LANTIRN Intermediate Maintenance Concepts: Other Thoughts.
This is article is in response "EAF Challenges: LANTIRN Intermediate Maintenance Concepts" published in the Air Force Journal of Logistics, Volume XXIV, Number 1. The authors of the article analyzed the various options the Air Force has in supporting the low-altitude navigation and targeting infrared for night (LANTIRN) precision-guided munitions (PGM) requirements over the remaining 15-year life expectancy of the program and concluded that a centralized repair system utilizing forward support locations (FSL) was the best option. This author agrees, in part, but would like to propose an addendum to the FSL option. The addendum is about a success story. It is about ensuring war fighters are provided what they need, when they need it, and in the most efficient manner.The Story
The 132d Fighter Wing (Des Moines, Iowa), 138th Fighter Wing (Tulsa, Oklahoma), and the 180'h Fighter Wing (Toledo, Ohio) completed their conversions from the A-7 to the Block 42 (Pratt & Whitney) F-16C in late 1994. We went from an airframe with a combat mission demand of zero to an airframe labeled a training asset. As the Combat Air Force's (CAF) only Block 42 combat-coded units, we immediately struggled to find our niche in the overall Air Force combat mission.
At the time of the unit conversions, hints of the-current expeditionary aerospace force (EAF)/aerospace expeditionary force (AEF) structure, global commitments, high operating tempos, and limited budgets and resources could be seen on the horizon, the unprecedented total force integration we now enjoy was in the air, and we wanted in the game.
In late 1996, as a precursor to the accepted practices in today's EAF, the 132d, 138th, and 180th combined in one of the first Rainbow deployments in support of Operation Provide Comfort. The Rainbow concept allows units to mobilize, generate, and deploy essentially as one fighter squadron to cover a 90-day commitment, keeping the personnel tempo at the level required in the peacetime Air National Guard (ANG). Rainbowing is now the norm for Reserve forces in support of the AEF and creates unprecedented working relationships between the involved units.
However, to be truly effective contributors to the Air Force mission with our training assets, we knew the answer for the three Block 42 units was the PGM mission.
We, in the Air National Guard, are proud of our history, our heritage, and especially, our capabilities. Many of those capabilities are derived from a highly experienced force where doing more with less is standard operating procedure. Speaking personally, I am continually awed by the corporate knowledge, mission dedication, and the plain old know-how of these community-oriented guardsmen. As an example, the 138h has a maintenance squadron supporting 15 primary asssigned aircraft, where its members' average years of experience is a few days shy of 12.5 years. This is counting everyone, from a young traditional guardsman recruit awaiting a basic military training date to a shop chief who has been turning wrenches full time in an Air Force uniform since 1965. These professionals know their jobs, and believe me, they know them very well. What do these facts have to do with a new maintenance concept? The answer lies in the dynamics of a team of professionals facing a challenge and being able to come up with a solution that works.
The Challenge
Prior to 1997, the only F- 16 LANTIRN units in the active and Reserve CAF were in the Block 40 (GE). The issue being the Pratt & Whitney equipped Block 42s lacked the power to perform the full LANTIRN mission. The full mission included both the navigation pod, which provides forward-looking infrared and automatic terrain following, and the laser targeting pod (TGP), which provides all of the PGM capabilities. Indeed, with one or both pods hanging on a Block 42, the aircraft performance was degraded below the low-altitude operational requirements. The aircraft could handle one pod and meet performance requirements at medium altitude so the term MANTIRN was coined. These training assets found their niche-medium-altitude PGM. The Block 42s contained the software and hardware capability to carry and employ TGPs with zero modifications, so it made sense to equip them to help reduce the active component's PGM operating tempo. The PGM mission can be accomplished by using only the TGP.
The three wings completed their LANTIRN (TGP only) site activation task force (SATAF) and received the initial assets in March 1997.
LANTIRN TGPs and support equipment are very limited in number. The CAF has at its disposal only so many pods and only so much support equipment, and the demand is high. The Air Force's original support concept for the LANTIRN system was designed to provide for nine operational bases. However, at the time of the SATAF, 17 sites required support, creating a severe shortage of assets. Therein lies the challenge. When it was all said and done, the three wings (total of 45 primary mission aircraft inventory [PMAI]) were tasked with the training and currency of more than 90 pilots, flying 51 possessed aircraft, in three geographically separated locations, with a handful of TGPs (it was not until February 2000 during our third Rainbow Operation Northern Watch deployment tasking in the PGM role that we received the last of our 18 allotted TGPs).
Support Equipment
In the process, it was determined the 138th would provide the TGP repair capability and serve as the Queen Bee, for lack of a better term, for the Block 42 coalition. The LANTIRN mobile shelter set (LMSS) is what the Air Force uses for intermediate-level support equipment. Like the pods themselves, The shelter sets are limited in number; it took 20 months from receipt of the initial eight pods until an LMSS could be set up in Tulsa. In the interim, a solution had to be found. Initially, the 150th at Albuquerque, the only other LANTIRN-equipped ANG unit, and Sheppard AFB, Texas, provided TGP maintenance support for the coalition. Unserviceable pods were either ferried by aircraft for the 150th or the Sheppard AFB schoolhouse to repair, or 138th sensor technicians would accompany pods over the road to provide personnel support. This was a cumbersome process, to say the least.
