Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. Find out more at afa.org<\/p>\n
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.\u2014Air Force depots are not typically meant for quick repair jobs\u2014aircraft can stay in depot for weeks and months<\/a> getting repairs\u2014but during Operation Epic Fury, the service moved some of its stateside heavy maintenance capability forward to fix battle-damaged aircraft closer to the fight.<\/p>\n As the war with Iran stretched from its projected timeline of weeks into several months, Air Force leaders were forced to adapt its aircraft maintenance strategy for a prolonged conflict.\t\t<\/p>\n The service relies on three maintenance depots at Hill Air Force Base, Utah; Robins Air Force Base, Ga.; and Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.\u2014to conduct major maintenance overhauls and inspections on fighters, bombers, airlifters, and other aircraft.<\/p>\n During Epic Fury, barrages of Iranian missile and drone attacks on U.S. forces operating out of Middle East resulted in levels of battle damage that normally would have required the aircraft to be transported back stateside for repairs.<\/p>\n Instead, Air Force Materiel Command temporarily surged a depot capability to RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom so damaged aircraft could be patched up and sent back into combat, AFMC Commander Lt. Gen. Linda Hurry told an audience this week at AFA\u2019s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people think of depots as Tinker, Robbins, and Hill; well, it doesn\u2019t need to be just there,\u201d Hurry said. \u201cWe knew you needed a capability out at Mildenhall \u2026 what if we push that forward?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve been asking all of our Airmen\u2014how do we do things smarter? How do we deliver capability faster? It doesn\u2019t have to be 7,000 miles away.\u201d\t\t<\/p>\n Air Mobility Command\u2019s new boss, Lt. Gen. Daniel Tulley, said Hurry\u2019s move paid off, describing how the depot operation quickly repaired damaged aerial refueling booms on KC-135 Stratotanker<\/a>s.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we turned 30 [booms] instead of bringing them all the way back to the states,\u201d Tulley said, adding it was a great example of \u201cgenerating readiness in contact.\u201d<\/p>\n Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink and Chief of Staff Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach made readiness a defining priority soon after taking their jobs last year. The intense pace of operations against Iran will stress that focus, with much of the fleet likely to need heavy maintenance overhauls to reset.<\/p>\n The Air Force\u2019s proposed 2027 budget<\/a> includes $4.2 billion<\/a> for the Consolidated Sustainment Activity Group, which is responsible for managing spare parts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe absolutely need additional funding for spares,\u201d Hurry said, adding \u201cright now, we have a $14 billion hole in supply.\u201d\t\t<\/p>\n \u201cI know we\u2019re not going to get it all at once, \u2026 but once we get even a penny, we have to be ready to execute it,\u201d Hurry said. That will mean securing long-term contracts to inject stability into the supply chain.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other thing is, we\u2019re looking for is multiple sources of supply; gone are the days of monopolies. We can\u2019t just have one person producing the one critical part,\u201d Hurry said. \u201cI need five of you producing them because if we get down to the crunch, we\u2019re going to have to have a healthy shelf so that we can fight globally.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Hurry said AFMC has started using artificial intelligence tools to improve forecasting accuracy. \u201cWe\u2019re using all sorts of things to try to make sure we better understand where the needs are and where we can position those critical assets globally around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Additive manufacturing is another tool AFMC has started to use to \u201creverse engineer some of the parts that we need,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n But technology alone isn\u2019t enough, she said, adding that \u201cprocess improvement\u201d can solve a lot of challenges.<\/p>\n \u201cQuite frankly, if we can understand the process and break it down into constraint and mitigate that constrain, the collective throughput of the entire system goes so much better,\u201d Hurry said. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what\u2019s going on in the depot. That\u2019s exactly what we did when we surged operations for [Epic Fury].\u201d<\/p>\n Audio of this article is brought to you by the Air & Space Forces Association, honoring and supporting our Airmen, Guardians, and their families. 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