The Air Force’s 402nd Software Engineering Group on Dec. 10 received the 2019 Rear Adm. Grace M. Hopper Award for Software Maintenance Excellence at the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards in Spokane, Wash., according to a Dec. 16 Air Force release.
This was the first time the Pentagon-wide award was presented.
Bob Herrmann, who runs the 402nd, called the award “a huge accomplishment” for the group, which is headquartered at the Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex at Robins AFB, Ga.
“It recognizes the essential work done to maintain and enhance the capabilities of the US Air Force, the Department of Defense, and our warfighters,” he said.
The group’s recent achievements include a deep dive into remotely piloted aircraft operations hardware and software that yielded “$136 million in savings for 16 sites,” software troubleshooting by the A-10 upgraded heads-up display team that avoided failure in a $60 million program, and F-16 software modernization that “saved the government $2 million and 2,000 labor hours,” the release stated.