Airmen from Air Force Reserve Command’s 439th Maintenance Squadron at Westover ARB, Mass., tested the base’s new C-5 mobile tail enclosure, according to a base release. The MTE, “the largest structure of its kind in the Air Force,” is designed to shield a C-5’s tail section—and the maintainers working on it—from the elements when the aircraft is in the base’s smaller sized isochronal inspection hangar, which cannot completely accommodate the massive airplane. Members of the squadron brought a C-5 into the hangar on May 22 and then enclosed the tail with the MTE, completing the first run-through, according to the May 24 release. The Air Force began construction of the $5 million enclosure last year. (Westover report by SrA. Kelly Galloway) (See also video clip of the MTE test.)
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.