I enjoy speaking at luncheons and dinners. I would be happy to speak at your event for free. Some example topics:
Inflight Refueling the SR-71 During the Cold War >> My first assignment in the USAF was flying KC-135Q refueling tankers around the world in support of the fastest spy plane ever built. Audiences enjoy my easy-to-follow explanations of the technology and tactics. They love my stories of what we did when things go wrong. Click here for a sample.
How Does an ICBM Work? >> I’ve spent 25 years as a systems engineer keeping our nation’s nuclear deterrent safe, available, reliable, accurate, and hard against nuclear attack. Why are ICBMs needed? How do they work? What’s coming in the future? I live by the rule: “If you can’t explain complex tech to others, you never understood it yourself.”
The Fundamentals of Complex System Sustainment >> I have several published papers and presentations on a useful management model to keep any long-lived, complex system viable. Topics include sustainment risk systems, affordable system assessment, history of long-lived complex systems and their future, and each team member a leader. Presentations vary from 1 hour on a sub-topic to a half-day tutorial on the entire subject. Click here for a sample where I discuss the fundamentals.
Most of my technical papers can be found at the AIAA ARC site. (https://arc.aiaa.org), enter “charles vono” in the search box. Alternately, if a paper below has a link, just click on it.
- “Fundamentals of Weapon System Sustainment”, AIAA SciTech 2016, San Diego, CA 4–8 Jan 16
- “First Steps in Implementing Weapon System Sustainment Model”, AIAA SciTech 2017, Grapevine, TX, 9–13 Jan 17.
- “Fundamentals of Sustainment: Affordable Observation and Assessment”, AIAA SPACE 2017, Orlando, FL, 12–14 Sep 17
With Justin Kugler, Made in Space:
- “Application of a Weapon System Sustainment Model to the Space Industry”, AIAA SPACE 2016, Long Beach, CA 13–16 Sep 2016.
- “The Rise of Long-lived Complex Systems”, AIAA SPACE 2017, Orlando, Florida, 12-14 Sep 17
Not my paper, but an important seminal work in the fundamentals of sustainment is included here as well. It can also be found at the Defense Acquisition University web site. Authors are USAF Colonel Rakesh Dewan and David Lindblad, TRW Inc.
If you email me at retiredcoldwarrior@gmail.com, I can put you in touch with satisfied customers or see the main menu for endorsements.
I prefer free presentations and tutorials. If circumstances dictate that you must hire me, my rates are $200/hour plus expenses. My focus will be to train your personnel fast so I can get back to my retirement.