Successful IA-407 program transfers to PM NSRWA

The Iraqi Armed 407 program was formally transferred from the Armed Scout Directorate to the Non-Standard Rotary Wing Aircraft Project Directorate during a transition ceremony April 2 in the PM NSRWA office.

Lt. Col. Chris Mills relinquished responsibility as the product manager for the IA-407 to Lt. Col. Alex Alejo, product manager for scout attack/utility aircraft in PM NSRWA. Mills took the opportunity during the ceremony to thank his team in PM ASH and recognize their contributions in front of the workforce.

"This team, serving as the Lead Systems Integrator, took a complex aircraft program from requirements generation through development, integration, prototyping, testing, production, training and fielding of 26 high-quality IA-407 aircraft -- all in just 45 months," said Mills.

"This team and this program have the reputation for getting things done and making the mission happen, and that is thanks to all of you for your hard work, resolve, and passion to make this program a success."

Mills said that the IA-407 effort was achieved using seven distinct Foreign Military Sales cases, more than 20 contracts and task orders, and totaling $570 million.

Together with the Logistics Support Facility, the team delivered three T-407s (training aircraft) within 17 months of program initiation and subsequently delivered 26 IA-407 aircraft within a year and a half, averaging deliveries of at least 3 aircraft a month, which is a tight turn-around. The final two aircraft were delivered in November 2013.

In conjunction with the Security Assistance Training Management Organization, the team conducted a training program and trained more than 50 Iraqi aviators and maintainers in the U. S. and in Iraq.

Additionally, the team managed a Test Data Package that included more than 1,500 drawings and executed an airworthiness qualification plan that had more than 2,400 distinct requirements. The Redstone Test Center led a flight test program that had more than 1,000 data points and flew more than 340 test flight hours.

"The Aviation Engineering Directorate consistently met the challenge and provided us timely airworthiness releases to support our deliveries, and all the training that we had to accomplish," said Mills.

Col. Jim Brashear, Project Manager for NSRWA, thanked the ASH team for handing over a successful program. "It's not often that we get to say that in the acquisition corps," said Brashear. PM NSRWA's mission is to build rotary wing capability to partner nations so that U.S. forces do not have to deploy and be in harm's way.

"You have built an incredible rotary wing capability for the Iraqi forces. You've facilitated the U.S. forces to pull back and come home after they've completed the mission, by standing up our partner nation's capability. You have set the conditions for future success."

Mills acknowledged that the team did not only consist of PM ASH. "From the beginning, the IA-407 program was highly reliant on Team Redstone and the Security Assistance Community," he said.

The enterprise is a total team approach from many organizations on Redstone Arsenal. They include the Program Executive Office for Aviation with PM ASH, U.S. Army Security Assistance Command including the Security Assistance Training Management Office, Aviation and Missile Command with the Security Assistance Management Directorate and the Logistics Support Facility, Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center with the Aviation Engineering Directorate and the Prototype Integration Facility, Army Contracting Command, Army Test and Evaluation Command with the Aviation Flight Test Directorate and Redstone Test Center, Aviation Applied Technology Directorate, SESi with the Joint Venture Yulista and SES, Joint Munitions Command, the U.S. Air Force, Redstone Garrison, the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq, and the Iraqi 21st Aviation Squadron in Iraq.

"We always had a small lean team but combined with all the other members on Redstone, the synergistic effect was very effective," said Mills. "The project office served as the focal point, but we had to leverage all the capabilities on Redstone."

Alejo congratulated Mills and the ASH team, adding, "Thanks to all of you and to PEO Aviation for the opportunity for us to manage this program from this point forward and believing in us as we take this program to the next level."

The IA-407 continues to be the Iraqi Forces' "go-to" aircraft. The IA-407 maintains an operational readiness rate of more than 80 percent since deployment.

Although the program will no longer be in the hands of PM ASH, focusing on the objective remains a priority, said Mills. He encouraged them to do three things: focus on the customer, maintain communications with all the stakeholders involved, and keep the program moving forward.

"We've fulfilled an obligation and an important security assistance mission. We've also gotten to know the customer in Iraq, and it's satisfying to know that we've given our allies these capabilities that will enable them to protect their own country, as well as ours in the process."