Summary: | EMBA Project Report === EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This study was chartered with the purpose of evaluating the short- and
long-term effects of using Test Pilots to fill Individual Augmentation (IA) billets in
the support of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). These aviation billets are
essential to the test and acquisition workforce to ensure that viable new weapon
systems are introduced to the Fleet in a timely manner, especially since test
project workloads in Naval Aviation continue to rise. Our study primarily
examined helicopter programs currently delayed or at risk of going over budget
due to reduced manning, as well as an analysis of the return on investment for
Test Pilots when they are assigned an IA. The following key observations were
made during our research:
1) Each test squadron has determined their minimum, or red-line,
level of manning by analyzing current and future workload
requirements.
2) Test Pilots are expensive to train and the rate of return on
investment is greatly diminished if their payback tour is
interrupted by an IA.
3) The Navy can improve its “rip to fill” way of filling IA billets.
As a result, we have provided the following recommendations on how
Naval Aviation Systems Command (NAVAIR) can better manage the process in
which IA billets are filled:
1) Seek formal exemption of project officer billets from IAs.
2) Increase the manning level for naval test squadrons.
3) Make IAs more predictable.
4) Assign naval test squadrons specific recurring IA billets.
5) Internally (voluntarily) exempt project officers from IAs.
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