Martin Ahmad, deputy head for the Commander, Fleet Readiness Center of the Naval Air Systems Command, presented COMFRC’s completed and upcoming initiatives at the Sea Air Space Exposition held Monday to Wednesday.

NAVAIR said Wednesday Ahmad provided a brief on the Naval Aviation Enterprise’s Sustainment Vision 2020 for attendees of the event on Tuesday.

Ahmad said that NAVAIR’s fleet readiness centers have completed work on all aircraft that required depot-level repairs and have reached production goals for the last two years.

The COMFRC deputy cited compliance with the Critical Chain Project Management principles, the enhanced accuracy of the bill for parts and materials and rapid engineering investigations as factors for the optimized throughput rate.

Ahmad also noted collaborations with the Defense Logistics Agency, the Naval Supply Systems Command’s Weapon Systems Support and type commanders and program managers.

The COMFRC intended to enhance aircraft maintenance and modification operations, complete in-service repairs and increase the production of component repairs to address the backlog and reduce in-reporting aircraft in need of parts, Ahmad detailed at the exposition.

He added that the office will hire more artisans, engineers and logistics personnel in support of its operations.

NAE’s Sustainment Vision 2020 is targeted towards the four major areas of the sustainment value stream which are supply, manpower, maintenance planning and infrastructure, Ahmad said.

Ahmad remarked that the sustainment value stream areas are consolidated in an operations center to allow officials of various rank to access a uniform metrics in support of preparedness.

NAE executives endorsed the enterprise’s sustainment vision in October 2016.

The Defense Department’s nuclear command, control and communications system is now under review amid increasing threats in cyber and space domains as cited in the Nuclear Posture Review, SpaceNews reported Wednesday.

The NC3 system includes communications satellites, ground stations and aircraft; control centers for nuclear platforms; and warning satellites and radars.

“Discussions are taking place at the secretary of defense and chairman levels,” Gen. Robin Rand, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, said Wednesday at an Air Force Association event.

Rand noted that the U.S. Strategic Command “will have a heavy role” in the NC3 review effort that is led by Joint Chiefs of Staff director of operations.

“The Joint Staff is leading a planning team consisting of DoD NC3 subject matter experts and stakeholders in an effort to review and make recommendations on improvements to NC3 governance,” Maj. Will Powell, a spokesman for the Joint Staff, told the publication in a statement.

“Current planning efforts are on track to provide recommendations to the secretary of defense by May 1,” Powell added.

Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director of the Missile Defense Agency, has said the F-35 fighter aircraft could detect, monitor and target ballistic missiles by 2025, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.

“I’d say six to seven years to essentially work out the concept of operations (and) develop the capabilities — (whether) it’s sensor-based or a new fast missile that’s hung on the bottom of an F-35 for the [Ballistic Missile Defense System) mission — integrate those capabilities, test them and deliver them into a theater of operations,” Greaves told the Senate Appropriations Committee’s defense subpanel.

“Our job is to look outside of the classic missile defense system and look for sensors and shooters that would be able to contribute when integrated into the BMDS, and we see F-35 as one,” he noted.

Greaves, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, said MDA has been working with the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy on how they will integrate the Lockheed Martin-built fighter jet into missile defense.

He also cited the role of regional combatant commanders in efforts to determine potential F-35 applications in missions.

The Government Accountability Office has recommended that the Defense Department reassess fighter pilot squadron requirements across military services to mirror existing and emerging conditions such as the rise in workload and use of unmanned aircraft systems.

GAO said in a report publicly released Wednesday officials at the Air Force, Navy and the Marine Corps noted that they have not reviewed or updated squadron requirements in the last two years.

Squadron leaders said fighter pilot workload has climbed in recent years due to a decline in administrative support and changes in fighter jet technology and tactics.

The congressional watchdog analyzed gaps between the actual fighter pilot staffing levels and authorizations from fiscal year 2006 to FY 2017 across the three services and found that the Air Force showed the widest gap at 27 percent in FY 2017, followed by the Navy at 26 percent and Marine Corps at 24 percent.

Service officials said the gaps could be associated with reduced training opportunities, rising attrition rate driven by career dissatisfaction and aircraft readiness challenges, according to the report.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, director at the Missile Defense Agency, has said at a congressional hearing that modernizing sensors can help MDA counter emerging missile threats, C4ISRNET reported Wednesday.

“The hypersonic threat is real and it’s coming,” he told members of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Wednesday.

“Plus with the more complex countermeasures that these threats will produce to confuse our defensive systems, the ability to maintain a custody becomes even more important.”

Greaves, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, noted that MDA is requesting $120.4 million in fiscal 2019 funds to develop a kill chain technology, analyze target of opportunity events, implement space sensor technology and update multidomain command-and-control systems as part of the agency’s hypersonic defense effort.

Rear Adm. Kevin Jones, a member of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps and head of the Office of Special Projects in Washington, D.C., has been named the next commander of the Defense Logistics Agency Distribution.

The Secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations announced Jones’ new assignment that will be formalized at the DLA Distribution change of command slated on June 11, the agency said Tuesday.

Jones served as the commanding officer for the Naval Supply Systems Command at the Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella and for the Naval Special Warfare Group 1 of the Logistics Support Unit.

His naval deployment includes service on the USS Jarrett (FFG-33) as head of the Supply Officer Department and on the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) as an officer for the material and aviation support divisions.

His assignments at NAVSUP also included roles as assistant commander for the Supply Operations and Logistics Policy (N3/N4) and as chief of staff at the command’s headquarters in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

He served the head of the Naval Special Warfare Command as assistant chief of staff for logistics, engineering, maintenance and combat systems (N4) and supported the F/A-18 Super Hornet program as a contracting officer at the Naval Air Systems Command.

Jones’ on shore duty included assignments to the J4 Directorate as a joint logistics planner at the Headquarters U.S. Central Command and to the G4 Directorate as director of logistics on the staff of Commander Marine Corps Bases Western Area.

He was also stationed in Kuwait as an attachment to the U.S. Embassy and served as an adviser to the chief of logistics of the Kuwait Air Force.

Jones holds qualifications for aviation, surface and expeditionary supply warfare through his membership with the Acquisition Professional Community.