Conferences

**CANCELLED**

Course Dates:  April 1-2, 2010

Classification:  Unclassified


**CANCELLED**

This two-day course is a hard hitting, hands-on course in crafting and leading successful projects in DOD, DHS and commercial environments.  Using recent, real-world examples the instructor provides no-nonsense lessons learned and addresses what they DON’T teach at the Defense Acquisition University that can kill your project; pitfalls, technology dead ends and delay-induced schedule slips and how to avoid them all; why the contract itself is a threat to collaboration and how to fix that; how PMs can work with engineers and scientists (including a Meyers-Briggs © survey of each attendee) to bring out the best contributions and get the project completed on time; moving from the first project to an established program; how to craft the project as carefully as you craft the system; why some projects are successful while others fail (and a detailed checklist to make your project cancellation-resistant); rules for a meeting with the customer; how to keep crucial research and development tasks from derailing the entire project; working with foreign and domestic teammates.”

Instructor: Mr. Mack McKinney

Mack McKinney has been in the DoD R&D field for many years, beginning with Westinghouse Defense in 1983.  He has personally managed R&D and other DoD projects up to $6M and has been the business area manager for dozens of projects developing low observable materials, mission avionics for future aircraft and other high tech components and subsystems.  Mack has a US patent in hyperspectral imagery and another in advanced radar processing for tactical engagements.

At Westinghouse Defense, which became Northrop Grumman in 1996, Mack helped develop a self-protection system for the AN/TPS-70 radar system.  This system consolidated several radar and IFF control functions into one easy-to-use control that eliminated exploitable emissions from the TPS-70 when threatened by an anti-radiation missile.  Also at Westinghouse, Mack’s team of Signature Management specialists reduced the signatures of combat platforms.  Additionally, Mack led a team of combat operations analysts in studies of various nations’ combat capabilities, weaknesses, strengths and possible enhancements.  Mack has helped design C3I systems for foreign nations including the UAE, Saudi Arabia Peace Pulse and Peace Shield, Peru, Honduras, Australia and several others.  Mack has a practitioner’s appreciation for C4I combat simulations and models such as the EADSIM and a current DoD Top Secret clearance.

            Prior to his work at Westinghouse, Mack was an Instructor Air Battle Manager (fighter controller) in the US Air Force from 1975 to 1983.  He taught controllers aerial combat techniques, including Russian air-to-air tactics, across the USAF, in Germany, Italy and elsewhere.  Mack maintains a solid grasp of current US and threat fighter armaments and tactics. 

            More recently, for Research Associates of Syracuse, with whom he still consults, Mack supported research efforts for the US Air Force’s signals intelligence (SIGINT) community.

Now working for his own consulting company, Solid Thinking Corporation, Mack brings a unique mix of radar, EW and business-related skills: 

• Management of mid-sized defense programs
• Combat operations analysis and studies, exploring electronic warfare techniques used by hostile combat platforms.  Mack has flown the F-15, the Russian MI-8 HIP and other military aircraft.  He has controlled fighters from the E-3 AWACS, the E-2C Hawkeye and ground based C4I systems worldwide, giving him a detailed understanding of air combat operations.
• Threat analysis, using his hands-on knowledge of threat systems. Mack has controlled MiG-21 fighters, using Russian P-35/7 BARLOCK and Chinese P-440 GCI radar systems, and has controlled from French and Italian C2I/radar systems.
• Generation of military CONOPS to support requirements generation and flow-down of the warfighters’ needs to systems engineering teams.  He has recently managed an Unmanned Air System CONOPS for the US Joint Forces Command and another CONOPS for an airborne, covert surveillance platform for the US Coast Guard.  His company, Solid Thinking Corporation, teaches CONOPS development and advanced project management techniques to the US military and to defense primes including Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Boeing, MITRE Corporation, Booz Allen Hamilton  and many others.

Agenda coming soon.

Registration Fees

Fees on or before March 19: AOC Members - $1,250,  AOC Non-Members - $1,350

After March 19 - onsite: AOC Member - $1300, AOC non-members - $1400

Location

AOC Headquarters, Alexandria VA