NFCS Awards Program

Click here to submit your Lifetime Achievement Nomination

Nominations are now open for the for the eighth annual David M. Altwegg Lifetime Achievement Award. The nomination consists of a two-page write-up addressing the candidate's embodiment of the criteria below. Nominations submitted before 24 October 2025 will be considered for award at the 2026 Symposium.

David M. Altwegg Lifetime Achievement Award

The David M. Altwegg Lifetime Achievement Award recognized and honored an individual from Government, Industry, or Academia, who has made significant contributions to the Fire Control community, thus strengthening national defense and benefiting the warfighter over a period of time greater than 20 years. Nominees should exemplify the following traits:

  • Made significant contributions to Fire Control - advancement of technology, systems and/or system integration
  • Technical and/or organizational leadership - Inspires others resulting in changes and progress within the Fire Control community
  • Mentorship

The first David M. Altwegg Lifetime Achievement Award was presented posthumously to David M. Altwegg at a ceremony during the 2018 NFCS Plenary session.

Mr. Altwegg was a pioneer in Naval Fire Control - a driving force behind creating the Forward Pass CONOPS, acquiring interceptor missiles, creating the Aegis fleet, and setting-up ashore infrastructure that led to NIFC-CA. He defined the modern acquisition spiral development approach as the MDA Executive Director. Throughout his 64 year career serving the DoD, RADM Altwegg left his mark on technologies, tactics and people. The National Fire Control Symposium itself is a testament to RADM Altwegg's belief that people and knowledge are imperatives.

Previous recipients include:

  • 2025: Mr. Keith L. Englander
  • 2024: Mr. Michael Pochettino
  • 2023: Mr. James Cech
  • 2022: VADM James Doyle, Jr.
  • 2020: Mr. Robert Pinto
  • 2019: Mr. William Moore
  • 2018: Mr. David M. Altwegg

Early Career Award

The Early Career Award recognizes an "early career" presenter/author for making meaningful contributions to the Fire Control Community. Those new to the field in the last 7 years delivering and authoring an oral presentation are eligible for consideration of this award.

The Early Career award criteria are:

  • Technical or operational depth of material (25%)
  • Relevance to Fire Control (15%)
  • Potential impact of the technology (35%)
  • Ability to present and field questions (25%)

Congratulations to our 2025 Early Career Winners!

First Place: Dr. Shweta Dutta, Georgia Tech Research Institute

Second Place: Dr. Matthew Cleaveland, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Third Place: Mr. George Kaveladze, The MITRE Corporation

Poster Award

The 2026 National Fire Control Symposium will once again present a Peer Reviewed Poster Award. All attendees will be able to cast their vote for the three best overall NFCS posters. 2025 awards were not given out due to the NFCS going virtual, but the 2024 Poster Award Winners are listed below.

Congratulations to our 2024 Poster Winners!

First Place: Ms. Annika Khare, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Second Place: Dr. Rachel Kinard, Air Force Research Laboratory

Third Place: Mr. Benjamin Lewis, Air Force Research Laboratory