In November, Government, industry, and academia professionals from across the aircraft survivability community gathered for the annual National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Aircraft Survivability Symposium at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. The theme for this year’s three-day event, hosted by NDIA’s Air Combat Survivability Division (ACSD), was “The Future Is Now: Ready, Set, Fight!”
The first day featured tutorial sessions on artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), as well as the impact of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosives (CBRNE) operational environments related to aircraft survivability. Day two and three technical presentations were divided four different session categories: Threats, Modeling/Simulation, Vulnerability, and AI and Radio Frequency. In addition, the keynote address was given by Dr. Eric Ruggiero, Engineering Executive from GE Edison Works, on the evolution and state of propulsion in terms of survivability and vulnerability.
2024 NDIA Aircraft Survivability Symposium Awards
As always, a highlight of the symposium was the annual NDIA Survivability Symposium awards luncheon on day three, when various community practitioners were recognized for their superior contributions to the industry in the areas of leadership, technical accomplishment, lifetime achievement, and excellence as a young professional. This year’s recipients were as follows.
Professor Robert E. Ball Young Professional Award for Air Combat Survivability
The Young Professional Award is presented to an early- to mid-career person (35 years of age or younger at the time of award) who has made a significant technical, analytical, or tactical contribution to any aspect of aircraft survivability.
This year’s award was presented to Ms. Hannah McWilliams, a recognized young operations researcher at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, who has made many significant technical, analytic, and tactical contributions to the survivability of combat aircraft. Ms. McWilliams has become the resident expert and technical lead for Brawler analysis, providing detailed assessments of air-to-air combat engagements. She has used Brawler to develop, mature, and evaluate capabilities on more than 15 different aircraft platforms, both crewed and uncrewed. She conducted or led more than 150 constructive experiments, averaging more than 1,000 Brawler runs per experiment and incorporating aircraft aerodynamics, signature, fuel, missiles and weapons, radar, communications, infrared search and track, identification of friend or foe, noncooperative identification and recognition, radar warning receivers, electronic support measures, and electronic warfare capabilities. She has also briefed the results of her studies to the highest levels of political and military leadership and is leading the charge to transition analysis work from Brawler to the Advanced Framework for Simulation, Integration, and Modeling (AFSIM). The integration of AFSIM into the analytical environment helps Hannah’s team conduct realistic, accurate, and rapid analysis across multidomain mission sets, providing a more complete representation of aircraft capabilities to decision-makers across Government and industry.
Patrick S. Sharp Air Combat Survivability Award for Technical Achievement
The Technical Achievement Award is presented to a person who has made a significant technical contribution to any aspect of survivability. It may be presented for a specific achievement or for exceptional technical excellence over an extended period. Individuals at any level of experience are eligible for this award.
This year’s recipient, Mr. Timothy Conn, is renowned in the low observable (LO) community for his 38 years of dedication to the development and implementation of radar measurement systems and techniques. As the Chief Scientist and Engineering Manager at the Air Force’s National Radar Cross-Section Test Facility (NRTF), Mr. Conn leads multidisciplined teams in the pursuit of disruptive technologies in radar design, antenna design, adaptive waveforms, and signal processing, enabling the NRTF to provide the highest fidelity radar cross-section (RCS) measurements for next-generation strategic weapon systems. He is the nucleus for the development and modernization of unique LO test capabilities, including new digitalized RCS measurement radars, higher fidelity low-frequency RCS measurement techniques, and dynamic (in-flight) RCS measurement and imaging systems. Mr. Conn’s vision and leadership on the evolution of dynamic measurement array designs, control software, and signature measurement algorithms have pushed the leading edges of technology, delivering critical RCS data to LO research and development programs and yielding significant survivability contributions across the joint Services. He is truly a national treasure.
RADM Robert H. Gormley Air Combat Survivability Award for Leadership
The Leadership Award is presented to a person who has made major leadership contributions to combat survivability. The individual selected must have demonstrated outstanding leadership in enhancing overall combat survivability or played a significant role in a major aspect of survivability design, program management, research and development, test and evaluation, modeling and simulation, education, or the development of standards. The emphasis of this award is on demonstrated superior leadership over an extended period.
