MILLVILLE, N.J.–In a tight budget environment, keeping the Army’s Ch-47F Chinook heavy lift helicopter ready and flying leads to new types of contracts and innovative thinking, according to an executive with helicopter producer Boeing [BA].
For example, this month the company is ready for its first performance based logistics (PBL) contract with the Army for Chinook rotor blades, said Ray Haddad, director of Chinook Rotorcraft Support in Boeing’s Global Services & Support unit.
“Our current focus is affordable readiness,” Haddad said during a media visit in late August. Customers expect an ongoing demand for flying hours and readiness. With budget constraints, they are “looking to do more with less.”
Innovative thinking and close cooperation with the customer leads to savings as well, Haddad told visiting reporters here. For example, Chinook support staff solved an issue involving an increased demand for certain actuators. Instead of choosing the first solution–order more parts, Boeing and the Army worked together isolating the part demand to a single unit. When examined, the issue was solved with training and technical support, not more spare parts. That also resulted in savings for the Army.
Another example he cited was when Boeing support personnel worked with a Chinook crew after the aircraft took heavy 50 caliber fire. The crew reached back to Boeing, including sending pictures, to determine if the helicopter should be destroyed in place or recovered. The interaction resulted in the Chinook being repaired just enough on the spot to get it back to base where more complex work could be done.
PBL contracts also are in place with international customers, he said. For example, Boeing supports the 46 U.K. Chinook aircraft in a full system PBL program. The U.K. pays for a set level of readiness, not individual parts or services. Called Through Life Capability Management (TLCS), it is the first PBL program in the world for the Chinook.
Under TLCS, helicopter availability has increased more than 12 percent, and there was about a 50 percent increase in flying hours, Haddad said. Also, major maintenance cycle time was reduced by 58 percent.
Cost savings in the five-year first pricing period were a little over six percent, while the second pricing period is committed to additional price improvements for a total of 13 percent while also increasing readiness for U.K. Chinooks.
Currently, Haddad said the support office is developing condition-based maintenance for Chinook to “reduce maintenance and cost of ownership.” This requires some new sensors on the aircraft that are now in flight test with fielding planned for next year.
Additionally, the New Equipment Training Team (NETT) brings everything needed to train soldiers on the Chinook at their home station. Thus, they can go home at the end of the day.
Here at Millville, Chinooks arrive straight from the Boeing production line to get 15 additional wartime modifications mandated by the Army, said Keith Kodalen, program manager for sustainment for Chinook domestic support.
Seb Arrigo, Millville Site Manager, said: “we’re pretty much a little under budget and a little bit ahead of schedule.”
The Millville site does its work at the same rate as Chinook production in nearby by Ridley Park, Pa., a mere 15-minute flight for the Chinooks.
Of the two hangars here, Hangar 1 is where the aircraft are inducted and receive final preparations to head to their unit. Modifications take place in a second hangar that also holds special shops and offices. Arrigo has four teams working on aircraft. They stay with an aircraft from start to finish.
There is competition for such work, Kodalen said. Cost is a driver and everyone is cognizant of that fact.
To date, Haddad said, Chinooks continue to conduct operations and fly at four to five times the former peacetime rate. But the company is “maintaining customer readiness targets without any degradation.”
For savings and streamlining processes for the domestic fleet, Haddad said they look for “innovation and creativity” from what the smaller international Chinook fleets are doing to lessons learned from U.S. Special Operations Command.
Additionally, the program is bringing best practices from Boeing’s commercial side of the house into Chinook supply support, Haddad said. For example, the Canadian support program uses an IT structure and maintenance that is “coming directly from the commercial side.”
Providing a high level of readiness in a budget constrained environment, requires business efforts such as PBL or transactional work, but also partnerships focusing on the customer and its needs, Haddad said. “Affordability demands innovation, agility and continued improvement.”