The USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) AIRSpeed team is part of a Navy-wide program committed to continuously improving performance across all aviation domains.

Their mission is to advance and sustain naval aviation war-fighting capabilities at an affordable cost today and in the future. AIRSpeed also provides the strategy, structure, skills and project management to align, implement and sustain continuous process improvement to provide the war fighter with the right readiness at the right time at the best possible cost.

"We are currently working on a rapid improvement event for Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Department's (AIMD/IM4) ground support equipment in an attempt to reduce man hours lost on moving equipment so maintenance can be performed," said Lt. Clint Newman, quality assurance officer, from Anniston, Alabama." This is one of four major ship-wide projects that will be showcased during the upcoming 'Boots on Deck' event scheduled for early next spring."

NAVAIR (Naval Air Systems Command) 6.0, Assistant Commander, Logistics and Industrial Operations coordinates the "Boots on Deck" program for commands afloat and ashore enabling leadership to interact directly with a command and observe firsthand their challenges and successes.

Newman also said it's not an inspection, but a fact gathering event intended to benefit the host commands.

Other projects the John C. Stennis AIRSpeed team are working on include improved methods to eliminate waste, disseminate mass quantities of supply products and installing a 3D printer for the engineering department.

"We take a combination of multiple philosophies and we use specific tools to assist other people in making their processes more efficient," said Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class, Joshua Walters, AIRSpeed team member, from Winnsboro, Louisiana. "We also aim to eliminate processes that are wasteful, help reduce the number of defects from people's methods and help alleviate any constraints by saving time, energy, manpower and costs."

Another beneficial aspect of the program is that any Sailor may submit a request or suggest an idea for the AIRSpeed team to look into regardless of rank or rate.

John C. Stennis is in port training for future operations after conducting flight deck certification and carrier qualifications.

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