MLF 6-8 (Sept. 2012)

The Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

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Capability Maintainer Gen. Janet C. Wolfenbarger Commander U.S. Air Force Materiel Command

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September 2012 Volume 6, Issue 8

Exclusive Interview with: Maj. Gen. Lynn A. Collyar Commander U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

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Military Logistics Forum

September 2012 Volume 6 • Issue 8

Features

Cover / Q&A

Managing the Stock Managing inventory for DoD, its armed services and other components represents an enormous challenge. The DLA alone manages nine supply chains, supports over 2,000 weapons systems, and keeps track of over 5 million individual items.

By Peter Buxbaum

6

EAGLE Update The Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise program will deliver increased efficiency and effectiveness throughout the supply and support chain. An exclusive interview with Scott Welker, Army Sustainment Command’s executive director.

9

War on Aging The U.S. military and defense contractors are using new tools to keep older weapon systems operational and safe.

By Marc Selinger

17 General Janet C. Wolfenbarger Commander U.S. Air Force Materiel Command

12 U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command Special PULL-OUT SUPPLEMENT

1

8

Exclusive interview with

Major General Lynn A. Collyar Commander, Army Aviation and Missile Command

An Outline on Doing Business

Departments 2 Editor’s Perspective 4 Log Ops

MRO Special Section

Air Force Partnerships

22

Working closely with commercial entities can deliver efficiencies to military processes. A look at some of the benefits from militarycommercial partnerships.

By Henry Canaday

5 People 14 Supply Chain 27 Resource Center

Getting Goods Where They Need to Go The tools that are the first to load and unload. Specialized equipment helps move needed supplies and equipment on and off transport.

By Hank Hogan

24

Industry Interview

28 John Carroll Vice President and Product Support Account Manager Logistics and Engineering Solutions Business Unit SAIC

Military Logistics Forum Volume 6, Issue 8 • September 2012

Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community Editorial Editor-In-Chief Jeff McKaughan jeffm@kmimediagroup.com Managing Editor Harrison Donnelly harrisond@kmimediagroup.com Online Editorial Manager Laura Davis laurad@kmimediagroup.com Correspondents Heather Baldwin • Peter Buxbaum Henry Canaday • Cheryl Gerber • Hank Hogan Marc Selinger • Leslie Shaver

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EDITOR’S PERSPECTIVE Looking back at the earthquakes in Haiti and Turkey, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, or the floods in Pakistan, one doesn’t have to wait long before American supplies or a helicopter carrying them come into view. The ability of the United States to respond so quickly is a reflection of DoD’s command structure and the logistical agility and depth of our military.

Almost since the very end of World War II, the cornerstone of our forward presence has been the unified or combatant commands. Currently covering six regions, each geographic command is deeply seated in the nuances and intricacies of each region and the different countries within that region. More constant communications and exchanges lead to a much stronger understanding of the Jeffrey D. McKaughan Editor-IN-CHIEF capabilities and tendencies held by each country. That intelligence pays off in military terms and when dealing with a humanitarian event.

For example, over the past several years CENTCOM has participated in Central Asian Regional Cooperation exercises with countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The exercises focus on emergency disaster response, developing tools for better coordination during multinational operations, and improving international civil-military cooperation.

The philosophy behind phase-zero activities, especially those related to foreign disaster response, can help gauge the capabilities and regulatory issues that will come into play if the U.S. ever is asked to assist in international relief efforts.

Recent reports have talked about DoD’s ability to be a first responder to disaster incidents, and its capabilities and resources make it a perfect candidate when times are tough. But the Pentagon has acknowledged that while it has the logistical means to respond quickly when needed, it does not consider itself the instrument of first resort in responding to foreign disasters: It considers its role as supporting civilian agencies that are better suited for the task.

Besides it being the right thing to do, the public relations boost that the U.S. earns when the lifelines of food, water and medical supplies are delivered by a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine goes a long way in building goodwill. It may not be their first mission, but no one delivers like an American logistician.

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LOG OPS C-130 AMP Delivery Boeing and the U.S. Air Force’s Warner Robins, Ga., Air Logistics Complex have delivered the second C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) aircraft modified by Warner Robins. The aircraft is the fifth to be delivered to Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark.; the first three were modified by Boeing. The Boeing C-130 AMP contract with the Air Force is currently in the low rate initial production phase.

“C-130 AMP is production-ready,” said Mahesh Reddy, Boeing C-130 AMP program

director. “Its integrated systems and other improvements increase crews’ efficiency and situational awareness. The AMP solution achieved by Boeing and its Air Force customer also offers a common fleet configuration that reduces maintenance costs over the lifetime of the platform by addressing parts obsolescence.”

Multiple enhancements on the C-130 AMP are designed to reduce total ownership cost.

Upgrading the electrical power system, replacing analog gauges with an integrated glass cockpit,

Saving Energy Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma’s largest single-site employer and the largest Air Force facility energy consumer, recently awarded an energy savings performance contract there.

“Upon completion, the project will reduce Tinker’s energy intensity by 30 percent and save an estimated $6.4 million a year,” said Rex Stanford, Tinker AFB’s energy project manager.

The project is a joint effort between Tinker AFB, Honeywell, the Department of Energy, Headquarters Air Force Materiel Command and the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency. The ESPC will improve energy efficiencies for 70 buildings, some dating to the 1940s, and save enough energy to power 12,424 average homes a year.

“One of our top priorities is reducing the size of our energy footprint, not only here at Tinker AFB but across the Air Force Sustainment Center,” said Lieutenant General Bruce Litchfield, Air Force Sustainment Center commander. “Pursuit of energy-saving initiatives is a factor in driving down the cost of sustaining weapons systems, which results in more capability per available dollar for our operational Air Force, and represents good stewardship of America’s resources. This is a true win-win scenario.”

The $80.7 million Tinker AFB ESPC will take a little more than 20 years to pay back using dollars saved through lower utility, operation and maintenance costs.

The Air Force has reinvigorated the ESPC program in recent years, officials said. A proposed lighting ESPC at Lackland AFB, Texas, is under evaluation, and an ESPC that incorporates process energy savings in addition to facility energy savings is in the works at Hill AFB, Utah.

AFCESA is also working with Air Force communication experts on the first data center consolidation effort. “Data centers can consume up to 200 times more electricity than standard office spaces,” said Les Martin, ESPC program manager at AFCESA. The Air Force last awarded an ESPC project in 2009 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., with a capital investment of $48 million and annual energy savings of 37 percent. The project is nearly complete.

4 | MLF 6.8

and new wiring will greatly reduce the number of hours maintainers spend repairing old parts and increase the aircraft’s mission-readiness rate.

Another program improvement is the switch to digital technical publications, which are easier to update, reduce weight on the aircraft and save paper. The integration of the cockpit reduces flight crew workload by allowing the aircraft to be operated without a navigator, saving the Air Force about $1 billion over the entire fleet.

Mission Planning DCS Corp. has been awarded the Mobility Air Forces (MAF) delivery order under the U.S. Air Force’s Mission Planning Enterprise Contract (MPEC) II, which provides aircraft mission planning systems for the United States Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. Work on the MAF delivery order will occur over a four-year period and is valued at approximately $29.4 million, including all priced options.

Under the MAF delivery order, DCS will provide mission planning software development, integration, and sustainment for special mission Air Combat Command platforms, Foreign Military Sales Mobility platforms, and the optional development and integration of Air Mobility Command’s Global Mobility platforms.

“DCS looks forward to the opportunity to continue to provide winning technical solutions to the Air Force on the MAF delivery order,” said Dave Russell, president and chief operating officer. “I am confident that our dedicated team of employee-owners will deliver innovative approaches to project management and software development that provides the best value to the Air Force.”

The MPEC II contract provides future mission planning software development, maintenance, and integration to the Department of Defense Mission Planning Enterprise. The enterprise encompasses partnering organizations in the US Air Force, Navy, Army and Special Operations Command.

Rough Terrain Forklifts The U.S. Department of Defense has placed a $61.9-million order with Cargotec’s Kalmar Rough Terrain Center, Cibolo, Texas, for 766 light capability rough terrain forklift (LCRTF) trucks. Delivery is scheduled to start in July 2013.

The new order is part of the frame agreement signed by the DoD and KRTC in 2011. It brings the total number of units on order to 913.

Kalmar President Bryan Stephens said, “We are proud to continue supporting the DoD with our military materials handling equipment.”

The RT-022 LCRTF is the second Kalmar model purpose-built for the DoD. Kalmar’s larger RT-240 rough terrain container handler (RTCH) is already in operation. The smaller RT-022 LCRTF is designed to load and unload containers, railcars, and tactical vehicles. Its mobility lets it work in areas that require high flotation and traction.

“The LCRTF model has been designed to operate perfectly in tandem with the larger RTCH, with the combination providing a complete materials handling solution for operation in the field,” said Stephens. www.MLF-kmi.com

LOG OPS

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Commitment to Military Sealift Command Maersk Line, Limited (MLL) has completed its acquisition of 3PSC, a privately-held ship operator based in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Under the terms of the agreement, MLL will take over 3PSC’s current contract for the operation and maintenance of special mission ships owned by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command. MLL plans to integrate 3PSC operations into its Norfolk, Va., headquarters by the end of the calendar year.

“Through the acquisition of 3PSC, MLL will continue its tradition of providing outstanding ship operation and maintenance services to the Military Sealift Command,” said John F. Reinhart, president and CEO of MLL. “During our visits to the Cape Canaveral office, we have been impressed by the technical expertise and professionalism of the 3PSC team. We are pleased to have them join Maersk Line, Limited.

“We see a lot of promise in the vessel operation and maintenance segment,” said Reinhart. “The integration of 3PSC will strengthen our team and capabilities. We look forward to competing for new opportunities, for the Military Sealift Command and other programs that support the National Defense requirements.”

Unmanned Cargo Helicopter For the second time this year, the U.S. Marine Corps has approved the deployment extension of K-Max Cargo UAS, the first unmanned helicopter to deliver cargo and resupply troops in a combat zone.

By supplying forward operating bases with K-Max instead of ground convoy or manned aircraft, the Marine Corps has reduced the threat posed to personnel by improvised explosive devices by thousands of hours.

Earlier this year, the Marine Corps requested the aircraft, a joint effort by Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace, stay in theater through September 30, the end of this fiscal year. This announcement extends K-Max service in Afghanistan for an additional six months and includes an option to extend its time through September 2013.

“K-Max has proven its value as a reliable cargo resupply aircraft and an

asset that saves lives,” said Vice Admiral David Architzel, commander of Naval Air Systems Command, which manages the K-Max program for the Marine Corps.

“The use of this aircraft eliminates the need for manned ground convoys, reducing the number of our warfighters exposed to improvised explosive devices.”

The K-Max program, developed to satisfy a Joint Urgent Operational Need Statement generated by the Marine Corps in 2010, has flown 485 sorties, 525 hours and lifted more than 1.6 million pounds of cargo since it arrived in theater in November 2011. In May, the aircraft performed a historic hot hook-up, enabling personnel to attach cargo to the unmanned aircraft while in hover mode. That capability is now used regularly to perform retrograde missions (when cargo is carried on the return flight as well), increasing the efficiency of the K-Max.

Tactical Quiet Generator Fidelity Technologies Corporation, a Readingbased defense contractor, has secured a five-year contract valued at approximately $176 million with the U.S. Army to construct power generators.

The contract with Project Manager-Mobile Electric Power, based in Fort Belvoir, Va., covers production through July 2017 of 3 kilowatt Tactical Quiet Generator sets (3kW TQG). The 3kW TQG is a rugged, self-contained, portable generator designed for peak military performance in any global environ-

ment. The lightweight, diesel fueled generators have radically improved survivability, mobility, reliability and maintainability, providing a source of safe, basic power to the warfighter.

“To meet production demands, we anticipate creating as many as 40 new manufacturing and technician jobs, as well as 10-15 administrative positions,” said Fidelity President David Gulati.

“This contract aligns perfectly with our Military and Aerospace Manufacturing Division’s strategic plan to

expand market share in the military mobile electric power space.”

“Our team has certainly proven to be a supplier of quality mobile electric power equipment—reliable, on time and competitively priced,” said Bob Lesko, general manager of Fidelity’s Military and Aerospace Manufacturing Division. “This contract allows us to build on past success and open more doors within the military mobile electric power market.”

PEOPLE Captain Lawrence E. Creevy, who has been selected for the rank of rear admiral (lower half), will be assigned as commander, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Washington Navy Yard, D.C. Creevy is currently serving as fleet maintenance

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officer, U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Norfolk, Va. Rear Admiral (lower half) Jeffery R. Penfield will be assigned as commander, Operational Test and Evaluation Force, Norfolk, Va. Penfield

is currently serving as commander, Fleet Readiness Centers, Patuxent River, Md. Northrop Grumman Corporation has announced that Karen A. Williams will become the new vice president

contracts, pricing and supply chain. She will replace Susan L. Coté, who has announced her intention to retire.

