The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center streamlined its C-5 maintenance overhaul process, cutting work time virtually in half. (The ALC bagged a huge prize for the C-5 effort.) Now ALC officials want to put the same process, called critical chain project management, to work on C-130 overhauls, reports the Macon (Ga.) Daily Telegraph. On average, it takes C-130 workers approximately 180 days to strip and repair a Hercules. Officials want that cut by 30 percent. However, the Telegraph reports that some C-130 maintainers are not happy with the new process, citing the age of the C-130s and the increased wear and tear leveled by current operations. By USAF statistics, the C-5 fleet is on average about 10 years younger than the C-130 fleet.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
