To the 74 airmen of the 35th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, Misawa AB, Hawaii, who deployed for Cope India 2006 to maintain USAF F-16s the pace has been “unreal” and the heat challenging, says SrA. Troy Herberholzt. Initially they had to improvise when some of their equipment was slow to arrive. Still, they managed to turn all 52 missions of the first three days with no maintenance cancellations. How do the Indian mechanics stack up? Well, for one thing, officers perform the bulk of maintenance on Indian Air Force fighters.
As Air Force leaders consider concepts of operations for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, sustainment in the field—and easing that support by using standard parts and limiting variants—should be a key consideration, according to a new study from AFA's Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.