Tom Roche, formerly StandardAero’s vice president, turboprops and

fleets, has been selected for the position of vice president, customer support. Alain Berube will replace Roche as vice president and general manager, turboprops and fleets.

MLF 6.8 | 5

There are millions and millions of items in the DoD supply chain and keeping track of them is no small task.

By Peter Buxbaum MLF Correspondent the costs and returns on investment of Managing inventhose systems,” said Denise Parker, DLA’s tory for the Department chief of distribution planning. “We also of Defense, its armed services and work to create awareness among manother components represents an enoragers on driving efficienmous challenge.

The cies and reducing costs so Defense Logistics Agency that the military can apply alone manages nine supply savings to what they really chains, supports over 2,000 need to buy.” weapons systems, and keeps “The primary goal is track of over 5 million indihaving the right quantities vidual items. on hand at the right time,” Every enterprise is said June Shrewsbury, vice challenged to keep enough president of technical serinventory on hand for its vice at Lockheed Martin’s needs while at the same June Shrewsbury global training and logistics time trimming the fat and unit. reducing its costs. In the The process of deciding what to keep case of DoD, there is a tradeoff between on hand can be divided into two parts. lean inventories and mission readiness.

Much of Parker’s efforts revolve around There are many technologies and techidentifying items that DoD no longer needs niques available to the U.S. military to to keep around at all or in quantity. This help right-size its inventories. relies on historical data. Other efforts use “We work with the military services to predictive techniques to forecast demand identify logistics solutions and to analyze 6 | MLF 6.8

for specific current items. Parker’s goal is to be able to manage inventories based on current requirements in real time.

“We identify material in storage, how long it has been there, and what its condition is,” said Parker. “We then we present this information to various groups so that they can decide whether we really need to keep these items in storage or whether we can reduce our levels of storage.”

DLA has a system called the distribution standard system that can be used to identify items that can be discontinued.

“We have a goal of eliminating stock that has been inactive for 10 years or more,” said Parker. “That is a pretty ambitious goal. That is going to free up a lot of space while it reduces inventory costs.”

DLA also has a tool called the demand data exchange that receives feeds from program offices on the current demand picture. “This helps inventory managers dial back requirements or plus them up depending on current conditions,” www.MLF-kmi.com

a result, you can more optimally place said Parker. “It’s important that inveninventory within the supply chain, which tory managers not rely on historical data minimizes storage, staging, maintenance, alone.” manufacturing, transportation and distriPredictive modeling techniques are bution costs,” said Shrewsbury. particularly useful in arriving at the Predictive modeling techniques also optimal level of inventory requirements, help adjust for change. “If you look at leadaccording to Shrewsbury. “Predictive ing indicators like changes techniques help us rightin fleet size, phase-out of size the inventory,” she equipment, and changes in said. “We do that by using operational tempo as early the target performance and as possible, you can adjust availability levels, historiinventory levels to meet cal demand data, predictive external changes that are algorithms, future demand, not reflective of historical and item data like mean trends,” said Shrewsbury. time before failure, produc“We don’t rely on modeltion and acquisition lead ing and algorithms alone. times, cost and shelf life.”

Alan Manning Our item management “Using as much data as team applies its experience possible makes it possible to ensure that the results to plan better,” said Alan make sense. One-time Manning, a logistics and events reflected in historical supply chain expert at SAS. data, for example, can skew “DoD does a good job with future projections higher or forecasting using historilower, resulting in too much cal data but does less well or too little inventory. That sensing current demand. It can affect cost and perforis important to take into mance.” account programmatic and Lockheed Martin operational demand for Charlie Fletcher provides fast-turn parts.” sustainment services Predictive computer support to its military customers. The models help determine the probability of company has supported the U.S. Army’s an outcome that could directly or indiField Logistics Readiness Centers at Forts rectly impact a supply chain or an invenBenning, Bragg and Stewart; the U.S. tory system and then forecast the demand Navy with in-service engineering and using a given a set of collected data. “As

logistics life cycle support; and the U.S. Marine Corps with modernization and sustainment efforts.

Organizations use data mining to select, explore and model large amounts of data to identify meaningful, logical patterns and relationships among key variables. “Data mining is useful if you have standardized data across the enterprise,” said Charlie Fletcher, senior vice president and manager of the strategic operations group of Alion Science and Technology Corp. “Understanding all the elements that go into production can provide predictability so that you know where to make investments in stockage and transportation.”

“At Lockheed Martin, data mining helps us uncover trends, predict future events and assess the merits of possible actions,” said Shrewsbury. “It can be very useful in a program’s proposal and startup phases. For one program, our team initially thought a warehouse was needed overseas to support the demand there.

We used the data to determine the size and location for an overseas warehouse as well as the related inventory, based on historic demand. When we compared the cost of establishing and filling an overseas warehouse to the cost of shipping from a domestic location, we discovered the total cost would be lower, even with airfreight shipping.”

SAS has built a library of predictive models that is based on software that is able to fuse data from many different

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MLF 6.8 | 7

Brown noted. “The government often sources. “We are able to pull data from awards contracts for sustainment of modern ERP systems as well as older weapons and other systems,” he said. legacy systems,” said Manning. “We have a “By researching ILS, the programming language that contractor can ascertain is very flexible and we have whether parts that may never encountered a data be needed down the road source that we could not will be available through read.” the original manufacturer On top of that, SAS has of in the aftermarket over developed a platform to a period of time. If they build repeatable processes are convinced that the parts that can pull data from difwill be available during the ferent sources and analyze contract period, they may them together. “We have a Ryan Brown decide not to carry invenrobust library of 50 differtory for those parts.” If the ent forecasting models,” said opposite proved to be the case, the conManning. “We provide modeling options tractor can act accordingly by making and then fine-tune them to provide the substantial inventory buys, thus assuring best forecast.” system readiness.

One way to reduce future inventoThe DLA uses passive radio frequency ries is to proactively manage the obsolesidentification (RFID) technology to cence of spare parts. Inventory Locator streamline inventory processes and to Service (ILS) allows program managers provide a higher level of accountability. and defense suppliers to keep track of “We require our vendors to tag shipments upcoming parts obsolescence issues and with passive RFID tags and to submit to identify sources of needed parts and electronic shipping notices,” said DLA’s components.

Joe Graff. “The advance ship notices pre“ILS allows users to manage obsolespopulates fields in our system and when cence and research parts and forecasting we receive the shipments at the depot the trends,” said Ryan Brown, an ILS manager. data form the RFID tag is automatically “ILS provides a marketplace to source parts matched up with the ship notice.” that are unavailable from regular supply The system saves DoD money by prechains or that have a long lead time.” venting loss and misdirection of inventoILS’ government research tool allows ries. “If we can track where the shipment access to catalogued government files that went, we can get it out the door quicker reflect procurement histories, technical when customers need it,” Graff explained. characteristics and other related data.

“This reduces the number of lost ship“Once a part is located, users can immediments and prevents unnecessary reorderately access sources of supply,” said Brown. ing and reshipping of inventory.”

“ILS includes historic references to once An advance beyond RFID technology active NSNs [national stock numbers] and was developed by Cubic Global Trackpart numbers no longer available through ing Solutions at the behest of the U.S. government systems.”

Army. Passive RFID tags store data but sit ILS’s Parts Watch tracks numerous dormant until interrogated by a reader. parts and their status electronically and Active tags send out signals proactively provides notification when watched parts on a recurring basis and can be moniare added or deleted. ILS’ Inventory eValutored via the Internet in near real time. ator provides a 12-month trending analysis The tags that Cubic developed are able of parts available and parts searched for. to form themselves into ad hoc mesh net“This data is used to manage obsolescence works. That means that they can transmit trends and trigger critical buys for many data to each other, while the last tag in DoD programs,” said Brown. “ILS’ Aira line then transmits all of the data to a frame and Engine Analyzer runs all parts central location via satellite communicacatalogued to a weapon system and protions. vides supply and demand trending details, The Cubic system was deployed enabling program managers to plan more last year to an Army depot in Kuwait efficiently.” that is managing the return of military Contractors are the biggest users of vehicles from Iraq. The Army intends the ILS service on the military side, 8 | MLF 6.8

to implement the same system in Afghanistan, according to Mary Ann Wagner, the company’s president.

“By placing tags on vehicles that can talk to other tags in its vicinity, you can get a lot of value without investing in a lot of infrastructure,” Wagner said. “Active RFID works well but once the tag goes past the reader you don’t know where on the 174 acres in Kuwait a specific vehicle is located. You have to send a soldier to the field to look for it, and that takes time and money. An Army business case analysis showed that the mesh network system saved the Army 50 percent over the existing active RFID infrastructure.”

“With the current financial pressures, all the services will be taking a harder look at how to work smarter to manage inventory,” said Manning. “We think that organizations will take a more methodological approach to inventory planning and forecasting.”

Alion is in the process of developing software to assist the U.S. Air Force in just such an effort. “It will assist the Air force in looking at second and third order effects of various budget decisions,” said Fletcher. “For example, if the Air Force decides to reduce the number of an aircraft, the software will measure the reduction in repair parts and whether these actions will have an impact on mission readiness.”

“In the future, original equipment manufacturers will face growing pressure to increase reliability while decreasing costs and extending the shelf life of existing platforms,” said Shrewsbury. “Contractors will have to be innovative with reliability and process improvements to remain affordable and right-size inventory.”

As for the DLA, Parker wishes for a system that will enable the agency to make inventory retention decisions in real time. “We should be able to feed emerging requirements into our system to forecast required inventories in an automated fashion,” she said. “We should also be able to immediately identify materials that are no longer needed and send them straight to disposition.” O

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.

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EAGLE Update

The Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise program will deliver increased efficiency and effectiveness to throughout the supply and support chain.

The Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) program will be used to procure logistics services requirements, primarily material maintenance services, retail/wholesale supply services and transportation support services in support of directorates of logistics installations; Army prepostioned stocks; theater provided equipment; in-theater maintenance; left behind equipment; predeployment training equipment; new equipment training; new equipment fielding; and reset within Continental United States and outside Continental United States locations.

Military Logistics Forum recently had to chance to talk with Scott Welker, the Army Sustainment Command’s executive director, about the program and where they are in the process.

Q: We talked about the Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise [EAGLE] program in a previous issue [February 2012], but could you please explain what EAGLE is?

A: Enhanced Army Global Logistics

Enterprise program, or EAGLE, is a www.MLF-kmi.com

global contracting strategy for acquiring maintenance, supply and transportation support services throughout the Army.

We first started looking at this strategy when we found out we would be assuming control of the Directorates of Logistics [DOLs] from the Installation Management Command, which will fully take place on October 1, 2012. Previously, the DOLs had multiple contracts with multiple contractors, which in some cases resulted in redundant capability and excess capacity. This redundancy and excess capacity increased costs to the Army. Under the EAGLE program, the Army Sustainment Command has established an EAGLE Business Office that works with the DOL transformation team to standardize contracted services across the DOLs enterprise and provides a focal point to capture lessons learned and communicate best practices across the EAGLE customer base. We also wanted to ensure EAGLE had a scope with capability to cover more than just the DOLs and installation logistics, so the EAGLE scope also includes the flexibility to execute requirements for

ASC’s non-DOL mission areas and other Army logistics requirements.

The purpose of EAGLE is to consolidate the number of contracts we currently have under one acquisition umbrella, as well as to standardize requirements, acceptance criteria and metrics. This will reduce the number of contracts that require oversight.

By reducing the number of contracts to oversee, we anticipate that EAGLE will result in the Army realizing a cost avoidance in the execution and administration of these contracts over the next three to five years.

Q: What does the EAGLE program cover?

A: When fully implemented, EAGLE

will support a variety of programs, to include installation requirements valued at greater than $1 million for the DOLs, Army prepositioned stocks, theater provided equipment, in-theater maintenance, left behind equipment, pre-deployment training equipment, new equipment training, new equipment fielding, and reset.

EAGLE does not cover aviation maintenance, dining facilities, and laundry MLF 6.8 | 9

D. Scott Welker is currently serving as executive director for the Army Sustainment Command in the interim awaitD. Scott Welker ing the arrival of a new commanding general (scheduled for September 18). As executive director for Army Sustainment Command, Welker leads and directs the command’s global logistics mission, which encompasses a workforce of approximately 300 military personnel, 2,200 civilian employees, and 70,000 contractor employees. Army Sustainment Command links strategic and operational sustainment capabilities to tactical units, integrates and synchronizes materiel distribution, and enables unit readiness.

Welker served as the deputy to the commander for the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, a position he held when ASC was established in October 2006. Upon arrival of the new commanding general, Welker will resume the position of deputy to the commanding general.

He had previously served as deputy to the commander for ASC’s predecessor, the U.S. Army Field Support Command, a position he assumed June 2005. Prior to this assignment, he served as the command’s chief of staff and as deputy chief of staff. On October 30, 2005, Welker was appointed as a member of the Senior Executive Service.

In March 2010, Mr. Welker was selected as a Presidential Rank Award Winner in the Meritorious Executives category.

