Mechanics finish six-year F-15 engine upgrades

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Adam Johnston
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan (AFPN) --  Jet engine mechanics have turned the final wrenches on a unique F-15 Eagle engine upgrade program here, saving the Air Force more than $100 million, officials said.

For the last six years, more than 100 jet engine mechanics with the 18th Maintenance Group have been converting F-15 engines. They changed the hydromechanical-powered F100-PW-100 engine -- known by mechanics as the "Dash 100" -- to an electronically enhanced and more maintenance friendly model called the "Dash 220E," or the F100-PW-22OE.

"The difference in the engine upgrade is like comparing the engine of a 1957 Chevy to the engine in a car made today," said Senior Master Sgt. Wayne Fillingim, superintendent of the 18th Component Maintenance Squadron's propulsion flight. "With the old engines, the mechanic would constantly have to make tweaks to optimize engine performance based on his [or her] experience and knowledge.”

With the new engines, jet mechanics are able to hook the motor up to a diagnostics machine and have the engine "tell" the mechanic what is wrong with it.

"It takes a lot of the 'guess work' out of engine maintenance," Sergeant Fillingim said.

Before the upgrade program started in 1998, maintenance officials here said that field-level jet engine mechanics had never been asked to perform extensive upgrades to the F-15.

"It was estimated that we would save the Air Force about $600,000 per engine by doing the work ourselves instead of having the work done at a higher-level maintenance depot," Sergeant Fillingim said.

"We saved money in shipment costs, reusing some of the parts from the Dash 100 on the Dash 220E engines and by upgrading (other) parts of the engine locally rather than exchanging them for new ones from the depot," he said. "We've saved the Air Force about $101 million by doing it this way."

Before the engine upgrades, F-15 aircrews would routinely report discrepancies that decreased its ability to meet flying schedules. With the new engines, those problems are hardly on the map now, said Chief Master Sgt. Rick Harris, 18th CMS propulsion flight chief.

"The engine still requires maintenance, but the workload is now a lot more predictable," he said.

"This program was extremely important because it showed the Air Force that field-level units could perform depot-level maintenance," said Master Sgt. Jeff Teasdale, jet engine intermediate maintenance element chief with the 18th CMS. "This opened the door to decrease the backlog at depot and basically gave Air Force ‘field-level’ mechanics more well-rounded experience."