Building on its previous 2011 award from the chief of naval operations, the secretary of the Navy recently honored NAVAIR’s Green Hornet team for balancing its operational mission while protecting the environment.

Announced March 12, the F/A-18 and EA-18G Program Office (PMA-265), which manages the Green Hornet team, won the fiscal 2011 Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Environmental Award in the Weapon System Acquisition Team category.

The SECNAV award recognizes Navy and Marine Corps individuals, teams, ships and installations for exceptional environmental stewardship. The Green Hornet team will now compete for the Secretary of Defense environmental award. This is the team’s second consecutive SECNAV environmental award and sixth straight Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Environmental Award.

“Winning the SECNAV award for the second consecutive time and the CNO award for the sixth time demonstrates the Green Hornet team’s ongoing commitment to environmental excellence,” said Capt. Frank Morley, PMA-265’s program manager. “Developing and implementing these new and progressive technologies for the Hornet and Growler communities is a win-win for the environment and the fleet.”

The F/A-18 & EA-18G Program Office was lauded for pursuing technologies to reduce personnel exposure to jet-engine noise, community noise exposure from aircraft flight operations and air emissions.

A leader in using alternative-fuel technologies, an F/A-18F dubbed the “Green Hornet” successfully flight-tested a 50/50 blend of camelina-based fuel and conventional based JP-5 jet fuel on Earth Day in April 2010.

“PMA-265 has been successful in environmental programs by being proactive, looking at a potential environmental problem and coming up with solutions before it becomes a problem,” said Mike Rudy, PMA-265’s Environmental, Safety and Occupational Health manager. “PMA-265 has led the Navy in finding ways to make our aircraft safer for our Sailors.”

An awards ceremony recognizing the CNO and SECNAV winners is scheduled June 5 in the Heritage Center at the U.S. Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.

NAVAIR press release