NAE Gathers Command Master Chiefs to Align Vision

PATUXENT RIVER, Md.—Command master chiefs (CMCs) from across naval aviation gathered at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, July 28-30, to identify fleet readiness gaps, share best practices and gain insight into emerging capabilities.
The Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Command Master Chief Symposium 2026 kicked off Tuesday at the University Systems of Maryland’s Southern Maryland campus in California, Maryland. The three-day event featured panels and discussions with senior leaders from Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), Commander, Naval Air Forces (CNAF) Commander, Naval Air Forces Atlantic (CNAL) and other leaders and stakeholders across the enterprise.
“Our plan is to talk to them about the things that are important to the Air Boss, important to CNAL, the admiral, and integrate the knowledge of NAVAIR to the operational CMCs that are out in the fleet,” said Dustin Kruers, force master chief for Naval Air Forces and Naval Air Forces Pacific. “One of the things that is really important is aligning what we're doing with Air Boss's intent … And so it's really just aligning that vision of where we want to go, all the way down to the operational level, so the operational commands can get after what we're trying to do.”
On Wednesday, attendees toured several NAS Patuxent River facilities, including the Atlantic Test Ranges and Space Information Labs, before wrapping up the symposium with additional CMC-led panels.
A flagship leadership panel Tuesday morning featured Vice Adm. Douglas Verissimo (CNAF), Rear Adm. Richard T. Brophy (CNAL) and Vice Adm. John Dougherty (commander, NAVAIR and Portfolio Acquisition Executive Aviation). They answered questions on manpower, retention, recruitment, repairs during deployment and cross-service knowledge and capability sharing.
“Hopefully, over the next couple of days, you’re going to get a little insight in what Pax River is, the capabilities we have on this campus and, hopefully, you will know who to reach out to when [you are deployed] and have an issue that we can help you solve,” Dougherty said.
Responding to concerns about technical manuals and repair guidance, Dougherty encouraged CMCs to hold senior leaders accountable when airworthiness is at stake. “Let’s not accept performance that doesn’t meet our standards. Where the standards are wrong, let’s elevate them,” he said.
He said shifting away from a “victim mindset” is essential to improving aircraft readiness and capability.
When asked about inconsistent capability sharing across the services, Dougherty emphasized the need for greater integration.
“We need to take advantage of sister-service capabilities,” he said. “In terms of the integration piece, there’s definitely a desire [to do so] due to our pacing threat. The risk needle is moving more to the operational side vice the safety side, and that’s where we need to lean in more to give us the opportunity to integrate these things.”
Dougherty highlighted NAVAIR’s Rapid Capability Cell as one avenue for accelerating solutions to the fleet’s operational gaps by rapidly developing and fielding prototypes..
Supply chain issues were also a key topic. Brophy noted that maritime operation centers are only as effective as the data they receive and described ongoing efforts to improve organizational (O-level), intermediate (I-level) and depot (D-level) repair processes.
“We’ve never really looked at I-level repairs to the degree that we are looking at it now. Part of that initiative is that 70% of our parts on the carrier can’t be fixed [onboard], so we have to send them off [to the Fleet Readiness Centers]. The amount of parts that we have to buy or have [on hand] is limited to how much money we have,” Brophy said. He added that the NAE is planning initiatives to expand I-level repair capability and recently established a force maintenance master chief to improve communication between squadrons and enterprise leadership.
Brophy also underscored the distinct value of retaining experienced maintenance professionals.
“The whole reason we started that POM [Program Objective Memorandum] process is to have the right capabilities to fix problems and fix problems quickly,” he said. “It takes time to develop that skillset and that opportunity.” Brophy said a newer approach is to retain maintenance professionals and their industrial knowledge with pay incentives instead of letting them go elsewhere.
Addressing spousal relocation and employment challenges, Verissimo acknowledged the complexity, calling it a “heavy lift.”
“It will require legislation … it’s a huge challenge. We need to continue to push [so] that when a family arrives [at a new deployment], it is not a financial hit, or as little of a financial hit as possible.”
Retention of aviators and senior leaders remains a long-standing concern. Verissimo noted that changes in airline pilot retirement age have intensified the competition for talent.
“About seven years ago, the max retirement age for an airline pilot was 60. They changed it to 65. They threw that problem over the transom and we’re in the heart of that problem,” Verissimo said. “The military used to be so big we oversupplied the airlines. That has flipped on its head. The airlines are so much bigger than the military. You can train somebody to be a commuter pilot over three or four years and pay that overhead, or you can steal them from the military and avoid all that cost and more.”
He called on CMCs to focus on developing department heads and supporting the influx of new sailors.
“The Navy recruiting is sending us more apprentices than we’ve had in a long, long time. I would ask this team to make sure we’re bringing those apprentices [along] as effectively as possible,” he said.
NAVAIR Command Master Chief James Stedding said the symposium held intrinsic value to the CMCs, noting that while the focus of the event was naval aviation issues, it also opened dialogue.
“We have all the communities represented in here that the Navy has to offer within the command mastery program,” Stedding said. “The top two things [we take away from this] is we understand what the priorities are, but, more so, human interaction goes a long way in building relationships.”