Who is PEWG? 

The focus of the PEWG is to bring about changes in Government and Industry to address issues in Environmental Security with the goal of "The Ultimate Green Engine."   Environmental Security is a critical part of the defense mission in that it supports DoD's major priorities -- readiness, quality of life, and modernization.

A key readiness requirement is continued access to air, land, and water for training and testing. The 25 million acres of land managed by DoD encompass significant natural and cultural resources. Careful use of the air, land, and water ensures U.S. forces will continue to have access to these resources to train realistically and operate.  

Environmental Security protects the quality of life of U.S. forces and their families. It is essential they receive the same protection from environmental safety and occupational health hazards the rest of America expects.      Environmental Security enhances modernization through investment in pollution prevention and environmental technology. Incorporating pollution prevention in the weapon system development process can lower costs and improve the environment.

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What is the Ultimate Green Engine?

The Ultimate "Green Engine" should be designed and built in such a way that the parts do not corrode or wear-out during the period the engine is used, its economic design life.  There should be no toxic materials/components delivered with the engine.  Subsequently, no HAZMATs are used/released during manufacturing, maintaining or reworking the engine.  Engine operation should have minimal environmental impacts from noise, and air emissions.  Finally, the valuable components and/or materials are recovered when the use period ends.

What does the PEWG do?

The PEWG collaboration promotes environmentally significant materials and processes technology advances within the propulsion industrial base. While the primary focus is on "wing hung, air-breathing gas turbine engines", alliances have evolved with developers, manufacturers and users of rotorcraft, marine, land, and rocket propulsion systems. The PEWG collaborates on several levels:

1. The PEWG performs technology assessments of new materials and processes developments put forth by GTE manufacturers, vendors of equipment and materials, and government and private R&D organizations.

2. The PEWG joins in collaborative efforts with the above organizations to help mature GTE relevant technologies and pave the way for implementing them into GTE manufacturing and sustainment operations.

3. The PEWG leads and helps finance joint efforts within the propulsion community to demonstrate and validate environmentally advantaged materials and process technologies for military use.

4. The PEWG coordinates and helps finance joint projects to process engineering change approvals applicable to GTE manufacturing and repair operations.

5. The PEWG serves as a forum for propulsion community information exchange on environmental issues and technology advances with favorable environmental impacts.

PEWG Project Management Process

Phase I: Identification--Identify propulsion community stakeholders, organize teams for project execution (Technical Working Groups = TWGs), and define HazMats and processes to replace.

Phase II: Technical--identification of critical technical and performance requirements for each system and the tests necessary to validate the potential alternative(s), including pass/fail criteria. Also, identification and selection of candidate alternatives to be tested and the location where testing will be performed.

Phase III: Business--identification of costs of testing the proposed alternatives, sources of funding, available contract vehicles for testing, and an agreement to implement successful alternatives.

Phase IV: Alternative Demonstration/Validation--performance and documentation of the required tests and analysis of results.

Phase V: Single Process Initiative--submission of Single Process Initiative (SPI) Concept Paper to gain approval for implementing acceptable alternative changes (industry); sharing of validated alternative manufacturing materials/processes with the Acquisition and Sustainment Communities. Depots and other Sustainment Community locations will utilize their respective service/agency change mechanisms for implementation. (Note: This phase only applies if material and process changes at Original Equipment Manufacturer(s) are to be implemented)

Phase VI: Implementation--submission of an Implementation Plan for implementing the approved changes into the manufacturing or sustainment process.

Phase VII: Translation --confirmation of successful execution within the propulsion industrial base and communication of results to the entire defense manufacturing and sustainment community.