The Expeditionary Depot Maintenance Flight at Robins AFB, Ga., works around the world to repair battle-damaged C-5 and C-130 transports and F-15 fighters. Formed in 2009 after the inactivation of Robins’ 653rd Combat Logistics Support Squadron, the flight’s 56 members are divided into five teams, two that specialize in F-15s and three that work on the airlifters. They are ready at all times to deploy within 24-hours notice. “We can pretty much go anywhere at any time,” said TSgt. Sean Brown, crew chief of one of the F-15 teams. The flight has specialized trailers dubbed “war wagons” stationed at various global locations containing all of the tools these airmen need to conduct their repairs. When a team is called in for a job, an alert goes out and the closest war wagon is dispatched to meet it. (Robins report by Wayne Crenshaw)
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
