A Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division engineer earned high accolades from inside the Washington Navy Yard Oct. 27, 2015 for engineering support to a $21 million program.

David Silnutzer, who is assigned to NSWC PCD's Tactical Systems Branch (Code E24), earned a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Excellence Award in the individual employee category for his engineering support to the Mobile Landing Platform #3 Afloat Forward Staging Base project. The project is a $21million acquisition program that supports the Military Sealift Command with modularized enterprise networks and command and control communications.

"My initial reaction was of complete surprise followed by thoughts of the entire team that I worked with," said Silnutzer. "I feel very proud and appreciative to receive this recognition, but there are many others on the team whose hard work was integral to the project's success. To name a few - Dave Walls, Nate Smith, Stefanie Barron, Richard Childress, Blake Davis, Zena Le, Lori Starling, Cynthia Scribner, Chiyan Ng, Mark Giles, and Bill Siegrist."

Silnutzer called the project "challenging and rewarding.
"Working on a project that involved coordination and information exchange with a commercial shipbuilder was both challenging and rewarding, and offered a unique insight into how a ship gets built," he said.
Silnutzer received the NAVSEA Excellence Individual Award in a ceremony at the Washington Navy Yard Oct. 27, 2015.

"Due to his stellar reputation as a communications engineer, David was handpicked to lead the MLP3 Radio Module engineering effort. David immediately rose to the task designing rack layouts to safely secure all radios and radio related equipment within two converted $140K SEA BOX shipping containers to support the onboard 60-person military detachment conducting the airborne mine countermeasures (AMCM) mission," said NSWC PCD Tactical Systems Branch Head (E24) Brad Babinski.

Babinski nominated Silnutzer for the NAVSEA Excellence Award.

"Silnutzer's design generated 82 distinct drawings he was personally responsible to produce, modify, and maintain Configuration Management of. His expert management led to 100 percent certification of all antennas on-time for system delivery. During shipboard installation of the modules, Silnutzer worked tirelessly on-site to engineer solutions for final fit and interface issues," wrote Babinski.

"This award recognizes Silnutzer's outstanding technical support and further demonstrates direct fleet support provided to the present and future U.S. Navy Fleets," said NSWC PCD Commanding Officer Capt. Phillip Dawson, USN. "David's all about the ships attitude and efforts directly contributed to MLP3/AFSB's ability to support the airborne mine countermeasure missions and epitomizes the work ethic and technical rigor required for NSWC PCD to maintain its status as the Technical Center of Excellence for Littoral Warfare and Coastal Defense."

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