Base members improve processes to increase efficiency

  • Published
  • By Capt. Kristen Pate
  • 379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Members of the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing here have refined and streamlined processes in order to increase productivity and the level of support provided to the warfighter in theater.

Supporting an average of 70 missions per day couldn't be accomplished without the combined logistical support of Airmen and members from across the base.

Two examples of refined processes are aircraft fueling and maintenance. With six different airframes permanently assigned here and a continuous stream of transient aircraft, fueling aircraft on the ground is an around-the-clock process and can make or break a crew's ability to launch on time.

While the wing is still operating on an older, expeditionary fueling system, a newer system has increased the capability for members of the 379th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron.

"With the old system, we offload fuel from commercial vehicles through the expeditionary receiving point located just off base," said Staff Sgt. Marcus Ortman, the 379th ELRS fuels storage supervisor. "The fuel is offloaded here using an R-22 which is an expeditionary fuel pump. From this location, fuel is sent to a 3.8 million gallon storage facility on base known as Bertha. From Bertha, another R-22 is used to push the fuel through a 2.7 mile pipeline to another storage area. From this storage area, R-11 vehicles offload the fuel and refuel the aircraft on the flightline."

While this expeditionary fuel system is still used, a more permanent facility came online in 2007, allowing Airmen to decrease the amount of time and resources required to refuel aircraft on the ground. This enduring facility is a $113 million system, which was funded by Defense Energy Support Center officials.

With this system, commercial trucks enter the same expeditionary receiving point. Following a thorough inspection, the vehicles then transit to the Tank Truck Offloading Facility. Here, Airmen have the capability to offload eight trucks simultaneously into two 50,000 gallon underground storage tanks, Sergeant Ortman said. Once the fuel level reaches a certain point, fuel is automatically transferred to a bulk storage facility, capable of holding 6.3 million gallons of fuel.

This storage facility, known as Bulk Storage 1, supplies fuel to four JP-8 fillstands that supply fuel to R-11 vehicles, Sergeant Ortman said. BS-1 also supplies fuel to Operational Storage 1, another hydrant system capable of holding 1.8 million gallons of fuel.

"The new system is much better for a lot of reasons," Sergeant Ortman said. "It reduces the time required to refuel aircraft by about 50 percent and requires a lot fewer people because fuel can be pumped directly from OS-1 or BS-1 instead of being transported one vehicle at a time with limited capacity."

Officials from the 379th ELRS also initiated a new DESC-funded project the beginning of this month involving the construction of a 22 mile, 8 inch underground pipeline, which will run from an off-base entity directly on base that will eliminate the need for the more than 100 commercial trucks currently transporting fuel to the base daily. This system will replace the expeditionary system and is expected to be completed in May 2009.

Expeditiously transporting fuel to aircraft on the flightline directly supports the war on terrorism. Repairing aircraft also directly impacts the war effort by allowing them to rejoin the fight quickly. Members of the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Group have improved the efficiency of these repairs.

The 379th EXMG consists of approximately 1,000 total force personnel from 68 bases, said Col. Carl Buhler, the 379th EMXG commander. "The group performs quality maintenance for the wing's assigned aircraft, and supports multiple U.S. and coalition flying units that operate an additional seven or more aircraft. To accomplish this, the group merges aircraft, people and equipment into a single cohesive team."

Also increasing efficiency, members of the 379th Expeditionary Maintenance Squadron provide theater-wide maintenance through their nine central intermediate repair facilities. These CiRFs drastically reduce the time required for in-theater maintenance jobs that were previously being shipped stateside or to repair facilities in Germany.

"We moved our CiRF from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, around January of 2006," said Senior Airman Beau Columbus, a 379th EMXS aerospace propulsion journeyman. "Since then, we've been able to save $2.6 million in retrograde transportation costs and about $1.1 million in annual per diem costs. Previously it cost us $70,000 to ship a C-130 (Hercules) propeller back to Germany for repairs. Now we have the capability to fix them here that saves shipping costs and decreases our turn-around time."

Members of the CiRFs provide in-theater maintenance services for everything from C-130 engines and propellers to F-15E Strike Eagle avionics and KC-135 Stratotanker brakes. 

As members of the 379th AEW continues to refine processes and move from expeditionary to enduring the level of support to the warfighter will not change, Colonel Buhler said. "(Our) Airmen provide unprecedented power and precision through every wrench turned, bomb loaded, aircraft marshaled and part provided theaterwide." 

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