A native of the state of Washington, Mr. Welker holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business and Economics from Washington State University, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa.

10 | MLF 6.8

or dry cleaning services. While the basic strategy is the same across the board—to consolidate contracts and standardize requirements—the rules may be slightly different, depending on the program.

Q: What is your strategy for EAGLE? A: Our focus came from the Bet-

ter Buying Power and Optimization of Army Services Acquisition directives, which focus on reducing costs, expanding competition, improving opportunities to small businesses to become prime contractors, streamlining and reducing acquisition lead time, and providing for contractor on and off ramps.

Our business strategy for installation logistics requirements involves a single installation logistics provider concept; in other words, to make sure we consolidated contract requirements at, say, Fort Campbell, into one task order, instead of multiple contracts. In the past, an installation could have several contracts for different logistics functions and customers, each competing for limited facilities and personnel.

We incorporated the concept of standardizing performance work statements and quality surveillance plans and performance requirements for maintenance, supply, and transportation support services to establish an effective and efficient enterprise approach.

In our contracting strategy, we determined the best way to achieve our goals was to use a multi-step acquisition process that would result in multiple basic ordering agreements [BOAs] with both large and small businesses determined qualified to be a BOA holder. The BOAs will not exceed a five-year period and will be reviewed annually. From these qualified BOA holders, we will execute our requirements through task order competitions. The idea here would be to increase competition among companies already

qualified to do the work, and thereby control costs and increase contractor compliance with performance standards.

EAGLE provides increased opportunities for small business involvement, since all installation logistics task orders greater than $1 million and less than $35.5 million will be set aside for small business. Task orders greater than $35.5 million will be open on an unrestricted basis to all qualified BOA holders unless the ruleof-two applies. The rule-of-two states that if there is a reasonable expectation that two or more small businesses can provide the required services at a reasonable cost, contracting for these services will be set aside for small business. Any contract less than $1 million would be executed by the local installation contracting office and will not be executed under EAGLE. Q. What was your process?

A: While the acquisition strategy was

being staffed, we received permission to begin the first step in the multi-step process, which was to issue a notice for contractors to provide statements regarding their capabilities and experience. The responses then were analyzed for viability to receive an EAGLE BOA. The notice was issued November 22, 2011, and industry responses had to be submitted by January 12, 2012. The responses were analyzed by the technical advisor and the contractors were notified of their status in March 2012.

After the formal acquisition strategy was approved in March 2012, we began step two and issued the request for proposal on April 20, 2012, which included the first year projection of EAGLE requirements that are forecasted for task order completion in year one. Offerors submitted proposals which included information on technical capabilities and past performance for evaluation. These proposals are currently under evaluation.

The offerors must demonstrate they have the ability to perform all three functions of maintenance, supply and transportation support either as the prime contractor or through subcontracting and teaming arrangements. www.MLF-kmi.com

The BOA request for proposals was issued April 20 and closed June 18.

BOAs are expected to be executed in September to qualified offerors.

Let me make it clear that these BOAs are not contracts—no government funding is committed during this process.

An example of an EAGLE efficiency involves not requesting cost data at step two. The requests for proposals we sent out to obtain BOA holders did not request cost data and avoided the considerable cost a contractor may incur for preparing cost proposals.

During step 3, a request for proposal will be issued for each annual and special project requirement, which will be competed among the BOA holders. A price proposal will be requested at this time. The responses to the RFPs will be evaluated based on the criteria identified in the task order request for proposal. Award of individual task orders to BOA holders will then constitute a contract and

commitment of funds by the government.

Q: When and how will the task orders be advertised?

Q: If a company’s proposal is determined not acceptable, or if a new business is interested in participating in competing for EAGLE requirements, are there any options?

A: We will begin issuing task order

A: The determination to execute a

BOA with a company is made in step two. Only those BOA holders are permitted to compete for the task orders, and they are not permitted to add, subtract or change team members or subcontractors to fit with task order requirements in step three.

However, when the government does its annual review or synopsizes an emergent requirement not identified in the annual requirements list, BOA holders may make necessary changes as needed in their teams, and contractors currently not BOA holders or previously found unacceptable may submit proposals at these times.

requests for proposals immediately after the BOAs are executed. Known task order requirements will be synopsized and advertised annually through the Federal Business Opportunities website. Emerging requirements will be advertised throughout the year.

Q: Is there anything you would like to add to what we’ve already discussed?

A: Information will continue to be

posted to the EAGLE website: www. aschq.army.mil/ac/aaisdus/eagle. aspx, and I recommend that industry continue to monitor it for updates. O

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.

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ManTech is a strategic partner on the FMLS team for the Eagle program

www.mantech.com

www.MLF-kmi.com

MLF 6.8 | 11

The U.S. military and defense contractors are using new tools to keep older weapon systems operational and safe.

By Marc Selinger, MLF Correspondent With tight U.S. defense budgets delaying the replacement of many older weapon systems, the Department of Defense and contractors are pursuing a wide range of innovative techniques to detect and fix agerelated problems to extend the life of these systems.

Corrosion, such as rusting metal, is one of the biggest problems for legacy systems.

A study conducted by LMI, a McLean, Va., consulting firm, estimated that the annual cost of corrosion for DoD aircraft, ground vehicles, ships and other systems was $20.7 billion, or 24 percent of maintenance costs for that equipment. But corrosion in its early stages is often in hard-to-reach places, and disassembling aircraft to look for corroded structures is expensive and timeconsuming and sidelines operational assets.

“Using conventional inspection processes, it can take more than a day to remove C-130 cargo bay floorboards, just to gain access for inspections,” said James Hill, chief executive officer of Aging Aircraft Consulting. “That’s not insignificant when there’s such high demand for these aircraft.”

As a result, Aging Aircraft Consulting, based in Warner Robins, Ga., developed 12 | MLF 6.8

a technique to allow maintainers to see inside an aging aircraft without taking it apart. The technique uses a high-resolution optical device, or borescope, and special guide tubes to access the most remote areas of an airframe, identify hidden defects, and photograph or capture video of the findings. An inspection can be accomplished as simply as removing a fastener, inserting the guide tube through the fastener hole and routing the borescope to the remote inspection point. The key is to know where to look and understand what one is looking at, Hill said.

Aging Aircraft Consulting has used the technique on C-130 transports, HH-60 helicopters and P-3 surveillance aircraft.

“Embedding structural health monitoring sensors in aircraft is also gaining popularity, said Melinda Laubach-Hock, director of the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) Aging Aircraft Lab at Wichita State University in Kansas.

“When an abnormal signal is obtained, the area should be inspected to identify damage,” she said. “This field is still developing, but shows promise for future detection of age-related issues.”

Increasing Attention Efforts to combat equipment corrosion are gaining a higher profile in DoD. The department holds a conference every two years to discuss ways to counter corrosion, and its Corrosion Policy and Oversight Office enlisted LeVar Burton, who played Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge on TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation, to narrate an educational video called “Corrosion Comprehension: Combating the Pervasive Menace.”

Burton explained that greater investment in prevention could reduce corrosion costs as much as 40 percent.

According to DoD’s 2010 annual report on corrosion, the latest available, the department completed a “corrosion evaluation” for two new aircraft: the F-22 Raptor and the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter.

The evaluation is classified, according to a DoD spokeswoman. The department also spent $129 million on 169 corrosion prevention and mitigations projects over six years.

“Completed or on-going projects run the gamut” and include wireless corrosion sensors for Navy surface ships, the annual report said. www.MLF-kmi.com

The Naval Research Laboratory’s chemistry division recently developed a new silicon-based, non-skid coating for flight decks and walkways on ships. The new coating is expected to be more durable than traditional epoxy-based coatings, which last 18 months at most. The Navy applies nearly 3.7 million square feet of non-skid coating per year at a cost of over $56 million.

The Army’s Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) has an office that studies the causes of corrosion, devises repairs for corrosion in the field and trains soldiers how to prevent corrosion. One area getting much of the office’s attention is the Patriot missile system, which is expected to remain in service for another 30 years. The Air Force Corrosion Prevention & Control Office and the Naval Research Laboratory’s Center for Corrosion Science & Engineering also perform anticorrosion work.

Academia is also increasingly joining the fray. The University of Akron in Ohio and Curtin University in Western Australia have both launched efforts to train engineers to control corrosion in defense and other industries.

Akron, which offers a Bachelor of Science in corrosion engineering, calls its program “the first of its kind in the United States.” In addition, the Defense Acquisition University, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., has beefed up its course content on corrosion.

Corrosion is often more difficult to manage than cracking, Laubach-Hock said. Since cracking often occurs in “highly loaded” areas of an aircraft, it is easier to predict. “Corrosion, however, appears to occur at random locations and is much harder to find using standard inspection techniques,” she said.

To precisely determine the state of aviation structures, NIAR has performed “teardown inspections” for several military aircraft, including the B-52 bomber and KC-135 tanker, both of which are scheduled to reach a service life of 80-plus years. A teardown typically involves disassembling a structure, removing paint and other coatings, and conducting inspections with fluorescent liquid penetrants, electromagnetic currents or ultrasound.

“Using teardown information, engineers develop a list of fleet management decisions that must be made to ensure continued structural integrity and fleet airworthiness once the actual condition of the airframe is known,” Laubach-Hock said. “Some options available to fleet managers are new inspections, a change in inspection frequency, repairs and component replacement.” www.MLF-kmi.com

Legacy Fighters A major issue for the Navy is how to keep the classic F/A-18 Hornet flying safely until it can be replaced by the F-35, whose development has experienced years of delays. The Navy has already extended the life of legacy A-D model Hornets to about 8,600 flight hours, up from their original design life of 6,000 hours.

The Navy is studying whether 150 Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18s could be rejuvenated to last even longer. The analysis includes disassembling Hornets to get a close-up look at how they are faring and determine whether the 150 aircraft could fly until 10,000 hours.

“In the near future, we’ll know whether we can get them there,” said Navy Commander Stanley Jones, F/A-18 requirements officer. “We believe that we can. If the engineers find something that can’t be fixed, that they deem to be unsafe, then they won’t grant that extension and we just won’t go there. What we do in the Navy is dangerous enough as it is—landing on a ship at night in the middle of the ocean. You need a reliable system at a minimum.”

Modifications to the 150 aircraft might involve fixing structural problems, such as cracks, corrosion and metal fatigue, and updating weapons, networking and other capabilities to keep the aircraft “relevant” for years to come, Jones said.

If the 10,000-hour mark proves unattainable, the Navy could turn to alternatives, such as buying more new F/A-18E/F Super Hornets or reducing force structure.

While Boeing would not mind building more Super Hornets, it is also working to extend the life of existing aircraft. Those efforts include installing new wings on the A-10 close-air-support aircraft, enhancing communication systems on the B-52 bomber, upgrading radars on F-15 and F/A-18 fighters, converting F-16 fighters to QF-16 targets and overhauling corroded KC-135s.

Another Boeing anti-aging effort involves the B-1B bomber, which the Air Force has flown for over a quarter century.

“Our Air Force customer is interested in potentially gaining more insights into that airplane” and its life expectancy, said Navy Vice Admiral (Ret.) Jeff Wieringa, vice president of engineering for Boeing Global Services & Support and vice president of product support for Boeing Defense, Space and Security.

Boeing is building a steel box-like “fixture” in Seattle to conduct fatigue testing of the B-1B, similar to what it did with the Super Hornet.

“Imagine a skyscraper structure with the I-beams without any skin on the building and imagine one floor of that,” Wieringa said.

“What the engineers will do is figure out … how much load to impose to the wing at each part. We’ll put the vehicle in there and do the tests.”

The testing is due to start by 2013.

Other Issues Besides structural integrity issues such as corrosion and fatigue, other aging aircraft issues include wiring degradation, avionics obsolescence and configuration management, said John Parker, director of global logistics and modernization at Northrop Grumman Technical Services. Configuration management involves tracking various systems on an aircraft that are changed through modification or new production.

“While aircraft generally come off the production line in an easily tracked configuration, the longer they remain in fleets, the more likely the chance of a divergence of configurations on the older aircraft,” Parker said. “The older a fleet, the more likely the requirement to have to track configuration by individual tail numbers than by production blocks.”

StandardAero of Tempe, Ariz., which maintains C-130 engines in Texas at Port San Antonio, formerly Kelly Air Force Base, has developed a workscope optimizer database that interfaces with Air Force databases and evaluates the history of each engine and its components. The tool makes it easier to anticipate a future failure with an engine or part, lessening the need to ship an entire engine to a maintenance depot. Sending fewer engines to a depot saves money and increases their availability to warfighters.

“It helps the Air Force make better maintenance decisions in the field,” said Dan Gonzales, vice president of business development for StandardAero’s government and military sector. “We’re seeing a trend of engines staying on wing about 25 percent longer simply by assessing and modeling data.” O

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.

