Aircraft “ready-for-tasking” is a term used to describe military aircraft that are sitting on the tarmac, mission-capable and ready for continual combat operations. It is also a vital metric used by the Navy to measure readiness.

Sustaining those aircraft is the job of the engineers and artisans at the three NAVAIR depots (NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point, N.C., NAVAIR Depot Jacksonville, Fl. and NAVAIR Depot North Island, Calif.), and the two overseas depot repair activities in Naples, Italy and Atsugi, Japan. Both the Naval Air Mediterranean Repair Activity (NAMRA) and the Naval Air Pacific Repair Activity (NAPRA) perform scheduled and unscheduled depot-level aircraft maintenance and in-service support, and provide field teams afloat to maintain deployed Carrier Strike Groups in the Western Pacific/Indian Oceans and Mediterranean/Europe/Navy Central Command areas of operation.

NAMRA is the NAVAIR command responsible for coordinating depot-level structural repairs to aircraft operating ashore in the Central Command area of operation. And nowhere in the world is it more important to have aircraft ready-for-tasking right now than in Iraq.

“The more aircraft we have on the line ready to fight allows us the capability and flexibility to multi-task in support of the warrior in the dirt and keep the insurgency guessing where we’ll be next,” said LtCol Don Fincham, 2nd Marine Air Wing (MAW) Aircraft Maintenance Officer at Main Operating Base Al Asad, Iraq.

“Responsive evaluations and expedient repair turnaround times ensure we retain mission ready aircraft on the Al Asad flight line to fight this war,” Fincham added.
Early in 2004, in coordination with the 3rd MAW and NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point, NAMRA placed a five-man depot field team at Al Asad. During the past year, that initial five-man team has grown to nearly 30.

The team is capable of evaluating and repairing most structural requirements on all Type/Model/Series aircraft in the Navy and Marine Corps inventory. The current group includes military personnel (including Sailors and Marines from NAMRA, NAVAIR Depot Cherry Point, NAVAIR Reserve Unit 6066 and volunteers from other military units), and civilian personnel from NAMRA and the NAVAIR Depots at Cherry Point and Jacksonville.

According to Commander Tim Dunigan, NAMRA Commanding Officer, the NAMRA detachment at Al Asad has been extremely busy from the very beginning.

“The team completed their first repair within 24 hours of arriving at Al Asad,” said Dunigan, “while coping with jet lag from the flight over and setting up shop in a hangar that still had holes in the roof from attacks on the base when it was in the hands of the Iraqi Air Force.”

Since March 2004, the team has completed 158 repairs and 48 in-depth Aircraft Service Period Adjustment material condition inspections.

The team’s operations have also expanded to include an in-depth preventive maintenance effort for the H-46 and H-53 helicopters. This inspection and repair process, called a Material Condition Inspection and Reconstitution (MCI/MCR), is performed by a depot planner and estimator with follow-up corrective action on any discrepancies found.

“In the year since initial stand-up of the detachment,” continued Dunigan, “each successive team has had their own unique challenges, ranging from simply improving their work spaces, to establishing a Forward Operating Base detachment near Fallujah, to greatly expanding responsibilities associated with the recently initiated MCI/MCR effort.

“Despite whatever else has been on their plate,” he said, “the team continues to make rapid response to the warfighter and a quick turnaround time their top priorities.”

The MCI/MCR team is made up of depot artisans who are responsible for the depot level work, and MAW military and contractor personnel who take responsibility for the organizational-level maintenance. By working together, they are able to return a discrepancy-free aircraft ready for tasking to the squadron.

Last year when the Marine Corps began planning for their redeployment to Iraq, keeping their aircraft ready for tasking was a top priority. During the first phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, more than 50 NAVAIR depot personnel willingly left their homes to serve in forward-deployed operations as non-combatant in-service repair personnel.

That service was not forgotten, and in a naval message from the Commanding General of the 3rd MAW, NAMRA repair team services were again requested for deploying squadrons in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.

“Having previously utilized NAMRA’s services for aircraft battle damage repair during OIF I, we recognized early on in the planning phase that their expertise would be an invaluable tool needed to sustain our forces,” said LtCol Mike Nisley, Assistant Chief of Staff, Aviation Logistics Department, 3rd MAW Forward. “Anticipating both a hostile desert operating environment and frequent attacks against our aircraft, our recipe for success was heavily dependent on maximum aircraft utilization that could only be attained by teaming the depot’s capability side-by-side with the squadron’s maintenance Marines. Our force of choice and the key ingredient was NAMRA.”

Lt. James Bradley, former NAMRA Detachment Al Asad Officer in Charge credits the quality of people and their dedication to service for their growing reputation. “The challenges that these NADEP employees faced cannot easily be put into words,” he said. “Their workdays were long, often working more than 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The team worked in extreme temperatures frequently exceeding 130 degrees, yet these men came to work every day ready to face the challenges that lie ahead.”

That devotion remains, as the NAMRA repair team continues to provide aircraft-ready-for-tasking and depot-level maintenance where it is most needed – in the midst of the action.

FMI: http://pao.navair.navy.mil