They were manufactured in the early 1960s and are deployed almost constantly around the world. But the Air Force's fleet of RC-135 intelligence and reconnaissance aircraft enjoy some of the highest mission capable rates in U.S. military aviation. How the Air Force manages it is ...
The Air Force's technology innovation hub has asked technology companies, industry partners, academia, and others to "revolutionize" flight line operations. The effort—a “sequel” to AFWERX's 2020 base of the future initiative—is aimed at addressing challenges such as airfield maintenance and repair; aircraft maintenance operations; and ...
In the summer of 2019, the 18th Maintenance Group at Kadena Air Base, Japan, was struggling to produce just a light day of sorties. Just 16 months later, the unit pulled off a “super surge,” putting up 436 sorties in three and a half days—the ...
Nineteenth Air Force has transformed Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph’s Hangar 62 into an official hub for teaching the next generation of trainer aircraft maintainers. The 19th Air Force Maintenance Training Center, which the numbered Air Force opened on Oct. 29, will serve as a schoolhouse ...
The Department of the Air Force’s Advanced Manufacturing Olympics showcase kicked off this week with a look at where military sustainment has come so far and what more it has to accomplish. The event began over the summer, with multiple challenges where 64 teams can ...
The Air Force recently chose Collins Aerospace Systems, a Raytheon Technologies subsidiary, to provide NP2000 propeller systems for 30 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve C-130H aircraft, the company announced Sept. 14. “With its eight composite blades and digital Electronic Propeller Control System (EPCS), ...
Air Force Materiel Command is beginning to think about how depots and sustainment will evolve now that USAF is embracing the "eSeries" approach to digitally creating future platforms. AFMC commander Gen. Arnold W. Bunch Jr. said he's also working to build the IT infrastructure needed ...
Boeing's anticipated closure of the 747-8 line won't create a parts crisis for the Air Force, which expects the company to support the type until the newest “Air Force One” aircraft retire in 2055. The Air Force hasn't yet decided what it will do to ...