MLF 6.8 | 13

SUPPLY CHAIN Battlefield Power Generation Lockheed Martin has secured a contract with the Office of Naval Research for the design and development of solid oxide fuel cell generator sets as an alternative to traditional battlefield power generation equipment. Lockheed Martin’s fuel cell technology will be integrated with solar panels, providing the military with the power needed to perform missions while using dramatically less fuel.

At the end of the 32-month development program, Lockheed Martin will demonstrate and deliver a multikilowatt JP-8 compatible fuel cell efficient power node for evaluation by the U.S. Marines. The goal of the approximately $3 million contract is to reduce overall fuel usage required for tactical electrical generation by 50 percent or more.

Solid oxide fuel cells convert fuel into electricity using a chemical reaction that is 30 to 50 percent more efficient than the combustion engines used in diesel generators, which are the largest consumers of fuel on the battlefield today. Because fuel cells require less fuel to create the same amount of power, they offer the potential to save billions of dollars in operational costs and to reduce the number of military casualties that are directly related to the delivery of fuel.

“Lockheed Martin shares the U.S. Department of Defense’s top goals of increasing the safety of our troops and reducing operational costs,” said Dan Heller, vice president of new ventures for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors. “Alternative energy solutions, such as the fuel cell we are developing for the Office of Naval Research, can help mitigate these challenges, advancing the strength and flexibility of our military operating in some of the world’s toughest conditions.”

Lockheed Martin is working with Cleveland-based TMI to mature fuel cell technology.

14 | MLF 6.8

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Robotic Convoy System The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded patent rights to Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) for the Guideline Robotic Leader-Follower System.

Guideline provides a variety of immediate and significant benefits to military and industrial operators: reduces driving personnel by two times or more; keeps more military personnel out of harm’s way in active combat zones; increases efficiency in non-combat or industrial zones; adaptable for any size of vehicle from small ATVs to heavy military transport vehicles; operational in all types of terrain, road conditions, and weather; and it has a failsafe, redundant leader-follower system for GPS/laser guided convoy systems in case of signal loss or interference The Guideline system is a robotically controlled guidance system mounted to the front of military or industrial vehicles. Each unit contains a Kevlar tether on a mechanical spool. Sensors in the unit monitor the vector, speed, and length of the tether leaving or returning to the spool and relay the data to the vehicle’s automation kit. The kit’s onboard computer determines the position and speed of the lead vehicle and plots a course for the autonomous vehicle that mimics the exact path of the leader. As the lead vehicle accelerates, Guideline automatically increases the buffer distance between the two vehicles to allow for a safe stopping distance.

“What seems to excite people the most is that Guideline can be fielded now,” said Mel Torrie, CEO of Autonomous Solutions. “It is simple, failsafe redundant, and doesn’t depend on sensors that can be jammed or obstructed. It is also very affordable in low quantities.”

Guideline is currently being used in field trials in the United States, Australia and Singapore for a variety of operation scenarios.

Modular Approach for Diverse Mission Environments Raytheon Company has completed the preliminary design phase of the tactically expandable maritime platform (TEMP) program awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Through the TEMP program, Raytheon is creating an innovative system of modular technologies—including air and sea cargo transport, cargo transfer and onboard support resources—that enable commercial container ships (cargo ships) to support humanitarian aid and other non-combat missions through the use of advanced technology such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Unlike naval ships, commercial vessels are not designed with the capabilities needed for aid missions.

Through the TEMP system, alternative vessels such as container ships could be quickly readied to carry out an aid initiative with limited manpower. The system can be deployed in less than a day and is capable of maintaining mission operations for 30 days or more.

“As we’ve seen through numerous instances over the past several years, the magnitude of humanitarian crises often requires military support. At the same time, many of our country’s naval assets are committed to other missions,” said Joe Biondi, vice president of advanced technology for Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business. “With the TEMP system, Raytheon hopes to provide the U.S. Navy with the ability to both address humanitarian aid requirements and keep core naval assets focused on primary war fighting and training missions.”

The TEMP system is made up of a series of key technologies designed to achieve the objective of transforming a commercial shipping vessel into a platform to deliver humanitarian aid. These technologies include: parafoil air delivery system; motion stabilized cranes; and mission management modules. www.MLF-kmi.com

Readiness Driver Maj. Gen. Lynn A. Collyar Commander Army Aviation and Missile Command

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command

Army Aviation and Missile Command

Readiness Driver

Q& A

Building Capabilities and Increasing Efficiencies for the Aviation and Missile Community

Major General Lynn A. Collyar Commander Army Aviation and Missile Command

Major General Lynn A. Collyar became the commanding general, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, on June 1, 2012, following his assignment as director of logistics operations for the Defense Logistics Agency since August 2, 2010.

Prior to that assignment, from June 2008 through July 2010, he served as the 35th chief of ordnance at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Md., and Fort Lee, Va. A native of Huntsville, Ala., he was commissioned in the Ordnance Corps upon graduation from the United States Military Academy in 1979. His military schools include, Ordnance Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Command and General Staff College, and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

He also holds a master’s degree in National Resource Strategy from the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. He was initially assigned to the 619th Ordnance Company, 72nd Ordnance Battalion, 59th Ordnance Brigade at Kriegsfeld, Germany. His positions included platoon leader, shop and tech supply officer, operations officer and executive officer. In 1983, Collyar was assigned as intelligence and operations officer with the 68th Transportation Battalion, 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized), followed by command of the 50th Ordnance Company (Special Ammo), Fort Carson, Colo.

In October 1986, he returned to Europe to serve as division ammunition officer, Division Support Command support operations officer and assistant division materiel management officer with the 8th Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.

Following Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, he was assigned to the Office of Resource Management for the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics at the Pentagon.

In June 1993, he joined the 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, where he served as the 725th Main Support Battalion executive officer, Division G4 plans/ operations officer, and then deputy chief of staff for logistics. www.MLF-kmi.com

He served as the deputy logistics officer, Joint Task Force 180, during the division’s deployment to Operation Restore Democracy in Haiti.

Collyar was re-assigned to Fort Bragg, N.C., in July 1996.

He served as executive officer/deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division Support Command. In July 1997, he then took command of the 189th Corps Support Battalion, 1st Corps Support Command, XVIII Airborne Corps. During his tenure the battalion deployed to Central America, where he served as Joint Logistics Task Force commander in support of Operation Strong Support.

In July 1999, he returned to the Resource Management Office, Army deputy chief of staff for logistics, at the Pentagon. He spent the following year at the National Defense University attending the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. Collyar returned to the Pentagon in June 2001 as Chief, Initiatives Group, Army G8.

Collyar took command of the 29th Support Group, 21st Theater Support Command in July 2002. While in command, elements of the unit deployed to various locations throughout European and Central Command areas of operation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Army Aviation and Missile Command | MLF 6.8 | 1

Army Aviation and Missile Command

In July 2004, Collyar returned to the Pentagon as the chief, Focused Logistics Division, Force Development, Headquarters Department of the Army G8.

In August 2006, he assumed command of the Defense Distribution Center, a primary level field activity of the Defense Logistics Agency, based in New Cumberland, Pa. His personal awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Army Meritorious Service Medal with silver oak leaf cluster, and the Army Parachutist Badge.

Q: As budgets have tightened, what are the institutional and process changes that AMCOM has implemented to become more efficient and cost effective?

A: This is really an area that has drawn command focus. It’s not [that] we weren’t already doing it. There are some incredible things that AMCOM has done to become more efficient while maintaining effectiveness; that’s really the focus for the future.

We’ve done a lot of things, and some specific areas include reducing the amount of repair parts that we have on hand; reducing them across all levels, whether it’s at the depot or the unit level; and looking at contracts that have obligations that have never been executed, so that we can return that money.

Another big area is lead time. In this community, with aviation and missiles, the lead time when a part gets requested versus when that part may be available, if it’s not stocked on hand, can be upwards of a year and a half. And every day that we can reduce that lead time reduces money that’s in the pipeline, that has to be obligated. That’s a huge piece, so we have worked to try to get that timeline down. Again, it’s a direct readiness driver along with cost savings. So that’s really been a big one. Also, we’re looking at what is being ordered. We have units out there right now that do not order from their own budgets. They’re using operational funds to order things.

If something doesn’t get to them in a reasonable amount of time, oftentimes they’ll reorder, so we may have requisitions that should have been cancelled that are for the same item.

We just need to make sure we clean up those historical documents, especially if it’s been a long period of time. If it’s been 180 days—and the unit hasn’t received its order—we need to make sure that the item is still needed, and clean up our books so we’re not double or triple obligating for what is really one request. So that’s another area for efficiency.

The other thing that we’ve really done very well inside of the Aviation and Missile Command is implementing the Army’s enterprise resource planning system, with the logistics modernization program. That program is really allowing us to see all of our operations better. It’s allowing us to improve forecasting—looking at where we’re spending extra time, what parts are failing, giving the additional data to allow us to be more effective with what we’re doing across the sustainment sector. We’ve looked at the top 200 cost drivers supporting both aviation and missile systems, and are looking at ways to get good acquisition strategies for each of those. So that again, we don’t have long lead times. Those times may be on 2 | MLF 6.8 | Army Aviation and Missile Command

long-term contracts or a partnership-type process to make sure that we have those items available, or just have the right contracting mechanism in place to make sure that we can get needed items.

Another one that may sound like a small issue, but it’s just talking to the workforce and getting their ideas on ways to do things better. You know what, if you’re the person who’s physically doing any of these processes, there’s nobody who knows it better than you do. It is amazing what employees come up with when you listen to them about ways to do things better and the processes to do things more efficiently. All of us want to do our jobs better, and if we can make it easier on ourselves, there’s nobody who knows it better than our employees. Our supervisors from the top can’t always see it, and so we’re working closely with the workforce. We’ve had hundreds of suggestions from employees on better ways to manage processes.

Q: Considering both workload and budget, have your two depots at Letterkenny and Corpus Christi seen increased or decreases in the past year? Which way do you see the trends going for both?

A: Both of the depots have had some minor decreases in workload in the past year, and we expect that trend to continue.

Probably in the next couple of years, we expect that trend to be about 10 percent a year—10 percent in 2013, another 10 percent in 2014, etc. Specifically at Corpus Christi, that’s what we see. At Letterkenny, it could be a little bit more than that. One of the advantages we have in some cases is we have carryover workload, and that carryover allows us to obtain work from a PM that we may not execute until next year, even though they’ve executed the contract now. At both depots, we have a mix of contract and civilian labor force.

Carryover workload enables us to right-size what we’re doing and keep the appropriate workforce employed and really take care of our people, which will make or break us in the long run. It’s really your people that will make this happen. We are expecting a decrease to continue over the next couple of years.

Q: What challenges have been placed on the Army aviation fleet from 10-plus years of war and steady deployments of soldiers and equipment? Is there an aging aircraft issue with the Army’s rotary wing assets?

A: We really do have some significant challenges, and it’s mainly in the airframes themselves—not the subsystems.

Partly, that’s driven by the op tempo, which has seen us flying at five times the normal, expected levels. But it’s not just that, a lot of it has to do with the flight profiles. Aircraft in combat operate at higher gross weights, operate at higher altitudes, and conduct more authorized aggressive flight maneuvers, all of which impact the airframe from the stresses placed on them during peacetime, training type environments. After those different aircraft have been operating at levels like that for 10 years, and we bring them back and put them through reset programs, we are finding structural issues that were never expected to be seen on the aircraft. We do modification work www.MLF-kmi.com

Army Aviation and Missile Command & PEO AVIATION PEO Aviation headquarters

Maj. Gen. Tim Crosby PEO

AMCOM Senior Level

Maj. Gen. Lynn Collyar Commander AMCOM

Bill Andrews Acting Deputy Commander AMCOM

Col. Jay Macklin Chief of Staff AMCOM

CSM Tod Glidewell AMCOM

AVIATION SYSTEMS PROJECT OFFICE

Col. Jerry Davis Project Manager

Lt. Col. Steve Ansley Product Manager Aviation Ground Support Equipment

Mr. Rod Bellows Lt. Col. Mike Rutkowski Deputy Project Manager Product Manager (Acting) Air Traffic Control

Lt. Col.Scott Everton Product Manager Aviation Mission Equipment

Mr. Scott Caruso Product Director (Acting) Aviation Networks Mission Planning

CARGO HELICOPTERS Project Office

Col. Bob Marion Project Manager

Mr. Jeff Langhout Deputy Project Manager

Lt. Col. Michael R. Hauenstein Product Manager CH-47F

Lt. Col. J. Hoecherl Product Manager CH-47 Modernization

Mr. S. Thompson Fleet Management

Mr. T. Neupert Sustainment

Mr. Rusty Weiger DPEO

Mr. Dennis Williamson Chief of Staff

NSRWA PROJECT OFFICE

Col. Bert Vergez Project Manager

Mr. Kevin Nunn Deputy Project Manager and Acting Product Director Scout/Attack & Cargo/Utility

Mr. David Pinckley Product Director Mi-17

ARMED SCOUT HELICOPTER PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE

Mr. Jimmy Downs Lt. Col. James Col. Robert Grigsby (Chris) Mills Project Manager Deputy Project Manager Armed Scout Product Manager Armed Scout Helicopter Armed Recon Helicopter Helicopter

