Photo By Jacob Wood | Caroline Dyer, Director of Program Affordability for the F-35 JPO... read more read more
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It is no secret that the F-35 Lightning II Global Enterprise is the largest acquisition program in the history of the Department of Defense. The cost is under constant scrutiny from numerous entities to include Congress, U.S. services, international partners and foreign military sales customers who procure the F-35, and the very taxpayers whose hard-earned dollars fund the entire enterprise. Being a good steward of those taxpayer dollars and keeping the F-35 program as affordable as possible is a top priority of the F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO).
Enter Caroline Dyer, director of program affordability for the F-35 JPO.
“My main responsibility is very easy to write down: Make the F-35 affordable,” said Dyer, adding that, in a program as large as the F-35 enterprise, there is surely ample opportunities for savings. It’s turning those opportunities into reality, she said, that can be very challenging without help from her team.
Only a dozen individuals make up the affordability team, but Dyer says that their drive is what helps them to push forward and that “that we will get the results we are chasing because they are who enable success.”
“Every day feels different,” Dyer said, of how she and her team regularly tackle affordability issues. “Some days it feels like a lot of my time is observing to figure out what the answer should be. Whereas, other days, I am sat at the table providing my direction on where we should be going.”
To best support the warfighter, said Dyer, the delivery of the F-35 program must strike a delicate balance between the aircraft’s capability, availability and affordability.
“But, if the program is not affordable,” she added, “then the other two areas will be compromised,” and the requirement will go unfulfilled.
A native Bristol, England, Dyer began her career upon earning a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bath in 2004— an era, according to Dyer, in which females pursuing engineering degrees was somewhat of a rarity.
“Females in engineering, particularly mechanical engineering, were not the norm,” said Dyer. “However, I had it in my mind that I wanted to follow in my father and grandpa’s footsteps and be an engineer. I was the third of three girls and felt it would be something that would make them proud!”
Dyer added that, after earning her master’s, she never really felt like an engineer, per-se, “but it did provide me the foundation to step into a program management role within an engineering environment,” she explained.
Though Dyer has only been in her current role as affordability director since last year, her journey with the F-35 enterprise dates to 2007. It was at that time she applied for the position of security lead with the U.K.’s Joint Combat Aircraft (that country’s official designation for the F-35) program.
“On paper, I didn’t have the skills [to be the lead],” said Dyer. “But I decided to give it a go, as it was a highly desirable (security) team to be part of. This was where my time with F-35 began.”
Over the next 16 years, Dyer would stick with the F-35 program, taking on numerous roles across the enterprise.
“When I look at what has set me up for success in the JPO today, it is those 16 years working across the program, including a previous role in the JPO,” said Dyer, who, along with working in security, has also worked in reprogramming, future capabilities, and other areas of the F-35 enterprise. “These roles have enabled me to build relationships, establish my foundational F-35 experience, and develop sufficient knowledge for me to be able to jump into the unbounded… world of F-35 affordability,” she added.
Having gained so much experience in different positions within the F-35 program over the years, Dyer encourages younger government international employees to remain true to the direction that they feel is best for their own careers.
“Even though we do not all have the same life experiences - collectively we can successfully deliver the F-35 for the warfighter both nationally and internationally,” said Dyer. “The JPO needs all the pieces of the puzzle to operate and deliver. Find which puzzle piece you are and give it a try. In affordability, we are all from different career backgrounds – finance, logistics, program management and/or business.”
“There isn’t a right or wrong answer for affordability,” Dyer continued. “The ability to jump in, speak up and to be part of a team underpins our success.”
| Date Taken: | 05.05.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2023 14:29 |
| Story ID: | 444140 |
| Location: | ARLINGTON, VA, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 227 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Striking the Balance: F-35 Affordability Director Diversifies Cost-Saving Efforts at JPO, by SCPO Matthew Olay, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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