Senior leaders from the aviation community recently gathered in Philadelphia for the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Supply Summit.

More than 150 Naval Aviation Enterprise leaders were in attendance for the first NAE summit organized by NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS).

"This is the first time we had this level of engagement focused on aviation sustainment issues," said NAVSUP WSS Commander, Rear Adm. Paul Verrastro. "It is an honor for us to host this summit in an effort to gain a higher level of understanding of fleet challenges and join forces to solve them."

The summit provided the opportunity to discuss key focus areas such as funding, allowancing and forecasting, partnership solutions/contracts and sustainment. Discussions centered on how the NAE can commit to improve readiness, attack root causes and foster better decisions that benefit naval aviation as a whole.

The summit also served as an opportunity for the fleet to present availability challenges and to develop collaborative approaches to solving pressing sustainment issues.

In addition to Verrastro, key stakeholders in attendance included Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, commander, Naval Air Forces, commander, Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet; Vice Adm. David Dunaway, commander, Naval Air Systems Command; Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, deputy commandant for Aviation, Headquarters Marine Corps; Rear Adm. Jonathan Yuen, commander, Naval Supply Systems Command, and 47th Chief of Supply Corps, among other executive leaders.

The summit concluded with confidence in future readiness and decision making, both of which will better produce warfighting readiness in the most cost effective manner.

A field activity of the Naval Supply Systems Command, NAVSUP Weapon Systems Support (NAVSUP WSS) is the U.S. Navy's supply chain manager providing worldwide support to the aviation, surface ship, and submarine communities. NAVSUP WSS provides Navy, Marine Corps, joint and allied forces with products and services that deliver combat capability through logistics. There are more than 2,000 civilian and military personnel employed at its two Pennsylvania sites. The NAVSUP WSS Philadelphia site supports aircraft, while its Mechanicsburg site supports ships and submarines.

For more news from Naval Supply Systems Command, visit: www.navy.mil and www.navy.mil/local/navsup/.