Lt. Col. Kirk McCauley Product Director Armed Scout Fielded Systems

Lt. Col. Matt Hannah Product Manager Kiowa Warrior

Ms. Marsha Jeffers APEO, Administration

Mr. Mike Herbst APEO, Engr & Tech

Mr. John Mull APEO, Business Management

Mr. Terry Carlson APEO, IMO

Mr. John Beck APEO, Life Cycle Management

UAS PROJECT OFFICE

APACHE PROJECT OFFICE

Col. Jeffrey Hagar Project Manager

Mr. Rich Tyler Deputy Project Manager

Lt. Col. Steve Van Riper Product Manager Apache Sensors

Lt. Col. Tal Sheppard Product Manager Longbow Apache

Lt. Col. Dan Bailey Product Manager Apache Block III

Col. Tim Baxter Project Manager

Lt. Col. James Kennedy Product Manager Common Systems Integration

FIXED WING AIRCRAFT Project Office

Col. Brian Tachias Project Manager Fixed Wing

Mr. Brian Sabourin Deputy Project Manager Fixed Wing

Lt. Col. Johnathan Frasier Product Director Transport Aircraft

Lt. Col. Brian Forrest Product Manager Special Electronic Mission Aircraft

Mr. Michael Switzer Product Director Mission Support Aircraft

Mr. Richard Kretzschmar Lt. Col. Scott Anderson Deputy Project Manager Product Manager Ground Maneuver

Lt. Col. Tony Davila Product Manager Medium Altitude Endurance

Lt. Col. Nick Kioutas Product Manager Small UAS

Mr. Brad Huhlein Product Manager UAS Modernization

Ms. Viva Austin Product Director Unmanned Systems Airspace Integration Concepts

UTILITY HELICOPTER PROJECT OFFICE

Col. Thomas Todd III Project Manager Utility Helicopters

Mr. Greg Gore Deputy Project Manager Utility Helicopters

Lt. Col. Heyward Wright Product Manager, H-60 A/L/M

Lt. Col. William D. Jackson Product Manager UH-60 Modernization

Lt. Col. Roger D. Kuykendall Product Manager Common Engine

Lt. Col. David Cheney Product Manager H-72A

Lt. Col. Paul Anderson Product Manager MEDEVAC

Army Aviation and Missile Command

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orders to do some of the subsystems, but when it’s the frame itself, it’s much more difficult, so we are challenged by that.

Q: Partnering with industry as a phrase or philosophy is used quite a lot, but what exactly does that mean for the way you do business at AMCOM, and perhaps more particularly at the depots?

A: As we discussed, a decrease in workload at the depots means the depots will have excess capacity. A benefit of the publicprivate partnerships is that they allow us to do is use the capacity of our depots by providing the capabilities that are available to some of our civilian and industry partners. If we can provide the ability for them to work less expensively, that also allows us to reduce our overhead cost, and then we can work many of the items together as partners. There are opportunities to work original parts, original equipment manufacturer parts, so that we have a capacity to fabricate and manufacture, or work on components that need subwork.

At many places, we will have a workforce working on an item that is half contract support, half our workforce wearing the same type of uniform, and you would never know the difference from one to the other. Letterkenny is probably where we see that the most. That’s where we’ve had the most public-private type of operations going on. CCAD has done some, but not to the same extent, primarily because the workload there has kept us more fully burdened, so we haven’t had the opportunities as much as we have had at Letterkenny.

Q: Does the Army intend to look at working more closely with DLA, much like the Air Force did with the air logistics centers—now complexes—as far as spare part inventory and management?

A: My last tour was as a J3 at DLA. One of the key things I want to make sure we do here is improve that partnership that we have with DLA. We have some great opportunities, including that both of us have new Enterprise Resource Planning systems that allow us—if we can now make the final step of tying them together—to have visibility from the artisan through the wholesale system, for repair parts across all of DoD. DLA is working that somewhat with the Air Force and the Navy, in a little bit different respects.

With the Army system now, if we can identify and see that usage across the board and reduce overall parts on hand, we can provide our manufacturers significantly better forecasting. We can also allow them to see the data, which allows them to order their own raw materials at the rates that they need versus having to guess at what we’re doing. Then we’re not only decreasing the requirements of what we have on hand, that allows them to do the same with their inventory—or raw materials—to decrease the cost to them. So we can probably decrease the cost per item in some cases too.

There are a lot of opportunities for the Army and AMCOM to partner with DLA to do some great things. We’re doing it today, and we’ll continue to do that. DLA owns the people who buy our depot level reparables [DLRs] now. So what I was talking earlier www.MLF-kmi.com

Army Aviation and Missile Command

with long lead times, in many cases if they can ensure that the right items are here, and our contractors are meeting their own lead-time requirements, that all decreases the amount of DLRs that we need to procure in the system. It can bring down that overall requirement significantly; a lot of money is tied up in those systems every day.

for us to continue to work with our coalition partners around the world.

Q: What guidance do you give your contracting elements to ensure the importance of life cycle and sustainment issues are embedded with all major program contracts?

A: While it is not necessarily AMCOM’s direct responsibility to train green suit aviators, United States Army Aviation Center of Excellence has incorporated simulation into aviator and mechanic program of instructions. In each type of aircraft that has an approved simulator, several hours are incorporated into pilot training at a lower operating cost per hour than if they did that training in an aircraft. At Fort Eustis, where most of our mechanics are trained, simulators are in use where a fault can be inserted for the trainee to fault isolate and repair. It’s just not practical to do this on an actual aircraft.

We do play a huge part in the maintenance of the training fleet by providing oversight of those civilian contractors who do that maintenance for us at the aviation center and the schoolhouse. Basically, over the last eight years or so, we have improved the overall aircraft fleet readiness at Fort Rucker of the training fleet by more than 30 percent, by achieving an almost $400 million cost avoidance and savings during that same period. We continue to make progress on the way we train, in its effectiveness and efficiency, while increasing readiness.

A: This is a challenging area. Everybody really wants an immediate gratification-type environment. The more dollars that you can get into a system and make it perform today, the more effective everyone wants that system to be. That all costs money. And oftentimes, it doesn’t provide the time to do the right testing or the right work through the life cycle to ensure that what we’re doing today may cost less—but it may drive up the cost later on. All of our contractors work hard to do this. We have a great partnership with our PM community, on both the aviation and the missile side. We truly are an enterprise and working it from the training side too, because the training side can help drive a lot of future requirements.

I’m very pleased as I come in. It is the most collaborative enterprise across the board that I have seen in my work in Army systems—specifically in the aviation side and with the missile side as well.

I think we’re trying to work the right things. We are always challenged by the immediate requirement to get something out to the field, specifically in wartime. You want to give the warfighter the most capable system immediately that you can.

So we’ve got to go back and do some catchup work, sometimes after the fact, to make sure we’ve integrated the long-term life cycle costs associated with it. So we do work it hard—it is a challenging area.

Q: What do you see as the critical challenges facing Army aviation and missile programs in the near term? Are mechanisms already in place to manage those challenges?

A: One of the biggest problems I see across both aviation and missile support is that in the near future, we’re going to see budgets go down. That’s the reality of where we are. And DoD will do its share for this nation. Of the percentages that are expected to go down, we will see a drop in op tempo, which will allow some of that.

But two of the areas that I expect the op tempo will never go back to pre-9/11 type timeline or costs are aviation and missiles. They will continue to be high-priority systems—not just with us but with our coalition partners around the world. The missile defense capabilities against any of the long-standing threats around the world will continue to be a high priority.

And as you draw down other systems, a lot of what will be used for supply and resupply is aircraft and aviation. I think we will be challenged to not draw down at the same rate or to the same level as wheeled or ground systems will be required to go down to. If we’re cut in those same ways, it will make it very difficult www.MLF-kmi.com

Q: Do you make use of simulators and other computer-based training aids to reduce cost in training aircraft maintainers and keeping their skills current?

Q: Any closing thoughts?

A: We have an incredible workforce across the Army, across DoD, and here at Redstone in the Aviation and Missile Command. That workforce has been maintaining missile and aircraft systems that have been flying at five times the average op tempo rate. And the readiness rate of those systems has been at all-time highs across the board.

I talked to an aviation brigade maintenance officer today.

Their combat aviation brigade has one month left in their deployment, and they will have flown more hours than any other combat aviation brigade in history, and sustained only about a 4 percent downtime due to unplanned maintenance. There’s planned maintenance that takes additional time out, and that’s what we do to ensure the safety of our systems and the safety of our pilots and crews. But a 4 percent unplanned maintenance rate is incredible with the number of hours that we’re doing— and that is because of the dedication of the civilians and military that we have working every single day. Somebody is always looking at whether something is airworthy. They’re looking at better ways to maintain a system, or if we have continuous faults or failures in systems, how we can make things better. So we have a workforce that is supremely dedicated. It doesn’t matter whether they’re wearing a uniform or wearing a civilian suit, everyone comes to work each day to see that they can do the best that they can for that warfighter, or for the training fleet here in CONUS. It’s not just about one place or another. We’ve got to do it everywhere. One of the things the Army has said is, ‘We can’t afford to buy readiness that we’re not going to use.’ And we try to do that every single day. O Army Aviation and Missile Command | MLF 6.8 | 7

Army Aviation and Missile Command

An Outline on Doing Business Online Annual Presentations and Certifications Each contractor will be responsible for completing the annual representations and certifications for the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) clauses via the online representations and certifications application (ORCA) at http:// orca.bpn.gov. It should be noted that not all of the FAR representations and certifications will be incorporated into the ORCA database, only annual representations and certifications.

Certain representations and certifications are solicitation specific.

Guidelines for Industry Participation Central Contractor Registration (CCR) The Central Contractor Program Office has a website that offers the history, policy, how to register in the CCR, and what contracting officers must know about the CCR. This website provides access to the CCR handbook, the capability to register online and update information online.

The website address is www.ccr.gov.

For those who do not have electronic capability or have trouble getting through to the site, the contract registration assistance can be contacted directly.

CCR Assistance Center 74 Washington Ave, N. Suite 7 Battle Creek, MI 49017-3804 Phone: 1-888-227-2423 Fax: 1-616-961-7243 D-U-N-S Number All firms doing business with the U.S. government (including foreign contractors) are required to have a D-U-N-S number. These numbers are issued free of charge by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), www.dnb.com.

Guidelines for Small Business Participation In addition to the above, the following guidelines are provided to assist small business

8 | MLF 6.8 | Army Aviation and Missile Command

participation. The Small Disadvantaged Business Utilization (SDBU) Office serves as principal advisor to the commander and Team Redstone concerning small business issues and assists all businesses in government contracting matters, including changes to the procurement system.

1. Call or write the AMCOM SADBU Office (AMSAM-SB) or the AMCOM Competition Management Office (AMSAM-CM) at: U. S. Army Aviation and Missile Command ATTN: AMSAM-SB Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5000 Phone: 256-876-5441 U. S. Army Aviation and Missile Command ATTN: AMSAM-CM Redstone Arsenal, AL 35898-5000 Phone: 256-876-9699 2. Read the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps). FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry for federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000.

Government buyers are able to publicize their business opportunities by posting information directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet. Through this portal, commercial vendors seeking federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire federal contracting community. FedBizOpps is also an excellent source for possible subcontracting leads.

3. Industry briefings, business opportunity conferences and trade fairs are publicly announced and can be area specific. Participation is recommended in these events as they are an excellent opportunity to meet with technical and/ or acquisition personnel who are searching for qualified firms that may serve to support our mission requirements in research and development. O

www.MLF-kmi.com

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SUPPLY CHAIN

Compiled by KMI Media Group staff

Supporting Process Improvement CACI International Inc. has been awarded a $122 million prime contract for the Warfare Enterprise and Readiness Metrics Support initiative for the Naval Aviation Enterprise and the Surface Warfare Enterprise.

The contract enhances partnerships and coordination between key stakeholders from the Navy and Marine Corps to facilitate cooperation with other commands and resource providers. This collaborative partnership will establish a culture of continuous process improvement, improve decision making to optimize readiness and effectiveness for all forces, and generate the greatest possible efficiencies to reduce costs.

John Mengucci, CACI chief operating officer and president of U.S. operations said, “With this win of the Warfare Enterprise and Readiness Metrics Support contract, CACI will leverage its 15-plus years of experience with the Naval Aviation Enterprise and combine it with improved concepts, processes and tools. These elements will help enhance decision making to continue to drive down costs while sustaining required fleet readiness.”

According to Dan Allen, CACI president and chief executive officer, “This new contract with the Naval Aviation Enterprise and the Surface Warfare Enterprise sharpens our focus on helping to keep our Armed Forces better informed, coordinated, equipped, and mission ready. The work will be an integral component of advancing our presence in our logistics and material readiness and enterprise IT market segments.”

