The Hawaii Air National Guard’s 154th Maintenance Squadron is slimming down its maintenance processes to fit the arrival of the new C-17 airlifter to Hickam AFB, Hawaii, where the airlifters will be operated jointly by active duty and Guard personnel. Boeing officials recently spent a week at Hickam conducting a Lean Concepts Workshop, indoctrinating the Guardsmen in the standard 120-day inspection cycle used for preventive maintenance on the C-17. The base has four of the eight new aircraft it will operate.
An April 16 explosion destroyed a building at Northrop Grumman’s Innovation Systems plant in Promontory, Utah, where the company makes solid rocket motors for the U.S. government and commercial rocket companies.