Colonel Dunlop looks ahead as 412th TW enters new era Published June 22, 2010 By Kenji Thuloweit 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The dynamic mission of the 412th Test Wing needs unique care and attention from its leadership. After two weeks as commander, Col. Dawn M. Dunlop has vocalized her vision for the next couple of years at Edwards. With over 300 Department of Defense test programs in execution and the addition of the Joint Strike Fighter, Colonel Dunlop said she knows having clear foresight is more important than ever in this economically constrained environment to maintain the Air Force's principal flight test wing. Her tenure as commander is projected to be filled with opportunities and accomplishments, but with those possibilities come challenges, which she is ready to face. "The budget cuts programmed through fiscal-year 2012 will put increased pressure on our ability to execute flight test for the J-S-F and simultaneously meet other priority DOD program requirements," Colonel Dunlop said. "The F-35 is the largest acquisition program in DOD history and we need to give it our full attention and support." "It brings critical capabilities to our Air Force, our sister services, and our international program partners -- and we will do all we can to leverage our expertise and flight test talent to make it a success. At the same time we continue to see mission growth in legacy platform sustainment -- bomber, airlift, fighter -- and in remotely piloted aircraft. All of which puts increased pressure on our people, our limited resources and our airspace." "In this era of shrinking budgets, high ops tempo, and competing priorities our greatest value is providing the objective analysis, innovative thinking, and decision quality data needed to help our senior acquisition leaders identify and develop those capabilities most able to meet war fighter needs." While the budget is not under the wing's control, how the wing prioritizes, trains, and executes flight test is. She said innovative thinking and a corporate approach to executing responsive, safe and efficient developmental test can speak volumes about the test wing's value to the Air Force. The colonel has introduced four mission priorities that will serve as a framework for her command. These priorities are: Safely and Professionally Execute the Mission; Take Care of America's Airmen and their Families; Cultivate a Strong Sense of Stewardship and Communicate Effectively Our Value to Developing Smart Air Power Solutions for the Nation. "With a growing number of competing priorities for our time, our talent and our resources, I think it is important to establish clear priorities for the wing which I intend to help guide our attention and our decisions." Safely and Professionally Execute the Mission "Our mission is extremely important but it can also be inherently risky. A key element of the flight test is identifying risks and eliminating or mitigating them so that we can safely accomplish the mission. We can't do our mission tomorrow if we don't do it safely today. Safety planning is fundamental to our profession and requires the dedicated attention of each member of the test wing. I am confident in our processes and our people but the inherent risk in flight test demands that we never get too comfortable in this arena that we become complacent." "'Professionally Execute' because it's important for us to remember that we are in the profession of arms. Everything we do is in the service of our nation -- it enables us to meet our national security commitments, to protect and defend our freedoms and our future. It is important as we go about our daily tasks that we never lose sight of why it is that we serve." Take Care of America's Airmen and their Families "It is our people and the families that support them that enable us to achieve the great successes we do. While our mission is extremely important, the people who do the mission are more important--they're the only reason we can get the mission done. No doubt there are times we will ask our folks to work long, hard hours, but we also need to be in it for the long run. We have an obligation to take care of those who work for us, and that includes their families. Rarely have I seen people work as hard, or as long, to get the mission done as I have here at Edwards; I don't want them to leave feeling as though they have sacrificed their personal or professional development to get the mission done. A significant part of my responsibility is to work with our commanders, chiefs, shirts, and supervisors at all levels to recognize, reward, and enable the incredible men and women in the test wing to become the leaders we need to guide our Air Force in the future." Cultivate a Strong Sense of Stewardship "Stewardship speaks to protecting and consuming resources as our own. The resources we are given--aircraft, equipment, and even people--are not ours; they are funded by the taxpayer and entrusted to us by the Air Force. We must be responsible for using these resources efficiently. Efficiency doesn't necessarily mean doing more with less; it does mean looking for smart, cost-effective ways of developing air power solutions for the nation." "That's one element. It's also about sharing ownership in the programs we support, understanding our role in the development process. Flight test is one component of the acquisition enterprise. Thus stewardship also implies an accountability to pursue the best corporate solution for the Air Force, to make smart trade-offs when necessary, to execute test as effectively as possible, and to commit to continuous improvements within individual units and across the test wing. Leadership and coordination that cuts across our organization is critical for identifying gaps and overlaps in spending and execution, and helps foster best practices...all important elements of good stewardship." "The bottom line is that what we do is important, but how we do what we do is more important. If we understand how what we do here in flight test influences program development and front-line capabilities, we can make smarter decisions about how to effectively use the resources entrusted to us." Communicate Effectively Our Value to Developing Smart Air Power Solutions for the Nation "Edwards has a long history of flight test excellence and developing cutting edge capabilities. I am not certain that we communicate our value as well as we execute our mission. Our accomplishments should stand on their own, but all too often I see our successes and positive impact obscured because of misperception or lack of understanding, I'd like to change this. I think it's important that we find effective ways to communicate our value to the process of developing smart air power solutions for the nation. If we don't highlight the advantages of early developmental test to acquisition process, both in delivering needed capabilities and reducing sustainment costs, we will be at risk of losing mission-essential resources." "We want to be known for bringing solutions to capability development, and to do so we must work to capture and communicate our value in terms that are meaningful to the Air Force at large. This requires not only an understanding of our profession but also of our Air Force and DOD priorities, as well as the Air Force Requirements Oversight Council and Joint Requirements Oversight Council requirements we seek to meet. Only with this knowledge can we effectively communicate how developmental test enables the war fighter and the nation." Along with those four priorities, Colonel Dunlop has an overall expectation for everyone in the 412th. "As we meet the challenges of each day, it is important that we never lose sight of the Air Force core values of integrity, service and excellence; that we treat each other with dignity and respect; and that we individually and collectively accept accountability for the work we do on behalf of the United States of America. If our day-to-day execution of the test wing mission is guided by these values I have no doubt we will succeed." "I am extraordinarily grateful to be back at Edwards for a third tour and to have the privilege of commanding the best test wing in the Air Force," Colonel Dunlop said. "I know what great work is done here and the positive impact we have on the Air Force mission, and I look forward to serving the talented team of engineers, program managers, test pilots and maintainers that make flight test possible, and make Edwards and the 412th Test Wing the 'best in test.'"