In November 1997, the Navy made available one of their DATE II test units, allowing Tulsa to borrow it on a temporary basis, providing pod repair capability at home station. The DATE II, designed for use on aircraft carriers, consists of the test rack and a BRITE (Battle-Ready Integrated Test Equipment) equipped electro optical test set bench (an upgraded version of the Air Force electro optical test set used in the LMSS). The unit allows for optical alignment and recertification of TGPs in a significantly smaller package. The coalition sensor technicians were so impressed by the capabilities of the DATE II that they pursued the idea of using a similar tester with certain modifications to enhance the suitability for the ANG mission.
In January 1998, the ACC Directorate of Maintenance and Logistics directed the transfer of an LMSS to the 138" from the 388" Fighter Wing, Hill AFB. This almost came as a surprise as the coalition had all but given up on the possibility of owning an LMSS, but it did not slow down the pursuit of a DATE II-type tester. The idea of a small footprint, upgraded capabilities, and greater reliability was the prime motivator.
Lockheed Martin Information Systems was eventually awarded a contract to provide a modified DATE II tester. The modifications included software upgrades; backwards compatibility with the Air Force LMSS; the addition of an aircraft simulator function; and for it to be modular with transit cases, greatly enhancing the deployability. Informally dubbed the ANG LANTIRN equipment (ANGLE), the capabilities quickly captured the attention of ACC LANTIRN program managers.
Working with the ACC LANTIRN Directorate, Lockheed Martin in Orlando, and Warner Robins Air Logistics Center LANTIRN Office, as well as the ANG Readiness Center, the specifications were given, the Navy DATE II was returned with many thanks, and Tulsa began validating the new prototype's capabilities in May 1998. When ACC decided it was something it wanted to pursue in its midlife upgrade of the LMSS, the more generic and official term of ADK (advanced deployment kit) was given to the tester.
Thus the ADK was born. The advantages of an ADK are many:
* The entire package can be deployed on one 463L pallet and one MHU110 trailer, meeting the small footprint goals of the AEF.
* Setup time is minimal. In less than 2 hours from arriving at a deployed location, the ADK can be up and running.
* Enhanced operational testing and pod certification allows much higher throughput than an LMSS.
* It is fully functional on both Air Force and Navy LANTIRN TGP
assets.
* The aircraft simulator function allows technicians to run and operationally check a TGP as if it were aircraft mounted.
* Contains full TGP-troubleshooting capabilities.
While it does not have the capability to repair line-replacement units, as in the LMSS, a deployed ADK with an mission ready spares kit provides a quick and effective in-theater repair capability. The ADK performed flawlessly during two 90-day Rainbow deployments to Operation Northern Watch. The theater commander enjoyed an unprecedented 100 percent TGP availability rate for the duration of both periods.
The Managing Partner Concept
Referring back to the challenge the Block 42 coalition faced in standing up the PGM mission, the three units quickly realized the standard Queen Bee form of maintenance support would not work. While all other LANTIRN units throughout the Air Force enjoyed owning a pod for each PMAI, we possess 18 pods for a 45 PMAI. Being nowhere near a fully equipped LANTIRN unit, the coalition had to come up with a system providing equitable distribution of fully mission capable (FMC) TGPs to the three units for upgrade, recurrency training, and contingency spin-up.
A theory devised by the coalition leadership was put into practice: the Managing Partner Maintenance Concept. The 138" acts as the managing partner, while the 132d and 180"' are general partners. The key element is that all assets are owned by the coalition itself, not any one partner. The managing partner retains the associated support equipment, readiness spares package, and repair capabilities and is responsible for all back-shop maintenance and FMC pod distribution according to unit needs. This form of support and repair, with rights to assets but without specific asset ownership, spreads a finite number of assets across a greater number of tasked units.
The goal of the managing partner, beyond maintaining the highest FMC rate possible, is parity in the distribution of TGPs among itself and its general partners. Each of the wing's standing requirements for training and temporary duties is filled and maintained objectively to preserve parity among the partnership. This requires all the partners to maintain a system of free-flowing communication between the wing's operations and maintenance functions, providing continuous TGP status and unit requirements visibility.
The concept has worked very well within this coalition. These units had already created new paths of cooperation in Rainbow operations; the managing partner concept was an unproblematic progression. In short, this form of centralized support and repair has allowed the three units to ramp up and maintain PGM-mission capability with one-third the assets normally used. A big bonus for our particular program is the addition of the ADK. The ADK, along with the LMSS at home station, allows a light, lean, and lethal deployment of TGP repair capability with one of the partner units while retaining home-station repair capability for the remaining nondeployed unit's currency and spin-up training.
The managing partner concept is not radical in its basic tenants; it isn't a brave new world of logistics management. It is just a different way to cope with the more with less reality, with inter-unit cooperation being at its core. The potential exists for this kind of thinking to move beyond the ANG Block-42 Coalition LANTIRN program. With today's operating tempo.
Lieutenant Farnsley is with the 138th Fighter Wing, Oklahoma Air National Guard.
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| Author: | Farnsley, Damon T. |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Air Force Journal of Logistics |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Mar 22, 2001 |
| Words: | 1993 |
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