Latest LPD Under Construction Huntington Ingalls Industries has started fabrication of the eleventh LPD 17 San Antonio class ship, LPD 27, following the Navy award of the detail design and construction contract on July 27.

The LPD 17 San Antonio-class ships are designed to functionally replace more than 41 ships (the LPD 4, LSD 36, LKA 113 and LST 1179 classes of amphibious ships), providing the Navy and Marine Corps with modern, sea-based platforms that are networked, survivable and built to operate with multiple 21st century platforms, and a key element of the Navy’s ability to project power ashore.

“This is an important milestone for the LPD 17 program as we begin construction on the eleventh ship in the class,” said Jay Stefany, LPD 17 class program manager for Program Executive Office, Ships.

“We look forward to continued improvements on production progress achieved on the previous ships of the class and delivering this very capable warship to the fleet.”

Lightweight Multipurpose Shelter The U.S. Army has approved AAR’s lightweight multipurpose shelter (LMS) manufactured by AAR’s Mobility Systems division. The product passed first article testing, a critical milestone in the production and delivery of the shelter systems.

LMS shelters are the primary platform the Army uses to house and operate command and control equipment for situational awareness and tactical support in various theaters of operation.

“We are very pleased that our design and manufacturing processes for our LMS have been further tested and validated. This demonstrates our manufacturing innovation capability and our commitment to meet our customer’s requirements,” stated Lee Krantz, vice president/general manager of AAR Mobility Systems.

AAR was awarded the competitively procured contract based upon its demonstrated experience, proven capabilities, and innovative ASTM-compliant design solution, which features a multi-panel www.MLF-kmi.com

design vs. the traditional folded two-panel design, manufactured using advanced friction stir welding techniques.

Friction stir welding enables metals to be bonded in their natural state, without melting or the use of studs, or fasteners. The result is a stronger, lighter weight shelter that is EMI capable, providing added value, isolation and protection for critical in-theater military and defense equipment. AAR is the first U.S. manufacturer of aerospace and defense products to use friction stir welding technology in the development and production of multipurpose mobility structures.

“Through this innovative manufacturing process, AAR improved the design and durability of these critical defense structures while meeting weight requirements. We believe friction stir welding is a breakthrough approach to building these shelters and represents the future in welding and lightweight design. It is another way AAR remains committed to leading innovation in the industry,” Krantz said.

MLF 6.8 | 15

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Q& A

Reorganization Streamlines Command, Improves Efficiencies General Janet C. Wolfenbarger Commander U.S. Air Force Materiel Command

General Janet C. Wolfenbarger serves as commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The command’s 83,000 people manage $60 billion annually in research, development, test and evaluation while providing the acquisition management services and logistics support required to develop, procure and sustain Air Force weapon systems.

Wolfenbarger was commissioned in 1980 as a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and began her career in acquisition as an engineer at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. She has held a variety of assignments at headquarters Electronic Security Command and Air Force Systems Command.

The general has held several positions in the F-22 System Program Office at Wright-Patterson AFB, served as the F-22 lead program element monitor at the Pentagon, and was the B-2 System program director for the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. She commanded ASC’s C-17 Systems Group, Mobility Systems Wing. She was the service’s director of the Air Force Acquisition Center of Excellence at the Pentagon, then served as director of the Headquarters AFMC Intelligence and Requirements Directorate, Wright-Patterson AFB. She served as AFMC vice commander from December 2009 to September 2011.

Prior to her current assignment, Wolfenbarger was the military deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering sciences from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colo.; a Master of Science degree in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and a Master of Science degree in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. Wolfenbarger’s major awards and decorations include: the Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; the Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters; the Air Force Commendation Medal; the Air Force Achievement Medal; the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award with one silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters; the National Defense Service Medal with bronze star; and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal. www.MLF-kmi.com

Q: Let’s start with AFMC’s commandwide reorganization. First, can you tell me about the reasons behind the reorganization and what the benefits will be after it becomes fully operational?

A: To better understand AFMC’s reorganization, it’s important to take a step back and look at the Defense Department’s operating environment. In June 2010, the Department of Defense directed the reduction of civilian personnel to fiscal year 2010 budget levels. For the Air Force, that meant eliminating more than 16,000 positions. Faced with this direction, AFMC pursued a strategic solution to reduce civilian personnel, which at the same time afforded an opportunity to perform our core missions more effectively. The intent of this strategic approach was to achieve the required personnel reductions by eliminating inefficient and redundant layers of organizational overhead while maintaining the core mission. In other words, the intent was to reduce ‘tail’ and protect ‘tooth.’

The AFMC reorganization from 12 centers to five centers was a major part of the Air Force’s response to that DoD challenge.

By consolidating overhead, we will improve the way AFMC accomplishes its diverse mission, and that ultimately provides better support to the warfighter. We’ll approach our business in a more cohesive way, establishing a single center with a single commander for each primary mission. This will enable us to standardize and continuously improve business processes across a mission enterprise, focused on achieving the art of the MLF 6.8 | 17

possible. It will also foster an environment of efficiency and costeffectiveness, and achieve our goal of presenting a single face to our customers.

AFMC celebrated its 20th anniversary on July 1 of this year, and this is the first major reorganization AFMC has experienced during that timeframe. The Air Force has changed throughout that span of time, and so too must AFMC. Despite this climate of change, our mission will remain the same—AFMC continues delivering war-winning expeditionary capabilities to the warfighter through development and transition of technology, professional acquisition management, exacting test and evaluation, and world-class sustainment of Air Force weapons systems. From cradle-to-grave, we provide the workforce, infrastructure, products and services necessary to ensure our nation remains the world’s most respected air and space force.

Q: Second, can you describe the changes in the command and reporting structure, and how the organization is now going to be structured?

A: Prior to this five-center construct, AFMC was organized in a traditional, management-staff model, with a center and headquarters staff on each base. By creating a ‘lead’ center for each of five areas—science and technology, life cycle management, test and evaluation, sustainment and nuclear support—we streamlined the way we accomplish the work of the command while maintaining our ability to perform the mission.

The missions at each location continue at their respective bases, but without the redundant command staffs, eliminating layers of that management overhead. Here’s what the command structure and its centers look like now: The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center [AFLCMC] headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, has oversight of life cycle management work, delivering affordable and sustainable capabilities to U.S. and international partners—on time, on cost, anywhere and anytime from cradle to grave. AFLCMC is comprised of multiple directorates across AFMC, including Hanscom AFB, Mass.; Eglin AFB, Fla.; Wright-Patterson; Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex, Ala.; and in program offices at each of the air logistics complexes at Tinker AFB, Okla., Robins AFB, Ga., and Hill AFB, Utah.

The Air Force Sustainment Center [AFSC], headquartered at Tinker AFB, consolidates oversight of the command’s depot maintenance and supply chain mission at the former air logistics centers at Tinker AFB, Robins AFB and Hill AFB, along with the former Air Force Global Logistics Support Center at Scott AFB, Ill. AFSC delivers combat capability through around-the-clock worldwide sustainment support for Air Force weapons systems. The three former logistics centers at Tinker, Robins and Hill AFBs have been re-designated as air logistics complexes.

The Air Force Test Center [AFTC], headquartered at Edwards AFB, Calif., conducts developmental test and evaluation of air, space and cyber systems to provide timely, objective and accurate information to decision makers. AFTC has oversight of work carried out at three primary locations across AFMC, including Edwards AFB, Eglin AFB, and Arnold AFB, Tenn. The Arnold Engineering and Development Center was re-designated as a complex.

18 | MLF 6.8

The Air Force Research Laboratory [AFRL], headquartered at Wright-Patterson AFB, is essentially unchanged and continues its mission of leading the discovery, development and delivery of affordable war fighting technologies.

The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center [AFNWC], headquartered at Kirtland AFB, N.M., also did not change and continues as the command’s center of expertise for nuclear weapon systems, delivering safe, secure and reliable nuclear capabilities for the warfighter through technology, acquisition, test and sustainment.

Q: How does this reorganization affect manning levels for both military and civilian employees of AFMC? A: AFMC certainly recognizes the valuable contributions of our civilian workforce, but we also recognize the unique fiscal constraints under which all services are operating. We eliminated more than 1,000 management-level civilian positions, with an expected savings of approximately $109 million annually for this effort. By consolidating similar functions and cutting redundant overhead and some support functions, we’ve worked to greatly improve the way we do business and use taxpayer dollars. Some military positions will be realigned as well.

All these decisions required careful deliberation, and command officials used all personnel management options available to mitigate impacts on civilian employees, to include attrition, filling existing vacancies, early retirement and incentive opportunities where and when possible. While those unnecessary overhead positions were eliminated, people continue to do the work where they were physically located before.

Q: What is the single most significant change to the arrangements and interactions AFMC has with other services or agencies as a result of the reorganization?

A: By far, the most important change will come in the form of AFMC presenting a single face to its customers. The five-center construct brings with it a single commander in each mission area—science and technology, life cycle management, test and evaluation, sustainment and nuclear support—who has an enterprise focus on his or her function within the greater AFMC mission of providing support to the warfighter. That translates into one mission, one commander. The restructure also improves acquisition life cycle management by establishing a single program manager for each weapons system, providing clearer lines of authority and responsibility.

Q: What is AFMC’s role in the new tanker program?

A: AFMC’s role in the new KC-46 tanker program will be very similar to its role in almost all programs within the Air Force portfolio of weapons systems. As the responsible major command for organizing, training, and equipping the Tanker Directorate, we’ll ensure the right folks are working the program and that they have the right life cycle management processes and tools necessary to do their jobs. AFMC will also have a major role in providing developmental test and evaluation expertise and depot maintenance and supply chain functions at the appropriate point in the weapon systems life cycle. www.MLF-kmi.com

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Q: As an aircraft reaches the end of its service life, what are the plans for that excess inventory?

A: Those decisions are really contingent on global warfighter needs, but that excess inventory can run the full gamut—from long-term storage, foreign materiel sales, spare parts reclamation, and even scrap.

Our program managers in AFLCMC work closely with Air Force planners to manage fleets through the end of their life cycle. Decisions to retire, sell, reuse or regenerate, and dispose are based on careful analysis by the program offices, and decisions are vetted through a number of government offices and agencies before a final plan of action is implemented. Aircraft are often placed in extended storage at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Gen. Janet C. Wolfenbarger is pinned with her fourth star by her daughter, Callie, and her husband, retired Col. Craig Wolfenbarger, during a Group, or AMARG. promotion ceremony June 5, 2012, at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The promotion made Gen. Wolfenbarger the first Within our command, the AMARG female four-star general in the Air Force. [Photo courtesy of U.S. Air Force photo/Michelle Gigante] functions as a specialized facility that provides critical aerospace maintenance opportunity to serve at the highest rank in the Air Force. As you and regeneration capabilities for joint, allied and coalition warfmay know, I was a member of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s first ighters in support of global operations and agile combat support. class of female cadets, and my experience there really provided This group actually has four product divisions of core industrial me with a foundation I’ve relied on throughout my career. The operations. The Aircraft Division performs unparalleled regenAcademy put me in situations that stretched me mentally, physieration and specialized aircraft repair. The Commodities Divically, emotionally and academically. I came out on the other side sion removes, inspects, repairs and delivers aircraft parts and of those experiences knowing I am far more capable than I ever subassemblies to both the U.S. and our foreign allies. The Storthought I could be. That experience gave me a belief in myself age Division prepares aircraft for short- and long-term storage that I have relied on ever since. and maintains them while in storage. And finally, the Disposal Throughout my career, I have always done the very best I Division handles the receipt and accountability for all aerospace could at every job I held. I’ve been very fortunate to have learned vehicles located at AMARG that have been declared excess to and grown from every position entrusted to me. I’ve served in the weapons systems program requirements. life cycle management business for most of my career and have had the good fortune to work on the leading edge fighter, bomber Q: How have acquisition processes evolved to meet the threats and transport aircraft programs in the Air Force. I’ve had the of our current operating environment? opportunity to serve as the Lead Program Element Monitor on the F-22 Raptor, the System Program Director of the B-2 Spirit, A: In the early days of my career, we were in the Cold War. Durand the Systems Group Commander on the C-17 Globemaster ing that time in our nation’s history, we perhaps had the luxury III. I consider my previous experiences as preparatory to my posiof allowing ourselves to deliver advanced capabilities with more tion today. Not everyone gets the chance to serve at the head of time. Today we find ourselves in a different kind of war—one a command they grew up in. I am humbled, I am honored, I am that drives a much greater sense of urgency. Our combatant ready, and I am really excited to serve as the commander of Air commanders are in the fight day-in and day-out, and they need Force Materiel Command. capabilities today. That has driven the need for us to have flexBy far, our biggest challenge will be providing required supibility and agility in our acquisition processes in order to respond port to the warfighter in an environment where money is tight. as quickly as possible.

