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.
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…