Romeo Alpha

With the constantly widening horizons of the aviation industry, aircraft manufacturers face numerous challenges, and military airworthiness certification is not the least of them. It takes a unique aspect of engineering to ensure that developed systems can obtain military airworthiness certification. Even highly capable DoD and aerospace prime contractors are challenged to acquire for their aircraft systems. At this point, comes to the limelight Romeo Alpha, a uniquely positioned aerospace consulting company with nearly four decades of experience supporting DoD, the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and the National Aviation Enterprise. The company has specialized expertise in the military airworthiness process, testing and evaluation, and systems engineering. Richard E. Adams, Managing Member of Romeo Alpha, notes, “Our niche is our intellectual property. We provide subject matter expertise to prime contractors, domestic DoD and international customers in the development of tailored airworthiness qualification strategies and plans to certify their manned and unmanned aircraft systems.”

Adams explains, “An aircraft system could be developed very effectively, yet, if it is not certified by the appropriate authority, it cannot be used.”

Romeo Alpha has in-depth knowledge and experience in DoD and foreign military airworthiness processes, which allows it to help its customers navigate through the certification process through insightful advice and technical expertise.

To assist its customers in navigating the military airworthiness certification process, Romeo Alpha uses a streamlined process, starting with accepting work only where the company believes it can add value and help its customers be successful. As a first step, Romeo Alpha discusses the customer’s problem statement, gains insights into the area of expertise they require, and explains to them the support they can provide. In the second step, the company develops a detailed plan, first in PowerPoint and then a detailed statement of work, which defines the tasks and timelines that will be taken by Romeo Alpha to assist the client. Adams remarks on the partnership it establishes with its clients, “We support our customers and demonstrate our value added to them by solving their airworthiness related challenges. It's important to understand that it's a partnership. We cannot operate independently of our customers, as we rely on their subject matter expertise of the aircraft systems. We work as an integral part of their team to help them be successful.”

Being uniquely qualified in the area of military airworthiness, the company also provides value-added services in the areas of system engineering and testing evaluation. Romeo Alpha helps its customers develop a strategy to get their aircraft systems certified and facilitates them to progress and be successful in their aircraft development programs. The company considers its true differentiating factor to be the in-depth knowledge it has in the airworthiness certification process for both civil and military aircraft, and the development of strategies for new systems to be certified in foreign or US military airworthiness frameworks.

Adams takes pride in the work-culture of Romeo Alpha, as it doesn’t search for customers; rather, they come looking for the unique knowledge and expertise the company provides. He notes, “We will inform our customer what we know and what we don’t know. Hence, we don’t take on business that we probably cannot accomplish as a team with our counterparts.” Thus, Romeo Alpha always ensures that its work for customers is aligned with its expertise.

Having established as a specialized expert in the area of military airworthiness frameworks, Romeo Alpha is working towards expanding its capabilities in geographical information services (GIS) and industrial design. The company has an on-call industrial designer and a GIS specialist with mapping and other required skills.