PHOENIX, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- AVIATION WEEK has named the winners and finalists of its sixth annual 2009 Program Excellence Awards, identifying 14 aerospace and defense (A&D) programs at BAE Systems, Boecore, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Rockwell Collins, and SpaceX as the leaders in their fields. The awards were announced at the AVIATION WEEK A&D Programs Conference in Phoenix, AZ on November 3.

"These awards recognize programs that excel based on value creation, adapting to complexity, and organizational processes and metrics," said Tom Henricks, president of AVIATION WEEK. "The leading programs this year address the challenging issues facing transportation, space exploration, security and defense at a time when programs and budgets are under intense scrutiny."

"The art of leadership is what differentiates 'okay' from 'good' from 'excellent,'" said Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., editor-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology, as he addressed attendees of the Program Excellence Banquet. "The leaders of these top programs paid significant attention to controlling design configurations; managing risks, issues, and opportunities; and integrating a geographically and culturally dispersed supply team. We are pleased to present these awards to honor their game-changing leadership and ability to meet the challenges of increasingly complex programs."

The AVIATION WEEK Program Excellence evaluators considered more than 60 programs before selecting five winning programs and 14 finalists, as follows.

    --  Winner, Innovation Award - Space Exploration Technologies, Falcon First
        Flight Program, Brian Bjelde, Director, Production and Mission
        Management
    --  Winner, Sub-System Level Research & Development - BAE Systems,
        Electro-Magnetic Railgun Development Program, Amir Chaboki, Program
        Manager
    --  Winner, Sub-System Level Production & Sustainment - Raytheon Space &
        Airborne Systems, Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared Program,
        Roger Nordmeyer, Program Director
    --  Winner, System Level Research & Development - The Boeing Co., C-130
        Avionics Modernization Program, Mark Angelo, Program Manager

    --  Winner, System Level Production & Sustainment - Northrop Grumman, Lunar
        CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) Program, Steve Carman,
        Project Leader

    --  Finalist, Sub-System Level Research & Development - Lockheed Martin,
        Sniper B-1 Laptop Controlled Targeting Pod Program, Kenneth Fuhr,
        Director, Bill Spangenberg, Program Manager, and Sean Quinn, Lead
        Systems Engineer
    --  Finalist, Sub-System Level Production & Sustainment - Boecore, Joint
        National Integration Center Research & Development Contract, Kathy Boe,
        President & CEO
    --  Finalist, Sub-System Level Production & Sustainment - Rockwell Collins,
        Special Operations Solutions, Scott Britten, Program Manager
    --  Finalist, System Level Research & Development - The Raytheon Co.,
        Standard Missile 3 Program, Phillip Poehlman, Program Director
    --  Finalist, System Level Research & Development - The Raytheon Co., Joint
        Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System,
        Lucinda Fleury, Program Manager
    --  Finalist, System Level Research & Development - Northrop Grumman, Large
        Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures Program, Doug Allison, Program Manager
    --  Finalist, System Level Research & Development - Northrop Grumman,
        Airborne Signals Intelligence Payload Program, Sheila Van Groningen,
        Program Director
    --  Finalist, System Level Production & Sustainment - The Boeing Co.,
        Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite Program, Mark Spiwak, Program Director

    --  Finalist, System Level Production & Sustainment - Lockheed Martin, Space
        Shuttle External Tank Program, Mark Bryant, Vice President

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