This year’s leadership award was presented to Mr. Barry Strattan, who is recognized for his long Northrop Grumman career developing, delivering, and sustaining survivable aircraft and technologies to the Department of Defense. As an LO development engineer, he identified, analyzed, and designed sustainable solutions to complex technical requirements, including supporting development of radar-absorbing structure/material components for the B1-B, pole model articles for the A-12, and radomes for the F/A-22 and F-35, as well as sustainment and LO improvement for the B-2 and other special programs. As functional director of the Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems (NGAS) Survivability homeroom, he initiated an organizational construct that leveraged core competencies across multiple programs and stages of development, creating a sustainable environment for survivability engineers to increase the depth and breadth of their knowledge and experience and ensuring that every program received the right level of knowledge and expertise. As a Mission Engineer and Chief Engineer for Northrop Grumman’s Advanced Technology Development Center, he has motivated and led a multidiscipline engineering team to develop cutting-edge solutions to real-world problems and deliver the end-to-end integration of advanced systems capabilities across multiple programs.
Dale B. Atkinson Air Combat Survivability Award for Lifetime Achievement
The Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to a person who has made significant technical and leadership contributions throughout his/her professional career, spanning many or most of the numerous facets of aircraft combat survivability. This award is nominated by the ACSD Executive Board and is intended to recognize an individual’s lifetime of accomplishments and dedication to the aircraft survivability community and the aircrews we serve.
This year, Mr. Charles Frankenburger, was recognized for his more than 40-year career focused on aircraft survivability and the mitigation of aerospace propulsion systems vulnerabilities via the advancement of the science, analysis, and live fire testing of aircraft structure, fuel, and propulsion systems.
After a brief stint in the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Frankenburger started his aerospace engineering career at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) in 1986. Initially working Propulsion Analysis, Missile Performance, and Air-Breathing Propulsion, he transferred to Survivability in 1994 as a propulsion system test engineer, working on V-22, F-18, F-35, and FAA projects. In 2016, he became the Vulnerability Branch head, assuming responsibilities for the Weapons Survivability Lab (WSL). In 2020, he was named the Head of the Aircraft Vulnerability Division at NAWCWD. Under his leadership, the WSL at China Lake made many advancements to the state-of-the-art of survivability testing programs and capabilities, including designing and developing an innovative spin fixture to provide unprecedented dynamic ballistic testing of aircraft engine and drivetrain components, expanding its capabilities to include directed energy and other emerging threats, and merging Air Force and Navy vulnerability LFT&E capabilities and support. He was the lead for numerous turbine engine vulnerability programs, conducting extensive ballistic testing, and serving as the Propulsion Vulnerability and LFT&E Lead for the Joint Strike Fighter Team and then the F-35 Vulnerability and LFT&E Lead for NAVAIR and the F-35 Program Office. In addition, Mr. Frankenburger has held various leadership roles for the Navy, Federal Aviation Administration, National Transportation Safety Board, and the Joint Aircraft Survivability Program (JASP) Vulnerability Reduction Subgroup.
Looking Ahead to 2025
It’s not too early to plan to be at the Aircraft Survivability Symposium next November and to consider who among our ranks is deserving of recognition for the 2025 Survivability Symposium awards. Is there someone in your staff/organization who has demonstrated exemplary technical or leadership achievement in the survivability community? Or perhaps you have an early- to mid-career colleague who has shown a distinct flair for the survivability discipline and is deserving of early recognition. The ACSD will publish award nomination deadlines and submission procedures later in 2025, but there’s no need to wait. Those interested in making a nomination, gaining more information, or discussing the nomination process should contact Mr. Robert Gierard at Gierard.llc@gmail.com or 310-909-4592 or Mr. George Webster at gwebster@ndia.org or 703-247-9493.
About the Authors
Mr. Robert Gierard is a Lead Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton and currently serves as Chairman of the NDIA ACSD Awards Committee. His +40-year career spans research, development, testing, analysis, acquisition management, all-source intelligence, and leadership roles in the Air Force, Intelligence community, and aerospace industry. Mr. Gierard holds a BSEE from Carnegie-Mellon University and an MSEE from the Air Force Institute of Technology.
