Army Materiel Command’s four Life Cycle Management Commands are saving some big bucks in the Afghan theater of operations.
The commands, Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command, Communications and Electronics LCMC, Joint Munitions Command and Tank-automotive and Armaments LCMC, have senior command representatives and logistics assistance representatives at locations across the 401st Army Field Support Brigade footprint who are using a variety of methods to reclaim, repair and reuse valuable pieces of equipment necessary to support the Warfighter.
AMCOM provides technical experts who have the skills and experience to provide on-site repairs and fabricate parts for fixed, rotary and unmanned aircraft systems and missile systems. By completing repairs in theater, huge savings in both money and time are realized on a daily basis.
“What we do is a combat multiplier,” said David Field, AMCOM senior command representative. “We keep aircraft in the fight.”
Field said aircraft come in for phase inspections at regular intervals and Soldiers assigned to Theater Aviation Sustainment Maintenance Group and contractors will complete an in-depth inspection of the aircraft. Problems or discrepancies outside the scope of the technical manuals are noted on maintenance engineering call forms. The MECs are initiated by LARs who determine how the repairs will be completed in conjunction with the Aviation Engineering Directorate liaison engineer.
The options include on-site repair, having the aircraft sent to a repair facility in southwest Asia, having the aircraft make an 8,000 mile trip to a source of repair in the U.S. or having a repair team fly to the aircraft.
“LARs are the backbone of the MECs,” said Field. “They can offer alternatives and bring the expertise of a depot team on site.”
Recently Rick A Ehrhardt, AMCOM LAR, was working with TASM-G Soldiers and contractors on three repairs. They included replacing a floor beam in a CH-47 D, replacing an overhead T-cap for an aft pylon on another air frame and completing a ‘depot level repair’ consisting of fabricating oversized bushings and reaming out lugs to repair an upper drag link for landing gear.
“These guys are metal artists,” Ehrhardt said, referring to the TASM-G contractors who fabricate 90 percent of the replacement parts on site. He was particularly proud of the parts manufactured for the overhead beam because they required numerous compound bends.
Field is able to track cost savings through reviewing the 575 MECs calendar year to date for the Afghan theater and reports cost avoidance of $41.2 million from Jan. 1 to May 9, 2011. He said the AMCOM LARs, AED liaison engineers, TASMG Soldiers and contractors all contribute. He added that there are only about 35 LARs for the entire Afghanistan theater engaged in these efforts.
“This small group saves a lot of money,” he said. He also said the aircraft are part of an aging fleet that is flown for many hours at high altitudes and under conditions that put a lot of stress on the airframes.
Ehrhardt called them ‘old horses’ but added that thanks to teamwork, the “aircraft get out in a timely fashion and FMC [fully mission capable] to remain in the fight in a safe way.”
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