F-22 maintainers deployed from Langley AFB, Va., to Andersen AFB, Guam, have made history. Last week, they completed the first-ever scheduled maintenance on an F-22 that is operating away from its home nest. In this case, the F-22 is deployed to Guam from Langley. The procedure is called a packaged maintenance plan, or PMP. It is performed every 300 flight hours. Normally it takes about one month to complete, but 16 members of the 27th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit needed only 10 days to finish, wrapping up their work on Aug. 4. “This was kind of an experiment to see if it could, in fact, be done and we did it,” said 1st Lt. Ikedinachi Akagha of the unit. He said the ability to perform this procedure while deployed is critical in case the aircraft are called upon to support combat operations. (Andersen report by A1C Anthony Jennings)
Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held meetings with defense leaders from the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea during a trip to the Indo-Pacific this week.