Austin Aerospace Solutions
Austin Aerospace Solutions, LLC (AAS) specializes in supporting small-to-mid-size companies in the defense and aerospace industries as they establish or enhance their strategic objectives. AAS is uniquely positioned to provide as-needed support to companies that may not have the budget to justify full-time, internal, strategy management or proposal organizations.
Austin Aerospace Solutions’ president, Craig Austin, has twenty-seven years of experience in the defense and commercial aerospace industries, serving in a variety of leadership roles as a prime contractor, a subcontractor, an avionics manufacturer, and a software supplier. Craig's experience has covered a wide range of programs including tactical manned and unmanned (UAS) aircraft, helicopters, missiles, electronic warfare (EW), synthetic aperture radar (SAR), Command, Control, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C3ISR), logistics, intellectual property (IP), Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A), commercial and military aircraft parts manufacturing and Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO), and satellite services. Craig has led campaigns and successfully captured US Government, Foreign Military Sales (FMS), and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) contracts.
Craig's tenure in the Boeing Phantom Works organization taught him the importance of early customer involvement and Craig has amassed decades of experience with the US Government acquisition systems, including the Joint Capabilities and Integration Development System (JCIDS), the Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPB&E) system, and the Defense Acquisition System (DAS). Together these three intertwined systems cover the development (JCIDS), congressional funding (PPB&E), and contracting (DAS) functions each major defense program goes through as it moves from a dream on a piece of paper to a contract to procure the finished product. Craig has taught these systems to numerous clients as well as at the Boeing Leadership Center.
As a result of the depth and breadth of his experience, Craig brings with him a unique and valuable perspective, having led organizations in three different, yet complementary, disciplines - Business Development, Program Management, and Business Management. As part of the Business Development team, Craig understands the importance of capturing new business. The Program Manager in him reminds Craig of the importance of securing new business that is executable. Finally, the Business Manager side of Craig reminds him that the new, executable business must be profitable. When supporting a smaller business where critical resources are constrained, Craig can provide guidance showing a company how to focus on those programs they are more likely to win...and make money.
While at Boeing, Craig led the Strategy Management organization within Business Development for Boeing Defense & Space. In this role, Craig led teams that were responsible for developing and implementing strategy for all Boeing military programs. Craig and his teams developed business cases, conducted competitive assessments, and distributed the Internal Research and Development budgets.
Additionally, Craig taught the strategic planning process at the Boeing Leadership Center, covering critical US Department of Defense systems including the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS), the Planning, Programming, Budgeting and Execution (PPB&E) process, and the Defense Acquisition System (DAS). Together, these three complicated, interlaced systems represent the entire process the DoD uses to develop, acquire, and maintain their weapons systems.
Based on Shipley, Craig developed a detailed proposal process that has been used throughout Boeing. This process begins well before the Request for Proposal (RFP) release, involving customer collaboration to influence requirements for best-value solutions. Once an RFP is released, the process ensures full compliance by dissecting all mandatory requirements. In addition to multi-million dollar development and production contract captures, Craig has won numerous Phase I, Phase II, Direct-to-Phase-II, and Phase III Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) programs.
While at Boeing, Craig and his teams captured domestic and international new business valued in excess of $10 billion. Craig has used a scaled-down variant of this process at Terma North America and IMSAR. At Terma, Craig’s successful captures increased revenue by 35% in just three years. At IMSAR, Craig increased revenues by 115% in four years. By using this process, capture rates also increased at all three companies, thereby conserving precious financial and labor resources by avoiding pursuing business with a low Probability of Win (Pwin). As a result of Craig’s contributions, revenue and profit margins increased dramatically at all three companies.
Support levels can be varied based on the organization’s experience and the desired level of ending proficiency. Each of these topics can be taught through a high-level, one-day seminar. A deeper level of instruction can be provided over a multi-day course, or even support of a full RFP response.
Craig E. Austin
President and Chief Executive Officer
Email: [email protected] | Phone: +1 314.326.1537