Commanders and leaders from throughout the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command briefed the commander of the Army Materiel Command, Gen. Ed Daly, during the triannual update on Sept. 20 at AMCOM headquarters.
The update outlined the top seven AMCOM lines of effort, with the majority of the meeting focusing on the top two: people and modernization.
The commanders of Corpus Christi Army Depot in Texas and Letterkenny Army Depot in Pennsylvania, along with the deputy for the U.S. Army Test, Measurement, and Diagnostic Equipment Activity, briefed Daly on organic industrial base readiness and modernization, as well as supply chain availability and vulnerabilities.
CCAD Commander Col. Joseph Parker briefed a strategy to provide facilities and technology to remanufacture and repair legacy and future-force aircraft. Parker discussed plans for a multi-functional aircraft manufacturing facility, as well as a facility that will provide flexible powertrain and engine repair. He also briefed on existing manufacturing technologies CCAD is employing, such as 3D printing of parts and thermo-spray plasma that is used to produce a high-quality coating on equipment. He shared details on emerging technologies that soon will be available at CCAD, including cold spray additive manufacturing process to fabricate individual components and to repair damaged components.
LEAD Commander Col. Ricky Allbritton briefed on LEAD future facilities for air and missile defense, precision fires production, hypersonic launchers and directed energy production. Allbritton stated that LEAD’s goal is to create the most efficient production layout that provides production space to simultaneously fill current needs while creating a modern facility. Allbritton also briefed on LEAD’s emerging manufacturing technologies. One of those technologies is developing digital twins of missile systems. To make the digital twin, the system is completely disassembled, and a 3-D scan is made of each structural part, creating a virtual model. Using the digital twin, LEAD will be able to increase efficiencies by manufacturing hard-to-find parts, thereby increasing readiness.
USATA Deputy Christopher Smith briefed on the ways USATA supports industrial base modernization by illustrating how simplifying the TMDE functional sustainment concept would decrease risk and increase efficiency in equipment throughput. An example of this is the readiness benefit by employing vector network analyzers for microwave measurement on equipment such as air navigation systems and Patriot missile systems. Using the analyzers for calibration reduces calibration hours nearly 6,500 hours a year and cuts turn-around time by 20 days each year.
Daly also recognized the following AMCOM employees for their achievements during the update:
CCAD: Lonnie R. Johnston III expertly led a team that identified several ideas as possible opportunities where blue-light scanning could be applied and integrated into maintenance processes.
LEAD: Bernard McIntyre led the team that vetted and provided requirements, proved out design, and provided the on- ground workability of solutions and drawings provided by the engineers supporting the Patriot Launcher Station trailers that greatly improved mission output of the line.
Aviation Center Logistics Command: Dennis E. Crawford was instrumental in collaborating on and planning implementation of the ACLC Network Improvement Strategy that enables continued flight operations during a network outage.
AMCOM G-3/-5: Lt. Col. Todd Hill developed and built a decision support tool that enables visualization and determination for best use of aircraft maintenance money. The tool will support total aviation enterprise maintenance activities that better align with Army requirements for current fleet management.
AMCOM G-8: Tonya Smith, program manager for the G-8 Analytics Academy, personally developed the curriculum for Levels 1 and 2 analytics certification. The training program provides a no-cost, self-paced means to train the entire resource management workforce.
Daly thanked the entire AMCOM team for working collaboratively, thinking ahead and “thinking deeply.”
“I ask that you continue to stay focused on the campaign plan, along with tactical and strategic readiness in modernization efforts,” he said. “Strategic readiness is how we set the conditions for the future in terms of sustainment and in terms of supply chains, reducing overhead costs, etc., and that is where I need us to focus.”
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