Page 4 - Desert Lightning News So. AZ Edition, June 2 2017

4 June 2, 2017 Desert Lightning News www.aerotechnews.com/davis-monthanafb
by 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration group
Maj. Gen. Gregory Ferguson, the Air National Guard assistant to the commander, Air Force Special Operations Command, along with an MC-130H Talon II aircraft and its crew, recently visited the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group to recognize and pay tribute to the group’s contribution to the AFSOC mission.
The command’s MC-130H and AC-130 Gunship platforms are currently undergoing programmed depot maintenance at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, and a specialized team here is playing a key role in the MC-130H and AC-130 sustainment program by refurbishing outer wing sets.
With a backdrop of C-130 wings undergoing maintenance, Ferguson began his remarks by thanking a group of sheet metal, fuels, non-destruction repair workers, planners, schedulers and engineers for their service both in and out of uniform.
“All of what you’re doing here is pretty remarkable,” said the general after having a chance to see some of AMARG’s production lines demonstrating the “Art of Possible” methodology.
“Much of what I’ve seen in your F-16 Regeneration, A-10 Modification, and C-130 Depot Repair lines reminded me of the way we used to chart our paths as mechanical engineers running an engineering company when most of our days were spent looking at critical paths and major milestones for completing production of the equipment we built,” he said.
While highlighting some of the Air Force’s extraordinary capabilities, Ferguson empha- sized that the Air Force is the smallest and the fleet is the oldest it has ever been in history. “To overcome this challenge, we must leverage every aspect of our enterprise’s capa- bilities to meet our mission demands,” he said. “For the past 70 years the Air Force has broken barriers, and we’ve been a member of the finest warfighting force the world has ever known. Truly, we ensure freedom from attack. We have the ability to attack at the
time and place of our choosing and operate freely either in peace time or war time. “Today’s battlefield American Airmen have built a real-time global intelligence and command and control network that can find, fix and finish the smallest of targets, to include those that would choose to do harm to us and our nation,” he said. “So today at any given time the Air Force Special Operations Command has operators that are doing
daily counter terrorism missions.”
The general explained that air and space superiority are not the American birthright
and we must continue to fight for those and win every day. This does not come without challenges as was the case with the Special Operations Combat Talon II aircraft.
“The C-130 system program office has accomplished yeoman’s work to deliver to us the customer at AFSOC C-130s ahead of schedule,” he said. “Due to the surge and flying [schedule] over the last 15 years, the need to replace the outer-wings during that PDM cycle has surfaced. And certainly without you guys, what they are doing in that PDM line could not be possible.”
Since the Talon IIs are limited in number, minimizing downtime for maintenance is critical. AFSOC’s requirement drove them to challenge the Art of the Possible for the Air Force Sustainment Center to not only perform wing swaps, but to simultaneously
U.S. Air Force courtesy photo
An MC-130H Combat Talon II and crew briefly visited the 309th Aerospace Main- tenance and Regeneration Group from Hurlburt Field, Florida, opening its doors to 309th AMARG workers currently refurbishing C-130 outer wing sets for the MC- 130H and AC-130 sustainment program at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia.
accelerate C-130s through PDM at its Warner Robins Air Logistics Complex in 100 days. The Special Operations Forces/Personnel Recovery and Rotary System Program Office at Robins AFB worked through the Ogden Air Logistics Complex Business Office to identify the top obstacle to reducing flow-days as the outer-wing overhaul. Fortunately, the 309th AMARG, which falls under OO-ALC, had capacity and capability for outer-wing repairs and the ability to deliver overland to meet the WR-ALC C-130 Speed-Line needs of the
560th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.
“You all were challenged to rapidly stand up this C-130 Speedline and put it into effect so
that we were able to accelerate that PDM cycle. You’ve done it in truly championship style. It’s been phenomenal, it’s inspiring to know you have met schedule 100 percent,” he said. Refurbishment efforts have returned 103 days of aircraft availability per aircraft to
the command.
“In turn, it’s enabled us to provide uninterrupted combatant commander support across
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309th AMARG applauded for valuable AFSOC support
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