Eyes on the X-45 prize

Understanding engineers, customers and the bottom line, Darryl Davis has successfully guided Boeing through a dynamic J-UCAS program

BY MARIBETH BRUNO

When the U.S. Department of Defense awarded additional funding for Boeing's Joint Unmanned Combat Air System X-45 project in October, Darryl Davis found himself suddenly in charge of a $1.5 billion program instead of an $850 million one. Luckily, Davis is accustomed to change.

In his 25 years with Boeing, the Integrated Defense Systems vice president and X-45 program manager has been, among other things, a McDonnell Douglas propulsion engineer, a Brookings Institution Congressional Fellow working in the office of Sen. Arlen Specter, and vice president of Business Development for Military Aircraft and Missile Systems.

It's hard to imagine a resume that could have better prepared him for what the X-45 program has gone through since he joined the effort in April 2002.

In October 2002, the St. Louis-based Phantom Works program, then known as Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle, with Davis as its new manager, had two X-45A aircraft in flight testing and would soon begin construction on a larger X-45B. Then, Davis said, "The world began to change underneath our feet."

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) asked Boeing to modify the X-45B design to meet the U.S. Air Force customer's need for greater range and loitering capability. The company also was asked to incorporate U.S. Navy objectives. Davis' team produced some studies. Then the real work began.

That's not the only full-speed change of direction Davis has steered. In January of this year, the program, now known as J-UCAS, transitioned from Phantom Works to IDS. A few months later, DARPA introduced a new program vision: a common operating system to be developed by Boeing, Northrop Grumman and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

As with prior changes, the X-45 team is determined to make this one a success.

"You have to say, 'OK, this is what we're going to do for now,' and go off and do it," Davis said. "Part of the strength of the team has been its ability to adapt to a changing environment."

MAINTAINING FOCUS

Outlining the program's history, Davis frequently commended his 650 team members across the country for their creativity and flexibility. But program observers said Davis deserves credit for keeping the team's—and the customers'—eyes on the prize.

Craig Bernhard, IDS manager of Joint Capabilities Assessment, said Davis' 10 years in Washington, D.C., have had lasting benefits: "He understands the decision process, which can be very political and fiscally constrained, and at the same time he has the ability to run a program.

"He is one of the best guys you want to bring in to your customer," Bernhard continued, "not only because he knows what he's talking about, but he knows how to listen. He's very interested in the overall picture, so he can frame his program within that. He realizes his product is part of an overall architecture."

Davis said it was "enlightening" to work with business developers in Boeing's Washington, D.C., office and to watch the congressional authorization and appropriation process during his 1993 congressional fellowship. A legislative assistant in Specter's office, Davis once briefed the senator before a vote, but avoided anything that would be a conflict of interest with his employment at McDonnell Douglas.

George Roman, Boeing vice president and chief of staff of Washington, D.C., Operations, also took part in the fellowship program. "It's a finishing school for executives," he said. "The majority of staffers on Capitol Hill are really young. But they have amazing authority and responsibility. We wound up with the authority you'd have at Boeing as a director or VP."

That may explain one aspect of Davis' reputation. "He's awfully tough," Roman said. "He's demanding and makes people stretch. But he does it in a way that they know he cares about them. When they see the success they achieve, they know they wouldn't have gotten there without that guidance."

Davis credits his team. "You plot the course, you show the people the direction to go. When people own the decisions, it's amazing what they can do."