ACES is the joint flying hour cost collection system used by Commander, Naval Air Forces, U. S. Pacific Fleet (COMNAVAIRPAC) and the Commander, Naval Air Forces, U. S. Atlantic Fleet (COMNAVAIRLANT). The ACES application is essential for the effective management of the Flying Hour Program (FHP) and for all up-line reporting requirements for the type commander staff, subordinate commands, and higher authority. ACES functionality covers three major areas: flying hour execution, budget, and planning. As a management tool, the crux of the ACES system is its ability to translate costs between the budget at the Program Element (PE) and Type Model Series (TMS) level by Activity Group / Sub-Activity Group – Special Interest Item (AG/SAG SII), to the execution (i.e., organizational) of resources at the unit/consumer level. COMNAVAIRPAC, COMNAVAIRLANT, Marine Forces Pacific (COMMARFORPAC) and United States Marine Corps Forces Command (COMMARFORCOM) are the principal users of ACES from their site locations. Commander, Naval Air Force Reserve (COMNAVAIRRES) and Chief of Naval Air Training (CNATRA) are also supported by the ACES application. The ACES application supports four Aviation Type Commanders.

The ACES program captures all costs incurred in support of the Flying Hour Program (FHP) from various sources. This includes all Pacific (PAC) and Atlantic (LANT) aviation squadrons (tactical, training, support and strategic), aircraft carriers, MALS (Marine Aviation Logistic Squadrons), Naval Air Stations (Continental United States (CONUS) and overseas) and the Type Commander’s headquarters. The flexible functionality of ACES provides the Aviation Type Commanders the tool to answer and fulfill ever-changing reporting requirements and any supporting data requested by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) in order to support the FHP for building/defending the budget. The types of non-financial data captured include: flight hours, number of aircraft, and gallons consumed by fuel type (i.e., JP4/5/8, commercial, into plane). The financial data captured includes: Aviation fuel, flight administration, maintenance (consumable and repairable), contract obligations, contingency costs, reimbursable costs, and Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) adjustments.

ACES system has supported, since 1996, the requirement of producing an Official Monthly Flying Hour Cost report as the source data for OPNAV’s Flying Hour Projection System (FHPS). OPNAV utilizes the FHPS to produce the FHP portion of the Department of Navy (DoN) budget. There is no equivalent Information Technology (IT) system in the Navy and it’s an absolutely essential tool in order for COMNAVAIRFOR to manage the $6B FHP.

ASKIT is a program in use by all Navy and Marine Aviation units to report fuel and squadron maintenance funds, flight hours, gallons expenditures, and aircraft counts. The ASKIT program is used for creating the Budget OPTAR Report (BOR) for the COMNAVAIRPAC and COMNAVAIRLANT Operations and Maintenance, Navy (OMN) funds. It reports obligation data, hours flown, and fuel gallons consumed for Naval Aviation units, which includes all units currently under COMMARFORPAC and COMMARFORCOM.

The ASKIT system is designed to assist the Navy Logistics Specialists (LS) and the Marine Supply Officers in the areas of material requisitioning, requisition tracking, follow-up, and financial data processing and management by reducing the amount of time required to accomplish day to day tasks. ASKIT automates the Logistics Specialists functions as prescribed by Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Navy Staff Office (NAVSO) P-3013-2 and other OPTAR Functional Category (OFC) funding related instruction set forced by Commander, Naval Air Forces (COMNAVAIRFOR). ASKIT provides the Comptrollers at all levels the ability to monitor obligations and ensure that violations does not occur in the fleet. ASKIT is the only mechanized system for our operational aviation forces to manage their funds.

ASKIT generates the monthly BOR which provides number of aircraft, monthly and FYTD hours flown, fuel obligation values, flight administrative funds obligation values, type of aviation fuel consumed, gallons consumed by fuel type, reimbursable hours flown, contingency hours flown, and any other data deemed necessary for import into the Aviation Cost Evaluation System to generate the monthly Official Flying Hour Cost Report (FHCR). The Official FHCR is sent to OPNAV FHP Resource Sponsor, for inclusion in their Flying Hour Projection System to build the out-year budget for the FHP. It is important to understand the link between the data in ASKIT and how it feeds ACES. COMNAVAIRPAC/COMNAVAIRLANT could not manage their collective $6B FHP without ASKIT.