) Launch Abort System. The flawless flight test of the system provided the ability to rescue astronauts and crew capsules in an abort situation during ascent. Hardware was delivered seven months early, and the launch took place six months ahead of schedule. The Lockheed Martin AA-2 system was led by Roger McNamara, who retired earlier this year. Laurence Price is the current leader. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Honeywell Aerospace’s Micro Power Unit development team certified a new hardware product in record time, using agile methods to gain FAA’s approval in half the time compared with the norm for such a component. Two-week design sprints allowed the team to maintain an eye toward cost and production and drive speed to market with a certificated level of quality. The MPU provides power on the ground for turboprop and small to midsize jet aircraft as well as advanced ground vehicles and is smaller than an auxiliary power unit. Laurel Huffman is senior program manager for the winning team. Credit: Honeywell

Collins Aerospace has maintained the Extravehicular Mobility Units (EMU), or spacesuits, for NASA for more than 200 spacewalks. The EMU Sustainment Program includes the maintenance, refurbishment, development, logistics and mission expertise that supports EMU hardware in flight and training. The EMU’s initial 10-year life expectancy, which dates back to the beginning years of the space shuttle program, has been extended fourfold—saving more than $56 million and yielding data critical to developing future spacesuits. Greg Stonesifer is the program director. Credit: Collins Aerospace

Lockheed Martin’s Space Fence team faced a unique and highly complicated challenge. In addition to the surveillance and directional beam technology involved in this Defense Department program, the team shipped materials to the Marshall Islands to build facilities and grid infrastructure. Robert Condren is the program director for Lockheed Martin. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Raytheon Missiles & Defense delivered a record number of Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block 1B missiles to the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in 2019. The team, led by Sharon Walk, delivered 50% more missiles, helped suppliers increase their yield and implemented lean manufacturing at a state-of-the-art facility in Huntsville, Alabama, and worked closely with the MDA customer to improve efficiency and quality. Credit: Raytheon Missiles & Defense

The winner of the OEM Sustainment category is the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) Gray Eagle Unmanned Aerial System. The group’s performance-based logistics team improved mission-capable rate by 15 percentage points using sensitivity analysis, a proprietary logistics tracking system and procurement modeling to exceed the U.S. Army’s operational standards. TJ Nagle is program director for the GA-ASI team. Credit: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems