Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs (Jan. 31, 2006): Air Force Research Laboratory engineer receives award.WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 8,023 acres (3,247 hectares), W Ohio, NE of Dayton; est. 1917. One of the largest airport installations in the world, it is the air force's main research and development base, and the headquarters of the , Ohio (AFMCNS AFMCNS Air Force Materiel Command News Service ) -- Doug Carter, an engineer from the Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate recently received the Air Force Science and Engineering Award in the category of Manufacturing for 2005. Carter, who currently works with the directorate's Manufacturing Technology Division, earned this prestigious award for his contributions to solving a critical material scale-up problem that directly affects the operational maintainability and combat availability of the Air Force's B-2 bomber fleet. To improve the B-2 fleet mission capability rate, a major effort was initiated by the B-2 System Group to remove tape covering access panel gaps and fasteners fasteners In construction, connectors between structural members. Bolted connections are used when it is necessary to fasten two elements tightly together, especially to resist shear and bending, as in column and beam connections. and replace it with a material called Alternate High Frequency Material. AHFM AHFM Alternate High Frequency Material AHFM Adequate Housing For Missourians (Hazelwood, MO) exposes the gaps and fasteners for easy removal and replacement of access panels without any material restoration required. Successful flight tests demonstrated the effectiveness of the AHFM design, but upon material scale-up for fleet-wide implementation, consistent batch-to-batch performance could not be obtained. Carter initiated a $2.8 million AHFM Rapid Response Process Improvement Program to solve the consistency problem. The successful program gave the B-2 Systems Group and Air Combat Command the confidence to implement AHFM fleet-wide, both increasing mission capability rate and decreasing maintenance manhours-per-flight-hour by 50 percent. This program resulted in a significant increase in aircraft availability and cost savings. The AHFM RRPI RRPI Readiness and Range Preservation Initiative RRPI Residential Rental Price Index (UK) RRPI Reverse Range Pressure Indicator RRPI Recruiting and Retention Promotional Item enhanced the fleet's high-priority maintainability program and improved material delivery schedule and production cost. The program reduced the material production schedule from 26 weeks to 12 weeks and implemented an improved test method, which saves eight calendar days per batch. Maintenance actions previously requiring a week of aircraft downtime The time during which a computer is not functioning due to hardware, operating system or application program failure. for repair now require as little as 30 minutes. Additionally, the results of this program have caught the attention of other weapon system program offices. Boston is with Air Force Research Laboratory Public Affairs Those public information, command information, and community relations activities directed toward both the external and internal publics with interest in the Department of Defense. Also called PA. See also command information; community relations; public information. . |
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