I contend that while the budget environment is challenging, it also can and should be embraced as an opportunity to figure out Q: Finally, congratulations on your promotion, making you the ways to accomplish our missions more efficiently and more effecfirst female four-star general in the Air Force. Any thoughts on tively. AFMC is doing just that, while also working to preserve the path that led you here, and what do you see as your biggest the welfare of the command’s people. Our mission is as serious challenges in the years to come? today as it ever has been, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to make every defense dollar count and directly A: First, let me just say, I never anticipated that my career support the warfighter. O would include a promotion to brigadier general, much less this 20 | MLF 6.8

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MRO Special Section

Air Force Partnerships Working closely with commercial entities can deliver efficiencies to military processes.

By Henry Canaday MLF Correspondent

Jim Sutton was director of plans and programs—or “dreams and schemes” as he puts it—at Hill Air Force Base from 2000 until his recent retirement from government service. “We led the Department of Defense at partnerships,” Sutton said.

Hill started out looking at partnerships as a way to be an intelligent bridge-builder and solve acquisition problems that could not be solved simply by contracts. “Contracts are rigid,” Sutton noted. “They deal with one problem for a short time. The problem is that the F-22 [Raptor], for example, will be flown for 40 years. So how do I motivate a partner to ensure sustainment over 40 years?”

Thus even partnership law is different from contract law, with different rules and responsibilities. Partnership agreements span multiple parties and are not bilateral, as with contracts. “In a partnership, you want to have the best fit in each area,” Sutton explained. “So if we need another firm, we will go get them. We want the best 22 | MLF 6.8

in class in each area of the partnership.”

For example, 20 percent of F-22 content is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the rest

by Boeing and other firms. “We want those other firms involved,” Sutton stressed.

Hill wants all elements of sustainment in the partnership: maintenance, supply chain management, and engineering and configuration management. “And we don’t just partner with private firms,” Sutton said. “We also partner with public organizations—for example, the Navy’s fleet readiness centers.”

So Hill builds global partnership agreements with firms like Lockheed Martin, and then arranges implementation agreements for support of specific parts and platforms.

Its global partnership with Lockheed now covers the F-16, the C-130, the F-22 and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. “We started this 15 years ago,” Sutton said. “Now it is Defense Department policy.”

Partnerships usually start out with a meeting to determine the capabilities of

each partner in each important area. “We ask them, where are you world-class, where are you half-class and where are you no-class?” Sutton said. “Then we assign the right partner to each area, and if we need to go outside, we go outside.”

Three times each year Hill staff meet with each partner to monitor progress, and once a year a meeting is held at the vice presidential level. “We see how they are doing, where there are gaps, where we need help from leaders and what are the goals for the coming year.”

On the F-22, Lockheed Martin is responsible for availability and sends the aircraft to Hill for depot repairs. Lockheed provides the technical data and part kits, while Hill does the work. “Mechanics can do wonderful things if they have parts and technical data,” Sutton explained.

“They know what to do, and if they have a problem they have reach back to Lockheed. We have very high performance on this.” www.MLF-kmi.com

MRO Special Section Hill prefers its partnerships to grow over time and wants its private partners to be profitable over the long term, “or they won’t be around to help us,” Sutton said.

“And they should want availability to be up, even if they don’t make money in the short term, because they want to get the next bit of work.” He said Air Force oversight is more than adequate to monitor the partner’s performance.

Hill now has about 57 global partnership agreements and more than 200 implementation agreements for specific sets of parts. “Some of these are standalone agreements,” Sutton noted. “We want to see how a company performs before we expand their agreements. We want to see if there is a pony in the pile.”

Tinker Air Force Base has been involved in partnerships since 2005, said Wade Wolfe, chief of Tinker’s business operations office. Major partnerships include one with Boeing and Lockheed on components such as oxygen bottles for the F-22, partnerships with Boeing on software development and on the C-17 Globemaster III, and several partnerships with Pratt & Whitney on the F117 engine for the C-17 and on the F119 engine for the F-22. Under development is a partnership with Pratt and Lockheed on the F135 engine for the F-35.

“Those are the big ones,” Wolfe said.

“And they are working well. Over the next month we do depot activation on the F135.

It is a little behind schedule, but about where we expect on major activations. We are writing the implementation agreement on it, and there are no big issues.”

Master partnership agreements are usually aligned with the prime support contract for a platform and have the same term as this prime contract. Implementation agreements are usually reviewed and adjusted annually to set or adjust the specific work requirements for each year.

“It takes three to four months to get a fully vetted implementation agreement,” Wolfe said. The agreement must clear the legal and financial offices in both the Air Force and at the private contractor.

But the process is going a little smoother as experience accumulates.

“One of the primary lessons learned is that words matter initially,” Wolfe said. “Firms have their vocabulary and we have our vocabulary and words can mean different www.MLF-kmi.com

things in each vocabulary. You must work through these different definitions.”

On data, private financial systems usually want more detail than government systems normally provide, and each firm has a different set of detailed requirements. But so far Tinker has been able to satisfy its private partners’ information needs.

Another lesson is that it helps to know as early as possible whether there will be a partnership so that Tinker can activate for the workload. Partnerships help the Air Force meet Title 10’s core and 50-50 requirements, but the prime contractor makes the partnering decision, and Tinker must prove best value. Is it doing that?

“We are getting more partnerships,” Wolfe responded.

Although partnerships account for only about 5 percent of Tinker’s 8.2 million man-hours of annual work, this portion is growing. The F135 partnership, for example, should eventually represent 40,000 to 50,000 annual man-hours. And there are more possibilities on the horizon: more work on the F-22, possible partnerships on the RQ-4 Global Hawk, MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper and more software work.

AAR is not a prime on any publicprivate partnerships (PPPs), noted Donald Wetekam, senior vice president, government and defense business development.

AAR does serve as subcontractor on some partnerships with other defense contractors.

But as a former Air Force lieutenant general who served as deputy chief of staff for installations and logistics and directed operations at Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Wetekam has a fair amount of experience with PPPs and performancebased logistic (PBL) contracts. “I am a fan of this approach, and we would like to participate more in it.”

Wetekam said he has been confused by what he calls “mixed signals” on partnering that have come out of the Defense Department in recent years. “In my perspective, it seems like the Defense Department is wavering in their commitment to PBLs and PPPs.” He sees depots pulling work back into organic depots partly to meet Title 10’s 50-50 requirement and partly because these depots have excess capacity.

“We see the value and want to participate in partnerships,” Wetekam stressed.

“But we believe there has to be a longterm commitment to this approach on the part of the Defense Department.”

Wetekam cited the partnership between the Air Force and Boeing on the C-17 as a mutually beneficial one. “That has been modified and retrenched, however.”

Wetekam thinks the process necessary to reach a partnering agreement could be streamlined a bit, but that industry is generally willing to take the time to negotiate a contract provided the contract’s term is long enough. He would like to see 10-year terms, but does not believe simple 10-year contracts are likely. But contracts with five-year base periods and structured with options toward 10 years are both more realistic and balanced enough to attract private industry.

However, recently defense has sought much shorter terms, apparently in the belief that these can save money. “I don’t think those expectations of cost savings are based on reality,” Wetekam observed.

On what might make good candidates for future partnerships, Wetekam said one of AAR’s sweet spots is in commercial or commercial-derivative airframes, engines and components. “Equipment unique to the military is probably best done at the depots or by their OEMs. But we and other large repair stations have a great deal of experience and capacity with commercial models.”

One example is the Boeing 737, on which AAR has probably as much experience as any company in the world. This experience is well-suited to military derivatives like the C-40 Clipper and P-8 Poseidon, Wetekam argued. Another example is the F108 engine, the military version of the CFM56 commercial powerplant that has been flown in the thousands for a quarter of a century.

Wetekam said there are plenty of other examples, including landing-gear avionics on the 737 and 767. “Private shops can bring best practice to the military on these pieces of equipment.” O

For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.

MLF 6.8 | 23

The tools that are the first to load and unload.

By Hank Hogan MLF Correspondent

capability of moving up to 60,000 pounds total weight. The other, the Like other big organizations with a worldwide footprint, the U.S. Halvorsen, is designed to be airlifted in a C-130 to austere locations Army has to move material from point A to B. The task of covering for initial stand up of airfield operations. It can handle up to 25,000 the final feet on either end of the trip may fall to a forklift or other pounds total weight. material handling equipment, such as a backhoe outfitted with a “Commercial loaders are not designed with the same flexibility suitable attachment. In other cases, material handling tasks involve to handle large materiel and be rapidly airlifted to meet mission moving brush, dirt or snow. requirements,” said Steven Rustin, logistics directorate resources Since its needs aren’t entirely unique, the Army takes advantage team lead for Air Mobility Command. of what is commercially available, said Colonel Eric A final military specific requirement comes from Fletcher, project manager force projection of PEO the fuel that runs the equipment. The Army is curCombat Support and Combat Service Support. “The rently qualifying two types of synthetic paraffinic capability to produce a rough terrain forklift exists in kerosene that can be derived from renewable sources industry, so we do try to buy the commercial standard. and that are based on aviation fuel. Qualification is However, we do require some military unique modiexpected to be complete by October 2013. Both fuels fications including rifle racks, a 24-volt NATO slave will meet the JP-8 specification, an approach which receptacle, standard paint and in some cases armor,” offers two key advantages for operations outside the he added. continental U.S. Another set of modifications is done to support “First, its base fuel is Jet A-1, the most widely airborne engineers, Fletcher noted. Their materiel Col. Eric Fletcher available jet fuel outside of CONUS. Second, the Army handling and construction equipment has to be must procure, store and distribute one primary fuel air droppable. Examples of other military-specific for use in aircraft and ground systems, thus simplifying logistics,” requirements include heavy shock testing for gear intended for rail the Army’s Fletcher said. shipments and tie down for secure air, sea and rail transportation.

Vendors are responding to such military material handling needs The Air Force has two loaders in its arsenal. The Tunner loader in a variety of ways. For example, J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd., with is intended for operation at fixed and strategic locations, with the 24 | MLF 6.8

www.MLF-kmi.com

a North American headquarters in Pooler, Ga., was one of several companies that in 2003 offered to meet the Army’s specifications for a high mobility engineering excavator, or HMEE. Essentially this was a backhoe capable of 60-mile per hour speeds, said Chris Saucedo, JCB vice president for parts, service and military products.

“It’s got an attachment on front that produces material handling capabilities, whether that be a general purpose bucket, a six-in-one bucket, forks, or a snowplow,” he said.

After building a prototype, the company won a $200 million contract in 2005 to supply these souped-up backhoes, thereby significantly reducing the logistics footprint of the Army. The standard before had been a package that included a truck, a trailer and a backhoe. With the HMEE, In a deployed environment such as southwest Asia, the HMEE performed both materiel handling and earthmoving/ only the backhoe is needed, as the equipment is fast construction duties. [Photo courtesy of JCB] enough to keep up with a convoy on the move.

The threefold reduction in unit count has proven so successful that commercial concerns have expressed interest in the technology, with one application being pipeline maintenance. HMEEs have also been used in situations where counterterrorism or crowd control is important. One was deployed, for instance, at the 2012 London Olympics.

Over the last seven years, the equipment has undergone several rounds of upgrades, such as the addition of armor for force protection. The latest variant has just passed a drop test, bringing closer the day when an HMEE can parachute out of a C-17 or other cargo plane.

“Now you’re getting into some of your telemetry and robotics,” Saucedo said, when discussing future directions.

The current goal is to produce a machine that can be operated remotely. The payoff would be force protection when dealing with dangerous situations, such as when work must be done with explosives or in an area conThe versatile Tunner handles the load for any Air Force transport and dramatically speeds moving cargo. [Photo taminated by toxic fumes. Further down the line, the gear courtesy of U.S. Air Force] might be fully autonomous, completing tasks with little or no human intervention.

Forklifts and related material handling equipment are ahead Autonomy has already been achieved for at least one type of of the curve with regard to the environment, Faiman noted. For material handling gear, said Mark Faiman, product manager for example, about two-thirds of new forklifts today are powered by engine powered products for Toyota Material Handling USA of Irvine, batteries, propane, or compressed natural gas, a consequence of Calif. One of the company’s 3,000-pound capacity forklifts was modihaving to meet regulations covering air pollution. The remaining fied with computers, a laser range device, machine vision and GPS. third are powered by diesel or gasoline engines.

The technology package allowed a demonstrator in 2010 to locate, As for the future, one possibility is hybrid technology, with lift, move and place palletized supplies in an existing outdoor supply power coming both from batteries and an internal combustion depot at Fort Lee, Va. engine. Such an approach could help solve pollution and logistics While successful, the demonstration has not yet led to materiel challenges that confront the military. A forklift equipped with a handling equipment that drives itself and can operate in the unconhybrid diesel engine would reduce the need for fuel and could strained environment of a typical supply depot. Similar sensing, thereby diminish the overall logistics footprint. At the same time, it navigation and computing technologies, however, have found a would slash emissions while avoiding the sometimes long charging home in automated guided vehicles that operate in more limited time that a pure electric approach might demand. Toyota has a fleet environments. of such hybrid diesel systems in use in Japan.

