The Warner Robins Air Logistics Center streamlined its C-5 maintenance overhaul process, cutting work time virtually in half. (The ALC bagged a huge prize for the C-5 effort.) Now ALC officials want to put the same process, called critical chain project management, to work on C-130 overhauls, reports the Macon (Ga.) Daily Telegraph. On average, it takes C-130 workers approximately 180 days to strip and repair a Hercules. Officials want that cut by 30 percent. However, the Telegraph reports that some C-130 maintainers are not happy with the new process, citing the age of the C-130s and the increased wear and tear leveled by current operations. By USAF statistics, the C-5 fleet is on average about 10 years younger than the C-130 fleet.
The first flight of the secretive B-21 bomber has slipped to mid-2022, but the program is moving along well, Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office director Randall Walden said in an exclusive interview. The second copy of the B-21, which will be used for structural testing, is now on the production…