FOCUSED ON IMPACT I KAITLYN TANI
COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition, Program Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems
TITLE: Medium cannon caliber research, development, test and evaluation lead
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 11
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Level III in engineering, Level III in program management, Level II in science and technology
EDUCATION: Master of Engineering in mechanical engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology; B.S. in chemical engineering, Rowan University
AWARDS: 2020 Project Manager Maneuver Acquisition Systems Project Officer of the Year
n everything she does, Kaitlyn Tani tries to give 100 percent. She works a demanding job as an Army civilian and is a devoted mom to her three young daughters—sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day. “Often, friends and family ask how I fit all that I do within a day, or if I sleep,” she
said. For Tani, the effort is not because she’s a workaholic, or because she’s trying to prove anything—it’s because she wants to make every moment count. “I pride myself on committing to my work and making sure that if I have downtime, I am doing something productive. I focus on my work, nine hours a day, so that when it’s family time, I can be fully there for my family. I’m fully there for work, and I’m fully there for the family.”
And she certainly has a lot to focus on, professionally. An engineer by training, Tani now develops new types of ammunition for the Army. “Most people find it interesting when I say I develop ammunition, not only because I am a female in a male-dominated field, but also because they just aren’t aware of the complexity or the types of munitions within the medium caliber category.” Tani and the team at the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition (JPEO A&A) are developing munitions that use advanced electronics, sensors and mate- rials to defend against threats like moving targets, unmanned aerial systems and specialized armor.
“As the cannon caliber [research, development, test and evaluation] lead, I manage all development programs for cannon caliber ammunition (20 mm, 25 mm, 30 mm and lightweight 30 mm) to support enduring platforms and platforms being developed under the cross-functional teams for air and missile defense, the Next Generation Combat Vehicle, and Future Vertical Lift,” she said. “I ensure that the new munitions are being designed to address current and future threats, while maintaining ammunition safety standards and compatibility with the weapon and platforms.”
Tani encourages junior engineers to learn precisely how their work contributes to the success of the mission, something she said creates greater motivation and job satisfaction in the workforce. “We can become so focused on the task in front of us—the widget or component—that we forget why we’re doing what we’re doing. Take a component of training ammunition, which uses specialized material that provides visual signature when fired at the target. We know it has to make a flash, and that light has to last a certain amount of time, and we get focused on that. But it’s important to take a step back and say, ‘Wait a minute, why am I doing this?’ I’m doing this so that a Soldier can see where their round goes when they train at night. Why is that important? Because they need to train as if they’re in the field, and in the field, they would see the flash on target from their ammunition, and that visual is important to replicate conditions in the field.” She said she has always felt more connected to her work when she understood how she was contributing, and she encourages her teammates to share that knowledge with others. “It’s often
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Army AL&T Magazine Winter 2022
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