“They follow a set track and have a set program. A normal appli“We’ve also been testing fuel cell trucks as well. That’s still dealcation would be an assembly line, shuttle type work,” Faiman said. ing with a lot of cost issues,” Faiman said.

Toyota supplies forklifts, or lift trucks, to the military. The latest Infrastructure, in particular, adds to the expense. It isn’t version is the 8-Series. For the most part, what the company sells to enough to have a forklift that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell. There the armed forces are the standard products that an industrial user also has to be a supply chain that delivers the hydrogen to the point would buy. www.MLF-kmi.com

MLF 6.8 | 25

Simulating Forklifts and More Technology that started in the skies is increasingly being employed on the ground to the benefit of those involved in material handling and construction. Simulation of forklifts, bulldozers and other equipment is now being used to train troops in how to operate and maintain these complex machines.

“Simulation allows the operator to attain a great deal of familiarity with the basic functionality of the system before they are ever exposed to the real system.

This makes training safer and more productive,” said Colonel Eric Fletcher.

These simulators don’t achieve the kind of fidelity—or the expense—of aircraft training systems. But they do enable the incorporation of multiple scenarios in a setting that allows soldiers to walk away with valuable training. These exercises are realistic enough to be useful, but they come without the costs of fuel, parts, labor

and time on an actual system. Although not a substitute for hands-on experience, the Army believes its training via simulation has struck the proper balance between cost and benefits, Fletcher said.

Caterpillar is one vendor that offers simulators to replicate the typical applications found in military missions, the company’s Chad Bixby noted. “This capability includes providing motion to the simulator to replicate the forces an operator would experience as he would maneuver the piece of equipment.”

There is a challenge in getting the feel of the earth as it rolls into a bucket right, said J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd.’s (JCB) Chris Saucedo. The payback from simulation can be significant, though. A high-end loader can cost a quarter million dollars and allow the training of only one person at a time, but simulation technology can allow a more cost-effective approach.

where it’s needed, something that currently is lacking and is costly to install.

Other innovations from industry promise to cut fuel consumption though improved efficiency. A case in point comes from Caterpillar of Peoria, Ill. The company’s Accugrade system allows equipment operators to burn less fuel, use less material, reduce time for project completion and enhance safety on a project, said Chad Bixby, marketing and contracts manager for Caterpillar’s defense and federal products.

The company supplies both construction and material handling equipment to all of the service branches and has done so since WWII. “The U.S. Air Force has spent the last 10 years acquiring the purpose built material handler known as the 10K ATFL, or all terrain forklift,” Bixby said.

In the commercial realm, the trend is toward wireless connectivity, in part because the technology allows assets to be tracked with greater ease and accuracy. The military has not gone that route due to security concerns, but Caterpillar continues to provide updates of advances in this area to its military customers.

Where possible, Caterpillar matches standard commercial machines against the military’s functional specifications, with modifications made to comply with specific requirements. Some of these are relatively simple, such as adding labels or stenciling. Others are more complex, such as adding armor to cabs.

Once the modifications are done and the equipment delivered, the company and its network of dealers provide support, which Bixby said is a unique strength of Caterpillar. Some of this activity is done in theater.

“We have Cat dealer personnel in Afghanistan working side by side with our troops ensuring we have equipment up and running to support the mission,” Bixby said.

Carl Traub is manager of government sales for the Cleveland-based NAACO Materials Handling Group, which has been selling forklifts and other equipment to the military since WWII. Today the company’s forklift products range in lift capacity from 2,000 pounds all the way up to those capable of handling 115,000 pounds.

26 | MLF 6.8

“A single simulator can cost a couple hundred thousand dollars and train hundreds and hundreds of people,” Saucedo said.

JCB is developing online courses in a type of simulator that allows trainees to go in and dismantle a machine virtually. Studies have shown that maintenance and repair proficiency improves when such online systems are used.

Simulation is also something Toyota has looked into. Advances in the technology and its use in many different disciplines make it attractive, but there are issues involving material handling equipment and regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

“One of the things that work against using a simulator is the way the OSHA rules are written. You’re required to be trained on a live truck in most cases,” said Toyota’s Mark Faiman.

Fuel for such machines is one area currently undergoing changes, Traub noted. Off-road diesel engines built and operated today within the U.S. are supposed to meet the Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 4 emission requirements. Similar requirements are found in Europe and elsewhere. The move to clean up the air is having an effect.

“It’s forcing the customer to use even lower sulfur diesel, lower emission fuel. Everyone has to comply with the continually more stringent EPA regulations,” Traub said.

In the past, diesel had a sulfur content as high as 3,000 parts per million. Those levels poison pollution abatement equipment, and to help cut emissions the EPA has mandated the sulfur content of fuel must be below 15 ppm.

However, jet fuel, the basis for the Army’s single fuel source, currently has an upper limit of 3,000 ppm. A 2010 report for the European Aviation Safety Agency found the average in the U.S. and the U.K. to be 600-800 ppm. There is a looming push in both the U.S. and Europe to switch to a low sulfur aviation fuel, with a 15 ppm maximum. If and when that happens, then the fuel will be aligned with what the EPA requires.

Another concern is the pace of innovation. In the past, a forklift design might be fairly static, remaining the same for years. Now, a continual stream of technology upgrades means that material handling equipment is on what amounts to an annual refresh cycle, similar to what happens to automobiles.

For vendors, this can be challenging. They’d like to make the same change to their entire product line, thereby streamlining manufacturing. But the features and testing required by the military for some modifications must always be kept in mind. Even so, working to support the nation’s armed forces is rewarding, Traub noted.

As he said, “Over the years we’ve done a lot of work with the military, and we’re proud of that history.” O For more information, contact Editor-in-Chief Jeff McKaughan at jeffm@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mlf-kmi.com.

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The advertisers index is provided as a service to our readers. KMI cannot be held responsible for discrepancies due to last-minute changes or alterations.

MLF RESOURCE CENTER Calendar

Advertisers Index AAI.........................................................................................................21 www.aaicorp.com AAR........................................................................................................19 www.aarcorp.com IHS.........................................................................................................C4 www.ihs.com Inventory Locator Service......................................................................7 www.ilsmart.com Maersk Line Limited.............................................................................C3 www.maersklinelimited.com ManTech................................................................................................11 www.mantech.com Pratt & Whitney....................................................................................16 www.pw.utc.com SAIC.......................................................................................................C2 www.saic.com/logistics StandardAero..........................................................................................3 www.standardaero.com/govt/test_stand_sustainment.aspx

September 22-26, 2012 NDTA Forum & Expo Anchorage, Alaska www.ndtahq.com/events_forum_expo. htm

December 3-5, 2012 Defense Logistics Arlington, Va. www.wbresearch.com/ defenselogisticsusa/

September 25-27, 2012 Modern Day Marine Quantico, Va. www.marinecorpsexpos.com October 8-11, 2012 Logistics Officers Association Conference Washington, D.C. www.loanational.org/conference/

Special PULL-OUT SUPPLEMENT

2012 LOA National Symposium..............................................................6 www.loanational.org Aviall......................................................................................................C3 www.aviall.com Lockheed Martin Global Training & Logistics......................................C4 www.lockheedmartin.com Northrop Grumman........................................................................... 4-5 www.northropgrumman.com/performance Northrop Grumman Technical Services..............................................C2 www.northropgrumman.com/ts Wyle.........................................................................................................3 www.wyle.com

NEXTISSUE

November 13-16, 2012 DoD Maintenance Symposium Grand Rapids, Mich. www.sae.org/events/dod/

January 23-25, 2013 Military Logistics and Reset Arlington, Va. www.resetsummit.com February 20-22, 2013 AUSA Winter Fort Lauderdale, Fla. www.ausa.org

October 22-24, 2012 AUSA Washington, D.C. www.ausa.org

February 25-27, 2013 Defense Maintenance & Sustainment La Jolla, Calif. www.defensemaintenance.com

November 1-4, 2012 Tanker Airlift Association Anaheim, Calif. www.atalink.org

The Publication of Record for the Military Logistics Community

October 2012 Vol. 6, Issue 9

Cover and In-Depth Interview with:

Heidi Shyu

Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics, Technology) and Army Acquisition Executive

Special Section

Web-enabled Logistics Apps

Features

MRAP Sustainment Maintenance Philosophies Deployed Logistics Frontline Computing Fuel & Energy

Who’s Who at Air Force Materiel Command A special pull-out supplement featuring an exclusive interview with Lt. Gen. Bruce Litchfield, commander of the Air Force Sustainment Center, one of AFMC’s five new centers. The two-page Who’s Who pictorial spread will be a detailed look at a completely reorganized AFMC, showing the new structure for the very first time. Also included will be a look at AFMC’s top critical contracts and insight on doing business with the command.

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MLF 6.8 | 27

INDUSTRY INTERVIEW

Military Logistics Forum

John Carroll Vice President and Product Support Account Manager for the Logistics and Engineering Solutions Business Unit SAIC John Carroll is the vice president and product support account manager for the Logistics and Engineering Solutions Business Unit (LESBU) at SAIC and is responsible for developing and executing LESBU’s aviation contractor logistics support and product support strategy. Carroll has over 30 years of experience in the engineering and logistics arenas in both line management and business development.

Q: Please provide some background on SAIC and your work with DoD logistics.

A: SAIC is a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. We had annual revenues of approximately $10.6 billion for the fiscal year ending January 31, 2012.

Serving customers across defense, federalcivilian and commercial markets worldwide, SAIC offers innovative, cost-effective and tailorable solutions that provide affordable readiness—operational availability at low life cycle cost. We provide logisticians with an enterprisewide view of the logistics chain from requirement to fulfillment. As one of the DLA’s largest contractors, we are working to leverage our capabilities to develop innovative solutions for aircraft sustainment.

Q: How are you helping DoD meet current key logistics objectives?

A: For ground vehicle sustainment, SAIC provides the MRAP Joint Program Office with a single point of accountability for all theater logistics efforts coordinating supply, maintenance and training activities for the fleet of over 28,000 vehicles worldwide with 32 vehicle variants from six different OEMs. SAIC serves as joint logistics integrator, which includes performing and managing maintenance operations, and maintaining inventories of spare parts and repair parts at forward locations for fielding and maintenance. Over the life of the contract, our 28 | MLF 6.8

supported vehicle fleet has maintained a reliability rate of greater than 90 percent.

For aviation sustainment, SAIC is the prime contractor and systems integrator on the modernization of five C-130E aircraft and associated support for the Polish Air Force.

SAIC performed design, development, production, integration and installation to replace the center wing box with modified GFE center wings, perform isochronal/depot inspections and avionics upgrades to CNS/ATN compliant suite, conducted testing, provided spares and support equipment. As part of the avionics upgrade, we also have partnership with the software maintenance group of the 402d Maintenance Wing at WR-ALC to modify the self-contained navigation system operational flight program. The fifth aircraft was recently delivered ahead of schedule.

Q: What are your main challenges to meeting the needs of the 21st-century warfighter?

A: As federal budgets are reduced, the available funding for sustainment is also reduced.

Industry and government have to do more with less—we cannot execute “business as usual.” In recent discussions with senior DoD leaders, the concept of best commercial practices has been a recurring theme. SAIC is prepared to support this by combining worldclass people, processes and tools to provide tailored, cost-effective readiness solutions.

best commercial practices specifically in the aviation sustainment arena. Air carriers and freight haulers have used commercial, FAAapproved sustainment processes for decades with an admirable safety record. Perhaps it’s time to expand the use of commercial practices to support FAA type certified aircraft fleets like the KC-10 or C-40.

SAIC has initiated teaming agreements and memorandums of understanding with several maintenance, repair and overhaul [MRO] companies to develop innovative solutions for platform sustainment.

Q: How has SAIC positioned itself and prepared for 2013?

A: We continually review our business areas to determine the most urgent needs of the warfighter. With reduced procurement of new platforms, the sustainment of current equipment is a priority. We have evaluated the concept of using best commercial practices to sustain and maintain military equipment that either are commercial derivatives or similar to a commercial platform, e.g., C-32, C-40 and C-20.

Q: Are you involved in partnerships with others in the industry?

A: SAIC has expanded our teammates to include system and sub-system OEMs, major commercial MRO providers and hybrid commercial/government organizations to develop new and different ways to do business. SAIC is also continuing to discuss public-private partnership with government activities as we have on the Polish C-130 program.

Q: What are your goals for 2012?

Q: How is SAIC ready to meet the challenging DoD budgetary times that are ahead?

A: In the area of sustainment, SAIC is well positioned as we are not an OEM on large, complex platforms and therefore do not have the associated infrastructure—e.g., production facilities, design engineers, etc.—nor the overhead costs to support that infrastructure.

SAIC is investigating the expanded use of

A: SAIC will continue to identify, evaluate and team with companies that provide commercial services and support and leverage their expertise to offer the government an alternative to “business as usual.” Our goal is to provide cost effective solutions and a tangible return on investment for our government and international customers. O

john.w.carroll@saic.com www.MLF-kmi.com

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