NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND, PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – The Open Group Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE) Consortium elected Sheila Fortner and Hebin Luan, members of the Air Combat Electronics program office (PMA-209), as the new vice chairs of the  Business Working Group and Technical Working Group, respectively. 

Formed in 2010, The Open Group FACE Consortium consists of more than 90 member organizations and 2,200 participating individuals from government, industry and academia. Members of the consortium have developed the FACE approach software standard and business strategy, which define an open avionics environment. This methodology allows for interchangeable, plug-and-play designs that provide both cost savings and increase readiness by reducing cycle time for software upgrades and other common time-consuming tasks.

Fortner, the new Business Working Group vice chair, is the lead of the Software Opens Systems Technology (SwOST) team for the Avionics Architecture Team (AAT). The SwOST team is committed to the advancement of Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA), and particularly the FACE technical standard. She joined AAT in 2021 after having spent 12 years in support of the Navy as a program analyst and program manager in NAVAIR’s aviation logistics and maintenance analysis division. Fortner has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lees-McRae College and master’s degree in Business Administration from University of Maryland Global Campus.

“My endeavors with the Business Working Group will focus on expanding collaboration between the PMA-209 Avionics Architecture Team and FACE Consortium members to advance the overall strategic goals with open standards,” said Fortner.

Elected Technical Working Group vice chair of the FACE Consortium, Luan is the SwOST team lead engineer for AAT. He has more than 10 years of experience in software and system engineering in both academia and government service and focuses on software integrated systems modeling and acquisition in the defense field. He received his both his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and his doctoral degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso.

Luan said, “Participation in these working groups provides an opportunity for the program office to have more engagement with members from industry, academia, government and international partners on advancing the FACE effort, and I am honored to serve as vice chair.”

PMA-209’s participation in The Open Group enables FACE technical standard implementation across the program offices within NAVAIR and supporting the fleet.

PMA-209 is a collaborative team of proactive acquisition professionals enabling current and future foundational aviation requirements led by Capt. Margaret Wilson, PMA-209 program manager. The program office is NAVAIR’s executive agent for the development and management of cutting-edge air combat electronics systems.  

Established in 1988, PMA-209 is responsible for providing critical capabilities to the warfighter in the form of common, fully developed, supportable, and reliable systems that align with the strategic and operational requirements of our platform PEO and PMA customers.  

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