LEXINGTON PARK, Md. – Ron Harney, test and evaluation expert, was recently recognized as the Department of the Navy's Contractor 2021 Tester of the Year by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
The NDIA Tester of the Year recognizes superior work by testers supporting the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Air Force that significantly contributes to or directly supports test and evaluation activities during the calendar year.
Harney earned the honor of Tester of the Year 2021 for his work in the Naval Test Wing Atlantic (NTWL) Test & Evaluation Management for Programs and Operations (TEMPO) Division as an Assistant Program Manager for Test & Evaluation (APMT&E) and his continued instruction of the Department of the Navy Strategies for Effective and Efficient T&E (STE-200) course.
As an APMT&E on the TEMPO contract, Harney was a test engineer during the Full Ship Shock Trials on the U.S.S. Gerald Ford in the summer of 2021, during which it detonated multiple 40,000-pound explosives near the ship.
Full ship shock trials, which evaluate a ship's ability to withstand the shock of an explosion and keep fighting, are rare occurrences that most Navy sailors never experience. The last carrier to be shocked was the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt in 1987.
As an instructor of the DoN Strategies for Effective and Efficient T&E, Harney leads the T&E workforce for a 2-day instruction that aims to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of test by providing test leads with the latest policy, process, and best practices. Harney helps testers improve their T&E-related knowledge and skills and emphasizes critical thinking as an integral part of T&E.
"We are so incredibly proud of Ron’s achievements and how they continue to advance T&E for the Navy and Marine Corps," said Beth Ward, AVIAN's Vice President for Test and Evaluation | Flight Support and Training, Multimedia and Consulting sectors. “Ron demonstrates his vast T&E excellence every day whether through test events or in the classroom and is well deserving of this award.”
Harney has also instructed courses for the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) College of Test and Evaluation (CT&E) and the office of the Chief of Naval Research and Director, Innovation Technology Requirements and Test and Evaluation (OPNAV N94).
A seven-year AVIAN employee, Harney transitioned to the contractor workforce after a more than 30-year career as a government flight test expert.
Harney held positions as the Division Head for Air Vehicle Test & Evaluation, Division Head for Ship Suitability, and is a United States Naval Test Pilot School graduate.
He is one of six Navy and Marine Corps Tester of the Year recipients for 2021. All recipients will be formally recognized at the 25th annual NDIA Systems and Mission Engineering Conference this November.
About NDIA
NDIA is a non-partisan, non-profit defense and national security association comprising more than 1,500 corporations and 63,000 individual members. It was founded to educate its constituency on all aspects of national security. NDIA engages innovative leaders to promote the best policies, practices, products, and technology for warfighters to ensure the safety and security of our nation. Nominees for the Tester of the Year awards are evaluated on their superior work that significantly contributes to or directly supports test and evaluation activities during the calendar year.
About AVIAN
AVIAN (*ae-v-yin*) is an employee-owned government services small business headquartered in Lexington Park, Maryland, with annual revenues exceeding $73 million.
AVIAN provides resourceful, responsive, and reachable solutions in program, financial, and logistics management; engineering and systems engineering; test and evaluation of manned and unmanned aerial, surface, and subsurface systems; workforce development and training; communication strategy and graphic design.
With more than two dozen Test Pilot School graduates in our workforce and many others with extensive operational test backgrounds, our team supports numerous T&E activities for the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD), Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD), Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA).
