The special recognition is for his outstanding achievement in the design and implementation of the S-70B-2 helicopter technical training system in Training Authority Aviation from July 2012 to July 2014.

Lt-Cdr Brown delivered significant improvements in the quality, efficiency and timeliness of helicopter maintenance training since the aircraft was introduced in the late 1980s and in doing so delivered the Royal Australian Navy a world-class aircraft technical training system.

Lt-Cdr Brown said he felt extremely honoured to be part of the small list of names recognised each year.

“To be recognised for something at that level is a wonderful thing,” he said.

“In the past we’ve had a training program for the helicopter technical maintenance training embedded within the squadrons, which can be inefficient and often leads to a struggle to access the type of jobs needed in order to complete the apprenticeships.

“The proposal put forward was to take the training program away from the squadron and develop a training program aligned with the initial technical training received out of Wagga.”

Lt-Cdr Brown said the program allows for Royal Australian Navy apprentices to gain consistent work experience due to the high class of instructors and resources.

“We’ve been able to standardise technical expertise at a higher level by taking it away from the squadrons,” he said.

“The end users feedback has been really positive - that there has been a higher consistency in the delivery of training in a reduced time frame and repeatable high level standard.

“That’s based on the fact that we have qualified pool of instructors teaching them time and time again.”

Lt-Cdr Brown is working on a new project involving new helicopter aircrew training systems.