The Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) has created a program called AIRSpeed to deliver the efficiency gains of continuous process improvement (CPI). NAE leadership seeks a self-assessment tool to measure how well AIRSpeed has been implemented, including possible areas for improvement. This thesis studies the origins of continuous process improvement, the value of assessment, and current assessment methodologies. Key concepts are cited for the use of organizational assessment tools. The objectives are an enhanced body of knowledge for enterprise assessment, to provide a comparison of several approaches, and to recommend a tool for NAE AIRSpeed. The tools to be considered are the Department of Defense CPI Transformation Guidebook (DoD CPITG), the Navy's Performance Excellence Guidebook (NPEG), the Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI) Government Lean Enterprise Self-Assessment Tool (GLESAT), and the NAVAIR Alignment Assessment Tool (NAAT). Research revealed that three of the four tools (DoD CPITG, NPEG, and GLESAT) could efficiently measure AIRSpeed maturity, and recommendations were made that a performance management framework be established by the NAE prior to implementation of any formal assessment process. The maturity level of NAE AIRSpeed could be baselined using the LAI tool in those areas where lean principles have been implemented over a period of years.

U.S. Navy aviation squadrons conduct a variety of flight operations in peace and wartime environments. At the heart of these operations is the flight scheduling that occurs to command and control the squadron's assets to ensure the actors and processes carry out the squadron's operations seamlessly and meet the squadron's mission requirements. This research and case study demonstrates how the Knowledge Value Added Methodology (KVA) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR) can be applied to these processes to analyze the performance and effectiveness of a Navy squadron's operations and maintenance departments. By analyzing the outputs of the sub processes involved at the squadron level in common units of change, a price per unit of output can be generated to allocate both cost and revenue at the sub process level. With this level of financial detail, a return on investment (ROI) analysis can be conducted for each process and the changes that occur to the processes when reengineering. A determination can then be made as to what level of reengineering if any should occur to the system to maximize ROI and what types of reengineering such as reducing costs, increasing value or implementing IT resources into the processes.

Thesis (M.S. in Mechanical Engiineering)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Gannon, Anthony J. "June 2009." Author(s) subject terms: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Transonic, Compressor, Steam Ingestion, Sanger Rotor. Description based on title screen as viewed on July 10, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 61). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 1990. / Thesis Advisor: McCaffery, Jerry L. Second Reader: Jones, Lawrence R. "December 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on April 2, 2010. DTIC Identifier(s): Naval aviation, naval budgets, Navy Flying Hour Program, federal budgets, flight crews, CNAP (Commander Naval Air Force Pacific Fleet), allocations, military training, theses. Author(s) subject terms: Flying Hour Program, Naval aviation budget, Type Commander Management. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-73). Also available in print.

Naval Aviation has been known for over half a century as being one of the most fascinating professions. Although aircrew may always play a role in the mishap rate, the Navy has shifted its focus to aviation maintenance safety climate as a possible indicator of a future mishap. The School of Aviation Safety developed and implemented a survey, the Maintenance Climate Assessment Survey (MCAS), to assess the safety climate of Naval Aviation squadrons. Researchers have begun reviewing the possible direct relationship between the maintainer, how they view their squadron's climate and aviation mishaps. This thesis examines the construct of squadron maintenance safety climate survey and its relationship to aviation mishaps. The raw data employed includes MCAS responses from 126,058 maintainers between August 2000 and August 2005. This study finds that the MCAS survey construction needs to be revised. The findings are substantial to verify that most questions are formulated to focus on the same factor. Since the survey requires reconstruction, the question of whether it can determine the likelihood of mishaps was never visited. Revising the survey, based on psychometrics, may produce more significant results and gauge maintenance safety climate based on separate and distinct factors.

Thesis (M.S. in Human Systems Integration)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2006. / "June 2009." Thesis advisor: Paul E. O'Connor. Performed by the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Calif. "Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Human Systems Integration from the Naval Postgraduate School, June 2009."--P. iii. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), Dudley Knox Library Web site and the DTIC Online Web site.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 1990. / Thesis Advisor(s): Fremgen, James M. "June 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on October 20, 2009. DTIC Identifier(s): Patrol Aircraft, Naval Aviation, Ocean Surveillance, Resource Management, MPA (Maritime Patrol Aviation), Operational Readiness, Naval Training, VP Aircraft, Theses. Author(s) subject terms: Readiness, Resources, Performance, VP, Training. Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-107). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 1982. / Thesis advisor(s): J.W. Creighton. Includes bibliographical references (p. 124-128). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S. in Human Systems Integration)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): O'Connor, Paul E. Second Reader: Miller, Nita Lewis. "December 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on January 27, 2010. Author(s) subject terms: Naval Aviation, safety, mishap, human systems integration, human factors. Includes bibliographical references (p. 135-138). Also available in print.

This thesis examines how air power has affected navies using the case of the United Kingdom between 1945 and 1957. Air power has given rise to numerous theories about its effect on the use of force, in which its impact on navies has been a particular theme. Many thinkers have interpreted air power as a strategic, operational and tactical challenge to navies, which would render them redundant and obsolete. Such ideas originated between the two World Wars but have continually reappeared since 1945 and were often influential in the British debate. During the period under consideration, the Royal Navy was challenged in a series of defence reviews. Although these serious and repeated attacks were generally motivated by financial considerations, they were justified primarily by claims relating to air power. It was argued that nuclear-armed air power would be sufficient to win wars, while any nuclear war would leave little role for navies. Later, this argument shifted to an emphasis on deterrence of war and it was suggested that naval forces were not vital to this deterrent. Although the Admiralty continued to justify a capability to defend sea communications as both a deterrent to war and vital in it, this case did not find favour with the government. During the mid-1950s, however, an alternative focus for the Navy emerged in the form of policing and limited wars, east of Suez. Conflicts in Korea and the Suez demonstrated that such conflicts could occur and that mobile naval forces, particularly carrier aviation, were well suited to intervention in them. It was also argued that land-based aircraft could take over some of the roles traditionally performed by naval forces, notably that of strike (against warships and shore targets) but also that of protecting shipping. These arguments were successfully defeated by the Admiralty. Land-based aircraft proved a useful complement to warships and naval aviation in protecting shipping but could only replace them in very limited areas. The Royal Navy differed from the US Navy in its conception of power projection against the land. Its capability for this task was thrown increasingly into doubt by growing Soviet submarine and air power and came to be justified by east of Suez commitments.