News

Supporting the surge

  • Published
  • By Wayne Crenshaw
  • 78th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
An expected increase in U.S. military 'operations tempo' is having ramifications for many in the Warner Robins Air Logistics Center workforce.

The potential increase in demand for aircraft has caused the temporary stoppage of certain types of work on some aircraft here and will soon lead to a temporary increase of work on other aircraft.

The details are still uncertain, but local maintainers should be prepared for changes.
"There will be a need for flexibility in the workforce," said 402nd Maintenance Wing Business Operations Deputy Director Dale Foster.

One significant change has already taken place. Earlier this month the Center temporarily halted C-17 inductions. Since most of the C-17 work done here relates to modifications, the Air Force decided to delay this work to make more of the aircraft available to support current operations.

While work will continue on the five C-17s already here, the remaining C-17 workforce will be temporarily shifted into the C-5 and C-130 areas to get those planes out faster. Many C-17 mechanics are certified to work on C-5s and C-130s because they worked on them before working on C-17s, which are relatively new. Those mechanics who are not certified will get additional training.

To further help speed the delivery of these aircraft to the field, some work on C-5s and C-130s may be delayed in what is called a "compression and acceleration" process.

Under the process, planes currently undergoing maintenance will be 'buttoned up' and delivered if all safety-related work is completed, while other work will be accelerated to help get the aircraft to the warfighter sooner.