On Target

Aaron is the former editor of ProjectsAtWork.com

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Topics: ProjectsAtWork

Raytheon is developing new radar for F/A-18 aircraft. How does it keep a $100 million program from crashing?

Three years ago, when the United States Navy and Boeing chose Raytheon to develop a state-of-the-art radar system for the F/A-18 aircraft, a $105 million, six-year program took flight. For the Navy, the radar would be a "revolutionary, not evolutionary" leap, promising to change the way it did business, according to Cmdr. Dave Dunaway, APG-79 AESA program manager for the Navy. For the Raytheon team that would deliver it, the radar was a concept, not reality, and the only sure thing was the promise of complex technical and staffing challenges with no margin for error.

Today, more than a year after the world-changing events of  September 11, 2001, defense and security issues are on everyone's radar, and the AESA program is part of a greater national urgency. In government defense programs like this one, expectations are even higher, the timelines tighter, the scrutiny more intense.            

Raytheon's AESA team, led by program manager Tom Kennedy, is meeting those expectations. The program has hit all its significant milestones to date, employing "the three Ps" of program management: processes, practices and people. The processes include integrated product teams and Six Sigma; best …

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