[This article was first published in Army Sustainment Professional Bulletin, which was then called Army Logistician, volume 3, number 1 (January–February 1971), pages 24–25. The text, including any biographical note, is reproduced as faithfully as possible to enable searchability. To view any images and charts in the article, refer to the issue itself, available on DVIDS and the bulletin’s archives at asu.army.mil/alog/.]
REDBALL-34, a systems approach to aviation repair parts distribution in South Vietnam, will mark its first year of successful operation in March.
Developed by the 34th General Support Group (Aviation Maintenance and Supply) to speed up delivery of vitally needed aviation repair parts, Redball-34 has been instrumental in reducing the time an aircraft is grounded for lack of parts.
Before Redball-34, parts for the direct support units, particularly those in Military Regions 1 and 2, were being transported by the intra-Vietnam common-user aircraft system. This system, already saturated by high priority requirements, was unable to provide the response required for aviation repair parts. Consequently, when one of the approximately 2,200 aircraft in Military Regions 1 and 2 became deadlined for not operationally ready supply (NORS) parts, it remained grounded for an excessive time.
The 34th Group, with headquarters in Saigon, has four battalions strategically positioned throughout South Vietnam in areas of high aircraft density to provide maintenance and supply support for all aircraft incountry. The Aviation Materiel Management Center (AMMC), collocated with the 34th Group in Saigon, performs the aviation inventory control functions and manages two aviation supply depots, one in Saigon and the other at Qui Nhon.
Daily Flights
In March 1970, the 34th Group began its redball delivery service to the nine direct support units in Military Regions 1 and 2. Working in close cooperation with the Traffic Management Agency, Military Assistance Command-Vietnam, and the 834th Air Division, U.S. Air Force, the 34th Group set up a daily schedule for two C-130 aircraft flights from Saigon.
One flight delivers parts to Cam Ranh Bay, Qui Nhon, and Pleiku. The second stops off with parts at Chu Lai, Phu Hai, and Da Nang. Both flights stop at Phu Cat to pick up NORS parts from the Qui Nhon aviation depot. The flights leave Saigon each night, fly their circuits, and return to Saigon 10 hours later. The sequence of stops on both flights is designed to meet NORS cargo generation patterns from two depots and reparable shipments from the direct support units. Space not needed by the Redball-34 system is available to aerial ports en route for opportune terminal cargo. An AMMC courier accompanies each flight to monitor the system to provide feedback for improving the system.
NORS requisitions are transceived by the direct support units early in the morning to the AMMC. The parts are picked and packed, taken to the aerial port that afternoon, and delivered by the Redball-34 flights during the night. The parts are ready for pickup at the aerial port serving the direct support unit the following morning.
The NORS and other high priority aircraft parts are unitized. The cargo on any one pallet is limited to that for a single direct support location. The rapid offloading and backloading of aircraft minimizes ground time. The C-130 schedules are arranged to provide delivery of two pallets a day to each direct support location, one from each depot. The use of unitized loads permits simplified documentation, better control, ease of identification, and intermodal movement of palletized loads between depot, carrier, and direct support unit.
The traditional redball with the 34th Group’s numerical designation superimposed in the center was chosen to represent the system. Each pallet is labeled with this symbol, and it is stamped in red ink on all air cargo documentation. The symbol alerts aircraft loadmasters and aerial port and direct support personnel that these are expedited aircraft parts.
The C-130 flights proved to be a catalyst for the other functional areas. What started out to be an improvement in the transportation system soon had an impact on other interrelated aspects or aviation supply and distribution. The feedback information provided by the system helped extend management visibility of supply responsiveness to communications, automatic data processing, and transportation.
With Redball-34 as the keystone, the combination of a systems analysis approach with the concept of inventory in motion has significantly reduced the downtime of Army aircraft in Vietnam. Nearly optimal service is provided to customer units by the overnight delivery of parts and the coordination of requisition scheduling.
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Major Thomas E. Teska was Air Logistical Officer, Directorate of Materiel, 34th General Support Group (AM&S), Vietnam.
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