COMMAND/ORGANIZATION: Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition, Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems, Product Manager Medium Caliber Ammunition
TITLE: Project officer for XM1228 Bradley Aerial Defeat Ground Enhanced Round and XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive
YEARS OF SERVICE IN WORKFORCE: 19
DAWIA CERTIFICATIONS: Practitioner in engineering and technical management
EDUCATION: B.S. in mechanical engineering, Lehigh University
AWARDS: Achievement Medal for Civilian Service, awarded October 2018

CHRISTOPHER SUMMA

by Cheryl Marino

Chris Summa doesn’t make the ammo, but as project officer for the XM1228 Bradley Aerial Defeat Ground Enhanced Round (BADGER) and XM1225 Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) cartridges, he keeps it moving—ensuring that production stays on schedule, quality meets military standards and deliveries reach the right units on time. His role may sound straightforward, but, he emphasized, there are many intricacies involved in the coordination, logistics and problem solving required to get ammunition into the hands of the warfighter, when and where it’s needed.

“Many [outside the Army Acquisition Workforce] are surprised that our ammunition is not being made at Picatinny Arsenal or how much we rely on industry partners and complex supply chains to manufacture our products,” Summa said. “Others are surprised that I don’t ‘design the ammo’ myself [or realize] how much is involved in project management to get from a requirements document to delivering effective, suitable and safe munitions to the warfighter.”

While ammo design is important, Summa’s role in coordinating with manufacturers, overseeing testing, managing logistics and allocating resources in support of the Project Manager Maneuver Ammunition Systems (PM MAS) and the Product Manager Medium Caliber (PdM MC) Ammunition within the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition is vital for keeping the ammunition supply chain running smoothly.

Summa, who has worked at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey since 2005, provides day-to-day project management for the XM1228 BADGER cartridge development in support of the M2A4E1 Bradley Fighting Vehicle with the Iron Fist (hard-kill) Active Protection System and for the XM1225 APEX cartridge in support of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter.

“My greatest satisfaction of being a part of the Army Acquisition Workforce is getting to work with an enthusiastic team of fellow acquisition professionals who strive to encourage and support one another and who are consistently aligned with the ‘big picture’ of equipping the warfighter with the capabilities they need,” he said.

Summa with his wife, Stacey Vogler-Musil, and his dog, Blaze, hiking at Taughannock Falls State Park in Ithaca, New York, in October 2023. (Photo provided by Chris Summa)

This “big picture” mentality has been central to Summa’s career vision since he first began shaping it two decades ago. His father, a former quality assurance representative at the Defense Contracting Management Agency, inspired him to pursue his education in engineering from a young age and encouraged him to submit his resume to Picatinny Arsenal. Following what he described as a “marathon of interviews” with various departments, he joined the Medium Caliber Ammunition team at DEVCOM AC, then called the Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, and worked for many years with the 40 mm special projects team.

“Under the mentorship of the special projects team lead, I came to appreciate just how complex medium caliber ammunition systems can be, packing numerous technologies into a relatively small form factor to complete a variety of missions.” Summa explained that during that time, he also developed technical competencies and leadership skills that continue to play a vital role in his current position supporting PM MAS as a core employee within the Counter Aerial Systems Branch within PdM MC Ammunition.

Summa was offered a matrix position with PM MAS in 2016 to become a project officer for 30×173 mm ammunition. “I took on this role to broaden my professional development under a different acquisition career field. I would certainly recommend that other acquisition professionals seek similar career development opportunities,” he said. “Exploring different career tracks and being exposed to different phases of the acquisition life cycle have been both satisfying and eye-opening.”

One of the most important points in his career, he reflected, was executing an Urgent Materiel Release (UMR) and fielding a suite of 30×173 mm munitions to the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, U.S. Army Europe Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT) and later executing a follow-on UMR to provide similar munitions in support of U.S. Forces Command SBCTs. These munitions provide SBCTs with increased lethality against personnel and light armor targets. “These career highlights encapsulated the ‘big picture’ goal to which all acquisition professionals and programs aspire: To provide an end product and capability to the warfighter,” he said.

More recently, Summa and his team completed a Milestone C and Type Classification Limited Procurement decision briefing for the 30×173 mm XM1172 Target Practice Discarding Sabot with Tracer cartridge, which, he said, “paves the way for entry into low-rate initial production and brings us one important step closer to providing enhanced training capabilities SBCTs by replacing one of the training cartridges previously fielded through UMRs.”

In addition to career-broadening opportunities, Summa said that the advice he would give to junior acquisition personnel is to “always operate just outside of your comfort zone,” emphasizing that they should not undervalue themselves or be afraid to provide input. “Jump into the fray and build lasting relationships with stakeholders and cement yourself as an expert that others can trust and rely on,” he said. “And finally, do not neglect your own personal development, which also benefits the organization.”

Outside of work Summa is an avid skier and enjoys nature hikes with his wife, Stacey, and loyal canine companion, Blaze. For more active pursuits—like skiing—his engineering mindset is always at work to better understand the mechanics of what he’s doing and to continue to develop his skill level.

“I enjoy reading science fiction and fantasy novels, which provide both inspiration and escapism in equal measure and have also inspired many of my personal philosophies inside and outside of work.” Summa also enjoys brewing beer, which, he said, “in its own right is a microcosm of my professional work: I am a project manager taking requirements (recipes) and raw materials (water, grain, hops and yeast) and turning it into a final product for the end-user (myself and friends).” This requires the application of many disciplines, including engineering, chemistry, biology, heat transfer and “a surprising amount of mathematics.”

More recently, Summa took on the new hobby of growing bonsai trees. “There are many parallels to my leadership philosophy in the workplace in order for a bonsai tree to thrive, as both too much and too little attention can adversely impact the tree’s development,” he said.

With each new endeavor, Summa believes, there are lessons to be learned. “The morale and personal well-being of our team members—and ourselves—is the foundation on which our organizational goals can be achieved. Team members should be encouraged to take care of themselves physically, mentally and spiritually as needed, even if there is a short-term expense for doing so,” such as a slight delay in program goals, Summa said. “Ultimately, a happy team is also a more productive and successful team.”